Think colour when hiring

Most companies are colour blind when they hire.

Sure, they grab the good ones, but often put them in the wrong job.

But colour-coding people in the right jobs can keep companies out of the red — and their employees happy and productive.

Count on this: there will be a colour clash if a green is forced to do blue job or a red is being squeezed into the role of a yellow. It doesn’t matter if it’s in a small welding shop or a big tech company; the colours won’t run together.

As I found out when I was called into a small welding shop.

The turnover on the shop floor was depressing. Welder after welder left, leaving a path of wasted training, time and effort. And money.

My job as a consultant was to figure out how to make the welders happy and stay long enough to add value to the production line. And quality control.

I had to admire the young man who first spoke up.

“I hate doing quality control. I hate having to go over detail after detail to see that it meets the customer’s specs and to make sure someone else did it right.”

Another young welder from across the table raised his eyebrows and wrinkled his nose. “You hate that? That is the most fun — checking off the boxes to ensure everything is perfect.”

“No,” his counterpart objected, “the most fun is starting with the raw steel and turning it into something that works.”

Time for a coffee break. And I look at their behavioural profiles using DISC:

Dominance — Red, results-focused

Influencing — Yellow, people-focused;

Steadiness — Green, process-focused

Compliance — Blue, perfection-focused)

The DISC assessment describes how someone likes to behave; their approach to work when they are most satisfied and suits the natural rhythm of who they are.

These two welders are in the wrong jobs. The exact opposite roles.

The welder doing quality control is a green (steady, likes to start and finish something before moving on) behavioural style doing blue (precise, high attention to detail) work.

The welder on the production line is a blue behavioural style doing green work.

This is an easy fix.

Off now to see why there are so many bad hires in a tech company.

“How did this person even get into your department?” This was the third time I had asked a manager in the same company this question.

My guts tightened; I already knew the answer.

“Oh, I didn’t hire them. They were in Mike’s department, and they didn’t work out. He got them transferred here.”

Mmmm, Mike, the strong yellow. He liked everyone. “I’m a nice guy. I am sure they will be a nice guy, too. Whatever is wrong with them, I can fix it.”

Not so much.

Three disgruntled managers, Mike and me in a room.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with them. They are optimistic. I am optimistic. And then they don’t deliver. I know I maybe missed a few things on their resume. And not all their references were checked, but really, how bad can they be?”

Silence. I could hear what the other three managers were thinking because I was thinking about it, too.

“Bad enough that you don’t want to keep them.”

Moral of the story: “Mike, you get to do the preliminary interview. But before you hire, you must bring in a blue or a green to interview, review the resume and ensure the reference checks are done. If you don’t, you are stuck with your mistakes. We won’t rescue you.”

Next assignment: I am called into a 500+ employee company. I think they want me to help justify getting rid of an employee.

Almost the entire accounting department was grumbling, a crescendo of negativity.

“We don’t like her. She doesn’t fit in. She is noisy, wants things done right away. And she is really confrontational.”

OK, how would you like her to behave?

“We want her to be more like us. We are quiet. We do certain things on certain days. We don’t want to be interrupted by new ideas. And we get things done. We don’t just think of new ways to do them.”

I get it. A red in a sea of greens.

That’s interesting. Given that environment, I wonder how the problem child has the opportunity to be noisy and confrontational.

Digging deeper, I discover that the problem child has the primary responsibility for collections. She has to call clients and ask for overdue money. And they don’t always want to pay.

I show them a DISC wheel of their department. The problem child is an outlier.

I show them a wheel that defines the duties of the department. The greens are clumped together doing the day-to-day work of bookkeeping. The red problem child is positioned alone on the wheel, the only one doing the dirty job of collections.

“We could choose not to have a person of this style in your department. Who, then, is going to do the collections?” I ask.

All but two eyes fall to their notepads. All but 10 fingers get busy checking their pens.

“I like doing the collections. I don’t really like having to be so firm all the time with my family, so it feels good to stand up for the company.”

Gratitude pours forth. The red can keep her job. And most certainly, she can keep her role.

When everyone — managers, leaders and team members alike — have an awareness of the styles and strengths of each other, there is more acceptance and respect. There is a foundation for all the tough stuff that happens in groups of people: adapting to change, handling conflict and the need for resilience.

Sometimes it takes an outsider like me to point it out. Sometimes it just takes looking at the situation with a different lens.

Sometimes, companies focus so much on the rain they miss the colours of their employees that can make a beautiful rainbow.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.