Today we ran into one of the biggest breakdowns in the hiring process.

We had to stop for a moment and blog about it because we see it SO often and it abolishes all the time, effort and money you’ve invested in your hiring process.  We call it the “Quick Start Cluster”.  For those of you familiar withKolbe Action Modes® you know a Quick Start is the person whose modus operandi is to jump in quickly, aim, fire and figure out the rest later.  This can be a very valuable trait, particularly in an entrepreneur.  However, a Quick Start also tends to have low follow through and love the creative/brainstorming process so much they can carousal there and never get off.  They can, in essence, over create where creation isn’t even necessary.  Laney is a Quick Start, so we write this with complete understanding and appreciation of how a Quick Start thinks and operates.

In today’s hiring breakdown we have a classic Quick Start Cluster.  Through our process, we’ve identified,interviewed and found five phenomenal candidates for a position.  We were delighted to hear the business owner declare that he stinks at hiring and that his CEO will take over from here.  His CEO will contact the candidates, interview them, and have the best of the best complete an assessment with his DISC™ consultant.  Awesome!  The Quick Start business owner was in on the initial discussions to outline what he wanted in this position, what worked and didn’t work in the past, and to brainstorm what characteristics would create success in this role.  Then he got out of the way!  And then…he got back in the middle of it and we have a Quick Start Cluster.

When we did a routine check in with the CEO to see how the interviews were going we got the response “The boss took the candidates’ resumes to brainstorm with a guy in his coaching class he likes to run things by.”  Classic example of how a Quick Start can jump back into a process, AFTER the creative phase is over and start re-creating where no creating is needed.  The creation has been completed, the brainstorming done, and now it’s time to anchor to processimplement and get it done.

From a hiring perspective, this is why you must have clarity before you ever embark on what you are hiring for and how committed you are to invest in that next hire.  Once you put your ad out there, you must move quickly through each step in the process.  Otherwise, your most qualified candidates will no longer be available.  They go fast.  You can’t sit on resumes for weeks and expect talented people to not be snapped up.

From a bigger perspective, the Quick Start Cluster happens in many processes when the Quick Start starts interferingin the implementation part of the process.  If something isn’t working right, it’s a great move to pull the Quick Start in and use their ingenious problem solving skills.  Otherwise, they need to be focused on other things requiring their creativity and let the process move on.  If not they just slow it down when it isn’t necessary.   (And again, Laney is a Quick Start and can vouch for admittedly getting ‘creative’ where ‘process’ was all that was needed.)

Dealing with a situation like this requires the technique we talk about in Don’t Be a Yes Chick’s team tele-training program.  It’s the ability to have the “honest, while respectful” conversations and let the Quick Start know they are becoming the bottleneck.  In addition, understanding The Kolbe Index A™ can really help give your entire team a common vocabulary so you can easily say “We are complete with the Quick Start phase of the process and we are at the point to move on to a Follow Thru part of the process.  If we run into a problem, you will be the first person we call for.  Otherwise, the process is working so let’s not re-create it.”  And if you are a Quick Start, you need people around you that will be honest and let you know when you are causing an interruption where it’s not needed.   You want people on your team that will let you know about your blind spots and help you get out of your own way.

Your team can learn how to have the “honest, while respectful” conversations as part of the “Don’t Be a Yes Chick” team tele-training program.  Our next 12-week program begins October 10th.  Contact us at info@yeschick.com for more information.

Champions of your continued success,

Molly and Laney

 

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