Great Teams, Great People
U2’s — I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For off of their album entitled The Joshua Tree is a song with many meanings. While most people gravitate towards the uplifting spiritual message of the song the basic lyric when applied to the practice of hiring can be a real downer.
A few years back I had the opportunity to work with a really great HR consultant out of San Diego named Nanci Porter. She turned me onto a great book by Geoff Smart and Randy Street named WHO.
There are lots of useful tools in the book but one key takeaway I’d like to talk about today is the Scorecard.
To me the same strategies that we use when trying to hire great people are the same strategies we should be using when trying to hire a great service provider. Both types of hires are critical to an organization’s success.
At its most basic level the scorecard is designed to help you find what you’re looking for. It asks you to define three main things about your hire. Mission, Outcomes and Competencies.
With scorecard in hand you’ll be able to interview for a service provider that matches what you’re looking for — who can then solve the problems that you need solved.
Netflix has long been known for using a very similar approach to hiring wherein they identify a goal that the company wants to reach and then hire a person capable of achieving that goal.
So many people look at IT companies as a necessary evil. They demonize technology and downgrade their interaction with the tech in their business. IT becomes regulated to a service provider you only call when you need. Much like the plumber you call when the drain gets plugged.
Bad hires are a waste of time and money. Bad decisions also waste time and money. So if you’re in the market for a new IT company: write down the mission that will be assigned, the outcomes you expect, and the competencies they should possess before you start looking.
I wish you the best of luck and landing a great IT company. If you need some help in drafting a scorecard or have any questions on hiring an IT company email me and I’ll be happy to help.
Referenced article:
https://hbr.org/2014/01/how-netflix-reinvented-hr
