Stop Recruiting for Rockstars: The Skills You Really Want to Hire For, and Why

In the race for talent and growth, it can feel urgent to find “rockstar” employees that will 10x your business. But are we all falling prey to 100-year old assumptions when we set out to recruit? Some of the most essential skills needed in modern companies are overlooked, undervalued, and not listed on the job ads we all see. This talk will explain how you can change your hiring approach to target those overlooked skills, gaining a competitive edge in the hiring market that will help you hire faster, retain more team members and get stuff done

Transcript

1. v alla STOP RECRUITING FOR ROCKSTARS The skills you really need, and why
2. v alla HOWDY , I’M DANAE! Developer UX designer Marketer Co-founder
3. v alla “ROCKSTAR”
4. v alla “10x” “world class”
5. v alla WE’RE HIRING IN THE WRONG CONTEXT .
6. v alla “Right now, your company has 21st- century business processes built atop 19th-century management principles.” -Gary Hamel, The Future Of Work
7. v alla
8. v alla SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT - “TAYLORISM” • Replace “common sense” approach with analysing tasks for maximum efficiency • Divide work between managers and workers - managers plan, workers work • Match workers jobs with their capacity and motivation • Measure every action of the worker’s performance and reward high performers
9. v alla “For each job there is the quickest time in which it can be done by a first-class man” -Frederick Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management
10. v alla
11. v alla “first class” “10x” “world class” “unicorn” “rockstar”
12. v alla “The tenacity and ambition to never settle” “hyper-logical and technical” “Driven, energetic, aggressive” “Profound Experience in building loyalty” “natural hustle and drive”
13. v alla SO WHAT HAS CHANGED?
14. v alla VUCA
15. v alla VOLATILITY UNCERTAINTY COMPLEXITY AMBIGUITY
16. v alla THE ONLY W AY TO SUCCEED IN A VUCA CONTEXT IS TO INNOVATE
17. v alla 1. Vulnerability 2. Problem-seeking 3. Consistency 4. Context-setting 5. Comfort with uncertainty VUCA-FRIENDLY SKILLS TO HIRE FOR
18. v alla PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY The essential ingredient for high-performing, innovative teams
19. v alla CONFIDENCE VS.
 VULNERABILITY
20. v alla WHAT DOES GOOD VULNERABILITY LOOK LIKE? Someone who says “I made a mistake” Someone who says “I don’t know” A leader who ask their team to poke holes in their plan/strategy A leader who thanks their team for offering tough feedback
21. v alla INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO FIND VULNERABILITY "Tell me about a big failure you’ve had” "Tell me about the person most different from you in your team” Give them some feedback!
22. v alla PROBLEM SOLVING VS.
 PROBLEM SEEKING
23. v alla WHAT DOES GOOD PROBLEM- SEEKING LOOK LIKE? A manager who has regular 1-1s and asks “how’s that project going?” to scan for problems A team member that raises issues regularly, even when it’s awkward A team that keeps a risk log and prioritises time to head off the biggest risks
24. v alla INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO FIND PROBLEM-SEEKERS Explain your business / technical model and see if they start searching for issues “How often are your 1-1s?” “What do you typically talk about in a 1-1 with your line reports?” “When a project is complete, do you run a retrospective? What do you cover?”
25. v alla DYNAMIC VS.
 CONSISTENT
26. v alla WHAT DOES GOOD CONSISTENCY LOOK LIKE? A manager who actually shows up to regular 1-1s A leadership team that prioritises company ceremony time A team member who always collates and 
 issues information in a crisis A team member described as 
 “reliable,” or “a rock” A team member who can regulate their own reactions
27. v alla INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO FIND CONSISTENCY “How often are your 1-1s?” “Tell me about the last major crisis that happened in your team — what did you do?”
28. v alla Outcomes Plans Actions Knowledge Gap Alignment Gap Effects Gap
29. v alla VISION VS.
 CONTEXT -SETTING
30. v alla WHAT DOES GOOD CONTEXT SETTING LOOK LIKE? An engineer in Sprint Demos who always says why they’re building a feature before showing it Leaders who say things like “this is normal, let me tell you why” during a difficult time A team member who always looks for frameworks and analogues in other industries to tackle a problem Team members who ask for a better “why” before starting their work
31. v alla INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO FIND GOOD CONTEXT -SETTING Look for a great covering letter that sets context Listen for “because” “Tell me why your latest project was important for the company/industry”
32. v alla CERTAINTY VS.
 UNCERTAINTY
33. v alla WHAT DOES COMFORT WITH UNCERTAINTY LOOK LIKE? Leaders who don’t go into analysis paralysis Team members who keep things simple Team members who push back on big, complicated plans
34. v alla 1. Vulnerability 2. Problem-seeking 3. Consistency 4. Context-setting 5. Comfort with uncertainty VUCA-FRIENDLY SKILLS TO HIRE FOR
35. v alla 1. LOOK AT YOUR EXISTING TEAM!
36. v alla UNDER-APPRECIATED TALENTS TO W ATCH FOR IN YOUR TEAM The Awkward Questioner The Retro Bore The Old Faithful The Broken Record The Emotional Barometer The Human Glue
37. v alla 2. GOOD HIRING IS NOTHING WITHOUT GOOD MANAGEMENT
38. v alla YOUR VUCA MANAGEMENT READING LIST FOR OVERALL MANAGEMENT FOR OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT FOR 
 TEAM MANAGEMENT FOR 
 PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT
39. v alla
40. v alla THANK YOU! @danaeshell Follow for slides and more info!