Hire an Optimist and Make Your Team More Successful!

This is the second of a two-part series.  In Part 1 we uncovered the habits that help us become more optimistic and enjoy greater career success.  In Part 2 we’ll explore how to recruit and hire optimists and build more successful teams.

You gotta love Dilbert!  Nobody captures a caricature of corporate culture like Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams. If you identified with the cartoon above in your own work experience you realize that teams with optimists are a lot more fun to work on and seem destines to accomplish great things.

“When you’re hiring, make sure to hire optimists,” Frank Kalinoski told me in 1977.  Frank was my boss and in charge of the Harrisburg PA district where I served as one of his managers.  It made sense, so I followed his advice and was rewarded amply by working with some fantastic people who taught me the best practices of hiring and developing talent.

In Part 1 I cited an outstanding Harvard Business Review article by Michelle Gielan entitled The Financial Upside of Being an Optimist.  It’s well worth the read!  According to her research and the research she cites, there’s proof that optimists are better people to hire, compared to their non-optimistic peers:

• People in the top quartile of optimism are:
  
  
  • 40% more likely to get a promotion over the next year,
  • Six times more likely to be highly engaged at work, and
  • Five times less likely to suffer burnout, compared to non-optimists and pessimists.
• Optimists outperform their peers in the job market.
• Optimists search for jobs less intensively than their peers but receive job offers more quickly.
• Optimists are more likely to be promoted in the first two years after graduation than their peers.

If Optimists Make Better Hires, How Can I Identify One When Interviewing?

When an 8 ounce glass has exactly 4 ounces of water in it, some people see the glass half-full while others see it as half-empty. That’s the difference between optimists and pessimists. Optimists first notice the positive side of something while non-optimists first see the negative side of the same thing. 

If you ask someone if he or she is an optimist, what do you expect to hear, “No, I’m a terminal pessimist in search of my next disaster?”  Of course not!  Even the pessimists among us will represent themselves as optimists in order to sell themselves, especially in a job interview.

In order to figure out who among applicants for a particular opening is and is not an optimist, you’ll need to develop a set of behavioral interview questions.  Here are five of my favorite interview questions:

• Tell me about the kind of people with whom you work – what are they like?  Ask this open-ended question in a neutral tone of voice with a neutral expression on your face so you don’t tip the candidate on how to answer. Optimists tend to describe people in generally positive terms, while pessimists more often focus first on negatives before describing any positives. 
• em>Reading the press about today’s employers, you tend to see some employers have negative cultures.What have you found to be true in the employers for whom you have worked?  The way this question is asked allows the candidate to express his/her true feelings.  Optimists will focus on the positives, or how they took advantage of their opportunities, while pessimists may agree with the “negative culture” premise and provide examples of negative cultures in which they worked.
• Who was the supervisor who challenged you the most professionally? Give me three examples of how this supervisor specifically challenged you, how you felt, and how you responded. Optimists tend to tell you about the positive impact challenging supervisors had on them and what they accomplished while being supervised by that person.  Pessimists may focus on negative feelings or feelings of unfairness, possibly even cite that supervisor as a reason they quit.
• With a list of the candidate’s employers at hand, ask: As I give you each employer or supervisor’s name, give me three to five descriptors – words or phrases – that immediately spring to mind about that employer or boss.  Optimists will tend to offer more positive or complimentary descriptors while non-optimists will be neutral or negative.  Watch for the level of conviction and enthusiasm (or lack) they use when they share the list of descriptors.
• Tell me about the specific goals you are working on right now and give me your top three, why you chose them, and what accomplishing them will do for you.  I love this question because you’ll hear whether or not the candidate believes he or she can make a difference (a trait of an optimist).  Listen to their rationale – do the answers show intentionality, resolve, and discipline?  Watch their body language – do they get energized by their answers, or do they seem defeated?  And beware the candidate who struggles with this question!

The candidate’s answers to other questions you ask will also give you a sense about their optimism.

• Pay attention to how they answer (tone of voice, degree of confidence, etc.) and body language.
• When faced with difficult circumstances, did they accept the challenge and talk about the good and the positive things they learned or did (optimists), or did they take a negative view of what happened (pessimists).
• Do they see life as an adventure (optimists) or a rigged game (pessimists)? 
• Are they cheerful and upbeat (optimists) or sober and discouraged (pessimists)? 
• Optimists believe their actions can improve outcomes while pessimists don’t believe there is much they can do about their circumstances.

Of course, optimists want to work for optimists.  That’s why you might want to re-read Part 1 of this post and take a small positive step towards becoming more of an optimist.

Bottom Line

Optimists make better candidates for hire, are more engaged at work, and perform better over time.  If you have positions to fill, hire an optimist!

I love working with people and organizations who want to improve their effectiveness! Here are several outstanding resources that can help you and your organization to go to the next level:

• Improving your (or your team’s) management and leadership skills: Leading Through People™. This acclaimed program equips participants in thousands of current and emerging best practices of leadership, hiring, and talent development.
• Raising your (or your team’s) selling and sales management effectiveness: B2B Sales Essentials™ (among the 30-plus courses we offer are ones on selling with emotional intelligence and storyselling!)
• Conducting a more effective job search: Get a Better Job Faster™