These four things are beyond essential if you are serious about building an enduring organization that will evolve over time.
By now, we have all heard the old adage, “Hire for attitude and train for skill.” Yet, let’s face it – that is easier said than done. For many of the jobs we have in our businesses we do need a specific set of skills and credentials that you just can’t train for. We can’t take someone who is a bookkeeper and turn them into a licensed mechanical engineer with extensive knowledge of healthcare buildings. Just isn’t going to happen.
That said, I do think we need to be pickier than we generally are when it comes to hiring. One big reason we are not pickier is we have so few job candidates to pick from. That impacts everything. Years ago, I dubbed the solution to this problem “supply side human resources management.” I still like this term. We need to greatly ramp up recruiting efforts (i.e., spend more money and time on it) so we do have choices. It’s money well spent! Having or not having these choices also greatly affects how we deal with our existing staff (meaning how tolerant we are of their bad behavior or performance). If we have no one to replace someone with, we will tend to let that person continue on as-is, which is terrible for morale and performance.
But let’s assume for now that we do actually have multiple job candidates to pick from, all of whom are technically qualified for the role we are trying to fill. What are the other qualities that are most likely to bring long-term success in our business that we should be looking for?
After working with thousands of top people in our industry over the last 44 years, interviewing dozens of successful entrepreneurs on our podcasts, and having hundreds of guest speakers who are business owners and entrepreneurs in all industries as guest speakers in my entrepreneurship classes at The Walton College, certain common qualities have emerged. Here they are:
- Work ethic. Does the person commit to putting in the hours it takes, whatever it takes, to get the job done? Did they work while in high school and college? How much? What do they tell you about their attitudes toward work/life balance. We need hours and we need commitment. All of the most successful people I know in this and other businesses are hard workers. They don’t seek to minimize it. They love it. And they don’t need tight job descriptions, either. They do whatever is needed to be done at the time.
- Nice. Is this person nice? Do they have good manners? Do they show interest in other people versus just talk about themselves? What kind of impression do they create? Do people who meet them instantly like them or not? Do they have a lot of friends? It’s a big deal. A lot of success will be based on how other people feel about you. Being nice goes a long way. And part of that “nice” is being calm under fire, too. No one enjoys being around people who are stressed out and overly emotional.
- Humility. Does this person want to claim credit for themselves or do they give credit to their team? Have they demonstrated their ability to work on a team in sports, school, or their work? This is another quality that is going to lead to success in an environment where little of what we do is an individual effort. It also helps other people to like you.
- Communication skills. Does the person look at you when they speak? Are they a clear verbal communicator and writer who avoids cliches and buzzwords and terms normal people wouldn’t understand? Do they use the language properly? All of this is super critical and very difficult to train in adults. Like it or not we are all judged superficially for our communication abilities.
These four things are beyond essential if we are serious about building an enduring organization that will evolve over time and outlast any of us as individuals. Commit the resources it takes to radically expand your candidate pool and then look
for these qualities in every hire at every level. You will be rewarded with higher performance and fewer people problems if you do!
Mark Zweig is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com.
