Companies increasingly want skills that are hard to evaluate during an individual job interview but manifested in teamwork settings. Traditionally, hiring has been a piecemeal process where Human Resource Management and Departmental Management bringS individuals on board one at a time depending on the available openings. A few courageous companies are diverting from this traditional method by hiring teams instead of individuals. In Silicon Valley, for instance, most companies are allowing small groups of people to apply for jobs as a team. The company hired either the entire group or a member of the group.
Most commonly, high profile companies are engaging in acquire-hiring. This is where they buy startup companies with the aim of acquiring their talented teams. Moreover, new Managers always outsource colleagues with whom they have worked with in the past in a bid of promoting a strong team. Such activities raise the question whether hiring teams or individuals is a smart move for companies.
The answer is yes.
Team players
Hiring teams allow companies to hire reliably by avoiding the unconscious bias in conventional interviews. A large body of researchers proved that traditional interviews poorly predict a candidate’s future job performance. Human Resource Managers tend to apply the rule of the thumb. And that is that a candidate’s performance on the job is determined by how well they respond to the structured interview questions. On the contrary, managers who hire teams can feel confident that they pooled a variety of skills and talents to join their team. Unlike individuals, teams have a mix of personalities and skills that promote performance. Hiring managers should rely on valuable data demonstrated through teamwork.
Elite Operation
The cohort effect is common among new hires, where they feel that there is a special bond working as a team. When individuals join new teams in the workplace, they require time to adapt the team’s culture and make it their own. During this time, they are compelled to embrace team norms leading them to sacrifice their own creativity. In his book, Superbosses, Finkelstein identifies that the world’s most effective leaders are members of a cohort that support one another. Members of cohort groups encourage collegiality among one another by fostering healthy competition. This, in turn, leads to exceptionally high performance and rapid development of the entire team.
Cost of conflict
Today, most companies struggle with workplace conflict. It is a veritable plague that leads to employee turnover, job stress, declining productivity and reduced creativity. For companies that hire teams, such factors are eliminated since team members have already successfully adapted to each other’s personality. And as a result, have learned to handle their differences and resolve conflicts when they arise. Hiring a group with the express purpose of crafting talent with complementary skills and outlooks promotes greater performance, productivity and creativity in the office.
Human resource practices involve incremental improvements. Ensuring these improvements means that leaders should change the game on competitors and implement unexpected processes that promote developments. HRMs should rethink their operational processes by ensuring they bring a lasting impact to the workplace. From this perspective, hiring teams should be the next move for companies that want to remain ahead of their competitors.
