One of the many ways to build a lucrative business is to make intelligent hiring decisions. Sometimes you come across a brilliant candidate, one who is more knowledgeable and probably has a more varied experience than you. Should you hire them? Absolutely.
A Team Is Like an Orchestra
Building a successful team is like pulling together an orchestra. If all the instruments used are solely violins or trumpets, then that orchestra would not be complete, nor would it function correctly or be competitive enough to rival others in the same space. An orchestra can only be created when different instruments work together in harmony. In the middle of it is the maestro. The conductor is the individual who leads and guides each and every component of that orchestra. Of course, just like with this particular business decision, it is not necessary for the leader to know how to play every instrument at an expert level.
What’s important is that the leader has the overall expertise and with the best and most diverse team and he or she has the tools needed to deliver a beautiful symphony of different melodies and not just a one-tone beat.
The manager is that maestro. Coaxing each member of the team to work together to achieve a common goal. Like the maestro, a business owner or manager does not need to know how to do each of the team members’ jobs. It is sufficient that they have a vision of what needs to be delivered and can lead the team under one common sense of purpose.
Hiring in Your Own Image
It is not always easy for a hiring manager to set aside ego and fear. It takes great strength of character for a manager to acknowledge any shortcomings or lack of skills. Managing someone more brilliant than you can be difficult. It is easier to take the route of hiring someone similar or of no threat to you.
Humans are tribal creatures. It is always more comfortable to congregate with those who have the same attitudes, interests, and outlook. Even the most experienced managers will have unconscious bias and will be tempted to hire in their own image. “It will be great,” the manager may think. “Everyone will all get along.” What will happen is the group will be a homogenous entity, having the same thoughts, same ideas, and providing the same solutions to challenges which will not help the team or the company to grow.
Dee Hock, founder of Visa, once said “It is foolish to replicate your strength and idiotic to replicate your weakness.” Hiring employees similar to you means you are not plugging up skills-gap present in your team. Even worse, it will only amplify the skills the team is lacking.
Diversity Strengthens the Team
Hock went on to advise that managers should be encouraged to hire employees with ideas and thoughts different from their own. They would have complementary skills, which can benefit the company and the team as a whole. A recent report from McKinsey confirms that diverse teams are likely to deliver 35 percent better results. A diverse team also tend to be stronger and better able to deal with any challenges thrown at them.
To create this culture of success, companies should explore people management practices which allow greater inclusion. However, leading a diverse team can be demanding. It takes great courage, wisdom, tolerance, and understanding to guide those differing perspectives while encouraging them to fully utilize their strengths. Managers need to be supported to do this as well.
Going from Strength to Strength
There is no excuse to shy away from hiring someone more brilliant than you. It is golden opportunity to learn from someone with a different perspective. It is definitely an avenue to shake things up and create new thoughts and ways of doing things. If a manager treats this as a chance to grow, as a potential opportunity to increase their skills and understanding, there is nothing to fear!