Rule 7 - Everybody gets 1
About the lifecycle of a new employee - called a crewmate - at Sustainable Ships, from start to end
Recruitment is everyone’s responsibility
So what happens when we need more crewmates?
At Sustainable Ships, everything is decentralized. That includes the responsibility for attracting the right amount of people, talent and knowledge. Therefore recruitment responsibility is delegated to the lowest level. Teams or even crewmates can decide for themselves if they need to attract new crewmates by making use of internal or external platforms.
The entire lifecycle - from pirate recruitment, to becoming a crewmate and eventually ending your career at Sustainable Ships - can be broken down into 7 steps, elaborated in detail below. Everything else you need to know about your life and career at Sustainable Ships is described in the internal Pirate Code Handbook.
1. Test
> You join Sustainable Ships by doing a Test
We are a young and passionate organization. We do not have an application program, recruitment program, a fixed interview standard or anything else of the sorts. We have a Test.
The Test will provide us with information on your motives, values and background. This will help us determine if you fit the organization. If there is a fit, you are automatically selected to start your Trial period. That’s right. No interview, no job application. We believe skills and knowledge can be learned but motivation and passion cannot. When there is a match and a need for a new crewmate at Sustainable Ships, we will contact you to start your journey. You are then a ‘Pirate-on-trial’.
2. Trial
> If you pass the Test, you start your Trial period
Experience and previous jobs are no guarantee for a successful hire. The most important thing is that a person fits the organization. The Exam determines if there is a fit between the Pirate-on-trial and Sustainable Ships. The Trial period will prepare you to do the Exam.
During your Trial period, you are coupled with a senior person within the organization. This is your buddy, responsible for making sure you get to learn the ropes at Sustainable Ships. Together with your buddy, you start your Trial period by making a customized plan to train yourself for the Exam. This plan is based on your role within the organization and tailored to your specific needs. A example can be found here.
There is no fixed duration or timetable set for your trial period, you simply need to achieve the targets from in your personal plan which are set by you and your buddy. In the future, all Pirates-on-trial are linked with one another and groomed together, but that is not yet relevant.
Once you have achieved all the targets from you Trial Plan, you can go for your Exam.
3. Exam
> You become crewmate when you pass the Exam
The purpose of the Exam is to determine if you fit the organization. You will be judged by your buddy and two others from the organization. You pass the Exam when two out of three of your judges answer the following questions.
Do you admire this person? (yes)
Do you trust this person? (yes)
Is this a brilliant jerk? (no)
These questions are based on the best practices of Netflix and Amazon and can be changed in the future. The Exam will be added upon in the future. Once the Pirate-on-trial passes the Exam, he or she becomes a crewmate! During the next monthly meeting with the organization, the new crewmate will introduce itself with his or her pledge.
The judges should make clear that Sustainable Ships aims to be a high-performance sports team. That means you will be expelled the moment you have achieved your goals and do not wish to set new ones, fail the Keeper Test or you become a dementor (see step 7).
4. Crewmate
> Life as a crewmate
At Sustainable Ships, we aim to create a culture in which everyone can achieve their true potential. That means we treat people like adults - not drones. The principles and guidelines we adhere to are taken from the referenced books below, with a strong emphasis on team performance in line with our values of curiosity, courage and collaboration.
As many responsibilities as possible are delegated all the way down to individual teams and crewmates, in line with these values and our non-negotiables. Teams are stimulated to foster their own culture on top of existing organizational culture schedule social events in order to bond. Strong social cohesion is key in order for teams to become self-governing.
In order to all have the same framework in working together, we adhere to the following guidelines:
We use the 16 personalities framework to define characters within the organization.
We use the DISC framework to define behavior.
Each team should have at least 1 weekly meeting to discuss group performance and personal matters if needed. The ‘Take Five’ framework or similar can be used for this end.
In the future, we aim to appoint a person from the Human Being Development Domain dedicated to ensuring the correct people and knowledge is at the right place in the organization. This person can then help with recruitment by providing an overview of people, skills and knowledge in the organization, but is not responsible. This person would also be responsible to help identify and expel dementors from the organization - the Demon Hunter.
5. Captain
> Life as a captain
You can be promoted to a captain if you are performing well. Before we can start promoting people, we need to have an actual organization that accumulates resources. Those are just fancy words for saying we need to make money. Hence, we will not be elaborating on this topic before it actually becomes relevant.
6. Admiral
> Life as an admiral
Eventually we aim to create a sort of ‘partnership’ construction and have people take ownership of the organization, similar to many law agencies. The reason behind this, is because we believe in providing passive income and giving people responsibility. We believe the best way for people to take ownership is to actually make them an owner. You can even start your own company under the ‘Sustainable Ships group umbrella’. This would mean setting up your own crew and cause guided by the principles of Sustainable Ships. This will also require you to explore new market opportunities, challenge the status quo and ensure new talent is attracted.
At the moment however, this is so far ahead in the future that it is irrelevant to discuss. Hence, we will not be elaborating on this topic before it actually becomes relevant.
7. Old Pirate
> Life when you quit or are expelled
There are two ways to end your life at Sustainable Ships. You either achieve your goal - which you stated before you started - or you are expelled.
You Quit
Achieving your goal simply means you have done what you set out to do and continue your journey. That means you could set yourself a new goal and continue your valuable work within Sustainable Ships, or you quit and become part of the Sustainable Ships Ol’ Pirates Club (our future alumni club).
You are Expelled
The main reason for you to be expelled are twofold. You are either a dementor, sucking the life out of hard-working crewmates, or you do not pass the Keeper Test. Let us first explain the test before elaborating on dementors. The Keeper Test is taken directly from Netflix. All captains should continuously ask themselves the following:
- “Which of my people, if they told me they were leaving for a similar job at a competitor or peer company would I fight hard to keep?”.
And/or
- “If I told you I was leaving the company to work for a competitor, how hard would you fight to keep me and try and convince me to change my mind?”
If you are a captain and you have crewmates you wouldn’t fight for at all to keep, then they are likely blockers at best, dementors at worst. These people should be let go. Netflix believes that ‘we are not a family, we are a professional sports team’. At Mr. Sustainability, we adhere to that philosophy. We are a crew, and the best there is goddamn it. If someone on your crew is failing, you help them. But, if they continue failing and hurt the performance of the rest of the crew and the organization. These are dementors that suck the very life and soul out of other people. The cost they have on the organization is tremendous and they apparently cannot reach their full potential at Mr. Sustainability. Netflix calls dementors ‘brilliant jerks’, which need to be expelled from the organization.
TLDNR
Dementors - people who suck the life out of others and the organization - will be expelled.
The Keeper Test - inspired by Netflix - determines if crewmates can stay.
In case of conflict, Leadership decides.
We aim to build a Corporate Alumni Club - The ‘Old Pirates Club’. This is a place where previous crewmembers and retirees can come back to and share their knowledge and insights. This example is directly inspired by the book Blitzscaling.
References
The following books, guidelines and ideas form the basis for our way of thinking about recruitment and human behavior.
Thinking Fast and Slow
No Rules Rules
Surrounded by Idiots
The Righteous Mind
Ideal Team Player
Blitzscaling
Sapiens
This is a template for each Expert’s Trial period. It ensures you learn the ropes at Sustainable Ships.