THE “FAMILY MEMBER METHOD” is a tool for making the final decision to hire a person for your company. It is a technique that allows you to see, think, and decide with greater clarity.
When you are thinking of hiring somebody, you ask yourself a series of questions. The first question is, “Do I like this person?” Never hire somebody that you do not personally like. The organizational climate in your company is made up of the mixture of personalities that you bring together. One negative person in a work environment can often poison the attitudes and performance of many other people.
The key question you should ask yourself is: “Would I be comfortable inviting this person to my home to have Sunday dinner with my family?”
Is this the sort of person that you would invite to your home, to sit with your family at dinner and to engage in family conversation? Would you want this person to interact with your spouse and children?
If not, why not? When you ask these questions, you will usually trigger an intuitive response. It is important to trust this “still, small voice.” It will seldom lead you astray.
Sigmund Freud, then one of the most respected intellectuals in Europe, was once in a situation where he had to make an important decision. He pulled a one shilling coin out of his pocket and flicked it into the air, catching it on the back of his hand. The person he was talking to immediately asked, “Are you going to make a decision as important as this by flipping a coin?”
Freud replied, “When I flip a coin to decide yes or no, it is when the coin is in the air that I know the answer. When the coin is in the air, I know how I want it to land.”
There is another good question you can ask, similar to flipping a coin into the air: “Would you put your son or daughter to work under this person or with this person?” If not, then why not?
Another question you can ask yourself is: “Would I like to spend twenty years working with this person?”
Think of having to work with and for this person for the next twenty years, seeing and conversing with him every day. Imagine being stuck in a box or a small room with this person for an extended period of time. How would you feel about that?
These questions allow you to bring the candidate into sharper focus in your own mind, almost like adjusting a camera lens to get a better picture.
If your answer to any of these questions is no, then you should assume that this is probably a wrong choice. You must always pick people that you feel comfortable with and positive about, almost to the point that you would want them to be members of your family, both in the office and at home.
When I took a graduate course in personnel selection, the professor introduced us to a series of techniques, tests, questions, and exercises for making a good hire. But at the end of the program, he told us that, in the final analysis, always trust your “gut instinct.” The main purpose of all the tests and interviews is for you to acquire enough information so that your intuition will give you the right guidance to make the right decision.
1. Imagine bringing a job candidate home to have dinner with your family on a Sunday evening. Imagine bringing home a member of your current staff.
2. Think about working with a staff member for the next twenty years. How do you feel about that?