Hiring Systems
Systems-First Approach
To Hiring
When a business prioritizes scaling through systems rather than relying solely on team members, the hiring process becomes significantly more efficient. Instead of only searching for individuals with unique skill sets or exceptional problem-solving abilities, the focus shifts to finding candidates who can effectively run well-built processes.
If the business has reached a point where it is ready to hire and all necessary systems for the new role are in place, the hiring process should be straightforward. This approach minimizes the need for extensive interviews or excessive training for new hires.
By focusing on system-driven hiring, businesses can achieve a more predictable and sustainable growth trajectory.
Prioritization Based on Business Needs, Rather Than Wants.
Prioritizing roles based on the next business needs requires a methodical approach that aligns hiring decisions with the strategic goals of the company.
Too many companies tend to hire where it hurts. Rather than addressing the problem of the pain, businesses throw more people at the problem. These people are typically hired because of their perceived skills and personality match that was witnessed during the interview stage.
They are then thrown into the mess of the business, and expected to step up and figure out. This isn't fair to the new employee or to the business. The new employee can quickly become overworked, overwhelmed, and over working for you. The business problems which the employee were was hired for still remain, or potentially worse, the "A-player" employee solves the problem with their own skill and fails to comply with or update a procedure to help in the next problem. Now the business is more reliant on star employees than ever.
When building a business, there are stages in which systems and processes are designed. People are then hired to run those systems and processes. When a business hires before the systems are ready, downstream errors tend can occur. Business owners then fall back into the loop of hiring more people to fix a problem that was caused by hiring the wrong people to early without the correct processes in place.
With experience optimizing over 1,000 businesses across 100 industries, Systems and Teams has developed our unique Compass of Skills™ protocol to identify roles that are consuming the most time and resources incorrectly, and prioritize those for hiring. This ensures that your hiring strategy is data-driven and focused on enhancing productivity and efficiency.
Too many companies tend to hire where it hurts. Rather than addressing the problem of the pain, businesses simply throw more people at the problem.
Hiring where it hurts, or hiring to "grow" isn't about merely filling positions as they become vacant; it’s about understanding which functions are next to hire for in the evolution of the business systems. As a business after all, is a collection of processes that produce an output for the market and the economy.
To address this, companies that choose to work with System And Teams implement our step-by-step screening protocol that focuses on assessing candidates' abilities to integrate into predefined systems and processes, rather than relying solely on interviews and skill sets.
This should only be undertaken after establishing robust systems so that anyone, regardless of their skill set, can operate the job effectively. The process itself should be designed to equip anyone with an A-player level skill set without extensive training, and it should proactively solve problems before the team encounters them.
This approach shifts the hiring focus from finding individuals who can independently solve problems—often leading to overworked employees who may eventually leave—to hiring people who can efficiently run an already proven process. With this method, businesses can ensure they are not overly reliant on any single employee, reducing the risk of disruptions from turnover and ensuring a more sustainable and scalable operation.
The "Anti-Interview" Hiring Philosophy
Our goal at Systems and Teams is to assist you in developing robust hiring, screening, and onboarding systems that remove the burden and inconsistency of conducting interviews while reducing employee turnover. This is achieved with a systems-first approach to scaling businesses and teams, rather than simply throwing more bodies at the problem.
We achieve this by reconginsing that interviews, long considered a cornerstone of the hiring process, are plagued with inherent biases and inaccuracies that undermine their effectiveness. Historical examples and psychological studies reveal that interviews often fail to accurately assess a candidate's true potential. For instance, despite their widespread use, interviews do not prevent the wrong people from being placed in unsuitable roles.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra's experience highlighted this flaw and announcued it to the world when they implemented blind auditions to combat gender biases in hiring. By hiding candidates' identities and focusing solely on their performance, they significantly increased female representation in orchestras. Their intention was not to increase female hires but to select the best candidate for each role. This demonstarted that traditional interview methods often perpetuate biases rather than eliminate them.
Psychological studies further underscore the pitfalls of interviews.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota found that men's perceptions of a woman's attractiveness, based on a photo shown before a phone conversation, influenced their impressions of the conversation itself. This effect persisted even when independent listeners, unaware of the photos, rated the conversations. Such studies illustrate how initial biases can skew the evaluation process, leading interviewers to form impressions based on superficial traits rather than substantive qualifications.
This indicates that individuals with extensive HR experience are often the least effective at selecting hires based on traditional application, interview, and screening processes.
The halo effect, where a single positive characteristic such as attractiveness can distort perceptions of unrelated qualities like intelligence and competence, further complicates the reliability of interviews. In addition to appearance, factors such as height and voice quality can also bias interview outcomes. These biases often lead to problematic hires who may not perform as expected. As a result, businesses are left confused and disappointed, having wasted substantial resources during the screening and onboarding stages for a new team member who ultimately doesn't work out.
Taller individuals are often perceived as having greater leadership potential, with studies showing a significant impact of height on perceived leadership abilities. Similarly, lower-pitched voices are unconsciously associated with greater leadership strength, influencing interviewers' judgments.
These biases are not just limited to physical traits but also extend to behavioral tendencies during interviews. Experienced interviewers, despite their confidence, are not better at detecting lies than novices, and their overconfidence can lead to more biased and less accurate hiring decisions. This indicates that individuals with extensive HR experience are often the least effective at selecting hires based on traditional application, interview, and screening processes. To address this issue, we help our clients develop a systematic, unbiased approach to hiring that relies on objective data rather than subjective interpretations of how candidates respond to questions on any given day.
Given the numerous flaws in the traditional interview process, our hiring philosophy at Systems and Teams emphasizes the need for alternative screening methods to make more objective and reliable hiring decisions. Implementing step-by-step screening protocols that focus on candidates' actual job-related skills and tasks can provide a more accurate assessment.
Examples include blind auditions, akin to the Boston Symphony Orchestra's approach, or the use of specific job-related assignments, or the use of an unsolvable task to screen for problem solving and truth factor communications. These methods help to eliminate biases related to appearance, skills, schooling, height, and voice quality, background, gender, focusing instead on the candidates' ability to execute the process correctly.
Objective, data-driven screening methods, such as scoring candidates on various criteria using a the Hiring Matrix™, are central to our philosophy at Systems and Teams. By evaluating candidates using this method we make informed decisions based on relevant data rather than subjective impressions.
These methods reduce the influence of biases and increase the likelihood of selecting the most suitable candidate for the job. The adoption of such approaches significantly improves hiring outcomes, ensuring that decisions are based on objective criteria and actual performance rather than flawed and biased interview processes.
Key Areas of Hiring Systems:
Hiring For Scale
Integrate a scalable hiring framework that effortlessly pinpoints the right time to expand, ensures cultural alignment, and identifies the next key role for growth. Instantly streamline your hiring process, making your path to business expansion seamless and strategic.
Hiring Systems
Simplify hiring with a systemized approach that cuts through the noise of countless candidates and options. Instantly attract the right talent for both virtual and in-house teams, streamlining your business operations with ease.
Screening Processes
Uncover the true potential of candidates and avoid costly mistakes with a streamlined screening system. Precise protocols and data-driven insights help you select the best talent with confidence, eliminating the stress and expense of poor hires.
Onboarding Systems
Ensure a seamless transition for new hires with a plug-and-play onboarding system. Integrate staff into your business processes from day one, creating a team that is instantly productive.
Retaining Team Members
Implement retention strategies that align personal and company goals, address challenges, and optimize processes to create a satisfying work environment that keeps your team engaged and committed.
When & How to Fire
Establish a clear and empathetic termination process that minimizes pain points and ensures decisions are made with confidence and care.
Finding the Best of the Best Talent
Finding the best talent directly impacts your business’s success and growth. Secure top-tier candidates by leveraging network connections, consulting industry experts, and conducting thorough interviews to ensure you make the right hire every time.
"WOW! Another powerful and impactful Module! I am also loving the concept of building a system that takes me out of the picture. The skills that I am learning now will be paramount for the success of my "next" steps in fulfilling my purpose."
Erien F
"Thank you for how detailed you go and share and give the real answers to how things can be done. I've just been quietly plugging ahead and wanted to let you know from me ... you really get it :)"
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Six Areas For Operational Excellence
Instead of spending the next few years acting as a firefighter in your business as you figure it out alone, we'll save you from the time, money, and stress of trial and error when you switch from “business operator” to “business owner”.
Explore the 6 core system areas where we can reduce friction and drive growth for your business. No specific order of these is required.
Optimize your operations, services, and team for greater efficiency, productivity, and happiness. Reclaim an average of 4-6 hours per week per employee / founder.
Foster accountability and transparency across teams by reducing meetings, emails, and time on Slack. Cultivate ownership and a team-wide commitment by making information and skills accessible to all.
Eliminate assumptions and ambiguity. Our Perfect Process Method™ replicates the effectiveness of A-players, duplicates decision makers, and clones creativity.
Streamline your hiring process by reducing time spent on applications and interviews. With our systems-first approach, focus on attracting the right person for the right system, rather than role-first hiring.
Begin to run your business like an operator and an investor. Develop dashboards, operational systems, and KPI levers that enable your business to function with clock-like predictability.
Integrate our top-performing sales systems to easily boost revenue per employee with less effort. This integration also provides increased visibility to identify and address sales problems before they escalate.
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