Home » Blog » Hiring » How to hire employees who complement your strengths
Hiring
3 min read

How to hire employees who complement your strengths

Krishna Rajagopal is the Chief Facilitator of Great Outcomes at Narish International. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics, an MBA, and a master’s in information systems management. Krishna’s mission is to help organizations leverage their potential.

A winning baseball team does not have seven superstar pitchers. No, a baseball roster has to have players with all different abilities on the field. Some of these abilities are subtler than others (as “Moneyball” taught us), but they all matter profoundly when it comes to achieving victory. 

As a leader, part of creating a top-notch team involves hiring others with strengths that complement your own. If you’re amazing at big-picture thinking, you need help from people with excellent attention to detail. If you’re a creative, you need an operations guru.

But when you’re hiring, how can you find exactly who you need?

Join 10,000 companies solving the most complex people problems with PI.

Hire the right people, inspire their best work, design dream teams, and sustain engagement for the long haul.

Other resources that might interest you:

First, you need to understand your own strengths and challenge areas. Second, you need a deep understanding of what drives your prospective employees

Read on to learn how leaders can gain these insights, and ultimately, build stronger teams.

Leader, know thyself.

As David Nilssen wrote, “The one essential characteristic that makes a successful entrepreneur is a capacity for introspection.” This bit of wisdom extends to every leader out there—not just to hard-charging, world-changing entrepreneurs. Leaders at all levels of the organization must be self-aware.

Success is built on knowledge, and knowledge is created from data.

There are various ways to find out exactly where you’re excelling and falling short. You could solicit feedback from others or you could take a behavioral assessment to understand your unique behavioral pattern. This will help you figure out exactly where your own talents cluster.

When reviewing the resulting insights, don’t boast or be modest. Try to view them objectively—and know that every pattern is beautiful. 

can you use behavioral assessments in hiring predictive index

Know your candidates.

When assessing candidates, you need a method that’s efficient and free from bias. Talent optimization guides you in making strategic talent decisions that align with your business strategy. The discipline of talent optimization relies on the collection of people data and using those data insights to hire and design winning teams (think back to the “Moneyball” example).

Understanding behavioral patterns—and team dynamics—is so important.

If you only hire people like you, people with the same skills, strengths, weaknesses, and perspectives, you open yourself up to a lot of problems. Here are just a few:

  • Quality issues caused by overall skill set deficiencies
  • Reduced possibility of innovation due to a lack of team diversity
  • Experience knowledge gaps in potentially important functional areas
  • Reduced team flexibility

Fortunately, talent optimization and workforce assessments help you bring in the folks who can cover you in the areas in which you struggle so you can reach your business goals.

In fact, it can be a complete game-changer for your organization.

The latest from our blog

Hiring

Applicant vs candidate: understanding the differences and hiring best practices

Understand the difference between applicants and candidates, as well as best practices for how to treat each during...

Hiring

Enhancing the candidate experience: proven strategies for recruitment success

With applicant tracking systems and behavioral insights, your organization can improve candidate experience and promote a people-first hiring...

Behavioral Assessments

What is content validity?

Learn about content validity, its types, and why it matters for HR. Discover best practices for selecting scientifically...

Talent Optimization

Seeing through perception bias: Get the infographic.

The perception gap manifests in many ways. HR can help mitigate perception bias through the use of behavioral...

Employee Engagement

Misunderstood at work is the new burnout: Nearly half of workers say their boss doesn’t truly get them.

Our 2025 survey revealed a perception gap: Nearly half of employees believe their boss only somewhat or rarely...

Hiring

Understanding scenario-based and situational interview questions

Here’s a guide on scenario-based and situational interview questions, along with some examples. Learn how to use them...

Hiring

Critical thinking interview questions 

Learn the best critical thinking interview questions to assess problem-solving and decision-making skills in candidates. Hire top talent...

Leadership

What personality traits make the best leaders?

Does personality determine leadership success? What personality is the best leader? Explore the science behind personality and leadership...

Talent Optimization

Maximizing PI’s potential: Talent Optimization Essentials bridges the gap

You need tools that seamlessly integrate your pre-hire efforts with your employee engagement and retention priorities. Talent Optimization...

Back to top
Copy link