Work with pros

After I wrote a set of big rules for opting a job I thought of creating small rules, more tactical, to decide if you take an offer or not (it's really hard to put everything into three items). This time I wanted to share my thoughts about importance to check what people you'll work with. The research should go more up and outwards. I mean you should concentrate on people you'll report to (the up direction) and people from other groups you won't be at the same HR hierarchy branch (the outward direction). The internal direction (the team reporting to you) although is important as well to my opinion is secondary in the importance hierarchy simply because you have much more control over the situation inside your team.

 

The accent on the research should be done on both professional and human factors of your potential future colleagues.

 

Check you'll have enough what to learn from them. It's sometimes appealing to choose a second league team and be the hero and the pro there but I'm sure it's a big strategic mistake. You have to surround youeself by people that you can learn from. It's maybe a bit comfortless [for want of habit] in the beginning to be in such a situation but it's very very practical and pragmatic. I think it's even more useful to change a better paid job with less learning perspective to a less paid one but with richer opportunities to learn from the group and the leader. Zig Ziglar tells a story when one guy with a crazily high IQ worked as a doorman for years. The question "why he didn't find something more intellectual and interesting with such a high IQ?" he answered that he was afraid that on a new position not all of his colleagues including managers would have a lower IQ (as the situation was in the hotel). Such self-love (looking more as moronity) must be nipped in the bud by all really ambitious pros.

 

I incline to agree with Jim Collins that the question "who to work with" precedes to the question "what to do". He brings an analogy of entering a bus and asking firstly "who drives?" and only later "where does it go?". He convinces that if there are right people on-board they could drive any direction but if the team is joined by the direction only then once there are some real-time deviation from the route they easily lose the team spirit and go off the bus. He speaks about building the team and I'm about joining a team but the common idea is the same. Check you'll work with pros that have experience, fighter's spirit, strong managerial skills, and finally - just nice people to work with.

 

I was blessed with working with such people that if they call me one day I'll join their charter regardless the target.

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