Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Part 2

Last week we looked at how jobseekers can look out for toxic workplaces, and this week we'll look at how to keep your workplace from becoming toxic. You spend the vast majority of your life at work. Ideally it is FUN and REWARDING because you are working on games! Yet occasionally the brilliant and fanatical is accompanied by blatant narcissism, predatory ambition, freakish control, and wicked tempers which can make work miserable. So first we'll talk about how to screen out Dr. Jekyll in the interview process, and next week we'll look at how policies in the work place can mitigate Mr. Hyde.

The Cultural Fit Interview

A lot of companies put candidates through a gauntlet of interviews which have candidates in multiple rounds of tough questions only to encounter the big boss at the end of the day, often when they are tired and not giving their best. This level-up and boss battle approach to interviews is very confrontational and a little unfair. It also is lopsided in that the boss's opinion at the end is all that matters, which wastes a lot of people's time and deprioritizes team culture.

Reverse that. After the obligatory recruiter screen, have the hiring manager do the phone interview. Then if they don't pass on the candidate, follow up with the technical screen by someone high up in that discipline. Now you've only potentially wasted 4 people's time. After manager and screener confer, they may pass on the candidate or put them forward.

The candidate is already deemed competent. Now it is mostly about cultural fit. This isn't so much a personality contest as a hunt for red flags. Have a small group of employees of the same discipline, equals or a mix of senior and junior staff, meet with the candidate. Then immediately after, have the candidate meet with cross-discipline peers: an artist, a tester, a project manager, an engineer - just mix it up. These are people that the candidate might attend standup with but will not necessarily challenge them on their abilities. This is the same crew you might bring out to lunch with the candidate if it were in-office. The point is to get the candidate to relax so you can gauge their personality for any red flags.

Then after all interviews are complete, you call a follow-up meeting with everyone who interviewed the candidate, including the screeners. Get an initial thumbs-up or thumbs-down opinion from everyone. You'll probably get some in the middle or some "way ups" and "way downs". Then starting with the lowest opinions, ask for reasoning. This is where the red flags may emerge. Then work your way up to the highest opinions. After discussing, ask for another vote to see if people's opinions have changed.

Rarely will the big boss disagree with a full thumbs-up. They may never need to meet with the candidate if they trust their manager and team's judgement. They may ask if there were any red flags, and you'll confidently be able to tell them no.

Avoid Bias and Discrimination

There will be all sorts applying. Diversity is expected and VALUED. Cultural fit should not be used as a tool to discriminate. So if your team points out things like national origin, religion, caste, age or race, even indirectly, you need to shut that down. These are protected classes under the labor laws.

Beyond this discrimination, you should be aware of potential bias. Team members like to hire people more like themselves. You should push for more diversity in your team, and try to get tangible rational from team members opinions about the candidate.

Candidates may exhibit signs of social awkwardness, word slurring, mind-blanking and constant chattering. They are often nervous. Try to see past that. Beyond capability, try to get the interviewers to focus on attitude. An asshole isn't a protected class you have to worry about discriminating against.

Red Flag #1 - Arrogance

The candidate is going to be trying hard to sell themselves, which doesn't mean they are arrogant. It's a fine line between selling yourself and bragging. This is where some probative follow-up questions can help. What you're looking for is some humility and honest self-reflection, which you will not get from a narcissist.

? How do you feel your contributions have been received by past companies?

? At your last job or school, how would you compare yourself with your peers?

? Who on your last team would you go to for help?

? Tell me about a mistake you made and what you learned.

Red Flag #2 - Ambition

One of the most destructive characters to bring onto the team is the ambitious ladder-climber who feels entitled for annual promotions. These ambitions can play out as back-stabbing end-runs around bosses, inserting themselves into meetings, side-ways management of peers, and constant often quickfire volunteering for responsibilities regardless of their capabilities and current workload. Here is where the "Where do you see yourself in five years?" question may satisfy you, but follow it up with these questions.

? Have you ever been passed over for a promotion?

? Do you see yourself as a leader?

? (If yes) What makes a good leader?

Red Flag #3 - Proprietary about Work

We all have a tendency to put our egos into our work, which can often make us defensive about criticism. But on a game team, you need people who can work together to make the game better, which can sometimes mean letting go of control and lowering your shields. This is a business product, not a personal art project where pride often gets in the way of doing what is right. To that end, you should ask these questions to get a feel of their sense of pride and control. If they don't have real world examples, pose it as a hypothetical situation.

? Have you given or received code or art reviews?

? Have you ever received feedback that you vehemently disagreed with?

? How did (or should) you respond?

? (For students) Have you worked in group projects before? What was your role?

Red Flag #4 - Temper

This is hard to evaluate in an interview. Certainly companies have tried. Some may say something negative about you or interrupt you to see how you react. Others may turn a group interview into a test of your temperament by having someone disagree with you on a group project no matter what you say. (True story!) But don't be a dick just to find out if your candidate is one. Instead, ask them some hypothetical questions appropriate for their role. These would be stressful situations in any place, not that they would necessarily happen. You want to see if they immediately take it personally and seek out a team member to blame or if they first reflect on why this situation occurred and how they might avoid it.

? (For coders) Someone just reverted your check-in. How do you react?

? (For testers) A producer waived a critical bug as unimportant. What do you do?

? (For artists) An IT mishap makes you lose weeks of work. What do you do?

Conclusion

All these red flags are signs of a possible personality conflict that can create toxicity in your work place. By asking the right questions and getting the right mix of people asking them, you can hopefully weed these people out before they take root. However, you might find those people already work with you. They are not irreplaceable or necessarily unfixable, given feedback, encouragement and some work policies.

Next week ...

We will look at activities, policies and processes at work that can help mitigate these personality conflicts and create a healthy, collaborate culture for success.