References Are a Waste of Time. Unless…
A month or so ago I hired a great guy to join our team. I’ve known him for a couple years now so I’m not sure I really needed to call his references but I wanted to do this thing right! After all, the mantra is hire slow, fire fast.
Anywho, I decided that there’s no way in Fife that he’d give me references that would tell me all the scoop on him (surprise, surprise, surprise) so I decided to frame an entirely different set of questions.
Questions like:
- You know Bob (not his real name) better than I do. What would you say he would be expecting from a boss?
- What kind of work environment would you say Bob would make the greatest contribution in?
- As his potential future boss, can you give me two or three insights into how I can best lead Bob to produce his best work?
The motivation was pretty simple: I’d hear more accurately about who “Bob” is and I just might learn how to be a better leader so that we both win.
