Would you enthusiastically rehire them?

On unlocking hidden productivity and building high performance teams.

Hi guys,

Hope you are well. I’m doing okay, Alhamdulillah.

I write this newsletter at 3:50 am on a Sunday morning, one of the oddest times I have ever written. You see, this is part of an experiment to be more productive. I got up at about 1:50 am with the aim of knocking a few things off my to-do list before Fajr.

Yes, on a Sunday.

For the past few weeks, I have been struggling to get into my groove. I mean my routine for ensuring I do the things I need to do when I need to do them, consistently. And not just work stuff. Personal stuff too, like actively maintaining my relationships, exercising, or my long-term personal development efforts.

Knowing that my recurring time commitments will likely increase in the next few weeks (i.e. I will have more things to do on a regular basis in already constrained time), I need to fix up asap. As such, any tweaks to my ways of working, learning or resting that will give me even a 5% increase in productivity will have a massive impact.

Think about it. There are 168 hours in a week. If you could somehow unlock 5% extra time, that is a massive 8.4 hours a week!

If I were to ask you why you weren't going to Madrasah / the gym / doing a side hustle / learning outside of work / devoting time to your relationships, you would probably tell me there was no time. Between school or work and resting, you can't possibly spare time for any of the above. But the truth is, an extra 8.4 hours a week could become available for dedication to these things if you truly thought they were important and were willing to sacrifice.

Where the hard work is, for me at least, is uncovering what gives you the extra 5% and committing to it. For example, when I needed to be more productive in late 2020/early 2021, I got into the habit of batch replying my WhatsApp messages.

Instead of being permanently online and replying to messages just because they came in, I stayed offline for most of the day and came online at a very specific time (mostly between Maghrib and Isha), quickly replied to everybody (rarely opening group chats), and then turned off my data. It meant that a 15-minute chat became spread out over three days. 😂

But it also gave me a lot more time than I thought I had. If something was urgent, whoever needed to reach me would find a way to do so. If it wasn't, then I replied on my own time. I stopped this practice as a lifestyle 6+ months ago, but I would be a liar if I said I no longer defer responses till I am available from time to time.

Ah well.

Will writing at this time (now 4:39 am) help me get into my groove and become a long-term thing? Or will it make me even more unproductive and thus be discarded?

Stick with me, and I guess we'll find out together. 🤪

—————

A few weeks ago, I was listening to an interview with Ravi Gupta (Partner at Sequoia Capital) on the Twenty Minute VC podcast when he said something that struck me.

While speaking about building high-performance teams, he said (I paraphrase),

"One of the most important activities you can do as an executive or a startup founder is to look at each of your team members and ask yourself - If I had to do it all again, would I enthusiastically re-hire this person to be part of the company?"

The keyword here is 'enthusiastically’. Many times, you might be willing to re-hire someone because "yeah he tries his best" or "she's hardworking and I can't afford top talent” or something along those lines. But those aren't enthusiastic responses. Those are responses you make because of the constraints you now have.

Think about it like this. If your entire team of 7 people died in a fire and you somehow had to hire new people to resume operations (after mourning, of course 😆), would you be looking to find new people exactly like the ones you previously had, or would you be hoping to make some changes?

A not-so high performance team - Illustration by Daniel Creele, HBR

If the answer is yes (i.e. I would enthusiastically rehire these people), then great! Well done - you have a solid team, go build fast and break things!

If the answer is no, then well, you know what to do.

Every no person is at the opportunity cost of a yes person you could have. We might think we are being compassionate, managing an employee who is not great, while we give them the opportunity to develop professionally and earn an income. But to build a high-performance organization, you need a high-performance team. And 'managing someone' will not cut it.

I would argue you are even more compassionate by letting this person go, as you are giving them the opportunity to find someone who will "enthusiastically re-hire" them.

What I like even more about this exercise is its applications outside of the work environment. If you took out time to re-evaluate your boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse, what would the answer be?

After dating for 14 months, would you enthusiastically say yes to them again? Or has your knowledge of all their toxic habits changed your mind? Would you be looking for the same or something different, something more?

I do not advocate that you become a pest, permanently re-evaluating everybody in your life and holding them to ridiculous standards. After all, if you search hard enough, you will always find reasons for which the person you are evaluating is not as ideal as you once thought. The bigger question is whether you will be willing to give it another go in spite of everything you now know, or whether you will be thankful for the opportunity to reset and run for your life.

And one more thing.

If you were to be on the other side (as an employee, friend or spouse) receiving the evaluation, would you enthusiastically rehire yourself?

** Jara content:

وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىْءٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْخَوْفِ وَٱلْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْأَمْوَٰلِ وَٱلْأَنفُسِ وَٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ

“Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere."

- Surah 2 verse 155

Have a great week. ✨