We all want to create a safe workplace for our teams, however, sometimes we find ourselves at the mercy of the team itself. We have to learn how we can appropriately set boundaries with our team that inspire them to bring their best self to work. That might sound like some ninja move, but it’s actually far easier than most people think. To be fair, these are some ninja moves. They are just easy ninja moves. And once you learn them you can negotiate agreements that create win-win-wins in the workplace from the very first interview.
Sit in the shoes of the other parties
If you want to understand the motivation behind behaviors it’s important to take the time to sit in the shoes of the people who are being affected by the situation. This isn’t an exercise where you imagine what they might be thinking during the interview. Instead, take the time to imagine being in their shoes, with their tools, with their skills and with their competence and in that situation. From here, we can find a place of empathy for their position and see what things are important to them. To negotiate win-win-wins it’s important to understand what’s important to everyone, including the candidate. And sometimes, it isn’t as simple as asking someone what they want because sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know.
When I hire new team members, I understand that looking for a new position is a process that can include a lot of rejection. I expect the candidate to come to the table with some wounding from their prior experiences, whether it was a bad interview or exposure to a toxic environment. And to be honest, mostly I just notice that there is a lot of acting going on. The boss is putting on a show of either making it look incredibly difficult to get the job or trying to woo the candidate into thinking it’s the best place on Earth to work. And the candidate is there trying to evaluate whether or not it’s a fit while making sure they measure up to get the offer, even if they realize they don’t really want it. I’ve been on both sides of this experience and it is an inefficient way to hire the best talent. Frankly, the best talent snuffs that out quickly and moves on.
When I have a strong candidate I know that what I want is to be on the receiving end of a fantastic offer. An offer I could call home about. That’s why when I negotiate salaries with new hires, I ask them frankly what they are looking for and then I offer them more than they expect. This shows that I honor that they have financial needs and demonstrates that I don’t want them living at their minimum. Instead, I want them to be financially abundant and feeling expansion. I want them to be excited about coming to the company and feel valued. In every case, my offers are met with smiles of gratitude and have never been turned down. I understand that I’m playing a role in showing them the value of their potential to the organization and I’m making a financial commitment to honor that value while they work with me.
Setting standards for the quality of work
Performance varies amongst team members. Every team has A-players, B-players and C-players. The key for leadership is to inspire their C-players to become A-players. Whenever I see a performance issue it’s almost always a situation of having a person in the wrong seat. This produces C-players. When you take a C-player and you put them in the right seat, they almost miraculously become an A-player overnight. However, you need to be able to recognize who’s who and what seats are best for them. This requires an ability to evaluate performance on a quality scale that is fair and accurate.
I find it best to negotiate an agreement on the quality of work we expect during the interview process. I include a specific practical exercise that demonstrates the skills and experience required to do the job I’m hiring for. Then I provide them with two project parameters; the exercise must be completed in 2 hours and include their best work. They submit their project, I review it with them and provide feedback, then they edit and send in the final draft. This two-part process allows me to determine the quality of the work they can produce with a finite timeline. And I get the opportunity to see how they receive and apply my feedback. Or the candidate opts out and isn’t willing to put forth the effort it takes to get hired. Either way, I learn something important. They are making an agreement that they will put forth their best effort in a reasonable timeline and I am making an agreement to provide them with a reasonable amount of work for that timeline and feedback to help them grow their skills even further.
Setting the bar for how people will be treated in the organization
Every person brings a suitcase of baggage from their previous employers into a new organization. It’s an inevitable part of transition. An unspoken agreement that starts in the hiring process is how people will be treated. For example, the tone and tenor of how people speak to the candidate in the hiring process can set the stage for whether or not they feel comfortable or pressured in the work environment. This is something that can’t be planned, it just is. If you are stressed, overworked and running late to the interview only to show up out of breath, it doesn’t go unnoticed. This is the beginning of an agreement. If the candidate proceeds with the interview process, they are saying that they agree to a working environment that includes people being stressed and overworked. This can be an easy no from candidates on the outside.
When I’m interviewing someone I take 15 minutes before the interview to re-read their resume, go over their work samples and prepare a list of questions relevant to their experience. Then when they arrive I ensure I take a deep breath and thank them for taking the time to speak with me. This role reversal of thanking them flips the script and I’ve noticed helps eliminate the early interview jitters. I then ask them how they are feeling today. This often opens a conversation about the anxiousness or excitement they felt about the interview, which allows me to follow up simply with, tell me more about that. Within the first 15 minutes of the interview, I’ve either established a relationship with the candidate and feel like it’s worth our time to pursue it further, or I haven’t. In either case, I’m honest about how I feel they compare to other candidates, give them immediate feedback on how they did and what our next steps are. By doing this I demonstrate that they have value in this process and that transparency is an important value in our organization.
The culture of your organization starts with the first interview. Who you bring onto the team is the most important decision you will make. So start out on a strong foundation and negotiate win-win-win agreements that establish the bar for how you negotiate agreements, the quality of work and how people will be treated in your organization from the beginning. Also be cognizant of where your organization is and where you want it to go. If you’re trying to bring in hires for culture transformation, actually be ready to deal with the fallout of that transformation. If you’re looking to bring in talent that can effortlessly integrate into your team, make sure you take the time to work with them on a small project during the interview process. By seeing how you work together you can get a sense of how they will work through the rest of the team. When you start a new hire off with a win-win-win agreement you create the environment for them to be successful in their first 90 days and beyond.
