#4 JooBee's newsletter

TL;DR

🌱 Experience vs. Potential: Who should I hire?

✨ Building my team: Rising, Current and Future Star 

❓ Your views on Rising, Current and Future Star

Experience vs. Potential: Who should I hire?

When a founder asks this question, the challenge isn’t in choosing the candidates but rather in making the decision without considering the context.

In an ideal world, we would nab the one and only person with the exact experience and the skillsets required to address our immediate and future needs. In the real world, however, 🦄unicorns don’t actually exist. In my experience, the decision depends on both current and future business challenges and the existing team's gaps.

Rather than using words, let's present this information in a simple table to visualise the opportunity, risk, questions you should ask yourself, and the necessary actions to take.

The answer: balance ⚖️

If, for instance, you're a founder in the process of recruiting for your core leadership team, consider this:

Scenario 1️⃣: If every member of your leadership team falls under the category of 🌠Rising Stars (meaning this role represents the pinnacle of their career), you're essentially hoping they will perform in their new, expanded scope of responsibilities, which diverges significantly from their past experiences. The risk here is the potential for them to have a low ability to deliver on current business needs. On the flip side, they are deeply motivated to advance their careers and will put in the effort. As the team manager, you must ask yourself whether you possess the ability, resources, and time to nurture their skills, all while juggling other responsibilities like fundraising and strategy. You need to be prepared to commit to supporting them on their growth journey.

Scenario 2️⃣: Conversely, if your entire leadership team comprises ⭐Current Stars with experience and skillsets aligned with current business needs, you'll have a high impact on delivering immediate results. However, there's a high risk of lacking the ability to meet future needs. As the team manager, ask yourself if you have the ability, resources, and time to foster their skill development (often while you're also in the process of learning). And if these individuals cannot evolve into future roles, are you prepared for candid conversations about the possibility of needing to hire above them?

Scenario 3️⃣: If you opt for all 🔮Future Star candidates who align with your future business needs, you position yourself for long-term success. However, this approach may carry a risk of low motivation to tackle current challenges. As the team manager, it's essential to ensure that other team members can bridge the gap and handle the current needs while you steer the ship towards the future.

In any hiring call or promotion decision, remember to consider context and balance. This is the key. Placing someone into a role isn't about finding an exact puzzle piece; it's about constructing a cohesive team where multiple pieces interlock seamlessly.

So, as you contemplate whether to prioritise Rising Stars, Current Stars, or bet on Future Stars in your hiring decisions, remember to find that perfect balance that suits the context of your business needs and aspirations. It's not a matter of choosing one over the other; rather, it's about creating a team that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts!

Building my team: Rising, Current and Future Star

Building my HR teams usually consists of 4 pillars: Talent Partnering, People Partnering, People Operations, and People Product Development. Depending on the business needs, the complexity of the leader's role in each pillar varied; thus, the roles were not created equal due to this factor.

Know your business 

Allow me to paint a picture with an example from one of my previous companies. In terms of business needs, our goal was to achieve a staggering 15% month-over-month headcount growth, coupled with the ambitious task of expanding our operations into multiple different countries over a period of 12 months. This challenge, unlike any I had encountered in previous start-ups, was uniquely tailored to our business context. What set this scenario apart was the presence of seasoned senior leaders, affording me the luxury of nurturing the People Partnering pillar over time. 

Know yourself

On the other hand, it is important to take into account my own strengths and weaknesses as the leader responsible for building the team. Recruitment is not my strong suit, and my true passion lies in People Ops and People Product Development. However, it's essential to emphasise that this is not about personal preference; my role does not involve specialised work. My primary responsibility was to assemble a high-performing team capable of supporting the business's growth and our people’s needs.

Striking the right balance: Fresh perspectives and talent growth

Considering both contexts, the Talent Partnering pillar required the guidance of an experienced leader, someone who had walked this path before and possessed the ability to make an immediate impact - a ⭐Current Star. Enter our Talent Director, bringing with him a wealth of experience to the forefront.

Subsequently, our focus shifted towards the development of our HR operations while concurrently laying the groundwork for People Products we need for end-to-end employee journey spanning multiple countries. This endeavour required the recruitment of a 🔮Future Star, someone capable of addressing our immediate needs while also preparing us for long-term success. That's where the People Ops & Product Director, with his background in larger organisations, stepped in to oversee the People Operations and People Product Development pillars.

While both were recruited externally, our final pillar, People Partnering, witnessed its leader emerging from within our organisation. Our Associate Director of People Partnering, a 🌠Rising Star, had grown into her role, proving to be the perfect fit for the position.

Our HR team's ability to strike a balance between addressing current business needs and preparing for the future stems from the precise alignment of experience and skills, all without sacrificing the infusion of fresh perspectives or the cultivation of opportunities for internal talent advancement.

This is not a prescription, this is an inspiration

This isn't a rigid template for constructing your HR team, nor does it prescribe the precise composition of Rising, Current, and Future Stars within a team. Instead, it serves as an illustrative example of the essential thought process involved in assessing your unique context – encompassing both the demands of your business and your personal strengths and weaknesses as a team leader. This process enables you to skillfully strike the optimal balance while assembling a team capable of achieving your company's objectives.

(Thanks Peter from Hawkwood for hiring 2 out of the 3 leaders into this team!)

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