And you had prepared so well. Because this time it would not happen to you, a mismatch between what you are looking for and who you get for this important role in your company. You looked into your A-players: what they should have, what they should not do and how they strengthen the culture of your company. This resulted in an impressive list of knowledge, competencies and personality requirements.

You wrote down all these specifications in a dazzling job description. You were secretly proud: now you had finally got to the heart of the matter. Indeed, it was that you already had a job, otherwise you would have applied for it yourself.
That you were looking for a sheep with 8 legs was obvious from the small number of responses that passed your initial screening. So you adjusted your requirements and deleted some things from the ideal job profile.
The selection interviews followed a fixed format. This was to prevent you from unconsciously throwing your selection criteria overboard halfway through the process.

And then there was Luuk. One chunk of infectious enthusiasm, just the right background and experience, athletic, witty, enterprising. Luuk was the one you had been looking for for so long.

Six months later, that same Luuk drove you mad. The other side of that infectious enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit was that he had the concentration span of a shrimp and really didn't finish anything he had started. And who could close the gaps? You were. It was as if you had his job on the side now. It couldn't go on like that.

So you polished your feedback skills and had many a conversation with Luuk. You complained to colleagues, who recognized what you said about Luuk but who also unanimously became very happy with him and praised his wit.

Luuk went on a course and Luuk did his very best to meet all the requirements. Because if Luuk wanted 1 thing, it was for everyone to be happy with him.

SMART agreements were made about how Luuk could fill his role more reliably. And with this finger on the pulse, Luuk's roaring fire steadily changed into a small pilot light. Like a slowly extinguishing light.

And then came the moment when you suddenly realized that there is a limit to the malleability of the people you work with. The penny dropped when your colleague said, "Stop scraping. Accept it as it is. Mould the work to how he is, rather than the other way around".

This thought alone relieved you. It was actually so logical too. Every human being is the way he is. Not everything can be shaped the way you think it should be, and besides: what did you want to achieve in the end?

The last conversation with Luuk was about redistributing tasks and responsibilities. The outcome was that from now on he could bang on his start-up energy. He handed over finishing things to a colleague. After that, everything went so naturally that no more conversation followed. What did follow was champagne. To all the new customers he had managed to bring in.

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