The most difficult challenge in the technology industry is finding good employees. We have an ever-growing need for people with technical skills, the ability to work effectively in a team, and an ambassador of our company.
These requirements have a weird effect on hiring managers. They are getting intimidated by the people they interview for these roles. What would happen is that the people you interview is better than you? He or she can be better than you, more commercially skilled, more technically experienced, and (worst of all) a more likable person. The feedback we give is: “Sorry, this person is too experienced for us”. For the past years, you have been working extremely hard to gain knowledge and experience to show your management and peers that you are the best person for this job. And now, you let your ego get in the way of the hiring process. The result is a team of under-performing, mediocre people.
It takes guts to hire someone who is better than you.
An average manager will tend to hire people who are the same as they are or preferably the ones who are a little bit less skilled. You keep telling yourself you can teach these people to grow because it feels comfortable to work with a team with the same ideas, experiences, and worldview as you have.
It takes self-awareness to hire people who are different and better than you. While this will allow you to work with a brilliant person, giving you a different view of the same problems and challenges you face, you will also have the opportunity to learn and grow yourself. It is more reasonable to always aim for someone who can do your job so you have time to focus on your next steps.
Why should you hire someone better than you?
Grow as a whole: Make your organization stand out among your peers and competition by hiring smart people who will challenge the existing team members to grow. It is presumed that smart and successful people attract smart people, so make the most of this opportunity to grow the competencies of your business unit and even your company.
Less management: Smart people will know how to execute your day-to-day operations, and manage projects, meet deadlines, and achieve goals and targets. The experience they exercise requires less management from your side so you can focus on the long-term goals and strategy. You can delegate a lot of work to them.
Link yourself to smart people: When you hire smart people and give them the chance to grow within your company, they will remember this chance. The freedom for them to grow and make a career, and perhaps even surpass your management level. If that happens, you have the opportunity to use your relationship for advancements in your career. This is the place where you have to leave your ego.
Cooperative knowledge building: You can grow yourself by sharing your knowledge with someone who can challenge you critically about your ideas. You learn in a place where people ask questions. You grow, and they grow. Open and critical knowledge sharing, being assertive and critical of each other, increases the knowledge norm. This would make the whole organization knowledge-hungry and follow your lead.
Invincible group: Employing smart people in your team will grow a kind of invincible group of experts. Together, these experts can overcome every challenge. They can solve every problem and form a creative and solution-focused team. Together, they can win everything and grow a culture of excellence within the whole company.
Only hire people who are better than you.
If you are a smart hiring manager, you will set the standard for your hiring process to hire only people who are better than you are. You have to set aside your ego and accept these brilliant minds into your organization and see how you can grow.
What’s more! If you are still not convinced; Think about how you would feel about your competition hiring these smart people because you could not step over your pride. Don’t be a moron, let go of your ego, and hire someone better than you.
Do not forget to make this fun. Smart people also know how to make fun
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