Which side of the table is harder to sit on? The interviewee’s side or the interviewer’s side? I always thought it was more difficult hiring than being hired. As the interviewee I just had to do a bit of homework, show up, craft a story for the panel, and decide if the opportunity is right. No problem. As the interviewer, it’s more difficult. You have an existing team and a mission and you are looking to complement the team with somebody new. Not easy. Hence, this idea. Bring as much of your team into the hiring process as possible. Now, it doesn’t mean they are all sitting in the room during the interview, although they could be. It does mean you ask your team about what they find valuable in a new team member. What should be brought to the team that is currently missing? What skills would be most valuable? What would a red flag be for them? The idea is to get more input that you can use to make better hiring decisions. And, the idea is to increase buy-in from the rest of the team.
With your teams, don’t get out of the way, do this instead
"Get out of the way!" I often hear some version of this sentiment when talking about building a culture to incentivize high performance teams. "You have to find the right people, equip them, and then get out of the way." People who talk about getting out of the way...