Create Non-Negotiables Before You Hire

Answer:
You’re right to make sure the person fits in. To make sure your team remains strong and successful you need to get the right cultural fit, and personality fit.  Otherwise, even the most qualified and talented person can derail your whole operation. To help you decide, I believe you should emulate the approach used by the executives at Fishbowl. They describe what they call their "seven non-negotiables" When they hire someone, they throw out all the usual criteria like experience, qualifications, etc. and focus on matching the values of the company with the values of the applicant. What they save on lack of turnover, they use on training people that may fall a little short of the necessary skill set. At Fishbowl, their non-negotiables are “Respect, Belief, Loyalty, Commitment, Trust, Courage and Gratitude.” For you they may be different, but I’m sure you have some basic values that you feel are critical for fitting into your team and company culture. I would start by listing those values out. Then evaluate your potential hire against that list.  It may only be three or four, but non-negotiable means non-negotiables, so if he doesn’t match on every one, he won’t be a good fit into the kind of team you want to build. Finally, while you already know this person, you may not need to pull references, but the Fishbowl folks take reference checking one step further. They ask the friends of friends or the colleagues of the references listed.  It’s much like the secret clearance checks used by the government. I believe if you follow these guidelines you will be on your way to building a dynamic and successful team.