Workplace Doctor: Don’t forgo due diligence in hiring

If you want motivated personnel who can get on with the job rather than hangers on, then not making time for the usual checks is setting yourself up for failure.

We are expanding and need to get extra staff members on board fast. But how can I ensure I recruit effectively? We don't have time for the usual checks but I want motivated personnel, those that can get on with the job, rather than those that end up being carried by the team. Any tips? LD, Dubai

In a growing business, there is always the struggle of wanting to bring people in fast, to meet increasing demands and stretching expansion plans. Often the commercial requirements outweigh the resources you have to meet them. Hence, this is where your desire to quickly bring people on board may have arisen from.

From my own perspective, the team I work in has grown from three to 11 people in the past two years. Yet this human capital growth was measured and we avoided short cuts at all costs. Today, we really feel the benefits of taking a little longer and our team leader bringing different points of view into the decision-making process.

It is for this very reason that I am going to start my response by saying that if you want motivated personnel who can get on with the job rather than hangers on, or those who prefer to coast, then not making time for the usual checks is setting yourself up for failure. I understand time is of the essence but I would urge you while still operating at pace, to make sure you make considered, well-informed recruitment decisions.

Bringing new people into your team is an important step as you identify future colleagues based not only on their technical competence, but also their talents, fit and motivation. Remember, every one of us came into this life with our own unique strengths. Some are obvious, such as the ability to deliver an effective presentation, while others have less apparent ones, like the ability to appreciate others or the ability to consciously plan and organise work.

Whether the skills of others are publicly obvious or not, they can become very powerful allies for team leaders who recognise them, develop them and appreciate them.

Remember, if you bring in the wrong person (whose talents do not meet what you are looking for) it will take much more time and energy to move them on than it would have to have spent a little longer to bring the right person in the first place. Trust me, I have been there, I have experienced working in a team of psychologists in a previous role, where the focus was purely on meeting capacity.

The head of the department brought psychologists in one after the other to run a large training programme that was required to be delivered a number of times a year.

It was unfortunate how this happened so fast and before you knew it, you had people within the team who didn’t live the values, have the right attitude and even struggled to collaborate with each other.

After a while the original team members, like me, felt like outsiders. It is funny as psychologists with all this knowledge of human behaviour that even we struggled to find the right fit.

Companies that succeed, like some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley, focus a vast amount of their energy on team fit. Of course they want technically competent people who can do the job but they also want those who can live the values. I am not saying you spend months on a lengthy or costly recruitment process selecting for cultural fit. Instead, I want you to pay attention to it and also put some safety nets in place in case you are mistaken, and admit early on if you are.

For example, during selection you will meet them yourself but also bring in trusted team members and listen to their feedback. Post hire, give yourself a long enough probation period where you can see the person in action and reverse the decision if need be. Give yourself enough time and opportunities so that you are not just relying on your own opinion.

Doctor’s prescription:

Small teams are especially susceptible to recruiting people to fit particular jobs, rather than to fit the team or the company. However, the effect of having the wrong person in a small team can be catastrophic; within larger teams there is much more room to hide. Take a little longer up front and it will save you time and energy in the long run.

Alex Davda is a business psychologist and client director at Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School, and is based in the Middle East. Email him at [e-mail] for advice on any work issues.

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