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Transcript
As entrepreneurs or business owners, we start off doing all the work ourselves. We’re doing everything. We’re putting the hours in and the time in.
And once our business starts to grow and we can hire someone, it can be such a big relief. We finally can pass on something to somebody else so we can focus on what we find most important or so that we have more time for ourselves.
The danger is that there’s certain mistakes that we could be making when we hire that ends up hurting us more than it helps. And then we end up having to spend more time and money fixing those issues than if we hired right.
We’re going to talk about seven mistakes you may make when you’re hiring, whether it’s your first one or your hundredth employee, and what to do instead.
1. Not being clear about what you want
The first mistake that happens, especially when you’re new, but it definitely happens even after the thousandth employee, is that you’re not clear about what you want. Sometimes you say, “I want someone to help me with the business,” but you’re not sure exactly what you want them to do.
Do you want them to do bookkeeping? Do you want them to help you with your socials? Do you want them to help with the marketing? Whatever it may be, you need to know what you want them to do.
Otherwise, when you’re hiring, you may hire someone that you really don’t need. Just saying, “I want someone to help me with everything” is not helpful. You need to know specifically what it is that you are wanting to hire for.
Think about the roles you might have in your business. What role are they taking over? What tasks will they be taking from you?
You can also think about the things that you do well in and that you don’t do well in. Think about the things that energize you and the things that drain you. Think about what’s important that only you can do and the things that others can do that you don’t have to do. What one thing if someone took over would be the biggest relief to you?
Those are some of the questions you can ask to help you determine what it is that you’re trying to hire for so that you can be specific to make sure you get the right person for the tasks that you want fulfilled.
2. Hiring too fast
A second mistake that we can make is that we hire too fast. We’re finally positioned, we can hire and we are stressed, we might be overwhelmed, or we’re just so busy we just want to get the process done. We want to get someone hired, get them into position and just get going.
And that’s completely understandable. However, as I found out myself, when you hire too fast, you can end up hiring the wrong people. And then when you hire the wrong people, the whole process of having to deal with that and moving forward can cost you a lot when it comes to money and time, even more frustration than if you took the time in the beginning to get it right.
Make sure you take the time to make sure the person you’re hiring is going to be a right fit so you don’t have to end up wasting time later trying to fix the wrong fit.
3. Trusting your gut
The third mistake that business owners and entrepreneurs and leaders of all kinds make is that they trust their gut. They think that they can tell their intuition who’s going to be good and who isn’t just by meeting them or seeing the person.
Unfortunately, studies have shown that’s just not true. We may think we get a good impression, but the impression we get may not be the right.
Some ideas that can help you make a better decision include making sure you check the references and the references from the references so you can get people who are not as biased toward the person possibly.
If you have more than one person in your company already, you could get more than one person to interview them. If you have a secretary or someone like that, that could also be key to find out what kind of person that is, how they talk to and treat the secretary. You could also do things that are less formal, such as walking the person to their car and talking to them or taking them out to eat.
Things of that nature can let you see a different perspective of the person, and they may be unguarded and reveal things about themselves that you wouldn’t have seen in a formal interview.
4. Not setting clear expectations
Fourth, and related to the first one, is that once someone is hired, we don’t set clear expectations of what we expect from the person. We might just say, “Hey, just go do our social media.” “Hey, do the marketing.”
But that’s not really specific. And what happens if we’re not specific about it, if we don’t set clear expectations? Then what you think they’re going to do will be different than what they do because assumptions are different.
What you assume is meant by a certain thing, they see something differently. They come from a different background, they have a different viewpoint, and what you get may not be what you want.
You want to be careful about your assumptions and making sure you’re setting clear expectations of what you want.
Now, I’m not talking about micromanaging, I’m talking about saying this is the outcome we’re looking for and this is what I’m expecting but also realize assumptions are going to happen.
What you say and what you’re thinking may be different than they hear. And that’s going to happen sometimes. Don’t get upset at them. Just keep looking at yourself, how you can make better expectations each time.
Now, when you’re hiring your first person, you may not be completely sure what expectations should be, especially in areas you don’t know very well. And that’s okay. You can tell them that things may change over time and ask them to help you set good expectations and just work on it as you go.
But whatever you do, do the best you can to set as clear expectations as you can so that you get the results you want the most.
5. Abdicating responsibility
A fifth mistake that business owners and entrepreneurs often make is that they abdicate when they delegate. You hire someone, they go into your social media, they do your bookkeeping, whatever it may be, and you go, “Yes, finally, I’m free. I can focus on something else.”
And then you advocate responsibility for that. You don’t pay attention. You don’t look. You don’t do anything to check on it.
That can be dangerous. Especially if it’s for something like finances. Even though you delegate, you’re still responsible for the results. You still want to check in to see how things are going. You want to know where things stand and make sure people are doing them right and doing it well. Don’t just release it completely.
You don’t have to do the work anymore, but you still need to have time to check in with the people and check the progress and make sure the outcomes are what you want them to be.
6. Micromanaging
Mistake number six, instead of advocating, a mistake that some make is they start to micromanage. They try to make people do it exactly how they want it done, every step of the way, piece by piece by piece. And this of course is very frustrating to the employee because the way the owner may want it done is different than how they would do it.
You see, it’s not about the process you take to get to the outcome. At least in most cases, sometimes there are certain things that have to be done. But in general, it’s about the outcome, not how they get there. Sometimes leaders, they don’t trust their employees to do it right, or they think their way is the best way and the only way, so they try to control everything people do to make sure it’s done right. That’s ineffective, and that’s demotivating, and it wastes your time from things you should be doing instead.
What you should do is just as we talked about before, set clear expectations, set what the outcomes could look like. If there are certain things that need to happen, let them know this needs to happen, like this process needs to be recorded or whatever it may be, and then release them to do it. Over time, make sure to check with them to see how things are going.
But your job is not to control every aspect of what they do, but to set clear expectations and outcomes that they can follow.
7. Assuming people have the same passion as we do
Mistake number seven is that as business owners, entrepreneurs, we can sometimes think that people will have the same passion as we do about our business.
I mean, this is our business. This is what we’re investing our time in. This is what we love and we think when we hire someone, they’re going to have the same passion for the business.
Often though, they don’t. To them, it’s a job. Now it’s a job they may come to love and be passionate about, but it’s not likely they will be as passionate about it as you.
So be careful when it comes to expectations of how you think they will be about the business. They aren’t going to be as passionate as you are about it.
