You might have a few opportunities in your career to rapidly expand your team through a hiring surge. It’s a welcome change from downsizing and cost cutting, but you do face different problems. Here are hard-won lessons so you can avoid some of the mistakes I and others have made when given this opportunity.
- Develop a clear mission statement for adding positions. Something like “We’re adding 6 positions with _____ skills to deliver __________ which helps the organization [this way].” Repeatedly communicate the focus area and expectations.
- Think team hires vs. individual hires. Interview candidates for several positions. Use broad-strokes job postings which can encompass several positions. Work closely with HR to ensure they understand what you want to accomplish. Accept their help for keeping you out of trouble with hiring protocols.
- Continue to be selective in hiring to get the best people for the roles (and anticipated work to come). Treat hiring as a disqualification process to sort through candidates. Having six open positions is not a reason to substitute quantity for appropriate quality.
- Onboarding is crucial, and a considerable energy investment. (See The Ultimate Guide to Onboarding New Knowledge Workers for strategy and tactics.) A helpful approach when you have multiple people coming on quickly is to assign portions of the onboarding to existing employees. “Jill, I’d like you to handle onboarding for all the safety protocols and give them tours of the facility. Mike, I’m giving you the responsibility to review the division structure, and introduce them to our contacts in HR and Production. I’ll give them the overview of how our current projects fit into the business goals.” Two-fold benefit: The workload is distributed and more consistent; the new employees quickly get into discussions with others in your team.
- Demonstrate fast value capture from new hires. Look for opportunities to demonstrate early progress. Permission for hiring surges always comes with high expectations.
- Don’t slack off on performance management for your weaker performers. It’s tempting because poor performers can ‘hide’ more readily in a larger team. It’s a mistake because senior leaders expect a higher level of contribution from the whole team.
- Decide if and where you can take more risks with projects. There are likely projects where the risk of delegating leadership to someone more junior is manageable. Take advantage of development opportunities for people who demonstrated trustworthiness.
- Be wary about giving all the cool, sexy projects to the new hires, leaving loyal long-timers with the routine. Don’t unintentionally create space for resentment to fester.
- Talk with your direct reports about how to preserve and amplify the best of your culture as the organization gets bigger. Get their input and cooperation.
- A hiring surge often requires re-structuring of reporting relationships. There is no ideal org chart; consider all the tradeoffs. Consider which of your existing people managers can take on more direct reports. You might have opportunities for a first-time manager. Keep in mind that they’ll need extra help and feedback for a season. Be realistic about your own capacity to add direct reports; keep margin in your own role to be able to address issues and lead a larger group.
- Plan to give your boss a periodic update on personnel and project expansion. They’re putting trust in you. Demonstrate you’re validating that trust. Put meetings on the calendar at 3 months and 6 months to review current state and get their feedback.
Hiring surges are an exciting opportunity and a chance for you to shine as you create more value for your organization. The tips above can help you!
