Tevis Trower: Re-Humanizing the Interview Process By Shifting Our Language

We don't hire for human competency but for skill set.  Our language is inhuman in spite of the very real experience of working with HUMANS. People want Connection and Authentic Interaction. We need to understand What makes you, you?

 Today’s Quote:

“Learn everything humanly possible about everyone you do business with." -Harvey Mackay (Swim with the Sharks)

Show Guest:

CEO of Balance Integration Corporation | Advocate for Corporate Culture & Employee Engagement

Tevis Trower is a pioneer in optimizing corporate cultures. Heralded in bestselling Megatrends 2010 as “corporate mindfulness guru for the new millennium”, Tevis has assisted powerful organizations ranging from Disney to Morgan Stanley in optimizing their most precious assets: human beings. She has created and facilitated global executive immersions for prestigious organizations including Harvard Business Review Events, Young Presidents Organization, PWC, Bloomberg LP, Viacom, Google and The Economist on issues including mindfulness, executive lifestyle, personal mastery, innovation, and the role of consciousness in creating radical success.

You can find profiles and expert advice from Tevis featured in respected media outlets including Forbes, Fortune, BusinessWeek, Glamour, YogaJournal, CIO, Pink, RealSimple, Crain’s, New York Post, Financial Times, WWD, New York Observer, MSNBC, FoxBusiness, NY1 and Martha Stewart. As NYU Faculty teaching Business Creativity & Personal Mastery, Tevis has also served as worklife expert to WebMD and Huffington Post. Tevis lives what she teaches spending time in NYC, Montauk and Woodstock, enjoying surfing, snowboarding and entertaining friends at home with her dachshund, Ruby.

Episode highlights:

• Why it is important to re-humanize your hiring process
• Changing the mindset by shifting the language
• The formula for a successful shift

Problem:

Why is this important?

• Because we focus upon skill development to get into the roles we aspire to, we buy into the notion that work and life are separate. But the reality is that we are only one person, one being.  
• Through this buy-in to self-abnegation, we leave ourselves out of the workplace and all but guarantee to burn out and disillusionment. When we approach interviewing that way, we’re bound to forget that the person across from us is first and foremost a human being.
• Impostor syndrome of the interviewers (hiring managers!)
• IS-is there a place for me here? Everyone feels a little like a fake/fraud.
• Myth: This person is only as good as their resume.
  • Truth: Most of the best people, have the worst resumes

Mindset

• Creating a corporate culture happens one conversation at a time. Talking about what you are passionate about, what matters to you.
• Work is home
• It is a demand market.
• * we forget we are hiring a human being… not filling a seat.
• Bring an entire life into the company

Rick’s Thoughts

• Stay away from “stinkin thinkin”  - Transactional thought
• Judging people based on a piece of paper
• Restructuring the recruiting department to touch those who apply

Solutions:

By shifting the language we begin to shift the mindset.

Changing the language - humanize

• What does it mean to be human at your company?
• Don’t talk headcount, filling a seat
  • life count, heart count.
• Talk about finding the “right new colleague”
  • Not filling a seat or role, rounding out our community
• Shift to human terms

The breadth and depth of this person.  

• Talk about the eulogy and not the resume
• Think of everyone in terms of a peer
• Values -
• The framework is in the questions, not the answers

If the adage is that people leave managers, not companies, they probably refuse offers from managers as well. Foster a culture that supports the value for success. Are they Google-ly?  And what happens when being googly becomes a weakness? Homogeneity can be a downfall.

Rick's Plan

Cut out words like “candidate”, Job Description, industry terms

Key Take Away:

• Tune into your own Humanity
• Humanize the language
• Slow down the interview process to give more room & space