Business Tools Blog

Over the past two days, I described two traits that are extremely important when we are evaluating who we should invite to be part of our team.

We look for employees who can demonstrate:

• integrity - we want team members who can be trusted
• credibility - we hire people who already have an established reputation for expertise in their field that will follow them to our company
• responsibility - we only want employees who have a great work ethic, who finish their work accurately and on time.  A responsible employee never blames others for mistakes, but rather, learns from the mistake and continuously improves their performance

We want employees who are willing and able to:

• deliver tough messages - we want team members make it a practice of delivering both positive and negative messages in a constructive manner
• make decisions - we want people who make decisions AND want to be held accountable for them
• help others succeed - we want employees who will take the time out of their busy day to answer questions and teach others

In addition, in this high tech, social networking age, it’s important that potential employees can demonstrate that they are:

• ongoing learners - we hire people who regularly take advantage of both formal and informal means of learning.  We want employees who are up to speed on technology, the latest techniques that apply to their job, the latest industry trends and other non-work related subjects
• well networked - we hire people who have a well established network that they can rely on to help them do their day to day jobs
• passionate about their work and driven to succeed - to be a great fit with our culture, we look for a person whose eyes light up when they talk about their work.  We look for people who are competitive by nature and have an internal drive to be the best
• flexible - understanding that change is the norm rather than the exception.  Fritz Hendricks says, “A really good employee shows persistance as obstacles arrise. They expect obstacles, not becuase they are pessimistic, but for the purpose of planning - like a game of chess.”