Performance vs. Trust: Think like a Navy SEAL to make your next hire

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The setup: Sally has an important personnel decision to make. There’s a newly open managerial position available at her company, and she’s identified two internal candidates who deserve a promotion. She calls on Joey to help her distinguish between the two so she can make the best decision. 

Here’s their conversation over a cup of hot coffee!

“So you can see my dilemma,” Sally says as Joey combs through two anonymous performance reviews she’s printed off to compare candidates. 

“Well, at first glance it seems obvious who should get the job,” Joey responds. “Looks like Candidate A exceeds all of your performance metrics across the board. Candidate B is good, but the numbers don’t jump off the page.”

He eyes the paper over again, then gives Sally an understanding look. “But I’m guessing there’s another factor at play here that’s making this a tough call.”

“You’re exactly right,” she says, a hint of exasperation in her voice. “I know Candidate A can get the job done when it counts - they’re a success machine! But if I asked ten of my best employees whom they’d want to work late nights with, or who motivates them to do their best, nine of them would say Candidate B.”

Joey starts scratching the beard as usual as does when he in deep thought. After a couple of long moments, he concludes:

This is the classic case of Performance vs. Trust,

Performance is a person’s on-the-job skills and their ability to meet your success metrics, while Trust is how well they live by their values and have others’ best interests at heart.

Sally thinks out loud as she reviews her candidates again. “Candidate B is High Trust for sure. But I’m afraid they’ll never get to the High-Performance level of Candidate A and that could really set us back.”

“Do you trust the Navy SEALs?” asks Joey.

“Of course I do,” says Sally. “Talk about performance under pressure!”

Joey raises a finger. “You’d be surprised. The SEALs actually value off-the-battlefield attributes more than you’d think. In fact, they’re more likely to promote High Trust, Medium Performance members to their most prestigious teams than even the highest performing members if they come with Low Trust.”

“Here, let me show you this simple diagram brought to my attention by Simon Sinek:

“In a perfect world, you’d always have your pick of High Performance, High Trust candidates. But people are a mix - and only choosing Performance can make for an unhealthy organization in the long-run.”

“So what you’re saying is, lead with Trust and let people grow into their Performance potential?”

Joey nods his head. That’s exactly what I’m saying.

As leaders, we can fall in love with what’s measurable. This is your opportunity to show how much you value culture and the right fit for the team you have in place.

Sally grabs the reviews and packs them away. “I know who’s getting that promotion then. I’ve got an offer to make to a person I trust will lead us in the right direction.”

Leaderpoint: What gets rewarded is what gets repeated.

Question: Who are the most trusted people on your team? Are they in leadership roles?

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