Who would you hire?
There are two kinds of people, with two different kinds of growth momentum - one that is wavering and inconsistent and another that is gradual and consistent.
Simon Sinek talks about these two kinds of growth momentum in the context of team performance in primarily a business context. He starts with the fact that teams are often rewarded by whether they hit arbitrary financial targets within an arbitrary timeline. The arbitrary nature is bound by something like the fiscal year structure and determined by someone higher in the hierarchy.
The wavering and inconsistent team may have a growth momentum that fluctuates from one extreme to another. The good days are phenomenal and the bad days are terrible. And it's unpredictable from one day to the next what the performance would be like. It is possible that they do hit that arbitrary target on the arbitrary date prescribed by their boss, and they are naturally rewarded for hitting that target - but it's not the complete picture of their growth momentum.
On the other hand, the gradual and consistent team demonstrates a steady increase in performance that is predictable and stable. It is possible that they do not hit that arbitrary target on the arbitrary date prescribed. But it is clear beyond a doubt that given their track record, they will get there eventually - just not right now at this arbitrary date. They didn't make the goal, so they are not rewarded despite the demonstrated stable progress and the absolute potential to reach the goal.
(image credit - video linked below)
Simon warns against 1) rewarding inconsistent teams that happen to hit an arbitrary target on an arbitrary date, and 2) overlooking the consistent teams that may simply need an adjustment on the timeline required to achieve the same goals.
He encourages us to put more value on measuring the momentum of growth within the context of a time period over arbitrary metrics that provide a limited snapshot of performance without context.
You can watch his explanation (probably better than mine) here
***
As I thought about Simon's message, I couldn't help but think about how our audition processes promote exactly what he warns about. For any musician who auditions, we only get a limited snapshot of their performance and we don't get any information or context about their momentum of growth.
What if a musician is very inconsistent in their growth, and yet on that arbitrary date of the audition, they happen to be at a peak? At that moment, we'd think, "Great! This is the one!" We would only discover after we've hired them that their work is unreliable, they have a wide fluctuating range in performance, and their growth is ineffective and stunted as a result. This impacts the growth of the entire ensemble.
What if a second musician comes along and is very consistent in their growth, but they needed a week to get to that same spot on the graph as the peak of that first musician? It's not where we've set the bar, so we don't pay attention to this musician and move on. We'd never have the chance to discover that in a week, they would reach that bar and would continue to get better beyond the limiting growth of the first musician.
***
There is currently no way for us to measure growth momentum in our hiring processes. We don't have all the information to make a hire in the best interest of the growth of the group - so we are, in a way, hiring blind.
When we hire the first musician over the second based on a snapshot, what do we give up? What does it tell us about our values?
The value of our work doesn't exist in isolated vacuums of public concerts. It also matters what we do from one day to the next. It also matters whether our growth has an upward momentum. This impacts how we feel when we show up to work, whether we feel like we have a clear trajectory in our work or we're simply throwing darts at arbitrary targets.
Could overlooking momentum of growth in musicians contribute to the hiring challenges we face? Could this lead to higher turnover rates? Could this lead to the frustratingly stunted growth we see in ensembles?
What if we hire for the long game? What if we valued the momentum of growth over stand-alone arbitrary metrics? What might that audition process look like?
Who would you hire? How might we benefit?
Sign up to receive an email with each new post.
Visit my YouTube channel for all blog videos and my artistic work.
