Today’s post is by Jerry Hurley. He is responsible for the personal and team development for all staff at LIFECHURCH.TV:
When people find out what I do, often the first question asked is; how do you hire the right people? I am not going to attempt to give a complete answer, what I will do is give you a great place to start. It is important to recognize that all selection processes are flawed to some degree. Interviewing and hiring is an inherently human process, and since people are imperfect, the system is inherently flawed. We do well to recognize where potential breakdowns occur and do our best to bring objectivity and understanding. Objectivity and understanding, or rather the lack of objectivity and understanding, are two key problems that often undermine the selection process. Today I am gong to focus on understanding in two key areas, understanding ourselves, and understanding our organizations. I will refer to them as self-awareness and organizational awareness. My experience tells me that most people don’t spend enough time understanding who they are and just as importantly who they aren’t, and even fewer spend the time necessary to really understand their organization. Trying to find the right person or people for your team with out this awareness is like trying to put together a puzzle with no corners and missing pieces.
Self –awareness is critical because people are naturally drawn to hire people like themselves, the more self aware we are the better equipped we are to hire people with complimenting skills. Today more than ever it is important for us to have efficient teams of people that complete each other with as little redundance as possible. This is particularly true in small organizations where every dollar is critical, and success or failure hangs in the balance with each new hire.
Organizational awareness takes time and effort. Here are some of the questions we should have answers for:
1. Who are we?
2. What is our purpose?
3. What are our values?
4. How do we get things done?
5. What are our long-range goals?
6. Who is our competition?
7. What makes us unique?
8. What behaviors do we value?
Once we have the answers to these questions, we have a better understanding of the type of people we need to bring to the team, and exactly what it is we need them to do in order for us to achieve our goals.
The next and very important step is to ensure objectivity throughout the process, but I will save that for another day.
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