Huh. You really said that.
I’m walking through the cafeteria, minding my own business, eyes on the sloppy joes, when I’m stopped by a former colleague.
He’d heard one of his employees had applied for an opening on my team.
He said, I kid you not:
“She’s not that impressive, honestly. But maybe she’d do okay on your team.”
Um.
I don’t remember what I said in return. Probably something profound, like “cool, thanks.”
Who says that? About their own employee? To a potential hiring manager?
I took this to mean one of two things:
“She’s mediocre. Not a big loss if she leaves.”
Or:
“Your team is inconsequential enough for my cast-offs.”
Either way, I think that comment said more about him than her.
What I heard was: “I haven’t invested in her and don’t know what she can do.”
Challenge accepted.
I interviewed her. She was polished, funny, and low-key. In just that hour, she correctly identified a gap in one of our processes and helped us brainstorm a solution.
What else could I do? I hired her.
She was everything you want in a high performer. She diagnosed problems, partnered across teams to fix them, and always came prepared with ideas.
What she didn’t do was broadcast her successes or seek a bunch of accolades. Self-promotion wasn’t her thing.
That kind of employee doesn’t impress a certain kind of manager: one who mistakes visibility for value, or confidence for competence. He wasn’t paying attention.
She’s still with that company, all these years later. She’s been promoted a few times and now runs a team of her own.
She never said a bad word about her old manager. And I do have to thank him for teaching me an important lesson: pay attention.
Hiring her made me wonder how many talented people managers overlook every day.
It prompted me to add a few exploratory questions to my 1:1s:
What’s something you wish people noticed about how you work?
Where do you feel underused or overlooked?
What would you love to do more of, if someone gave you the chance?
I found that these questions did two things: they surfaced what I had missed, and reassured the employee that I wanted to see it.
The answers were gold.
Funny thing: I can’t think of one employee who wasn’t impressive.
If I’d taken that manager’s word at face value, I would’ve missed out on one of the best hires I ever made.
She was the real deal.
Unlike the sloppy joes.
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