It's definitely easy to work with people you like personally. Leading them is also generally a breeze.
But a true leader needs to work well with people that are not so "appealing". Just like you often see people's real "face" when there's a conflict, you see a true leader when things are not running smoothly.
At least I always self-reflected on my leadership skills by looking at how a led problematic team members, and not the easy-going ones.
Seems you guys came to a similar conclusion. Thanks for sharing :)
I had a similar experience during a hiring effort but in my case everyone who interviewed the candidate had the same feedback "great at this, but...". When we looked at everyone's input we noticed a pattern that wasn't bias, just very poor listening skills. Couldn't take any direction, we all felt like "maybe they didn't click with me" and were ready to move forward until we sat down and realized it was the same with everyone. Do you still think this is a bias case or if the same theme come from different sources maybe the red flag is real?
I think this is a great example of a concrete problem - not being able to listen/take direction is a real red flag, and I would definitely not hire them.
I don't think we should completely ignore our intuition, just to be mindful of our biases. So if someone accepts feedback, is professional, polite, and fits with other criteria we are hiring for - we shouldn't pass on him just because he is 'boring' or seems a little bit weird.
Wow what a great post! At the places I've worked at they simply fired people that "weren't a good culture fit". Which in reality means "people they don't really like". At one such place everybody was overly pleasant, saying "thank you" all the time, just in case. Then they simply fire people when they raise real issues for not being a good culture fit.
If people are fired because of 'culture fit', in my opinion, they need to be told exactly in what way didn't they fit.
For example, if the organization wasn't looking for new technical insights/direction, but an employee kept raising problems, it might not be a good fit. This of course needs to be openly discussed.
This is why in our company someone who is not the hiring manager runs the culture fit. The manager doesn’t need to be friends with their direct report.
I learned to focus on "values alignments" instead of "culture fit". At the end, all cultures are welcome, but having a strong alignment with the company core's values is a must for success. And I believe this should be conducted not just by HR or the HM but for every interviewer.
It’s been an absolute pleasure collaborating on this article. Thank you, Anton!
The pleasure was mine, thanks for your great input! :)
It's definitely easy to work with people you like personally. Leading them is also generally a breeze.
But a true leader needs to work well with people that are not so "appealing". Just like you often see people's real "face" when there's a conflict, you see a true leader when things are not running smoothly.
At least I always self-reflected on my leadership skills by looking at how a led problematic team members, and not the easy-going ones.
Seems you guys came to a similar conclusion. Thanks for sharing :)
Definitely! I learned a lot by managing and working with people I don't connect with.
Thanks!
I agree, it's a good test for your leadership skills. Being able to work only with certain types of people limits you a lot.
I had a similar experience during a hiring effort but in my case everyone who interviewed the candidate had the same feedback "great at this, but...". When we looked at everyone's input we noticed a pattern that wasn't bias, just very poor listening skills. Couldn't take any direction, we all felt like "maybe they didn't click with me" and were ready to move forward until we sat down and realized it was the same with everyone. Do you still think this is a bias case or if the same theme come from different sources maybe the red flag is real?
I think this is a great example of a concrete problem - not being able to listen/take direction is a real red flag, and I would definitely not hire them.
I don't think we should completely ignore our intuition, just to be mindful of our biases. So if someone accepts feedback, is professional, polite, and fits with other criteria we are hiring for - we shouldn't pass on him just because he is 'boring' or seems a little bit weird.
Wow what a great post! At the places I've worked at they simply fired people that "weren't a good culture fit". Which in reality means "people they don't really like". At one such place everybody was overly pleasant, saying "thank you" all the time, just in case. Then they simply fire people when they raise real issues for not being a good culture fit.
If people are fired because of 'culture fit', in my opinion, they need to be told exactly in what way didn't they fit.
For example, if the organization wasn't looking for new technical insights/direction, but an employee kept raising problems, it might not be a good fit. This of course needs to be openly discussed.
I think this is important, but it only works if you have a manager who actually cares and is invested in outcomes, not personal agendas.
Yes, that's a good point. They genuinely need to care.
This is why in our company someone who is not the hiring manager runs the culture fit. The manager doesn’t need to be friends with their direct report.
In our case it's also the HR, but I felt they were biased too toward people they like and not specific criteria :)
I learned to focus on "values alignments" instead of "culture fit". At the end, all cultures are welcome, but having a strong alignment with the company core's values is a must for success. And I believe this should be conducted not just by HR or the HM but for every interviewer.