Skills influence whether a person can perform the work. Character influences how that person will perform it
Building a strong team begins long before the first team meeting, coaching conversation, or performance review. It begins with the decisions leaders make about who is invited to join the team.
Hiring is one of the most important responsibilities a leader has. Every new employee affects the performance, relationships, and culture of the organization. The right person can strengthen the team, raise expectations, and contribute to a positive working environment. The wrong person can create tension, reduce trust, and consume an enormous amount of a leader’s time.
Throughout my career, I have seen organizations place so much emphasis on experience and technical ability while giving too little attention to character. Then the person just does not fit in.
Experience is important. Skills matter. We certainly want people who are capable of performing the work. But experience and skill tell us only part of what we need to know.
They tell us what a person has done.
Character helps us understand how that person is likely to behave after joining the team.
That is why an important hiring lessons I have learned is this:
Hire for character. Train for skill.
Skills Can Be Developed
Most jobs require certain knowledge and abilities. Depending on the position, an employee may need to operate equipment, use a software system, understand a product, follow a process, manage financial information, serve customers, or supervise other people.
Some candidates will naturally enter the organization with more experience than others. Previous experience may allow someone to become productive more quickly, and there are positions in which a specific level of expertise is essential.
However, many job-related skills can be developed and honed into greater expertise.
People can learn procedures. They can become more knowledgeable about products and services. They can improve their communication skills. They can learn new technology, strengthen their problem-solving ability, and become more effective at managing their time.
With good training, clear expectations, consistent coaching, and an opportunity to practice, motivated people can develop an impressive range of skills.
Character is much more difficult to teach. And the question is out there, can you even teach character? or does the person themselves need to develop it through their own attitudes and experiences.
A leader can show someone how to complete a report. It is much harder to teach that person to be honest when the report contains a mistake.
A leader can explain the organization’s attendance policy. It is much harder to teach someone to be dependable.
A leader can demonstrate how customers should be treated. It is much harder to create genuine respect for others in someone who does not already value it.
Skills influence whether a person can perform the work. Character influences how that person will perform it, particularly when no one is watching.
What Character Looks Like at Work
Character can sometimes sound like an abstract concept. In the workplace, however, it becomes visible through everyday behavior.
Employees demonstrate character when they:
- Keep their commitments.
- Tell the truth, even when the truth is uncomfortable.
- Accept responsibility for their decisions and mistakes.
- Treat coworkers and customers with respect.
- Remain dependable during difficult or demanding periods.
- Put the team’s needs ahead of personal recognition.
- Respond constructively to feedback.
- Show a genuine willingness to learn.
- Follow through without constant supervision.
- Do what is right when taking a shortcut would be easier.
These qualities create trust—and trust is essential to a strong team.
When team members trust one another, they communicate more openly. They are more willing to ask for help, share information, admit mistakes, and work through disagreements. They spend less time protecting themselves and more time solving problems.
When character is missing, the opposite occurs. People become cautious. Communication suffers. Cooperation declines. Leaders are forced to spend more time monitoring behavior, resolving conflicts, and repairing damaged relationships.
The Highly Skilled Hiring Mistake
One of the most common hiring mistakes is selecting a candidate primarily because that person appears able to “hit the ground running.”
The candidate has the right experience. The résumé is impressive. The person knows the industry, understands the systems, and may even have worked for a competitor.
Because the candidate appears to require less training, leaders may overlook warning signs involving attitude, accountability, teamwork, or respect.
The decision can seem reasonable in the short term. The team has an immediate need, and the experienced candidate appears capable of filling it quickly.
But technical ability does not compensate for behavior that damages the team.
A highly skilled employee who refuses to accept feedback can become difficult to coach. An experienced employee who blames others can weaken accountability. A strong individual performer who treats coworkers poorly can damage collaboration. Someone who consistently puts personal interests ahead of the organization can erode trust.
In these situations, the leader may eventually spend more time managing the employee’s behavior than would have been required to train a less-experienced person with stronger character.
A person can be excellent at the job and still be wrong for the team.
Potential Deserves Consideration
Hiring for character does not mean ignoring qualifications or lowering performance standards. It means looking beyond a candidate’s current ability and considering the person’s potential to learn, contribute, and grow.
Some of the best employees I have worked with, especially in my own department, did not arrive fully prepared for everything the position required. They needed instruction, practice, feedback, and time.
What they brought with them was a strong foundation.
They were dependable. They cared about doing the job well. They asked questions. They listened to feedback. They accepted responsibility when they made mistakes. They treated others with respect, and they wanted to improve. They had drive to make themselves, the department and the company better.
Because the foundation was strong, training worked.
A person who is willing to learn can develop new capabilities. A person who believes they already know everything will struggle to grow, regardless of how much previous experience they possess.
This is why attitude and learning agility should receive serious attention during the selection process. The question is not only, “Can this person do the job today?” It is also, “Does this person have the character and desire to become even better tomorrow?”
Hiring for Character Requires Better Questions
Leaders cannot accurately evaluate character by asking only about job knowledge and previous responsibilities. They must explore how candidates have handled real situations.
Behavioral interview questions can help reveal patterns. For example:
- Tell me about a time you made a significant mistake at work. How did you handle it?
- Describe a time you received feedback that was difficult to hear. What did you do with it?
- Tell me about a commitment you had difficulty keeping.
- Give me an example of a time you helped a coworker succeed.
- Describe a situation in which you disagreed with your manager.
- Tell me about a time you had to choose between what was easy and what was right.
- What is something you had to learn that did not come easily to you?
The value of these questions is not found only in the candidate’s final answer. Leaders should also listen for personal responsibility, self-awareness, respect for others, and lessons learned.
Does the candidate accept ownership, or blame everyone else?
Does the candidate speak respectfully about previous employers and coworkers?
Can the person acknowledge a weakness or mistake without becoming defensive?
Is there evidence of growth?
Character is not determined through one perfect interview response. Leaders should look for consistent patterns throughout the conversation, employment history, references, and every interaction the candidate has with the organization.
The interview should be a conversation, not a question and answer period.
The Leader’s Responsibility After the Hire
Hiring someone with strong character does not eliminate the leader’s responsibility to train and develop that person.
“Train for skill” is not permission to hire someone and simply hope they figure things out.
If we choose candidates based partly on their potential, we must be prepared to help them realize that potential. That requires:
- A well-planned onboarding process.
- Clear performance expectations.
- Effective job training.
- Regular feedback and coaching.
- Opportunities to practice new skills.
- Support when mistakes occur.
- Accountability for continued improvement.
When leaders hire for potential but fail to provide training, both the employee and the organization become frustrated. The employee may care deeply about succeeding but lack the direction or resources needed to perform effectively.
Strong character creates the foundation. Leadership and training help build capability upon it.
Every Hire Shapes the Culture
Leaders sometimes treat hiring as an administrative responsibility: there is an opening, candidates are interviewed, and someone is selected.
But every hiring decision is also a cultural decision.
When leaders hire people who demonstrate integrity, responsibility, respect, and a commitment to improvement, they reinforce those qualities throughout the organization.
When they tolerate arrogance, dishonesty, blame, or disrespect because a candidate possesses valuable skills, they send a different message. They communicate that results matter more than values and that certain behaviors will be excused when someone is considered talented enough.
Team members notice these decisions.
Culture is shaped not only by the values displayed on a wall or published on a website. It is shaped by the behaviors leaders reward, tolerate, and invite into the organization.
Hiring gives leaders one of their earliest and strongest opportunities to protect that culture.
The Leadership Lesson
Building a strong team is not simply about assembling the most impressive collection of individual résumés. It is about bringing together people who can trust one another, learn together, accept responsibility, and work toward a shared purpose.
Skills are important, and some positions require considerable expertise. But leaders should never allow technical ability to overshadow character.
The best hiring decisions consider both capability and values.
Look for people who are honest, dependable, responsible, respectful, and willing to learn. Look for candidates who can acknowledge mistakes, respond to coaching, and contribute to something larger than themselves.
Then provide the training, direction, and encouragement they need to succeed.
You may need to teach someone how to perform the job.
You should not have to teach them why integrity, responsibility, and respect matter.
Leadership Challenge
Before making your next hiring decision, identify the character qualities that are essential for success on your team. Develop interview questions that allow candidates to demonstrate those qualities through examples from their past behavior.
As you evaluate each person, ask two separate questions:
Does this candidate currently have the skills to perform the job?
Does this candidate have the character to strengthen the team?
Do not allow an impressive résumé to answer both questions.
The strongest teams are built by leaders who understand that skills may help someone get started, but character determines the kind of teammate—and the kind of employee—that person will become.
Prime Learning & Development 