Gut Instincts

Gut Instincts

January 31, 2011

How many of us have been guilty of having made a bad hire?  You know what I mean.  You brought the wrong person into your organization.  You didn’t do it on purpose.  In fact, you were certain that you had made a good hire.  The aftermath can be destructive: diminished morale, lower productivity not to mention dealing with your own self doubt.  What happened? You thought you did everything right.  You went through all the proper steps: several interviews, more interviews, group interviews maybe even a dinner interview.  You asked all the right questions: What would you do in this, or that situation? What was your greatest accomplishment?  What was your worst mistake and what did you do to make it right?  How do you handle conflict?  You also performed a background check and spoke with past employers and checked references.  You’re certain that you have chosen the perfect candidate and you make an offer.  They accept and you set a start date.  Everything should work out fine.  Sometimes it doesn’t.  Usually you know within the first couple of days when you made a mistake.  What happened?  You did everything right. Or did you?  Did you follow your gut instinct or were you blinded by the candidate’s ability to interview well?  Did this candidate tell you everything you wanted hear?  Chances are that while you were busy listening to the candidate you weren’t listening to yourself.

Stories about bad hires always come up when I work with clients on creating Non-Negotiable Hiring Standards.  I can assist anyone in establishing hiring standards, but there is no substitute for gut instinct.  Clients often tell me that they chose to ignore their instincts because the candidate possessed all the necessary skills or traits.  As a result they heard what they wanted to hear.  I must admit that I made these same mistakes and then had to live with my bad decisions.  We live with these mistakes longer than we should.  I have news for you: it never gets better.  If a new hired isn’t on their best behavior at the beginning of the relationship don’t expect things to improve.  Having Non-Negotiable Hiring Standards is critical, but they are only effective when dovetailed with your own gut instinct.

Later this week I’m going to share an amazing story about gut instinct.  This story was told to me by a client and as you will find out, sometimes the most innocuous comment or gesture can set off your internal alarm system.