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Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Hire on... Fire on...

I was talking with a mentor of mine the other day, brainstorming for a new position I'm designing.  I shared my draft position description with her and she said, "This looks great, but these are all things you'll hire on.  What are the things you'll fire on?"

When I looked puzzled, she explained that people tend to get caught up in experience, previous positions held,  and things like that.  Those are the things they tend to "hire on."

When people choose to fire someone, it's not so much about the what they do, but how they do it.  This is often referred to as "fit," or "cultural qualities" -- and those are the things you "fire on."

She helped me brainstorm a list of things to test for during the hiring process, such as:

  • Calm and steady demeanor under pressure
  • Intuitive with good listening skills
  • Comfort in ambiguous situtations
  • Balance of "task" and "people" management skills
  • Honesty / integrity
  • and so on...

I knew some of this stuff intuitively, but now that I've articulated the things I'm looking for, I've designed some questioning strategies to help determine whether my candidates meet these criteria.

So once you know what you'll hire on, figure out what you'd fire on and take some actions to minimize the chance you'll have to fire at all.

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Sluuurp...

Steve Pavlina's rockin' the house on his blog this week.  Check out today's post on self-discipline - bring your thirst for learning, and drink up!

My favorite line: 

"But eventually I faced the reality that trying to wait out my life wasn’t working. If I was going to get anywhere, I was going to have to do something about it. And initially this meant tackling a lot of difficult challenges, but I overcame them and grew a lot stronger in a short period of time."

That, my friends, is what it's all about.

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None of us is as good as all of us

Rosa has some big mojo going on at Talking Story in a recent post. As I interpret it, she's talking about the value of community over content.

The content on Talking Story is fabulous, but the community makes it profound. I'm proud to be a formal part of the Talking Story community - but it's not some kind of secret society- all are welcome, and it's all about the learning.  Stop by and check it out.

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Practice: The key to "Practice what you preach"

Christopher Bailey really hit home with a post on his "Alchemy of Soulful Work" blog this week. Like me, he was recently reminded that the answers to his questions could be found in his own previous blog posts. And, like me, he sometimes feels not-so-genuine in offering thoughts on what people should be doing when he hasn't mastered the techniques himself.

This reminds me of something I've heard in various forms over the years: It's not about whether you fall down - it's how quickly you get back up.

No matter how good we get at something, there is always room for improvement. As David Allen says, "The better you get, the better you'd get."

If we all waited until we were perfect at something every time before we shared what we've learned, we'd never share. And that would be a shame, wouldn't it? So keep practicing - and keep sharing, Christopher. Your tidbits of advice could be just the thing someone else needs to improve.

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It's all about you, isn't it?

I got some great advice and commentary on my last post about the accidental commitment. In case you don't read the comments and trackbacks, here's how I'd roll them all up:

  • Own your commitments and only make promises you can keep;
  • Once you make the commitment, keep your word by following through and delivering;
  • If you realize you've screwed up by making a commitment you shouldn't have made, come clean right away and do something to renegotiate or cancel the commitment.
  • Don't feel guilty, as we all make mistakes. It's what we do about the mistakes that makes us who we are.

It all came crashing together when a friend of mine reminded me that I had the answers all along, and I've even blogged on them. Which, of course, means I wasn't using the skills I already have very effectively - gee, ever done that before?

Develop the habit of taking a moment to think before committing, and then putting yourself in a position to own the commitment. When you make a mistake, analyze it and take steps to keep it from happening again. That is a lot like what I talked about in "Pretend you create everything that happens to you."

When you find yourself in the midst of an accidental commitment, you need to fix it by "Taking responsibility for your own well being."

It's hard to argue with your own advice. And sometimes, it's even harder to take that advice.

Rosa hits the nail on the head in her response, "Let's be honest":

"...what compounds the situation is that we don't admit to making the mistake as soon as we catch it. Instead, we let it play out the best that we can manage, and the person we made the commitment to is likely to get a mediocre result. We disappoint ourselves in the process too, because we know we are capable of better.

"As usual, honesty is the best policy, and the sooner the better. It is so much easier to deal with truthfulness that is out in the open versus those hidden lies of omission."

Sincere thanks to everyone who chimed in on this one!

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