In my first leadership role, my boss would often ask, “How is Ronnie doing?” I found it challenging to answer quickly. This was before cell phones had unlimited minutes, so I needed a fast, concise response. How do you sum up an employee’s performance in just a few seconds? I needed a way to capture the key aspects of my experience with each employee so I could relay that to my manager.

I worked on this concept during countless conversations in mid-range restaurants and hotel bars across the U.S., testing ideas with colleagues who traveled with me. Their feedback shaped the model I still use today.

This approach recognizes that people aren’t just “good” or “bad” employees. Someone might be highly competent but difficult to work with, while another could be fun to hang out with but unreliable. People contain multitudes, as the saying goes.

The model revolves around four key “sliders”:

1. Person

This slider reflects an employee’s character. Are they kind and respectful to others?

Why it’s important: Managing someone with a toxic attitude is challenging, and it can be even tougher on their coworkers. We don’t want to inject negativity into our team. While we won’t only hire humanitarians, we need to be aware of an employee’s impact on others so we can support both the individual and the team’s overall health.

2. Hang

This slider assesses if team members enjoy spending time with this person.

Why it’s important: While this may matter less for remote teams, studies suggest that employee retention improves when people have a work friend. Understanding where an employee stands on the “Hang” slider helps us build team connections. Plus, employees who can easily connect with colleagues are more likely to be future leaders and trainers.

3. Employee

Here, we consider reliability and adherence to responsibilities—do they show up on time, follow up on tasks, and submit reports without reminders?

Why it’s important: Dependable employees are invaluable, especially in a remote work environment. This slider reflects an employee’s accountability and trustworthiness, both essential for maintaining smooth operations. Each role may have different criteria here, but it often comes down to their adherence to policies and procedures.

4. Job

This slider evaluates their competence in the specific tasks they were hired to perform. Are they effective in their role, whether it’s teaching, building, or analyzing?

Why it’s important: An employee can be a great person, a reliable team player, and even fun to work with, but if they can’t do the job, their value is limited. “Job” is a dynamic slider, influenced by training and coaching. If progress on this slider stagnates, it might be time to consider a change.

For each role, we must decide which sliders matter most. Teams should be a balanced mix of people strong in different areas; not everyone will excel on all four sliders. Determining minimum standards for each slider—and whether some roles need a fifth, custom slider—helps keep expectations clear.

Having this mental model can make it easier to evaluate employees on the fly and pinpoint areas for growth. Most importantly, it offers a way to visualize those conflicting feelings when you say, “But they’re such a good person,” about an employee struggling in their role.

Like a doctor who gets sick, the experience of being out of work has changed the way I see my profession.

This comes in two parts:

·         How I manage the people on my team

·         How I think about the people who apply to work on my team

The first part comes from interviewing friends, former co-workers, and others with varied managing experiences. Listen to the Managing Humans Podcast to hear those interviews.

This post is mostly about the second part. How my job search has changed the way I am going to hire (and how it should change the way you hire too).

I have a couple of rules I am going to post on my office wall and check myself against as I hire in any new role.

1.      If someone isn’t being considered, let them know ASAP. Letting people dangle isn’t fair to them or really serve any purpose. I have a running list of all the roles I have applied for. I categorize them by status (Applied, Closed – No Update, Closed – Email received, Interview). Closed – No Update is the largest section by 2X. Not an automated message, not a status update in the hiring portal… Nothing. I know the recruiting tools that most of these companies use, they have the capability to send out an automated message when your resume is declined, but still, no one takes the time to click the button.

2.      If a candidate has spoken to anyone at the company, they get a personal email if they are declined. Phone screen, interview, on-site or on-line, if we speak to them, they will get an email from me letting them know they aren’t being moved forward. Let them know why and let them know if you are going to hold on to their resume, then really do it.

3.      If you have screened or interviewed them, but they aren’t a fit for your role, help them find something else in your company. When I was at Amazon, we had a practice called Recycling a candidate. If they were deemed to not be a fit for the role, but we saw potential in them joining Amazon, the recruiter would try to find them a role that fits. I have done this a couple of times at other companies, and it was a huge success!

4.      Provide feedback. People can’t do better if they don’t know what they are doing wrong. This one is going to be tough at some companies. Many have policies that bar anyone from giving a reason for a hiring decision. This is usually because they are worried about lawsuits, but I think there are still ways to help candidates understand why they aren’t being selected.

5.      Set and meet expectations. Let the candidates know what your process is and what the timeline is going to be. Just like any customer interaction, if someone doesn’t hear from you, they assume you have forgotten them. Even if you must send an email to update the expectations, the candidate will know you are still there.

Most of these points fall under the mantra - Never ghost anyone! It doesn’t help your reputation, it doesn’t help your company’s brand, and it could lose you a valuable customer. Candidates are people with feelings and lives to live. The market may be in the hiring company’s favor right now, but when the tide turns, we want to have people clamoring to work with us.

I will keep you updated when I start to hire again!