People

Get the right person in the right role

Get the right people in the right roles and business growth will follow

One thing I have learnt in my many years in business is that success is all about the people. Hire the right people, place them in the role in which they will flourish, and growth will surely follow.

Too often I see the opposite. I see people asked to fulfil a role for which they are not suitable, or unsuitable people being hired in the first instance.

Hire the right people

It all starts with the initial hire. Get that right and you are on the way. Get it wrong and you will feel the toxic effect on the team and the culture. Maybe not at the start, but its ugly head will surface at some point.

What is the “right” person

A good hire starts by finding individuals that are a good cultural fit. “Right” in this context means hiring a person that does things in a way that fits in with your culture, without even thinking. It’s in their very DNA. They almost can’t help themselves. It’s instinctive. A good cultural fit is the start point.

What is culture

A suitable definition is – the way we do things around here. A question to ask is this – Is the culture within your business one of helpfulness, going the extra mile, smiling, supportive, sharing, learning, willing to try, can do attitude, caring. Or is it the opposite. Or even not in this list. How would you describe your company’s culture?

So long as you can condense your culture into one or two words then you can hire to fit your unique definition.

Hire the right people
Get your people in the right structure

Where will they fit in the team structure

Create an organisation chart to determine where they fit in the company structure. It will determine who their line manager is, the escalation direction and who their peers are.

Knowing where they sit in the overall company structure will maximise their engagement with your company’s goals and encourage an intra-dependent mind set with other departments and individuals with minimal management oversight or supervision. They will know they are part of the team.

Personality traits

The second consideration when hiring is what sort of a person are they and do they possess the specific traits needed to carry out their role. DISC Personality Assessments or similar are a helpful guide to revealing the inner drives and avoidances for each individual. The personality needed for doing detailed, forensic data analysis is different to be a customer facing sales person. They both could do any job but would be better suited if the role matches their personality.

Determine their personality traits - DISC
Write the Job Description

Job description

Having sorted out the culture and the personality, the next step is to craft the job description. There are many templates available on the internet. Choose one that is as simple as possible and complex as necessary.