For the next several months the DES newsletter will contain leadership ideas developed in the book Monday Morning Leadership by David Cottrell. The book uses stories to illustrate leadership concepts. Although the book is designed to assist those in management positions improve and develop leadership skills, the concepts illustrated should be broadly interpreted and can be used by everyone. Please take time to consider how the ideas presented could be beneficial to you. 

Thank you, Greg Pulte for preparing these each month.

The Fifth Monday
Hire Tough!

• The most important asset in your organization is having the RIGHT PEOPLE on your team. 
• Never lower your standards just to fill a position! You will pay for it later.

You may ask yourself: What is the most valuable asset in your organization? The simple response is ‘People’. People are the most important resource in any organization. The people make the organization.

Now ask yourself: What is the greatest liability of your company?  This question is more difficult. Perhaps providing bad service to you clients or patrons is the answer.

The answers to these two questions however speak to a more fundamental issue. The most important asset in your organization is having the RIGHT PEOPLE on your team. If you have the right people on your team you have a great chance to be successful. The greatest liability in your company could be having the WRONG PEOPLE on your team. The most important thing you can do as a leader is to hire the right people. You cannot have a strong and effective team if you have weak and ineffective people.

Managers with open positions on their teams have a great opportunity to make a big difference in the make-up of the team. A manager can add diversity, generate new ideas, and add some energy and spark by picking the right people to join the team. Many times managers want to fill the positions on their teams quickly in order to get things back to normal quickly however a manager’s primary responsibility is to hire tough. It should become a privilege for someone to earn his or her way onto your team. If you hire tough, it will be a lot easier to manage the right people. The decision to make is to hire tough and manage easy, or hire easy and manage tough. The best decision to make is to take your time on the front end so that you can enjoy having the right people on your team.

 The first mistake managers make in hiring tough is to not come prepared for the applicant’s interview. You should not begin preparing for the interview when the candidate is in the lobby. This is not the way you want to treat someone who may become your most valuable asset. Every question should be prepared in advance so you spend your time listening and evaluating instead of trying to figure out what question you want to ask next. Another problem with interviewing is that it is always emotionally involved. The open position is taking time and energy away from you, so you want to fill the job fast. These emotions should be fought. You will be far better off taking your time.

The three rules of hiring are: Interview at least three qualified candidates for every position; interview the candidates three times; and have three people evaluate the candidates. After the initial interviews, narrow the field down to your best candidates. Be sure also to schedule interviews with candidates at times that are different from their original interview time. Since you will be working with them all day, why not see what the candidates are like at different times of the day? You may also want to allow one of your superstar team members to be involved in the interview process as well. The superstar team member may be able to give you some insight on how the candidate would fit with your current team.

If there is any question whether the person is qualified or not, pass on them and keep searching for the right person. Never lower your standards just to fill a position! You will be sorry later!