Onboarding
When I hire, I hire based on ambition and culture fit.
I don’t tend to look further down the resume than the portfolio or social media links, because I want to see what people are passionate about.
The first 90-days on a job are for seeing how the culture matches and training on the “how we do stuff” of wherever you are.
All the tools, pipelines, naming conventions, etc, are all things that everyone will need to learn/relearn when onboarding.
Asking for help
If someone is failing or falling behind, instead of looking at that individual, I first look up the chain from where they are on the org chart. Are they getting the support they need to get the work done? It is rare that a worker just drops out for personal reasons. It is much more common that workers are allowed to drop out because they aren’t getting support. I have a flow chart for this, and it starts with “Do they have everything they need?” Employees are a very expensive investment, they will need upkeep.
Learn everything
When I onboard, I have a discussion that goes something like this, “You are going to see a lot of stuff that doesn’t make sense. You have a wide and varied background and an impressive toolset–that’s why you are here. But this is a new team, and we are going to do things differently. This, like all jobs, is a series of lessons. Look around you, see what is going on, and try to figure out why we do things our way. If we give you tools, use them. Poke holes. Be curious. Have feedback. Admit mistakes. Find solutions. When you go to your next job, take these observations with you. This is how you grow.” Then I trust them to do good work.
Know when to fold 'em'.
The most influential place I worked was at DLab, founded by Carl Smith, inside DIRECTV. When DLab was at its height, Carl left. When you come in as an innovator and have all the ideas in the world, eventually those ideas get used up and you need to go back out into the world to harvest new ideas. If you don’t you will start to decay the innovation around you. Carl left before he could be a problem. It was the most boss move I've ever seen. He went on to do more amazing work inspiring the innovation at Sonos and then onto his own ventures.