Don’t waste your time hiring people you’ll eventually micro-manage.
The hiring process can be exhausting.
You sift through stacks of resumes filled with polished accomplishments and carefully selected keywords. You conduct Zoom interviews where candidates are guarded because they want to impress you, while you are guarded because you do not want to make the wrong decision.
You ask the approved questions. You fill out the scorecards. You submit your feedback. After several rounds and twenty conversations, the entire process begins to feel less like getting to know people and more like completing a marathon.
Eventually, three candidates stand out.
Two are perfectly qualified. They have relevant experience, answer the questions well, and would probably perform adequately in the role.
The third candidate feels different.
They do not simply describe their responsibilities. They tell you what they built, fixed, improved, or pursued. They can explain where they encountered resistance, how they responded, and what happened next. When you ask about a difficult customer, they do not offer a rehearsed success story. They walk you through the problem, the decisions they made, what they got wrong, and how they rebuilt trust.
You have also heard about this person through your network. They work for a competitor. They have a reputation for following through, reaching difficult goals, and finding opportunities other people overlook.
They have the “it” factor.
They are a doer. A builder. Someone who can be trusted to make decisions, work through ambiguity, and pursue commercial opportunities without waiting for step-by-step instructions.
You can already imagine what they might accomplish on your team.
That is how hiring should work.
You are not merely filling an open position. You are searching for someone who will make the team more capable, increase its speed, and reduce the amount of friction required to get meaningful work done.
You are looking for a high-agency doer.
What High Agency Looks Like at Work
High-agency employees do not need to know everything on their first day. They still need training, coaching, context, and time to understand the organization.
The difference is what they do next.
When they encounter a problem, they investigate it. When instructions are unclear, they ask intelligent questions. When a process is broken, they do not simply complain about it. They attempt to understand why it is broken and suggest a practical improvement.
They do not wait for perfect conditions.
They begin with the information, authority, and resources available to them. Then they create momentum.
High-agency employees also understand that independence does not mean ignoring leadership or operating recklessly. It means exercising good judgment. They know when to make the decision themselves, when to involve a colleague, and when an issue is important enough to escalate.
You can trust them because they communicate. They take ownership. They do not hide problems until those problems become emergencies.
That combination is rare.
The Cost of Hiring the Wrong Person
Too often, companies hire someone who appears capable during the interview but never becomes the contributor the team expected.
You believed the person would improve with enough coaching and time. Their references said positive things. Their resume included the right companies and job titles.
But there was very little concrete evidence of what they had personally accomplished.
Months later, you realize that the warning signs were present from the beginning. You simply did not ask enough questions to uncover them.
Now you have an employee who requires constant check-ins. You hesitate to put them in front of an important customer. Deadlines drift. Routine decisions become lengthy debates. Small obstacles turn into reasons the work cannot move forward.
When something goes wrong, they focus first on explaining why it was not their fault.
They may also bypass direct conversations and escalate complaints before making a serious attempt to resolve an issue with the people involved. Instead of reducing friction, they create more of it.
This does not make them a bad person. It may mean they were hired into the wrong role, placed in the wrong environment, or asked to operate with a level of independence they were not ready to handle.
But the result is the same. The manager spends more time monitoring the employee than developing the team.
That is a costly hiring mistake.
Hire the Person Who Creates Momentum
A high-agency doer makes a positive difference without demanding constant attention.
They troubleshoot problems independently. They can be trusted with customers because they prepare, communicate clearly, and exercise good judgment. They pursue opportunities, identify ways to create revenue, and move useful ideas forward.
They do not bring every frustration into the team meeting. They know the difference between raising a legitimate concern and creating unnecessary drama.
When they see an opportunity for improvement, they arrive with more than a complaint. They bring context, possible solutions, and a willingness to help.
They reflect on their own performance. They seek feedback and actually use it. They have personal career goals that align with the company’s objectives but are not limited to them. They want to grow, become more capable, and build a meaningful body of work.
As their manager, you feel proud when they exceed expectations because you can see how they have applied your coaching. Their success does not threaten you. It reflects the kind of environment you helped create.
Most importantly, you rarely have to wonder what they are doing.
Their communication is clear. Their priorities are visible. Their work keeps moving forward.
Do Not Confuse High Agency With Confidence
Confidence can be persuasive during an interview, but confidence alone is not evidence of high agency.
Some candidates are excellent storytellers. They know how to present themselves, use the right language, and create an impressive first impression. That does not necessarily mean they can deliver.
High agency leaves evidence.
Look for examples of the candidate taking initiative without being asked. Ask what they improved, created, or rescued. Find out how they behaved when there was no playbook, when a deadline moved forward, or when a customer became frustrated.
Do not accept “we” when you need to understand “I.”
Ask what the candidate personally contributed. Ask how they made the decision. Ask what resistance they faced. Ask what they would do differently now.
Review their portfolio if one exists. Look at the work they have made public. Speak with people who have worked alongside them. Pay attention to whether their reputation matches the story they are telling you.
You are not looking for perfection. You are looking for a pattern of ownership.
Interview Questions for Finding High-Agency Doers
Make the interview count. Ask questions that reveal how the candidate thinks and acts when the answer is not obvious.
- What do you want to accomplish during the next 12 to 48 months?
- What are you actively doing today to move toward those goals?
- Tell me about something valuable you created or improved without being asked.
- Why do customers trust you? Share one positive customer interaction and one that did not go well.
- How would your closest colleagues describe the way you work?
- Tell me about a mistake you made. What responsibility did you take for it?
- What changed in your behavior after that mistake?
- Describe a situation where you had to work without clear instructions or an established process.
- Tell me about a time you faced a tight deadline. How did you decide what mattered most?
- When do you act independently, and when do you ask for help?
- Tell me about a process that frustrated you. What did you do to improve it?
- If I spoke with your previous manager, what would they say you needed to improve?
The first answer is rarely enough. Ask follow-up questions.
What happened next?
What did you personally do?
Why did you make that decision?
What would you change if you faced the same situation today?
Those questions move the conversation beyond polished interview language. They reveal whether someone has truly taken ownership or has simply learned how to talk about it.
Hire for Evidence, Not Potential Alone
Potential matters. Coaching matters. People can grow into larger responsibilities.
But potential without evidence is a gamble.
The best predictor of high agency is a history of taking action, learning quickly, and creating results. The circumstances may change, but the pattern usually travels with the person.
Hire people who have already demonstrated that they can move forward without perfect instructions. Hire people who accept coaching without surrendering their ability to think. Hire people who make customers feel confident and teammates feel supported.
Hire the person who sees a problem and begins working on it.
Hire the person who can explain what they have built, not merely where they have worked.
Hire the person who creates momentum.
That is the high-agency doer you want on your team.