Lesson #281: Avoid Internally Shuffling People Into Wrong Roles

The old adage, a “bird in hand is worth two in the bush” may work in some instances in business, but slotting people into employee roles is definitely not one of them.  I can’t tell you how many times I see early stage entrepreneurs slot a person into a role, simply because it is convenient, with them already known and on the team operating in an entirely different role.  Stop this madness!!  Do you want the quickest solution to your hiring needs, or the best solution?  Allow me to further explain.

HAVING RELEVANT EXPERIENCE IS KEY

Would you hire an auto mechanic to pilot an airplane?  Or, a landscaper to build an addition on your house?  Of course not.  So, why then, do so many of you move a technology developer into a marketing role, or an junior level contributor into a senior management role before they are ready, or slot a person in just because they are the quickest or most affordable option?  Building the right team for your startup is the single most important thing you will do, in terms of dictating your odds of success. And, getting the most qualified person in that role, with proven experience in that exact role is the key.

STARTUPS CAN’T AFFORD A LONG LEARNING CURVE

When you are an early stage business, you really can’t afford any mistakes; there simply isn’t the excess capital on hand to absorb those missteps.  As an example, if your marketing person hasn’t proven they know how to grow a user base in a cost effective way, you are most likely paying for their learning curve and for all the mistakes they make in their media buying decisions.  That is like flushing money down the toilet, compared to hiring a proven marketer that knows what they are doing based on years of similar experience.

RECRUITING TIME MAY SLOW YOU DOWN, BUT BEST FOR BUSINESS LONG TERM

Sometimes clients will say, “but we are moving quickly, and this candidate was the quickest option, as we don’t want to lose time recruiting”.  I’ve got news for you:  sometimes it is more important to take a pause, take one step back, in order to best position the business to take ten steps forward.  Nobody likes having to recruit a new role—that is typically a 3-6 month process by the time they are identified, interviewed and onboarded (time typically taken away from someone else’s normal job).  But, once the new person starts working, they are out of the gate running at full speed, like an Olympian sprinter making up whatever distance they need to take the lead.  Compare that to having an inexperienced person working during that same period, but inching along like a turtle in perpetuity.

BEING LIKED DOESN’T MEAN YOU HIRE THEM

I also hear things like, “but he is a really nice guy and good worker, and I wanted to find a place for him”.  Yes, I can see the appeal of that.  It is hard to find people that have the right personality fit or work ethic to fit into your culture.  That said, if there is not an open position for that person in which that person is trained or capable of succeeding, sometimes you need to make the hard decision of finding a different employee that is best qualified to do the job.  The same point I made above, about finding your Olympian sprinter as opposed to a turtle.

A RELEVANT CASE STUDY

I had a client that firmly believed that internally shuffling talent was the best thing for the business.  That could have been related to giving somebody a new promotion opportunity, putting out an immediate fire created by a departed employee, satisfying an employee that wanted to try a new department, rewarding somebody that had been with the company a long time, etc.   Not one of these internal shuffles bore fruit.  And, worse yet, the company’s revenues stagnated for years; they simply could not break through to the next level of their growth.  When you manage with emotions or move too quickly, instead of data-supported experience, you often end up trying to put a “square peg in a circular hole”.  And, by the time you realize it, it is often too late.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

I am not saying you should never internally shuffle people.  There are many scenarios it can work out great.  Maybe that is moving a salesperson into a similar business development role, or an accountant into a similar controller role, as examples.  But, when you try to mold “gatherers into hunters” or “artists into intellectuals” or “doers into leaders”, you often end up with a big mess on your hands, and losing a lot of valuable time in the process, versus filling the role the right way from the start.


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