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Hire the Right People to Create a Great Company Culture
Chris Mefford was invited to the Eternal Leadership Podcast to talk about his strategy and techniques in hiring, firing, and nurturing people to build a great team.
Chris immediately pointed out the importance of communication in leading a team. In all the industries that he had been (and still are) involved in, communication was the most vital factor in leading his teams to success.
Chris emphasized that your team members may be sitting there hoping they don’t do anything wrong and get fired. If you’re a leader and you’re not reinforcing the fact that you want to help them succeed, they’ll be constantly worrying about making mistakes.
When it comes to finding people to join your team, you don’t need to find the best person. You need to find the “right” person who fits your company culture.
Chris shared some questions he asks potential employees. One of his favorite is, “Tell me about the biggest mess-up you’ve ever made.” It’s a question that tells him if the applicant is teachable, and if he is humble enough to share his vulnerabilities.
Chris revealed an interesting tactic for hiring an applicant who is aiming for a position that requires the ability to handle high-stress situation: create multiple high-stress situations during the interview. Chris would interrupt him, disagree with his answers, change the topic, and do all sorts of strange verbal maneuvers. This tests the applicant in advance, and protects less-prepared individuals from landing the job and feeling miserable a few weeks into it.
On the topic of accountability, Chris stated that he got to a point where he was “less concerned about what people thought of him than he was about the goal he and his team were trying to achieve”. That is why he pushes people to achieve greatness.
What You’ll Learn
- How-tos of creating a great workplace culture
- The common thread of great leadership in every industry
- How Chris stumbled upon a simple “task” that positively energized his team
- One of the best tools to use in communication
- How transparent should a leader be?
- How to hire the “right person” for a particular job
- The right and the wrong way to post a job description
- The questions Chris asks when hiring a potential employee
- How to talk to underperforming employees
- How to make a new employee feel valued on his first day at work
- The importance of setting company core values
Resources
- Chris Mefford’s website
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
- Hiring, Firing and Creating an Amazing Team Culture For Leaders in a Hurry by Chris Mefford
- Hiring, Firing and Creating an Amazing Team Culture for Pastors in a Hurry by Chris Mefford
Join The Conversation
How about you, when in comes to hiring people, do you hire for skill or character?
Bio 
Chris Mefford is inspired by change. In fact, he built a career on driving change at the organizational, community, and personal levels.
He started in marketing and advertising, pursued an MBA, and the day he graduated, he quit his job, a powerful change all by itself, and immediately started his own company from scratch. As a hands-on CEO, team builder, and marketer, he led the business through rapid growth—from zero to $500K in 12 months—and he soon sold the business in search of new challenges.
In 2007, he landed highly visible executive positions with The Dave Ramsey Organization. In these roles, he had the opportunity to change people’s lives by providing clear, actionable strategies to help people make smart financial decisions and turn a fledgling department into one the best in the company.
At the same time, he coached leaders from businesses and non-profit organizations as part of EntreLeadership programs and events nationwide. He offered his expertise and insight to assist senior executives and small business entrepreneurs to build better cultures, turn around underperformance, hire the right employees, implement efficient processes, manage finances, and implement the organization’s mission while making money.
He also played a part in guiding The Dave Ramsey Organization to earn recognition as one of Nashville Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” for eight consecutive years.
From here, he sought out a new challenge and as an acting Senior Vice President of Dr. Henry Cloud productions and co-host his podcast Leadership University – a top ten podcast on iTunes for Management and Marketing. He moved from there to the acting COO of Standard Behavior Digital, a digital marketing firm that has been instrumental in helping businesses experience phenomenal growth through various marketing and advertising initiatives.
He has a passion for marketing, small business and entrepreneurs.
He is not someone who hasn’t been in the trenches for years, he lives and breathes business everyday, and has a proven track record of never failing, and only building successful departments and companies.
He brings tremendous energy and commitment to his work, and he wants to personally help you achieve greatness and success as well.
