PEOPLE / TALENT

PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE Hiring Decisions

December 2, 2021

Raise your hand if you have HIRING ISSUES.

Hmm… that’s a lot of hands.

Over the last year working with clients on the topic of hiring and team culture, I see this one, often-overlooked, principle surfacing time and time again.

We hire someone for what they can do.

We fire them for who they are.

Let’s me share that again, this time with footnotes:

We hire someone for what they can do (skills).

We fire them for who they are (values).

Last year I wrote a blog that hit a nerve. I believe the tool I provided got people to stop and reassess the players inside their organization in a way they had not considered before. The Player Grid allowed them to see clearly where their team landed with just two simple questions…

…are they productive?

…are they aligned with the company’s values?

Why are these two questions so powerful? Skills can be taught while core values either exist or they do not. The Player Grid is a great tool for assessing past, present and future hiring decisions. Here’s how you can use it to review your hiring decisions:

PAST.

Think about people you fired. Were they C- or B/C-players? What about the people who decided to leave on their own? What caliber of player did you lose?

PRESENT.

How does the current team fill out the grid? Is there a decision about a toxic employee that you’ve been avoiding?

FUTURE.

What if you made the Player Grid part of the hiring process and did a gut check about how candidates align with the company values BEFORE hiring them? What is your cost for a bad hire?

As 2021 comes to end, these hiring challenges are going to be with us well into 2022. So what can you do?

• Read my blog on Toxic Productivity

• Download the Player Grid

• Check out The High Center’s Speaker Series for Family Businesses.

*If you are a family-owned or privately-held business with a revenue of 3M+, I can introduce you to the High Center team.