How do you identify A-players early on?
Yesterday, I attended Shannon Susko’s webinar on building an A-player team. Obviously, the concept of A-players and Topgrading as the tool to acquire and retain an all-star team is at the core of Metronomics, so not much is new there – but, it is always great to be reminded. We often forget the little things, and going over a principle or method again can refresh the perspective and add further layers of detail.
What really stood out for me this time was one of the screening questions Shannon listed. Not the obvious “What do you excel at?”, but the not so obvious and much more powerful “What are you NOT good at, what do you NOT want to do?”
Where lies the power of this question?
First, you’ll never know what you learn after asking such a question. Once, the answer I got was “well, I really don’t like repeating, tedious tasks.” So far so good, but perhaps you shouldn’t be sitting in an interview for a bookkeeper position, then. This was BEFORE I learned to ask this question on the screening call.
Second, an A-player has a pretty good idea of their dislikes, and will be honest. They also don’t want to get stuck with work they hate doing. Your interest here is aligned – you want a person who will enjoy the work you need done. And honesty is a good starting point for any relationship.
Third – if you get an “I wonder what they want to hear here” answer (trust me, you’ll know when you hear one), you know. As Robert deNiro in the classic film Ronin said: ”When there is doubt, there is no doubt. That’s the first thing they teach you.” You are not talking to an A-player. Continuation of the hiring process is just a waste of time.
Asking this question during the screening call (along with the others, of course) gives a very strong indication you are on the right track with this candidate – or not. Filtering early means you can spend more time with the candidates that pass this filter, and your overall hiring success rate soars. It all starts with a simple question.
How do you find out early on whether you are talking to a potential star team member?
