Together We Are

Friday afternoon is still with me. Two days later I still can't let it go. I've been reluctant to blog about it, mostly because all of my thoughts come out as, well...corny and cliche.

You see we're hiring...and right off the bat you should know that our hiring process is a bit out of the ordinary. Everyone who gets hired must complete a complicated skills assessment to win a chance to interview. The interview is a conducted panel of our senior staff; four on one. The office is open format, meaning everyone can hear, so it's more like 15 on one.

On Thursday we thought we had found the perfect candidate...but something wasn't sitting right. We scheduled a second interview, bringing in different members from our team to sit on the panel. The young lady in the hot seat was smart, skilled, and a prime contender...but the new questions from the new panel revealed that the fit just wasn't right.

The debate was intense, but the post-interview discussion grew from the panel, to the panel and senior staff, to the panel, senior staff and pretty much everyone else.

I was certain this young lady would master the job, make our clients happy, I even denied my feelings that something about her personality might abrade the rest of the team.

But, when I set my ego aside, and trusted my team, listened to my team, I heard reflected back at me the truth about the candidate. Her ambition and approach to conflict were certain to pit her against the production staff in short order.

It was a moment for me, a moment when I realized that sometimes I manage best by getting out of the way. I think it may have been a moment of for my team, a moment when they realized I trust them implicitly. It was golden. We had invested a ton of time and energy in the wrong candidate, but I think we walked away feeling successful, and closer.

Like the candidate, I have a history of trying too hard to always have thins my way. It seems that together we are smarter, better, and more successful.