ON BUSINESS || Don't Neglect This One Thing When Scaling Your Company Because You Will Regret it
You have a to-do list when evaluating your new recruits — do they have the credentials, the background, the know-how to do the job?
As you scale, you may be bringing on new hires at a much quicker pace, and you might shy away from participating in the interview and selection process, but this would have dire consequences for the future of your company. You want to be involved in the first hires as you grow the company because it shapes the company’s culture — and once that is set, then it’s hard to change.
Why would I want to be involved in every hire you ask. Isn’t that why we have an HR department? Until you have managed to train your HR team so they understand your vision and know what you are looking for in the company culture down to a point where they could answer “what would [insert your name] do in this situation?” with 100% accuracy — you better sit in on the interviews to avoid disappointment and frustration.
HR is a great support to helping you grow your company, but initially, when they start with your company, they are also learning what you want and don’t want in new recruits. You may have provided them with a list of credentials you are looking for, such as having a graduate degree, 10 years of experience in the field, etc. but that is just the baseline and the first filter.
What’s your process with new hires? Business owners should think about not just the recruiting process, but the onboarding and retention process. If you want to motivate an employee to stay and grow with your company, you need to take an active interest in developing THEM, not just pushing them to grow your bottom line.
The one thing that most founders and business owners neglect when growing their company is figuring out what they absolutely WILL NOT let in through the doors. Would you tolerate someone who had the baseline hard skill credentials you laid out but displayed toxic behaviour or harassed other employees? Is it fine to be brilliant but aggressive towards others in meetings?
In addition to providing your HR team with a list of what you want, you should also give them detailed guidance on what you don’t want. It’s not simply bad behaviour that you want them to be on the lookout for. If you are looking for new hires who have an entrepreneurial spirit and have demonstrated that they have the grit to stick with a company through thick and thin, you might ask them to avoid candidates who have a history of working for Fortune 500s because it’s a vastly different work environment. If you have ever seen someone who doesn’t fit in with a company culture try and adapt, you will understand how painful it is both for them and for the rest of the team.
However, you might not know right away what you don’t. It’s as with everything in life, you wont’ know whether you like it or not until you try it, so unfortunately, you might make a few mistakes through trial and error until you can narrow down the list of to-don’ts'.
Why is it so important to have a list of to-don’ts? Because what you tolerate in the workplace, even if it’s just once, sets an example for everyone in the company as to acceptable behaviour. I once had an employee who regularly gave us day-of notice when she had doctor’s appointments or strolled into the office at 11 AM because she ‘forgot her laptop’ and had to go back and get it at home. This soon became a trend and I observed other employees also adopting the same behaviour. Needless to say, the employee who set the example was let go soon after.
It only takes one bad apple in a company to set the team culture astray. This is why it is so important to continually observe and refine what you want and don’t want in your company culture. Shape the culture in the early days to save yourself a tremendous amount of headache.
Your list of what you will not accept sets the other side of the boundaries for your team culture. On one end, you have what you would love to have in new hires, and on the other end of the spectrum is your cut-off for behaviour, characteristics or other profile details you will not accept.
I find that each time we add a new member there is an assimilation period, much like when you introduce something new to your body like medicine or vaccine, there is a period where the body fights back before it decides whether or not to accept it. Thus, note that even though you may have your lists, no one fits perfectly, and this is where you need to exercise your best judgement as to whether or not the little quirks of the individual in question is a dealbreaker. While math and sciences are clear cut with formulas, hiring and retention is truly an art and there is no black and white answer. Maybe that’s why I always feel like I am learning something new every day on how to run a company and constantly wondering whether or not I am doing a good job.
I hope these learnings I am sharing will help other entrepreneurs along their path. Best of luck!
