Inspired by Liz and Mollie’s wonderful book “No Hard Feelings” we talk about the role of emotions in our work, especially when hiring. One of the key principles in this book is that our emotions are a part of who we are at work and they impact our behaviour. Being aware of this helps us better understand ourselves and others, and ultimately helps us make better decisions.
Choosing who to hire is an important task for any manager. It’s also a great example of a decision where we need to be aware of how our emotions are influencing us.
Liz and Mollie’s book, “No Hard Feelings,” offers a comprehensive exploration of the role of emotions in our work, particularly in the hiring process. The book emphasizes that our emotions significantly impact our behaviour at work, affecting both our self-understanding and our relationships with others. More importantly, it contends that a keen awareness of our emotional landscape can lead us to make more informed decisions, especially crucial when selecting whom to hire.
In “No Hard Feelings,” the authors strike an interesting balance between dispensing advice and integrating humour through witty cartoons, a strategy that makes dense topics more digestible. They outline four main reasons for the erosion of motivation at work: a lack of control over one’s tasks, the absence of a sense of meaningfulness, a plateau in learning, and discord with coworkers. These elements are often overlooked in discussions about returning to the office post-pandemic. The issue may not be the workspace itself but the dynamics and individuals within it.
Studies indicate that people of colour often prefer remote work due to the draining nature of in-office experiences. This perspective underscores the necessity for a more nuanced conversation about remote and in-person work arrangements.
A crucial takeaway from the book is the concept of ‘job crafting.’ This is the art of shaping one’s work to align more closely with one’s passions and interests, suggesting that we may have more control over job satisfaction than it seems.
The book also argues that it’s unnecessary to maintain a constant veneer of positivity and happiness at work. A spectrum of emotions is expected and even healthy. Recognizing and expressing these emotions can liberate us and foster progress. Conversely, suppressing these feelings can lead to undesirable outcomes.
The decision to hire someone is fraught with potential pitfalls, one of the most common being the unwitting influence of emotions. It’s all too easy to get swept away by a candidate’s charm and ignore a realistic evaluation of their skills and suitability for the job.
Work samples can provide invaluable insights during the hiring process. They offer a more accurate gauge of a candidate’s abilities than a traditional interview. However, it’s important not to exploit free labour; any task assigned should not yield direct profit for the company.
In management roles, where it can be difficult to assign a mini-project, role plays can serve as an effective tool to observe an applicant in action. This method is particularly valuable when followed by a feedback session, providing insights into how the applicant gives and receives feedback.
The book advises asking behavioural questions over theoretical ones during an interview. The responses can serve as the basis for a more detailed discussion, revealing the candidate’s priorities and values in a more spontaneous, less rehearsed conversation.
The conversation doesn’t end there. Readers are encouraged to reflect on how emotions have influenced their hiring decisions and share their experiences. Recommendations for future reading are always welcome as the journey to understanding the intricate dance of emotions and decisions in the workplace continues.
TIME CODED SHOW NOTES
01:15 min We really enjoyed this book, especially how it blends advice with really funny cartoons to bring humour to some quite heavy topics.
5:15 The book lists 4 reasons why we lose motivation at work: lack of control over our work, we don’t find the work meaningful, we aren’t learning anything or we don’t like our co-workers. This is missed in a lot of the rhetoric about returning to the office. Sometimes it’s not the office that people are avoiding but rather some of the people who are in that office.
6:15 Studies have shown people of colour prefer to remote work at increased rates because being in the office is exhausting.
7:00 Job crafting is the art of shifting your work towards what you enjoy doing. When it comes to our happiness at work, we might have more control over it than we think.
9:30 We don’t have to always be positive and happy at work, it’s ok to experience a range of emotions.
10:30 Expressing our emotions, even just acknowledging them, can free us to move forward. However if we keep them bottled up it means they are going to come out somehow. Perhaps in ways that we don’t want.
12:15 An easy mistake to make when hiring is to unwittingly be overly influenced by your emotions. We can get swept up and hire someone just because we feel good around them. Our positive emotional response can distract us from realistically assessing their capability to do the work.
13:15 Tim recounts getting swept up in an interview with a charismatic applicant.
18:00 The benefits of using actual work samples in a hiring process and how it gives better information than you can get just from questions during an interview. But best not to take advantage of people’s free labour – make it a piece of work that your company won’t profit from.
19:25 For jobs like management where it can be hard to do a small work project, Tim has used role plays to see what the applicant was like “in live action”. Especially valuable when followed by a feedback session to learn how the applicant gives and receives feedback (this last tip was borrowed from Basecamp’s hiring process).
21:00 Behavioural questions (tell me about a time when you did X) are much better than theoretical questions (how would you do X) particularly when you use the applicant’s answer as a starting point for a detailed conversation about what happened and why. In a free flowing conversation the applicant has to make quick decisions about what to say. If you listen closely they are often telling you about their priorities and values.
23:45 It can be worthwhile asking questions about the things that make us uncomfortable because we then get a sense of what our relationship with this person might be like when, inevitably, we’re experiencing discomfort.
What about you, dear listener? How have emotions influenced your hiring decisions? We’d love to hear about your experiences! And we’d love any future recommendations for books.
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