Hiring for Values: Keep the Invaders Out

On the left, Red Pines reaching for the sky... on the right: Buckthorn choking out a Red Pine

(Reflections on leadership from a technology executive now living at the edge of a forest with a bit more time to think.)

I was recently talking with a successful entrepreneur about the difficulties of getting the right people on his team. I suggested that he consider 3 layers of compatibility when evaluating a prospect:

1. Values (deeply held personal beliefs that guide your actions)

2. Work Habits (collaboration, attention to detail, punctuality, social awareness...)

3. Skills (coding, testing, training, project management...)

To find a real "A" player, all 3 layers have to align. Work Habits and Skills, have room to develop through coaching and training. Values, on the other hand, have the most impact on the effectiveness of your team and the lowest range for change. That's why you start with values.

It is important that founders and entrepreneurs take the time to define the values of their company as early as possible. This does not have to be a long and drawn-out process. It's a matter of identifying the 5 (usually a good number) attributes that your company "will value above all". These are the non-negotiables. This is setting the DNA. Here are some examples of values: Integrity, Transparency, Simplicity, Curiosity, Innovation, Customer First, Quality, Courage, Humility, Teamwork, Community. There are lots of great lists that can get the discussion started.

I think most founders realize that setting values is an important step, but does it really have to happen at the beginning? Isn't this something that you can fill in later? The problem with delaying this step is that some of your earliest hires may end up being key players in the future. It becomes very difficult to bring values in line after the fact. Consider Uber.

Here is a quick lesson from nature. In our forest we have a plantation of red pines. In the midst of these beautiful, native trees there is an invasive species called buckthorn. There is nothing inherently wrong with buckthorn trees, except that they don't belong here (they come from the UK). And once the invader is in, it grows faster and competes better than native plants and it is difficult to dislodge. In the same way, people who have different values than your company are not inherently horrible people. They just don't belong at your company. And if they get in, they have a way of multiplying by attracting others and chasing away team-members who do share the company's values. Everyone wins when values are tested and aligned from the outset.

So how do you do it? Once your company values are identified and defined, they need to be woven into the hiring process. It means that everyone interviewing a prospect needs to be asking questions and keenly observant of how the candidate aligns to the values. In the past, I would be prepared with specific interview questions that would draw out behaviours associated with our values. For example: Integrity was one of our values, but I wouldn't ask "Do you believe in Integrity?" (most people do). I would ask, "Can you think of times in your career when you had to make a courageous decision to keep your integrity?" This forces a discussion of actions and your actions are the outward display of your values.

Back to my discussion with the entrepreneur: my recommendation is to firm up his company's values with more precision and use that as the starting point to filter prospects. His particular business needs strong work habits, but has a relatively trainable skill-set. So he might take a chance on a candidate who has a bit of a skills gap.

As a general rule, "A" players will be rock solid on all 3 levels. Good prospects will be solid on values and need some development on one of the other elements. The others should not be on your team. Nobody said it was easy.