Page 390 - Ray Dalio - Principles

b. It should take you no more than a year to learn what a person is like and whether they are a click for their job. You
should be able to roughly assess someone’s abilities after six to twelve months of close contact,
numerous tests, and getting in sync. A more confident assessment will probably take about eighteen
months. This timeline will of course depend on the job, the person, the amount of contact with them,
and how well you get in sync.
c. Continue assessing people throughout their tenure. As you get to know your people better, you will be better
able to train and direct them. Most importantly, you will be able to assess their core values and
abilities more accurately and make sure they complement yours. Don’t rest with your initial
evaluation, however. Always ask yourself if you would have hired them for that job knowing what
you know now. If not, get them out of the job.
d. Evaluate employees with the same rigor as you evaluate job candidates. I find it puzzling that interviewers freely
and confidently criticize job candidates without knowing them well but won’t criticize employees
for similar weaknesses even though they have more evidence. That is because they view criticism as
harmful and feel more protective of a fellow employee than they do of an outsider. If you believe
that truth is best for everyone, then you should see why this is a mistake, and why frank and
ongoing evaluations are so important.