Why is it so easy to hire the wrong person, and who is at fault?
Often, when hiring people, we fail to communicate the organisation’s values and what it stands for. At the same time, we do little to understand the personal values of the person we plan to hire. A recipe for future disaster—not a match made in heaven.
It’s little wonder that about a month down the track, problems start to appear. The strained conversations, the concerned looks—everyone is worried. The new person thinks, Is this the right place for me?, while the organisation and its manager think, Did we make a mistake?
It can be very similar to the honeymoon phase of a relationship. After a while, the behaviours you once thought were cute and endearing lose their sparkle, and you start to see the person’s true self.
So why do so many businesses make the same mistake over and over again? There are several reasons this happens, but I’ll focus on one now: no one knows how to extract a person’s values or determine whether those values are suitable for their business and management style.
This is one reason why people who don’t know the organisation’s values make decisions based on their own values and preferences.
Have you heard this line: “Well, I thought this was the best way to handle it”? If you didn’t catch the clue here, let me spell it out:
The person said, “I thought,” not “We do it this way.”
KEY TAKEAWAY that many managers miss: the majority of the time, most people’s values are outdated and immature. Ever seen a person in their 30s, 40s, 50s, or even 60s act like a child? Is that normal? So, knowing how to extract values is key.
There’s a clear reason why professional sports teams pay a lot of attention to this area—the culture they develop leads to results. They’re not just looking for someone with a pulse.
We run a process for organisations where key people participate to identify the core values of the business. It’s a very interesting exercise, and often, 90% of the people who go through it are surprised by what the business actually stands for. The other part of the exercise is identifying personal values, and this is where it gets really interesting.
Alignment, or potential problems, start to become clear. And it goes even deeper from there. What I’m really stressing here is that it’s not an exercise that will magically solve all the business’s problems, but the best part is, you now have a position that you hold.
