5 Reasons Why You Should Start Hiring People Who Are Better Than You

The hiring process can be a humbling one if you’re looking to build a strong, trustworthy team.

Business leaders and owners are often tasked with vetting and onboarding new leadership team members, but workplace competitiveness can often complicate the process. While a healthy company culture generally prioritizes the work of the team over any one individual, a certain level of competition among employees is inevitable. Competition can be healthy, spurring each employee to strive for their best, or it can be harmful, causing distrust and communication breakdowns. When managers on the hunt for new talent come across impressive individuals, it is important these managers fight the natural tendency to pass on an applicant whose high performance could be perceived as a threat to their status.

Instead, managers should view hiring a highly talented colleague as an opportunity. In fact, there are a plethora of reasons why managers should swallow their pride and hire people who can do their jobs just as well as they can, if not better:

1. It Gives You a Challenge

Extending an offer to someone who has professional qualities you may not currently have will challenge and inspire you to be a better leader within your workplace. Furthermore, surrounding yourself with intelligent people helps you continue to learn as you witness new ways to tackle issues and alternative approaches to business practices and processes. Both the team and the organization will benefit from this healthy competitive energy, which can lead to more innovation, better customer service, and more.

2. It Frees Up Your Time

Lack of time is one of the most common reasons why managers don’t delegate work. With a strong and supportive team in place, however, it becomes easier to divvy up your work. After all, you can be confident the people taking over your tasks are fully capable of executing them.

As a result, you free up time to work on other items. This could translate to winning new clients, checking in with existing accounts, or having the ability to represent your company at more events. Hiring an employee who is exceptional at what they do will allow you to tackle the items that deliver the most value to your organization. Think of it as having several versions of yourself working on all aspects of your brand at once.

For more expert recruiting advice, check out the latest issue of Recruiter.com Magazine:

3. It Improves Company Culture

A strong company culture is one of the most sought-after qualities in an employer. When you onboard a team member who is better than you in some way, you publicly validate the fact that you’re seeking shared success instead of prioritizing your own interests. Existing employees — and even prospective candidates — will pay attention, and your care for the culture will rub off on them. As a result, productivity and brand perception might just get a boost.

Plus, employees aren’t the only ones looking to engage with worthwhile organizations with strong cultures. Potential vendors, clients, and partners will also take notice, strengthening your overall industry reputation.

4. It Brings a New Perspective

New employees always bring fresh perspectives. When those employees also have talent and expertise, they can advance your business in ways you never dreamed of. Your all-star hire might just streamline processes, perfect customer service, and even prime the company for expansion. Hiring people who constantly push the envelope is a tried and true tactic that successful leaders continue to use. To quote Steve Jobs, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”

5. It Strengthens and Supports the Whole Team

Just as the new hire will help ease your workload, they can take weight off the entire team’s shoulders by providing strategic and knowledgeable support. Burnout is prevalent in understaffed, fast-paced environments, but your whole team can work more confidently knowing they have support if they need it.

Plus, having this new powerhouse on your team can even create more room for employee development. Instead of spreading yourself too thin, you can now delegate crucial tasks to your new hire. The free time this opens up can be put to use in mentoring employees, leading to a stronger team all around.

With additional support and a stronger team in place, productivity will likely skyrocket, yielding new opportunities, innovations, and even expansion.

—

Having the right team members in place is essential for the long-term success and growth of any business. Managers are able to accomplish more, better support their teams, and strengthen the culture when they starting hiring people better than themselves.

Spencer Shaw owns three successful bathroom remodeling businesses: Re-Bath of Spokane, Re-Bath of Boise, and Re-Bath of Portland.