I am in and out of many businesses, and the one characteristic all high-performing organizations have is good employees. You can feel it in the atmosphere. There is a certain way the employees interact with one another and hold themselves. There is a sense of confidence, but not arrogance. People treat you like guests, interacting with you randomly to ensure your well-being. It’s one of those things you notice about the work environment when it is not present, which, sadly, is usually the case.
You are your people — it is that simple. Who you hire and promote is an obvious reflection of your ability to judge talent and gauge cultural fit. Lowering the bar for one individual also affects everyone else. It’s better to let a vacant position stay open for an extended period than to fill it with the wrong person. A few bad hires can completely disrupt your culture. Your employees will typically notice this much sooner than you will, and in strong cultures will isolate and reject the miscast individual. In mediocre to bad cultures, people shrug their shoulders and go about their business because they’ve seen this play before.
If you stop and think about it, we spend an inordinate amount of time at work. The people we must interact with professionally significantly impact our mood, attitude, and daily quality of life. People can either make you feel good about yourself and what you are doing, or not, or make you feel nothing. The office can be rife with politics, tension, and dysfunction, or a pleasant workplace where people respect one another. Sure, there is a cultural continuum, but negative or positive energy tends to accelerate rapidly. You feel these emotions when you walk in the door and talk to a few people.
The next time you decide to hire or promote someone, I want you to ask yourself some pretty basic questions:
- What type of energy does this person emit when you meet them? Do they smile easily and make good eye contact? Are they likable?
- Does the candidate possess basic social skills and good manners?
- Is this person a good cultural fit with our organization, and will they make it even better?
- Can I see myself spending extended periods with this individual and enjoying their company?
- Does the candidate listen and ask good questions, or are they more interested in their own opinions?
- If it is for a management position or higher, can you see this person as a good role model for younger staff?
- Do you feel comfortable aligning the future of your company and your professional destiny with this individual?
You would think every business would use some version of the questions above to help screen all applicants, but this happens much less frequently than you think. As a leader, there are no more critical decisions than employee decisions. You can be a business genius, but if you get the people part wrong, you’ll lose to competitors who get it right. They will also enjoy themselves a lot more in the process.
Related articles
- Bertrand Duperrin: Core Beliefs and Culture (deloitte.com)
- 6 Key Attributes of a Winning Business Culture (small-business.blognotions.com)
- Smart Hiring Is Mission Number One When Building Your Brand (fastcompany.com)
- The Power of Culture (convinceandconvert.com)
- MBA Mondays: Culture And Fit (avc.com)