Are you expecting too much?
After attending a happy hour with former co-workers the other day I found myself reflecting on some of the people I had helped bring into the company and how they ended up doing once on board. Some did ok, some kicked butt, and others found creative ways to fail. It’s disappointing when an employees biggest challenge at work is overcoming their own self-destructive tendencies. Now, the company has gone through a lot of changes in the last year, including closing down most of it’s local operations, so it was interesting to find out what happened with everyone, especially the employees who seemed like super stars when they were hired.
When you are bringing on a new employee, you are hopefully looking for someone who you feel will have a good impact on the team and the company. There’s always that honeymoon period when your expectations can be fairly high. They can do no wrong and you can’t wait for their first major accomplishment. But how do you feel 3 months later? 6 months? A year? Are they still living up to your expectations? More importantly, were your expectations appropriate in the first place? I’ve known too many managers who felt that all they needed to turn their department around was the right new hire. To me, that seems both misguided and just another way to shirk their responsibility. Not too mention placing an unfair burden on your new hire. Sure, sometimes one good employee is all it takes to turn something around or raise the quality of an entire team. But is that the norm? Not even close.
So take care when selecting new employees, hire the best person for the job and company, and most importantly, hold your people accountable for their hiring decisions. Just don’t expect that new talent always leads to significant and lasting positive change. Even the most impressive new hire can burn out once on board.
