Schott not only taught his managers how to interview, he injected a dose of science into the process by implementing prehire assessments for positions in sales and software engineering. He also designed a scoring matrix that forced hiring managers to evaluate and rank a candidate’s soft skills and achievements against the profile of a Muley.
For instance, passion is an essential trait for employees in early stage companies, which are notorious for long, stressful hours and sporadic shortages of cash and resources. First and foremost, Muleys must be committed to achieving the company’s mission and vision.
What sets Schott’s strategy apart, however, is execution. He avoided hiring mistakes by actively participating in the process.
“I interviewed every single candidate myself,” Schott says. “That way, I could lead our roundtable discussions and ask thought-provoking questions about each candidate. My participation not only provided training, it reinforced the idea that we were resetting the bar.
“I’m a little more detached, so I was able to influence our hiring decisions by offering an impartial view,” he says. “For example, I kept asking about a candidate’s accomplishments and attributes, which forced our hiring managers to evaluate their pros and cons. The last thing I wanted to hear was: Well, I think they can do the job. We needed to be certain about every single hire.”
Although Schott’s personal involvement required time and effort, he’s convinced that CEOs of early stage companies should take a hands-on role.
“Investors are going to ask about financial controls, engineering or marketing. No one’s going to ask if you installed a rigorous hiring process,” Schott says. “You need to have your own compass and truly believe that nothing is more important than hiring amazing people because your employees will define your company.”
Design and nurture
Don’t hire hard-charging, self-starting employees then frustrate them by fencing them in, Schott says. He gives his Muleys plenty of room to roam by providing the right framework and environment to satisfy their need for creativity and autonomy.
“You don’t want to stifle creativity, yet you need to keep everyone on the same page as you grow,” he says. “The best way to achieve that is by providing a constant flow of communication that creates context and line-of-sight between an individual’s role and the company’s mission.”
To that end, Schott holds video conferences every two weeks. Employees across the globe have the opportunity to see and hear how the company is progressing toward its sales and marketing goals, product release deadlines and financial objectives.
He also uses metrics to benchmark progress in areas that foretell future success, such as the creation of sales pipelines and improving financial results. Providing a constant stream of report cards and updates creates focus and fosters a culture of personal and team accountability.
“Achievers will hold themselves accountable as long as you give them the right information,” Schott says. “Providing progress snapshots encourages those behaviors and illuminates the roadway to success.”
In fact, Schott favors weekly check-ins over formal performance reviews.
“You have to keep things really light to motivate high performers because they push themselves,” Schott says. “Once you involve HR and start filling out a lot of forms it becomes a paper-pushing exercise. You’re going to make mistakes and encounter setbacks when you’re trying to get a company off the ground and the last thing you want to do is discourage risk-taking.”
