Hiring top talent is one of the greatest challenges most law firms face as they try to build and scale their law firms. Whether you are hiring intake staff, case managers, associates, or other staff members, choosing the right people to place in these positions is critical to your firm’s success. Great hires help you grow, and bad hires hold you back. The best hires are talented team players; they are motivated to work, committed to the goals you have set for your law firm, and their core values are aligned with your firm’s values. And, of course, they aren’t jerks!
The problem is finding these A+ team players. Many candidates submit impressive resumes that make them look ideal…on paper. But once hired, they turn out to be ill-suited disappointments that fail to meet your expectations and do not mesh with your firm’s culture. Unfortunately, there’s no crystal ball that can reveal to you exactly how a potential hire will end up performing after they are hired. However, if you take the time in the interview to ask the right kinds of probing questions, you have a much better chance of hiring an ideal team player for your law firm from the get-go.
In his book The Ideal Team Player, Patrick Lencioni identifies three key characteristics of the ideal hire. These are individuals that are (1) hungry, (2) humble and (3) people-smart. Lencioni’s book goes into detail on how to recognize and cultivate these three essential virtues, and his online accompanying resource materials includes a series of probing interview questions to help you identify and hire ideal team players.
The interview process is so important in helping law firm owners hire the A+ team players needed to build a successful law firm that we are sharing a portion Lencioni’s interview questions as part of this week’s PILMMA blog. You can find the full list of interview questions/explanations here.
The first four questions below are HUNGRY questions designed to help you determine if this potential candidate for hire has the internal drive and motivation to work hard at a goal or objective and the propensity to be constantly thinking about the next step and next opportunity.
- What’s the most difficult project you’ve ever worked on in your life? The answer to this question will let you see whether this candidate is grateful for the experience she or he gained or is a whiner/complainer.
- What was your work ethic as a teenager? Since strong work ethics are typically established early in life, look to see if they juggled part time jobs, participated in sports, took on additional responsibilities at home, etc. Look for signs of persevering through hardships, pushing themselves in training and/or academics.
- What kinds of yours do you generally work? The answer may give you insight into whether they are a strictly “clock in, clock out” type or willing to be flexible during crunch times in order to do what it takes to get the job done. Not that we all don’t want to have quality time and a life outsaid of the office, but a “hungry” type of person doesn’t mind getting additional work done when it’s necessary.
The next set of questions are the HUMBLE Questions, designed to help you determine if this individual has the capacity to be a successful team player — able to share credit, emphasize team over self, and define success collectively rather than individually.
- Tell me about a person who is better than you are at doing a task that matters to you. This question may sound odd — but it will give you insights into how they view others. Are they one who can and does genuinely appreciate others’ talents and abilities? Ego driven people will be uncomfortable with this type of question, while humble people will have no problem with giving credit where credit is due.
- What would your friends say is your greatest weakness? (or) What would you like to change about yourself if you could? Look to see if the candidate takes the time to really consider and offer an honest answer. Look to see if they answer with what they consider to be strengths just clothed as weaknesses — such as “I take on too much” or “I work too many hours.” If they present weaknesses in this way, they may be afraid to genuinely acknowledge real
- What was your biggest failure or most embarrassing moment in your career? Genuinely humble people with a healthy sense of self-worth aren’t afraid to admit mistakes they’ve made. They are comfortable with who they are and don’t see their mistakes as something that negatively defines them, but as an opportunity for growth.
- Tell me what you like and dislike about your current team. The answer to this question will give you insight into how much they value team effort and being part of a team. Strive to get at some details of team interaction to see how they mesh in team environments and how critical they are of other team members.
Lastly, are questions designed to determine if the candidate is PEOPLE SMART: interpersonally appropriate and aware, exhibiting good judgment and intuition regarding subtleties of group dynamics and the impact of their words/actions.
- Share an example of how you’ve shown empathy to another teammate in your prior job. This question gets at how the candidate perceives or values empathy- a necessary component for optimum team building and creating a positive firm culture.
- What kind of people annoy you and how do you handle them?
This question is designed to get out the candidate’s self-awareness and self-control. If they are people-smart, they are able to deal with annoying people in a constructive manner. They are also able to see when their own pet peeves color their perspectives of others.
- What do you do in your personal life that others might find annoying, or behaviors that you consciously try not to do at work? We all have things we say or do that annoy our family or friends. Smart people are able to see this about themselves and try to moderate that behavior at the office.
- Have you ever worked with a difficult boss or colleague? How did you handle this? This question gets at the heart of whether the candidate can read people appropriately and handle difficult situations that are bound to arise in most any work environment.
You cannot build a successful law firm alone. You need A+ team players to help you achieve your goals and build and scale your law firm. While there’s no guaranteed magic tool that will help you identify with certainty these hungry, humble and smart ideal team players using the interview questions noted above will certainly increase your likelihood of finding and hiring the ideal team players than can help you take your law firm to greater levels of success and profitability.
About Author:
Tiana Hinnant Hardison practiced law for 30 years, with an emphasis in personal injury and disability law. With a passion for helping lawyers grow law firms, she is PILMMA’s Insider Journal Editor-in Chief, and Content Developer. You may contact Tiana at tianamhinnant@gmail.com
