“I plan to be the number two in this in six weeks. How? Name repetition, personality mirroring and never breaking off a handshake.”
An Executive Pastor I used to work with (or for, at the time) sat me down and told me about the "four C's" that they were looking for in their staff members. If I remember correctly, he had gotten the four C's from a book by Bill Hybels, the founding pastor of Willow Creek, a large and influential church in Illinois.
The four C's were Calling, Character, Competency, and finally, Chemistry. Calling is your internal motivation to do the particular job you are being hired to do (there is much more to calling than this but let's leave it there for now.) Character is who you are; it is your integrity, your work ethic, your attitude, etc. Competency was your ability to do the job: do you have the ability to do the job well? Finally, Chemistry, which was how well you fit in with the rest of the team. It was this fourth one, he said, that was most often overlooked.
I heard Phil Jackson say the same thing recently when he was asked about taking over the reigns of the New York Knicks. He was asked how he planned to think about the roster of the team in the coming year to two years. Who did he plan to try and keep? The answer wasn't, "the best players" or "the people that would fit under the salary cap" it was, "the players who fit together correctly to make a team."
"Chemistry" is the overlooked "C". It's also the most difficult to evaluate when you're looking for someone to join your team, particularly if the new person is a new hire. Ideally, you'd be able to spend time with a person, work with them on some projects, or see how they interact with everyone on the team during a meeting. Most of the time, you're not given that opportunity. Furthermore, even if you had the opportunity to do that, it's a difficult conversation to have with someone if you find out that they don't fit. Barring some objective and documented criteria you could use to evaluate chemistry, the result will almost always be subjective. "You just don't seem to fit."
(Calling is also somewhat subjective; hopefully if a person doesn't feel called they'd rule themselves out. Character and competency are the easiest to evaluate objectively, in my opinion.)
The trouble with trying to evaluate chemistry before inviting someone to join our team is that past results are not necessarily an indicator of current or future success. We've all had teams we meshed well with, and others we haven't. There have been positions that we're well suited for, and positions we weren't suited for. Making it even more complicated is the reality that some people give a great first impression; they are great interviewers. (Andy Bernard on The Office prides himself in being a great interviewer. He's a doofus of an employee, though.)
Chemistry may be hard to evaluate but it's invaluable in terms of having an effective team. Next time you are tempted to be swayed by someone's character, competency, or calling, don't forget to ask: but do they fit? It'll save you a mountain of frustration later!