Mistakes in Hiring — Why Most Businesses Struggle with Hiring and What Leaders Need to Change to Get it Right

Every business reaches a point where more people are needed.

When this happens, most businesses follow the same path to get the help they need. They also get the exact same results. It ends up not working out, one way or another.

One of two things ends up happening.

➼ The Employee is Disappointing

➼ The Employee is Amazing… Until they Leave Shortly After

Why does this happen?

There are a few reasons that this consistently happens across businesses.

The Job is Not Defined Correctly

The first thing businesses do is create a job description with expectations.

The need for the employee is high, which leads to short-sighted decisions. A list is quickly compiled, it has all the things that are thought to be important to the job at the top of mind. Boom, it is sent out.

However, the mistake has already been made.

We don’t know exactly what this position REALLY does, and the “right” people that read the description and expectations know it, leaving only less-than-desirable options.

Employee Expectation is Wrong

The next problem that happens is something that is unwritten, literally.

We hire the new individual and go through the job description and expectations. Shortly into their tenure, everyone learns that there’s more to the job than originally thought, and the employee is expected to do that work as well. The list of expectations continues to grow and grow, with no end in sight.

This leads to employee overwhelm, plus increased stress, and ultimately they either don’t perform or they leave.

All the effort made into bringing in the employee now feels wasted.

Made for the Wrong Type of Employee

The third problem is that in the hiring process, we are searching for a specific type of employee.

The job is designed for the “ideal” person to be in this position. However, we quickly find that the “ideal” person doesn’t exist, or if they do then they have no interest in working for us. Every option available is not ideal, and no one can truly live up to it.

The problem isn’t the people, the problem is the type of employee we expect.

Instead of designing the job for the “ideal”, we should design the position to be doable by the lowest necessary level, but still qualified, employee.

The Goal of the Job is Misguided

The final blow for businesses is that the job has the wrong end goal.

As the job is designed, we think about what work needs to get done. Then, we put all of those jobs into the expectations. However, most of this work is useless, which leads to a job that is just “busy work”.

This ends up being the death of businesses in the long run — they become businesses of busy people, lacking results.

The jobs we design should be MORE than just work that needs to get done, it really needs to be work that is designed to help the organization stay in Group Flow states.

The highest-level organizations are fueled by teams that are all able to get into Flow States, where people feel their best and perform their best work. Every position is designed for a Flow State and that Flow State fuels other team members’ Flow States. This creates the fast-moving, high-performing, organizations we all desire.

The Hiring Plan Leaders Need

If you want to get the most out of your hiring, this is how you need to design your jobs:

➼ Understand the Full Requirements of the Job First

➼ Only Expect Employees to Do the Written Requirements, Nothing Else

➼ The Requirements Should be Doable by the Lowest Level, Qualified Employee

➼ The Requirements Should Fit Into a Group Flow Plan for the Entire Organization

With this understanding of how the job needs to be designed, you will find that the work gets done (often better than hoped due to the Flow State), better people will become attracted to your organization, and you will get the results that are necessary for success!

Here’s to your next amazing hire!