Most people spend a minimum of 1680 hours in the office every year. That’s a large portion of your time!
And nothing can make those hours feel longer quite like working with people that you don’t gel with.
The miscommunications.
The office gossips.
The frustrations and sadness that come about when we’re spending most of our waking hours surrounded by people who just don’t ‘get’ us.
This isn’t just a question of personal preference. Forcing people to work in teams that don’t suit their character will inevitably have a massive impact on performance and profitability.
Building teams based on personality alignment takes some know-how - and a certain ability to assess who you’re dealing with and match them with an existing community.
As well as qualifications, experience and interview performance - we advise and support our clients to consider the mix of personalities they’re bringing into the company.
We often see clients reviewing candidates solely on the hard data - the qualifications, the experience on paper. All vital of course, but we know that human beings are more complex than what we can read on a CV. Sometimes, you need to delve a bit deeper and really get to know the individuals in your recruitment process to understand how they’d fit into your business.
At the end of a day, your company is made up of people, working with people.
So why not place some consideration into how the individuals that make up your company will interact, collaborate, and get along - ultimately for the benefit of the business.
Here’s 3 key benefits to liking the people you work with:
Working with people who have similar values to you
With many companies going to great efforts to build a positive, values-driven company culture - it really helps to hire in people who are going to be as into it (and up for it) as you are.
So much work goes into a company’s values, purpose and mission. You want to be sure that you will be supported in these wider ideals by the people you’re bringing in. It’s also a more pleasant and affirming experience for your existing employees, to welcome people who get the vibe, and are ready to contribute.
And as a candidate, if you don’t buy into that particular mini culture - it’s unlikely you’re going to enjoy that role and want to stay there a long time.
Company culture - the values, the attitude, the atmosphere - plays such a huge role in how we experience our working days, and our careers. At The Talent Crowd we really enjoy matching people with shared value systems - it creates powerful professional relationships, and strong personal connections too.
The clearer an idea a candidate has about your value system - the better. And likewise, it’s really helpful to understand your candidates on that level, so you can be sure they’ll be happy working within your community.
Proactively build community at work
Speaking of community - isn’t it nice to spend our time with people who like spending time with us?
From microwave politics, to washing up duties, to respecting other people’s lunch when it’s in the fridge - we share a lot of time and space with the people we work with. When you’ve built a team based on personalities who get on - the formation of a strong community becomes inevitable.
This is gold dust for any project that requires collaboration, your team’s perspective on the company, and the daily experience of everyone who comes to work.
It’s also so important for the support we all need from our colleagues from time to time. Having a strong work community is beneficial on so many levels. We are all socially motivated as human beings - and we are capable of greatness when we’re part of a positive group of people.
Get a good mix of personalities in your teams
It’s definitely not about hiring the same personality 30 times over. It’s about having the right mix of personalities for strong team dynamics, unified by the set of values that runs through the company culture.
Personality tests can be a great way to look at the mix of personalities on your team, and see how they all fit together. We’re good at matching personalities - we’ve had a lot of experience.
As recruiters you learn a lot about personality dynamics, especially when checking in on the candidates you’ve helped to secure roles over the years. It’s one of the best parts of the job - when you just knew that a certain candidate would be a great match for your client - both as a professional, and as a person.
Good recruitment that truly builds your company community can be hard to find. We are bringing it back with our superior people skills and our brilliant networks.
Come be in our crowd, and enjoy the adventure with us.