How to Hire People Who Can “Think”

Here are 3 things you must do if you want to hire people who can “think!”

1) Accept different ways of doing things.
2) Trust others to get things done.
3) Get out of your own way.

Last week I consulted with a client who is hiring her first professional manager. Currently most of her employees are “Task Masters.” Tell them what to do and they will do it, and do it well.

But, what if you don’t know what you want them to do? What if you don’t have the expertise to direct someone in a specific functionality, such as IT, accounting, marketing, or perhaps even sales? What if you know what to do, but you don’t have the time to drive the initiative.

At some point, business owners need more bandwidth. They need employees who can think and act like they do. Yet, your talented team probably won’t do things exactly how you might do it. But, if you get to the same end result, does it really matter if they do it a bit differently?

Letting go of doing it “your way” is the tough. Letting go of “control” is even tougher? Letting go of your “ego” . . . you know, the one that feeds off being the “smart one” in your organization . . . well, good luck on that one.