Should I Hire the Best Person or the Right Person for the Role?

Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.

Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.

Dear Bev,

We are having an internal debate about our next hire. My boss, who is the lead advisor, thinks we should find the right person and design the role around them. He believes getting the right people is most important. My colleague and I believe we need to define what the role is, what kind of responsibilities we need covered and how the role will interact with the rest of the team (nine of us). It’s been challenging when we interview because we don’t feel we know exactly what we are interviewing for. But our boss says, “Just decide if you like the person or not and then we’ll figure it out.”

Is there a right way to do this? Are we wrong to need the level of detail we are asking for to go through this process?

I find it hard to like – or even not like – someone when I don’t know the context of what I would do to interact with them. We’re not hiring for me and my colleagues to have a friend. I don’t need someone to hang out with on weekends. I need someone who will fill areas of need.

D.F.

Dear D.F.,

To answer this, here are a few questions:

What is the culture for your firm? Is it an all-hands on deck, everyone pitches in for everything, or is there structure and clarity today about who does what, how they do it and how they interact with others?

Where is your firm in its evolution? Are you in startup mode where the right personality might be more important as you grow and evolve, or are you in ongoing business mode where people are in roles and the bigger you get, the more important it is to define the specific needs and how you will fill them?

Did your lead advisor have a previous experience whereby you hired someone who just “didn’t fit” and wasn’t meshing with your culture so that now his focus is more about making sure someone is going to be right for the team rather than skilled in a certain background?

Are there currently gaps and overlaps where you recognize the importance of defining what’s needed so as not to duplicate efforts or fill for responsibilities that aren’t needed?

These questions are important because I can’t have a clear answer to your question without knowing the background. Clarifying the role and making sure the responsibilities for how the person will fit into the current structure are most likely primo in decision-making. However, I have been doing this long enough to know that bringing a very skilled person into a small firm who isn’t going to be a cultural fit can be disruptive – for the person and for the firm.

I’ve also seen that when a firm is evolving and growing, having someone who is a utility player and who may be able to wear several hats can also be important. As the firm grows and changes you might not know, for a full-time hire, exactly what is needed and where it will fit, but the right person might be able to meld in and make it work!

I agree you aren’t hiring to have a friend on weekends. But in the graduate class I teach on leading teams, I often share interesting research that shows the best teams are when the people working together consider themselves to be “friends.” This doesn’t mean you hang out outside of work. But it does mean you like the people you are working with enough to consider them work-friends. Your lead advisor is not completely wrong when he says it is important to feel a connection and comradery with the person.

Talk with your lead advisor about my questions. Consider the current state of the firm and how you are hoping to evolve with this next hire. Discuss whether there is a middle ground – hire for culture and fit, but be clear at the outset at least at a high level what this person will do and where they will belong in the existing org. You still might not see eye-to-eye, but you will be able to discuss (perhaps a bit more objectively) why you have a different viewpoint from one another.

Dear Bev,

Do you see firms bringing in talent even when they don’t have an open role just to grab the good people who are available? We have been on the hunt for several months to fill a very key role in our team and our home office has been helping. They won’t hire unless there is an open position. But we’re hearing that independent firms are bringing in people when there isn’t even a place for them to steal all of the available talent in the market. It puts us at a major disadvantage even though we can offer so much to someone who might want to join a high-performing team. Without commitment from the home office, we have no choice but to follow their rules. But are you seeing firms like ours losing out on talent because in the independent space they have so much more flexibility in hiring?

A.N.

Dear A.N.,

This was a curious question. I was trying to think of a situation where someone (independent or otherwise) has the luxury of hiring someone “just because.” Most firms are very rigorous about making sure there is a role, an associated salary, job requirements and a clear process they follow to bring in the person. I assume you have had a specific experience, or someone has told you this is happening. But I’m not seeing or hearing about it as an issue.

The hunt for talent is impacting all the teams and firms I work with. Most of my clients are careful about who they bring on and they want to ensure both a skill and a culture fit. Many of them, like you, have been searching for some time to find the right person who meets both criteria.

My suggestion is two-fold. Don’t worry about what others are doing. Even if, for argument’s sake, other firms were hiring people they don’t technically have a role for just to get them out of the hands of competitors, I can’t see how this could be done for every available candidate in the market! Perhaps you are in a small town and there aren’t many candidates to choose from. But you could consider virtual teaming whereby you open your search to people living outside of your geography.

Make sure you paint a picture in your posting and in your discussions with candidates about what your team has to offer. There is competition for good talent, but you only want to attract the talent that will be a good fit for your team. Be clear on your vision, mission and cultural values. Let candidates know what it feels like to be part of your team, how they will think about working with all of you.

Don’t let up on your home office. They are likely understaffed and have several teams just like yours asking them for help. Provide them as much insight, support and ideas as possible. You can network, ask your existing team for help and take steps to locate candidates on your own. They will ultimately have to go through the system at your home office, but you can help to fill the funnel.

Focus on obstacles you can control and influence. Ignore those obstacles out of your control. Focus your energies on what you can do, and don’t bother with what others are doing! You can’t control it anyway, so why waste energy on it?

Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry, in 1995. The firm also founded and manages the Advisors Sales Academy. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate and graduate students Entrepreneurship and Leading Teams. Beverly is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).

She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.

Should I Hire the Best Person or the Right Person for the Role?

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