The Easiest Way Not to Fire is Not to Hire

By: Dr. Nels Lindberg, Production Animal Consultation

“As we look to hire, we look to hire based on three basic characteristics of a person: humble, hungry, and smart. We also look to hire on character, competency, and chemistry. We try to identify these characteristics through the interview process and through some excellent interview questions. In the end, it is up to us because a great person

We have all heard the analogy or the story about how we must get the right people on the bus, or taking it a step further, we must get the right people in the right seat on the bus. But all too often, in virtually all small business settings, not just in the agriculture space, we fail at that basic principle and smash down on the gas pedal of that bus before we even have people in the right seat of the bus.

We may even have the wrong people on the bus to begin with. In the agriculture space, we often are just flat short on help and we hire the first living, breathing, upright human being we can. We place them in a $250,000 piece of machinery on the first day, or we ask them to look over $7,000,000 worth of cattle on a daily basis. And to further complicate matters, we often do so without setting forth explicit, crystal clear daily expectations that will enable them to succeed at what they do. This creates massive failure that we have all likely seen more of than we would like to admit.

As we think about our failures in hiring, we think about all the “cancers”, gossips, and drama kings and queens we may have had, or the lazy deadbeats who have no passion or hunger for much of anything. Perhaps there is the go-getter that seems to have no patience and expects to receive the world and run the show in two years, or maybe in six months. As we think about all those failed hires, we reflect and ask ourselves how we can avoid making those same mistakes again. The key point is it is easier to not hire than it is to fire. The quicker we hire, the greater the chance we may have to fire or they quit sooner than expected.

The #1 key to the whole process is to take more time! It seems there is never enough time, but we can all think of a number of folks we wished we would have taken more time to hire. We always wait just long enough to make the hire that we often needed them not a week ago but six months ago! In the hiring process we must execute several “to-do list” items.

Most importantly, we must conduct multiple interviews, and if the position is at any leadership level, we must also conduct spousal interviews. The last thing we need is a crazy spouse involved in our business! A crazy spouse may not be physically present at work, but we all know they are present and somehow creating indirect drama. If we go on a dinner interview, our own spouse can often identify “crazy”, which is the goal!

Secondly, we want the prospective employee to come work with us for a few days at least, so we can “undress them and they can undress us”. Next, make sure to do your homework. Check this person out on Facebook, call all references, and ask others on the team if they know them and what they know about them. The power of social media today can allow us to find out just about as much as we want from a person’s Facebook page.

Lastly, as we look for potential hires, pay your current team members if they recommend someone and they are a good hire. At Animal Medical Center, we currently pay our people $250 for a hire. Referrals are a great method because if your culture is good, your team will not want to bring in crazy, drama or drunk.

As we look to hire, we look to hire based on three basic characteristics of a person: humble, hungry, and smart. We also look to hire on character, competency, and chemistry. We try to identify these characteristics through the interview process and through some excellent interview questions. In the end, it is up to us because a great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together.

If we hire for talent and not team, we will lose more. We want to identify rockstars and get them on our team. We want to be a magnet for people better than us.

People are not your most important asset; the right people are your most important asset. It takes extreme discipline and stoic resolve to get the right people on the bus and in the right seat on the bus before you smash that pedal down and drive it.

Next time, we can visit on ways to get people in the door to interview since we often struggle with just having enough labor!