How to Select Better Talent: The Key is Chemistry

Do you need help selecting the right people?

Are you struggling to land the best people you can for the best position possible? Are you finding it difficult to determine if a candidate really will work well for you and with you. People selection is one of the most critical and difficult tasks for any leader on any team or in any organization. There is a war for talent and this clouds and confuses the talent selection process because there is more pressure to make the right selection than ever before. 

The Challenge  

Let’s assume you and your HR team have done your home work and you are looking at multiple candidates that are all qualified. You are debating with your team and with your self about if and who would be the “right” fit for the position. Let’s further assume you’ve hired or promoted some people in the past that either didn’t work or were just complete disasters. This fact is putting extra pressure on you to really get this selection right.

The Chemistry of Selecting People 

Selecting people is like chemistry. Electing people is like politics. Both can be explosive. But chemistry is more predictable. Think of your selecting like chemistry. In chemistry, you don’t just pour a bunch of random chemicals into a beaker and hope for the best. If you do that you will create a potential poison gas or an explosion. Rather, you select chemicals that will react well and compliment one another. This is predictable. There is an art and a science to selecting people. Get in your mind that hiring and promoting people is a selection, not an election.

The Tool: Chemistry Checklist

I have developed a quick checklist when I get down to the final decision that will help you decide if the chemistry clicks. When you get down to the end of the process, review these things to make sure you are not going to mess up the chemistry in your organization. It, literally, just takes the wrong element at the wrong time to bring instability and tension to your chemistry.  These four elements were actually from a series of conversations that I had with my brother who is a very successful senior manager of a large corporation. He and I are in different organizations, but are really both in the talent acquisition business. Those who excel in talent acquisition are good at people chemistry.

Chemistry that Clicks Checklist:

#1 – Led: (A willing follower) The first thing I am going to examine is whether or not I believe that this candidate has a willingness to be led by me, the immediate supervisor and the organization.

Ask yourself, “Will this person follow me? Does this person have a willingness to be led?” 

If a candidate comes in to exert their efficiency, expertise or knowledge, then I can expect chemistry concerns from the very beginning. A person that can be led is potentially a person that can lead. People that don’t follow don’t belong in your organization. Everyone is led by someone. In your final selection process make a determination whether or not you believe this person can be led by you. I’m not suggesting you are looking for unmotivated, uninspired people (that should have already been determined or you shouldn’t be to this point). I’m suggesting you examine the motivations of the candidates ticker. What makes them tick? What drives them?

A person that can be led by you can be fed by you. This is a key component in developing people in your organization.

#2 – Listen: (A good listener) The next element of chemistry I am looking for is to discern how good a listener this candidate is. People who are poor listeners typically are good talkers. Good talkers need to be heard. Beware of a need to be heard. You should have already determined that this person has been able to communicate their ability and you believe them. Ask them questions to asses their ability to listen.

Ask yourself, “Is this person someone I can see really listening to me?” 

Good listeners make good learners. It’s impossible to listen if you are distracted or doing all the talking. Beware of people that “don’t come up for air” when they are speaking. Basically, these people have not learned to read the person (in this case you) that they are communicating with. Poor listeners are often poor people readers. Poor listeners often have very poor emotional intelligence. Good chemistry always has a basis of good communication.

#3 – Loyalty: (A strong bonder) The longer I work with people, the more I have learned how valuable and irreplaceable loyalty really is for an organization or a relationship. Loyal people are harder and harder to come by. I think, however, there is some confusion as to what loyalty really is. To be loyal is to be faithful. This is a deeper understanding of loyalty. Loyalty is where integrity meets faithfulness. Faithful people are loyal people.

Ask yourself, “Do I see this candidate as someone who will be loyal to me and my team? Will this person stay on my team or become a team of their own?” 

In an age where commitment is at an all time low, uncommitted and unfaithful people mess your chemistry up. Why? Because disloyal people are inconsistent. Inconsistency causes those in the organization or in the team to question both the motivation and the sincerity of the individual. Inconsistency causes instability. Loyal people bring stability to the team. Loyalty is an element in a selection that will actually help bond your relationship, team or organization together. Strong bonds make for strong teams. Loyalty makes good glue in people chemistry.

#4 – Like-ability: (a good friend) This is the simplest one of all the elements. This comes from your heart to their heart. You, as a person, not the boss, not the leader, not the manager, just you, are wondering if you really like this person or not. I have found that if I am going to select people, I don’t want to have to convince myself that I like them. I don’t want to change my own chemistry to get their element to fit with my chemistry. Remember, you are in the position in your team or organization for a reason and you were there first. You are a leader for a reason. Leaders must protect the chemistry. This means, you get the first right of refusal. Sometimes, you just don’t “like” the candidate more than you like the one you just met with. This is fine. Don’t talk yourself into liking a candidate, this almost never works. If something in you doesn’t connect with something in them, then move on because you are in danger of messing up your chemistry.

Ask yourself, “Do I connect this person? Do I like this person? Will I like them more or less in the next couple of months than I do now?” 

I write this from more than 20 years experience of selecting people. Sometimes, you can’t explain it. You look at the candidate, you look at their resume and everything looks good, but you just don’t connect with them on any level or more importantly on the deepest levels. Don’t make yourself connect with them. You are a human. Most likely, if you’ve read this far in this article, you work with other humans. Not all humans like each other. Some chemicals react negatively with other chemicals, just like some people react negatively with other people. That’s okay. Don’t bring people into your sphere of influence if the chemistry doesn’t click from the beginning. Remember, in this discussion, they have already been proven to be qualified, so you aren’t trying to make an unqualified person fit into a position they aren’t qualified for.

Here’s why like-abilty is so important to you as the selector: you will be more patient, more forgiving and more understanding of the growth and development or the mistakes of a person that you like than one you don’t like. 

To like in chemistry literally means to attract, to draw together or agreeable. It’s like a good meal or a bad meal. A good meal reacts well with your body chemistry and you are relaxed and satisfied. A bad meal reacts poorly with your body chemistry and upsets your stomach.

Conclusion:

Think about your organization, your team as a chemistry lab. You have lots of elements present, but not all of them will mix well together. Your job as the professor in this lab is to match the elements well. When the chemistry in your organization or team is matched well you can expect peace, greater results and greater efficiency.

The right people for you will have a chemistry that meshes well with what is already existing (unless you are trying to change the chemistry, but that will have to be an article for another day!). The right people will be led, will listen, will be loyal and you will like them.

Get the Chemistry Right and You will Start Getting the Right Results! 

Chemistry that Clicks Checklist:

1-  will be Led – This person is a willing follower 

2- will Listen – This person is a good listener 

3- will be Loyal – This person is a faithful companion 

4- I will Like them – This person is an agreeable friend 

 

 

 

(c) 2016. Redwall Leadership Academy