Why You Should Hire Employees Who Have Grit?
Are you looking for employees who will transform your good ideas into great ones? Do you recognize that gap to be filled by employees who have grit? Do you believe that your ideas have the potential to be great with employees who have grit? If your answer to all these questions has been a yes, then you are on the right page.
As a business owner, you know more than anyone else that to succeed, have high gross profits, consistent and growing revenue, high net profit ratios, strong customer retention and customer loyalty, and have proactive customer service, you need employees that do not only have the skills and knowledge to get the job done but also has the grit to take your company to the next level.
Grit is the one word used to describe individuals who have the mental toughness to keep facing challenges and failures in their work while not losing their passion for their work.
Such individuals would be great employees as they will keep on learning from their mistakes and failures and persevere in doing better and best. Therefore, grit in an employee is a great predictor of their personal as well as your company-level success.
To take you through all the necessary aspects of this topic, the sub-topics that will be covered in this article are:
- What is Grit?
- Why is Grit So Important in the Workplace?
- How Can Grit Make Good Ideas Great?
- How Can Grit Make On-boarding Easier?
- How to Identify Grit During the Recruitment and Selection Process?
- Top 10 Interview Questions to Identify Grit in Your Candidates
- How to Encourage Grit in Your Workforce?
- How Can Deskera Help in Hiring Employees?
- Key Takeaways
- Related Articles
What is Grit?
Grit is often described as the resilience of spirit and an unwavering passion for long-term goals. This means that individuals with grit will continue to persevere in achieving their goals even in the face of adversities, failures, and obstacles. Such individuals will stay focused and motivated on their goals and work, irrespective of all the challenges that are coming their way.
Individuals with grit thus tend to have a fearless attitude and an entrepreneurial spirit, which also makes them value the way that they lose as much as they value the way that they win. This ensures that they are never stuck in one place and that they keep moving forward, taking your company with them.
Why is Grit So Important in the Workplace?
The primary components of grit at work are:
- Ability to keep trying in the face of failure or struggle
- Passion for their work
- A constant eye towards larger goals
These components in themselves make it clear how they are the components of high achievements, making grit so important in the workplace. In addition to the individual’s approach towards work being determined by their grit, it will also affect their soft skills and, therefore, how they interact with others.
With higher chances of them having a balanced and well-thought-out way of interacting with others will play a major role in managing workplace stress, especially during difficult times.
Additionally, the grit in your employees will make them resilient and therefore have their entrepreneurial spirits unaffected. The persistence due to their grit will keep their creativity and innovation always flowing, which is essential for refining ideas and achieving mutual goals, and it will make them feel connected to their work because of their strong sense of purpose due to their grit.
These are some of the few and yet quite comprehensive reasons why grit is so important in the workplace.
How Can Grit Make Good Ideas Great?
Considering that your employees with grit will be purpose-driven, goal-oriented, and willing to put in the work to realize their dreams and excel in their fields fulfills all the key ingredients of innovation and creativity. This is because creativity requires sustained dedication and efforts, with multiple iterations often over the first idea to make it the best one.
This is why hiring an employee who has grit along with top-notch experience and training will be one of the greatest assets for your company, as such a candidate will not shy away from thinking outside the box and considering multiple solutions.
Thus securing a higher probability of such employees securing bigger and more exciting possibilities for your company. Additionally, employees who have grit would not become stagnant but would rather keep on improving their abilities, developing new skills, and growing in their roles.
How Can Grit Make On-boarding Easier?
Considering that employees with grit are not content with mediocre and take their goals, careers, and aspirations very easily make them the ideal employee when it comes to on-boarding.
This is because they will easily engage with your existing workforce, ask the right questions, and ensure that they are provided with all the information and means necessary to fulfill their objectives. Additionally, employees with grit will not be skeptical about approaching you if they run into a problem.
This is ideal for all organizations because a good on-boarding process is critical. In fact, the first three months are critical for an employee because, during those three months, he or she would understand the company culture, values, and objectives, as well as build relationships with management and co-workers. In fact, a good on-boarding process is one of the best ways to retain top talents.
How to Identify Grit During the Recruitment and Selection Process?
In identifying grit during the recruitment and selection process, your managers would play a pivotal role. This is because uncovering individuals with grit during the recruitment and selection process would require them to ask the right questions.
These questions would have to be the ones that will give your candidate a certain scenario, and their response would help you in understanding their approach towards work, whether they have the determination to overcome obstacles and surpass expectations, and whether they know how to cope with challenges or not.
The interview questions asked by your manager should also have a question that will help them in knowing whether your candidate has an instance wherein they were able to overcome the odds in order to achieve a goal. From their response, they will be able to understand how passionate they are about their achievements and how proud they are of their accomplishments.
In fact, your hiring managers should also strive to understand if your candidates have been able to accomplish an objective, like a particular marketing objective or a sales objective, etc., that they were told was impossible to achieve. From the response that they get, they, as well as you, would be able to get a lot of insight while also letting your candidate’s initiative shine through.
Your recruiters should also ask questions related to your candidate’s history of dealing with long-term projects and how they managed their enthusiasm over that stretch of time.
In fact, your recruiters should also ask questions related to the biggest professional failures of the candidates, as the reply that they get for the same will help them in assessing whether your candidates are able to accept responsibility and learn from their mistakes and experiences, or whether they are someone who tries to put the responsibility on someone else.
Lastly, you can even choose to use personality assessments that will help you highlight inherent attitudes and motivations.
Top 10 Interview Questions to Identify Grit in Your Candidates
In order to assess grit in your possible employees, you should ask the following ten interview questions:
1.Tell me about your biggest professional failure and what you learned from that experience?
What to look for:
- Owning of failures, rather than passing of blame.
- Their self-reflection on what went wrong, and thus, what they will do differently next time.
What this question assesses:
- Their determination to persist past their mistakes, rather than being discouraged.
- Humility and adaptation in the face of failure.
2. Tell me about a goal- personal or professional, that you are working towards. How is it going?
What to look for:
- Their thoughtful and advanced planning that will demonstrate their organization skills, as well as interest in the endeavor.
- Concrete steps that they have taken in maintaining their focused approach to achieving their goals.
What this question assesses:
- Their enthusiasm and diligence in achieving their long-term goals.
- Their perseverance and motivation, even when something goes in an unexpected direction.
3. How do you decide if and when you should stop pursuing a goal?
What to look for:
- To see if they are centered around the futile and negative consequences of continuing down the same path.
- To see if they are able to come up with careful and objective considerations of the pros and cons of giving up.
- To see if they are able to come up with alternate solutions.
What this question assesses:
- If they have the ability to recognize a lost cause, even if they are someone who does not give up easily.
- If they have poise in backing out and are able to make every effort to minimize unwanted consequences.
4. Have you turned any of your dreams into reality?
This question is important because the main motto of a person with grit should be “if you can dream it, you can achieve it.
What to look for:
- Their outlook towards life, and whether they lean towards positivity and hard work, or whether they are more of a realist or pessimist.
What this question assesses:
- In order to be able to convert their dreams into reality, whether they are able to accept losses and take risks.
- Whether they are able to take calculated risks or not.
5. Tell me about a time when you had a new idea at work and how you implemented it. Did it work well with the other team members?
Considering that teamwork is one of the core keys to the success of an organization, this interview question is important as it will help you in knowing whether your candidate is someone who believes that just a good idea does not give them an upper hand. Such a candidate will make a better team player and would be a better fit for your company.
What to look for:
- If your candidate is full of innovation and dynamism, and if he or she is always ready to accept changes.
What this question assesses:
- If your candidate is a silent worker who prefers to play by the rules? Or is he or she someone who thinks outside of the box, is creative, and hates monotony.
- The leadership skills of your candidate. The question will help you in finding out whether your candidate is someone who commands others and asks them to follow their instructions or are they someone who is able to manage their team harmoniously?
6. Describe a project that you had to work on for an extended period of time and how you managed to stay engaged.
Through this question, your candidates will be able to share with you the projects that they have worked on while also highlighting their patience and perseverance, which are important aspects of grit.
What to look for:
- If your candidate was able to go through an entire project that required their extended periods of time and attention, rather than looking for instant gratification.
What this question assesses:
- If your candidate will be able to deal with all kinds of projects that your company will have- starting from short and sweet ones, till the longer ones.
- If your candidate was able to be not only engaged with the long projects but was also an active member of the same.
7. Do you keep a positive attitude during difficult situations?
Considering that positivity is one of the most important characteristics of grit, it is an essential thing to look for in your candidates and which they should have, even when situations look bleak.
What to look for:
- That your candidate has resilience and positivity and can see the rainbow, even after a little bit of rain.
What this question assesses:
- If your candidate will be able to face challenges and bad days at work and be able to remain strong and move ahead during those days.
- If your candidate will be able to keep their main goal in the focus during difficult times.
8. Do you keep your eyes on the bigger picture even in challenging situations?
This is an important interview question to ask your candidates, as having grit does not mean that one bad chapter marks the end of the story. Rather, it means that your candidates are aware of the bigger picture and therefore are not sidetracked by losses, irrespective of how big they are. They should be able to take a loss and continue moving forward so as to reach the light at the end of the tunnel.
9. What are your priorities? How do you plan to achieve them?
In addition to having grit, having a clear vision is also a must in order for it to be easier to reach one’s goals. Especially during adversity and setbacks, being in touch with oneself and one’s goals will make sure that your candidate does not lose sight of what is important to them.
Further on, clarity here will help your candidates to take their decisions and any steps forward accordingly. Remember, every step taken by them would be a direct reflection of your company.
10. Do you have the skills to help manage your stress?
Every job comes with its own set of challenges and stress, your candidate should hence be well-versed in managing their workplace stress in order to continue working effectively.
In fact, it is believed that some amount of stress is good for the employees as it will motivate them to work harder and achieve their targets.
What to look for:
- Whether your candidate is capable of managing workplace stress effectively or not.
What this question assesses:
- How does your candidate manage his or her stress? What hobbies outside of work do they have? Do they practice any healthy living and eating habits, proper routine in life, or exercises to manage their stress?
- Will your candidate be able to use stress as a motivating factor and not as a reason to drop something?
However, as an employer, you should remember to give positive reinforcements to your candidates, as this will help in cultivating grit in your employees.
How to Encourage Grit in Your Workforce?
Grit is a characteristic that is in-built in your candidates; however, that does not mean that it cannot be developed further or that it cannot be developed in your existing workforce with the right encouragement. For doing this:
- Drive and determination should be a part of your company ethos. Additionally, you should make sure that the positive attitude of your employees is what really matters.
- As an employer, you should remember that you would not be able to encourage grittiness with only flattery and encouragement but rather, also with well-balanced, honest, and constructive criticism. This means that if your employee’s work is not up to the mark, you should inform them of this so that they can address the issue and improve in the future.
- Specificity is very important. This means that you would have to inform your employees exactly what they need to do and what and how they need to do it better. This will help in exceeding your expectations.
- Several research has found that grit can be developed through mindfulness. This is why, as an employer, you should encourage your employees to question the way they think and their approach towards work. This means that, for example, if your employees recognize their tendency to give in to failure, then they should address that thought process and learn to focus on the positives by considering all available options. Additionally, you should even teach your employees to think abstractly and take risks in order to get where they need to be.
- As an employer, you should be able to provide the flexibility that your team needs. This includes supporting the passion projects of your employees, as these will lend to the entrepreneurial mindset that each of us has. Often, it also involves offering flexible hours to maximize productivity, as flexible hours will make it possible for your employees to harness their natural high and low energy points of the day.
How Can Deskera Help in Hiring Employees?
Deskera People is an online HR software that is also designed to help you with hiring and on-boarding employees. By using it, you would be able to maintain a centralized database of all your applicants to take follow-ups on and build relationships with.
In fact, you would even be able to have a well-rounded profile of your applicants because Deskera People lets you add custom fields as well. Additionally, you would also be able to access the information of your applicants on one screen, or you can even choose to search for the desired applicants using the filters.
With Deskera People, you would be able to create and manage your company’s job openings from one place, as well as be able to make job forms with custom questions so that you can test your applicants based on your requirements.
Lastly, you would even be able to define your hiring workflow using the job pipelines to know the exact application status and quickly review your hiring team’s progress.
Key Takeaways
Several researches have clearly indicated how more often than not, grit has been a strong predictor of success, making it one of the most important things to consider when hiring. This is because those who have grit are not only more likely to succeed because of their passion and perseverance while being good at their jobs but also because they remain strong in the face of adversities and obstacles.
Thus, as an employer, you would have to follow certain strategies to ensure that you are hiring employees with grit, and one of those strategies involves the ten interview questions listed above. In addition to this, you would also have to follow strategies that will maintain as well as develop grit in your new and existing workforce.
The larger the ratio of employees with grit, the better would be your chances of success, growth, and development, with all of it being reflected in your financial statements like balance sheet and income statement, business metrics, and related key performance indicators. Deskera Books would help in measuring these, while Deskera People will be able to help you through the hiring and on-boarding process of your employees.