When I was eighteen, I had a job delivering futons in Seattle. Mostly the job was riding around in the truck, because I was too young for the insurance company to cover me as a driver, and occasionally jumping out to carry a futon on my back up several flights of stairs.
One day, the guy who drove the truck turned to me and said, “Chris, there are only two kind of people in this world. Gets and no-gets. Be a get.”
As much as we try in the hiring process, we are unlikely to bypass the no-gets. Hiring is an insanely hard job, and even people who are hired and paid to do the best job of hiring still make mistakes – and lots of them. And despite our best processes and intentions, and despite the most intensive process of reviewing applications and interviewing, the no-gets slip through.
When bringing on a new hire, be ready for the idea that you’ve made a mistake. Identify mis-hires quickly, and move them on out rapidly – in general, employees don’t improve from their starting point when it comes to fundamental characteristics. Non-listeners don’t turn into listeners, and slow walkers don’t turn into fast walkers; slow bunchers can improve, but hustle doesn’t.
Most small farms don’t have the slack in their staffing to pay for no-gets. If you’ve put two weeks into grooming a new employee and don’t see significant progress, it’s time to move them on.
(By the way, terminating someone’s employment sucks. But it sucks worse the longer you keep a poor-performing employee on board - for you and for the employee. “This position isn’t a good fit” is much more believable at the end of week two than at the end of week six.)
One day, the guy who drove the truck turned to me and said, “Chris, there are only two kind of people in this world. Gets and no-gets. Be a get.”
As much as we try in the hiring process, we are unlikely to bypass the no-gets. Hiring is an insanely hard job, and even people who are hired and paid to do the best job of hiring still make mistakes – and lots of them. And despite our best processes and intentions, and despite the most intensive process of reviewing applications and interviewing, the no-gets slip through.
When bringing on a new hire, be ready for the idea that you’ve made a mistake. Identify mis-hires quickly, and move them on out rapidly – in general, employees don’t improve from their starting point when it comes to fundamental characteristics. Non-listeners don’t turn into listeners, and slow walkers don’t turn into fast walkers; slow bunchers can improve, but hustle doesn’t.
Most small farms don’t have the slack in their staffing to pay for no-gets. If you’ve put two weeks into grooming a new employee and don’t see significant progress, it’s time to move them on.
(By the way, terminating someone’s employment sucks. But it sucks worse the longer you keep a poor-performing employee on board - for you and for the employee. “This position isn’t a good fit” is much more believable at the end of week two than at the end of week six.)
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