Often in the hiring process, business owners have “absolutes” and then a “wish list.” We are working to find a legal assistant for an attorney who has an incredible amount of self-awareness about what he is looking for, far beyond just computer skills and technical knowledge. In our Discovery Call this attorney shared that he is a high Quick Start on the Kolbe Index A Analysis. (www.kolbe.com) If you don’t know what that even means, keep reading – the conversation applies to any absolute requirement that you may have about a new employee. In years past, the attorney had employed people who were good at their job roles but were very low Quick Starts, and the extreme difference in how he and the employee responded to change and new situations was, in his opinion, completely frustrating for both sides. The team member would end up just staring at him like a deer in the headlights. So, while he realized he didn’t want someone as high in the Quick Start category as he is because the new hire would have the same strengths and weaknesses, he didn’t want someone averse to him either.
Of course, this is his experience of Kolbe results, just like you may have a story about NEVER again hiring an employee who has more than a 30-minute commute, or whatever hasn’t worked for you in the past. It may or may not be true, but the point of the story is that we often have strong convictions about our beliefs. Often in the Discovery Call we can reset some of those beliefs and consider other possibilities. (For example, I know many employees who are 2 Quick Starts and work quite well supporting high Quick Starts.) But more important, this attorney doesn’t share that opinion.
So who is right or wrong? No one! It’s all about listening. In a check-in call last week, we were discussing the challenge of finding a mid-range Quick Start for a very administrative support position – not impossible, but certainly a smaller pool of candidates who fit the profile. As we were talking and the attorney was considering adjusting his Kolbe score requirements, he started describing what his concerns were about having an employee with a low Quick Start rating. The anxiety in his voice tripled. You could hear his trepidation just IMAGINING the situation.
Bingo! We immediately stopped the conversation and said “We got it. The Kolbe requirement stays as is.”
His response was, “I don’t care if it takes you a year to find the right person with the Kolbe I want. I’m staying committed to it.” And there was a big sigh of relief on all fronts. We realized how refreshing it was to work with someone who had unrelenting standards on what he considered important. It just flat our never, ever would have worked if he flexed, even in the smallest way, on what he wanted and needed. And he offered no apologies for it, which is the grandest version of an entrepreneur.
With his commitment and willingness to take a stand for the outcome, any amendment would create a level of anxiety that would lead to an environment that had no possibility of working.
That’s the beauty of a hiring “process.” You are discerning what is bendable and what is absolute. Where are the areas of compromise? If you talk yourself away from your core values, you will eventually find evidence that things aren’t working, regardless of how brilliant the new employee is.
Don’t put yourself through that situation. Identify your absolutes, allow them to be challenged in a Discovery Call, and at the end, remain committed to your core values.
If you are in a scrambled place of unclear requirements for your new hire, allow us to support you. We can create clarity about what you require in a new team member while locating qualified candidates through The Smart Hire Solution™. Click here for more information.
Champions of your continued success,
Laney and Molly
molly@yeschick.com
laney@yeschick.com
