In the early stage of team building, operators need to transform from executors to managers, and the construction of management thinking becomes one of the focuses of work. In essence, management is a “lever” that everyone can use. In daily life and work, everyone can use various “leverages” to solve problems. For example, when buying a house, the buyer will go to the bank to borrow money to buy the property. At this time, the loan service provided by the bank is a “leverage”. In management, managers can recruit suitable talents by increasing salaries. These talents help the company solve business problems, so management is also a “leverage”.

The responsibilities of managers are relatively diversified and can be divided into four parts: selection, deployment, management, and training. There is a saying in the field of e-commerce operations that “three points of operation and seven points of product selection”. The same is true in the field of management. Instead of choosing a person who is not suitable for training slowly, it is better to try to select talents suitable for your team at the initial screening. So, when selecting people, how do managers judge whether a person is competent for a position? The answer is “first look at the pattern, second look at the growth potential, and third look at the ability”.

First look at the pattern. The pattern refers to everyone’s cognition of things. It is a reflection of a person’s “three views” (outlook on life, world view, and values). For example, for the position of sales, the pattern of “serving customers attentively will naturally be rewarded” is larger than the pattern of “trying every possible way to sell products to customers”. The same is true for the emerging Internet industry. For the position of e-commerce operation, for example, the pattern of “improving product quality and selling high-quality products to customers through operation means” is larger than the pattern of “products are not important, and sales are increased by fake orders”.

It is very simple to judge a candidate’s pattern. Managers only need to ask candidates about their views and opinions on the position they are applying for. For example, “What do you think are the core elements of e-commerce operations” or “What do you think of the position of operations” are not considerations of professional skills, but considerations of their own business positioning. Although people with a big pattern may not necessarily have stronger abilities, they must have a higher “ceiling”. For a team that emphasizes growth, the long-term “ceiling” is more important than short-term ability. An e-commerce team that does not polish its products will never become a leader in the domestic e-commerce industry, and a catering company that relies solely on marketing and publicity without improving its services will never gain the trust of customers.

Second, look at the growth potential. Although managers can lead team members to grow, everyone’s growth rate is different. Therefore, interviewers or recruiters should consider the growth potential of candidates when screening. Growth can be understood as a person’s growth rate and growth ability. For example, an elder praises a child as “sensible, mature, and able to think independently.” This is the embodiment of growth. Managers can judge the growth potential of candidates based on their campus experience or professional resume.

If the candidate is a fresh graduate, the manager can judge his growth potential based on his various experiences in school. If the candidate has served as a student union or club cadre in college, or has participated in multiple internship projects, the manager can ask the candidate why he participated in these projects. If the candidate can answer the manager’s questions logically and systematically, and has a clear understanding of his future career plan, then the manager can think that the candidate has strong growth potential.

If the candidate is a member of society, then the judgment of his growth potential is relatively simple, because most managers are promoted to management positions because of their strong business capabilities. They naturally have a set of methods for how to do business well and how to grow quickly in a business position. When interviewing candidates, managers only need to consider whether the other party has a similar set of methods.

Third, look at ability. Ability refers to comprehensive ability, which includes both business ability represented by execution and non-business ability represented by learning ability. Ability can be judged by standardized certificates, or measured by performance and resume. Regarding the judgment of ability, managers need to “analyze specific issues specifically”. If the team is in a period of rapid development and urgently needs some people with specific abilities to maintain business operations, then the proportion of business ability in ability judgment is large. If the team is in the early stages of entrepreneurship and needs some like-minded people to explore and innovate the business, then the proportion of non-business ability in ability judgment is large. Ability judgment is the simplest one in the candidate evaluation. There are many interview forms to help managers evaluate their abilities, such as written tests, group interviews, personality tests, and academic qualifications screening. If selecting people is likened to an exam, then ability is the passing line, and what managers need to do is to select those candidates with a bigger vision and stronger growth potential from those candidates who have reached the passing line.

It should be noted that many managers do not regard ability as the passing line for selecting people, but rather as the most important part of the selection process, which is putting the cart before the horse. Because an excellent manager must lead the team to grow, the growth of ability is naturally within the scope of growth. Therefore, since managers can help team members gradually become independent people, why do they still focus on ability at the beginning instead of paying attention to the pattern and growth of candidates?