So, you need to hire a manager.

You are either in a situation where the previous person left and now you need to fill the gap before the amount of additional work will drain you lifeless, or the company / team has grown, and you need another layer in the hierarchy to effectively manage the organization.

You embark on a journey to find a candidate who will take some of your burden off your back and give you space to take care of other stuff which needs taking care of.

As every other thing in your company this needs to be done fast, so you don’t have much time to thoroughly think this through. In such a situation the below tips might come in handy.

1. Do not prepare a list of expectations on what the new hire should do

It is good approach to have absolutely no clue what the person is going to do. Your brightest idea is something like this: “he comes in and the team leaves me alone, so I can take care of other tasks.” Always remember the sacred words of Steve Jobs: "It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do."

2. Do not involve your existing informal and formal leaders in the process

If you have some formal or informal leaders in the team (rest assured there are some, even if you don’t know it) you need to deliberately bypass them in the hiring and on-boarding processes.

Surprise your team! Everybody likes surprises, right? Don’t give them a chance to talk to their future manager. If anyone asks: “What if the team doesn’t like the new guy? What about the cultural fit?” you look them straight in the eye and say: “Cultural fit is a myth and at our company we’re not here to like each other.”

Bonus points for keeping the whole thing semi-secret, i.e. ostentatiously talking about the hiring process during water cooler talks in such a way that the leaders can hear it but are not a part of the conversation.

3. Don’t empower your new manager

“With power comes responsibility” – you like the responsibility part, the power one – not so much. The best way to make the new hire fail is to make them responsible for the results of the team and provide them with absolutely no tools to influence the team. Make sure any performance review done by the manager goes straight to the recycle bin (without even reading it) and that there is no way to appraise good work and eliminate unwanted behavior / attitude.

If anything escalates to your level (e.g. an employee treating other team members and the manager disrespectfully) – just ignore it, and it will all go away (“we need that employee, so unless he purposefully injures someone, we don’t intervene.”)

4. Don’t give your new hire any kind of support

Babysitting – this is not your line of business. It’s hardcore software / construction / finance / automotive / etc. You’re not going to babysit the new hire. He’s an adult, grown man with lots of experience. That’s why you hired him.

Some may say: “What about protecting your investment? You have spent a hefty sum on the hiring process alone (not mentioning the salary of the new hire, and potentially a new hiring process if the person will not fit in).” You don’t like this attitude. In response to such nonsense you quote the infamous Ivan Drago from Rocky IV – “If he dies, he dies!” Support is for weak and you are not hiring the weak. Remember – only the strong survive. As for “protecting your investment” – you’ve always been a more “cutting your losses” type of guy.

Summary

Remember - “failure is the fertilizer for success”. If you want to make sure that your next managerial hiring and on-boarding process will fail use the above tips wisely. I am sure you will get great results (like losing 100K or even more if you are lucky).