About 12 months after I opened my business thirty-something years ago, I hired Darlene. It turned out to be a great decision for one simple reason – she was better organized than I was. I’m a pretty organized guy, but Darlene brought something to the table that I did not, or even think to look for – experience as an office manager. From the very first week, she started asking me questions about how I did this, or the procedure for that. I would explain because I figured she was just trying to understand how I worked. This continued day after day. I didn’t look at it as intrusive. She would just find times when I wasn’t preoccupied with something else. After a while, I didn’t even think about it.
Then one day I discovered there was a method to her madness. I happened to walk past her desk. There on top was a loose-leaf binder labeled Procedure Manual. “Where did this come from?” I asked. “I made it,” she said. “What’s in it?” I asked. “All the stuff you’ve been telling me,” she said.
“How did you know to do this?” I asked. “I did it in my last couple of jobs” she said, “and I figured we could use one here. Besides, you travel a whole lot. So I can’t lean into your office to ask a question. And if you hire someone new, they can look in the manual to find out how we do stuff.”
I thought that was brilliant and I told her so. At the time of this conversation, that manual was about a half-inch thick. When Darlene left us, about five years later, it was about five inches thick.
Do you have a Darlene? You might think you do. But does that person have the detail orientation and sense of organization to document the procedures and processes that you and those around you implement regularly? Does this person feel skilled and confident enough to call you out when you start reinventing the wheel, change a process without thinking it through, or suggest a better way to approach what you’re trying to accomplish? A person like that is worth their weight in gold.
So, how do you find and hire a Darlene and bring her up to speed? Here’s what I would suggest:
One, be crystal clear in the posting. Let applicants know, up front, the specifics of what will be expected and the fact that you and those around you will want them to keep the day-to-day stuff organized. A fancy title like Office Organization Czar will mislead people. Keep it real. That way, applicants will sort themselves out before approaching you.
Two, focus on detail orientation and organization above all during hiring. A simple cross-the-table interview won’t cut it. Applicants will say anything these days. Instead, put them to work. Design a couple of tasks or exercises that will require them to demonstrate their sense of organization, their situational awareness, their flexibility and creativity in dealing with the unexpected. Here are three examples.
Ask them to complete an in-basket exercise. If you don’t know, this is a timed task where the applicant is provided with a stack of documents, receipts and the like and asked to organize them as best they can. If you want to do it digitally, provide them with a screen full of documents and folders. The point here not whether they complete the task correctly, but how they go about doing so. I’ve have been asked to do this and have asked applicants to do it. It provides some great insights.
You can also present them with a case study based on a typical workplace challenge and ask them to draft a procedure for doing so. Once again, this is not about them doing it right or wrong, but how they do it. This will provide you with insight into not just their sense of organization, but their writing skills. Don’t assume applicants with degrees know how to communicate on paper.
Here’s a third, I spoke with the manager of a limited-service hotel. He interviews every applicant, regardless of position, over a basket of towels. He teaches them how to fold the towels. Then he asks the standard interview questions while they both fold and stack. From this, he can pick up such attributes as following directions, hand/eye coordination, organization, confidence in dealing with the unexpected, how they build rapport, how they take correction if they make a mistake and the ability to balance two tasks at the same time, in other words answering questions and folding towels. Simple tasks like this reveal so much more than the questions every applicant expects to answer.
Three, give the person you hire a basic orientation, but be careful not to be too prescriptive. If you dictate everything on the way in the door, they will be hesitant to ask questions, challenge things that don’t seem to make sense, or appear to be carved in stone. You’re hiring them for their expertise, their sense of organization, their creativity, and their resourcefulness. Encourage them to ask questions and take charge of organizing you and those around you.
Is it possible you’ll hire someone who is too detail oriented, maybe to the point of being anal? Yep, but I would rather hire someone like that and have to tone it down than try to teach organization to a person who says s/he is organized but really isn’t. Will there be times when you have to get on the same page? Sure but that happens as any new work relationship evolves.
If you already have a Darlene, what can you do to take that person to the next level? If you need a Darlene, follow the steps I just mentioned. Once you have someone like this on your team, think of the time and energy you will save as a leader when this person is up to speed. Got ideas about how you do this, put them in the comments below. We’d all like to know.