4 Tips For A Top Team: CEO Jim Cox Shares How Gaskets Rock Did It

Assembling a high performing team of can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be even though it may be a difficult task to undertake. So, it was helpful this week when Gaskets Rock CEO, Jim Cox, published some insider tips on how they have built an industry leading team.

Once you have chosen the right members for your team, you won’t regret it as they work together like a dream. There are a number of things that you need to consider before asking individuals to join your team or interview candidates for various positions.

Use these 4 top tips to get started with hiring your best team:

Tip #1: Hire the key people first

It may seem obvious to hire the admin assistant first. However, this should be the last person to hire since they will need to work well with all the other members of the team. It’s not a good idea to hire the admin assistant first if he or she is going to clash with one of the key members of your team, that bring the most important skills to the mix. Jim Cox says this has been one of the key elements of their managing partnership roles.

Tip #2: Qualifications verses Referrals

While qualifications form a great foundation to build your team upon, Cox says referrals are probably even more important. A college degree is impressive and forms the basis of a great team.

Experience, however, can be more important in putting your team together. Referrals provide more in-depth information about a person’s skills and traits that can help you in finding the right people to join your team.

Tip #3: Get to know candidates personalities before hiring

According to Jim Cox, Gaskets Rock has seen how a candidate may seem like the perfect fit on paper, with all the right qualifications and experience, but that does not help if his personality is going to clash with yours. Before hiring candidates, get to know them better in both formal and casual settings to determine if they will be a good fit.

Think about this in terms of your own leadership and management styles and whether they will be able to work well under your leadership, advises Cox.

Tip #4: Define your goals and the skills required

Jim Cox writes that before you even look at hiring any team members, define your goals. This will help you to determine what skills you will require from your team to achieve these goals. Additionally, it is also helpful to state your goals to new team members from the get-go so that they know what is expected of them.