Still In The People Business

I happen to operate a business that sells and services cars and trucks, but I am still in the people business. You may be in manufacturing, education, or even consulting. Regardless of the industry in which we operate, most of us rely on people for our success.

So, some questions arise. How do we make sure we hire good people? How do we measure “good” in this context? Which is more important, skill or experience? I could go on and on, but you get the idea. You have asked these questions yourself.

More Questions

Rather than try to answer all of these questions, I want to ask another couple of questions and dig into them.

Do you hire for character?

If you do, where does it rank among your criteria for hiring?

Dungy’s Code

While coaching professional football in Indianapolis, Tony Dungy and his coaching staff were also in the people business. They spent many hours assessing and ranking prospects for their team. They knew how critical it was to get the right players based on the needs the team had.

When preparing for the annual draft, Dungy’s staff had a code they used to categorize the prospects. If a draft prospect fit a need the team had and qualified based on experience, talent, and skills, but DID NOT have the character traits required, then the code DNDC was put beside their name.

DNDC means Do Not Draft (because of) Character. In these cases, the prospect could be great at the game, but not so good at life. Dungy and his coaching team would pass on these players. No joke.

Character Is Top Priority

Make sure you follow their decision process. They not only considered character in their hiring decision, but they put it first. A lack of character would eliminate a prospect from their consideration, regardless of his talent, skills, or experience.

Other teams would likely ignore the character issues and pick these players with the mindset that only their on-the-field results mattered. These teams might have the opinion that character is not that important. They may think that they had no choice because the competition was so stiff.

False Sense Of Loss

I am sure you can understand their mindset. It is easy to feel like you are falling behind the competition when you pass on a prospective employee like this. This is especially true when passing on them means they will be competing against you the next day.

I am here to tell you that this is a false sense of loss. For those of you who already know this, let this post serve as a reminder. You are not falling behind when you put character first. You are simply building a stronger team.

Benefits

There are many benefits when you do this.

First, you are maintaining a good name and reputation for you and your company or team (Proverbs 22:1). Over time, the market will reward this reputation with more business and even better hires.

You also reduce the drama in the locker room (or conference room). Bad character is going to stir up trouble and that is a distraction you don’t need. Often, bad character around them causes good employees to leave.

Stronger Team And Leader

When you keep bad character out, you build a stronger, more cohesive team. Those employees already on the team will work better together and have greater results if they don’t have to deal with bad character. They will thank you for your standards.

Finally, when you reject bad character, your walk matches your talk. Your other employees are watching. They will know it if you hire for skills or talent and ignore character. They may not voice their disappointment, but I promise you that your credibility will suffer. Don’t give in!

Christian Leader Tendency

If you are already hiring for character, then I congratulate you. However, just to be sure we cover all of this issue, I want to address one more possibility. This is a tendency that will occur more often in Christian business leaders.

There is a feeling at times (in some of us) that maybe these prospects NEED us and that we could help them change for the better. You have to make the call here based on how weak the character is, but more often than not, this is simply asking for trouble.

It would be much wiser for you to agree to mentor someone like this outside of the business than to bring them in and risk the good of the team. Like I said, it is your call. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Do you recognize that you are in the people business?

How high of a priority do you place on character?

Are you pleased with the results of that priority?