Do You Want to Play With This Person?
Give the team a structured voice in every hiring decision
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 98%
This hiring method adapts a team-recruiting practice Butler learned from Arizona basketball. A candidate spends meaningful time with the people who would actually work alongside them, not only with the hiring manager. Afterward, the group answers a concrete question: do we want to play with this person? Feedback begins with the youngest or least powerful teammate so senior opinions do not anchor everyone else. Even a highly credentialed candidate can be rejected when the team sees a serious collaboration problem. The leader transfers meaningful decision authority to the group, increasing ownership of the hire and protecting the culture. Competence remains necessary, but the process recognizes that collective performance depends on trust, energy, and willingness to work together.
Origin
Extracted from Masters in Business. Dave Butler learned the method from Steve Kerr's description of coach Lute Olson's recruiting process and later used it with his team at Dimensional.
Core principles
- 01Hire for collaborative fit as well as individual ability
- 02Let future teammates evaluate the candidate
- 03Do not let prestige override team concerns
- 04Protect junior voices from senior influence
- 05Make hiring a shared responsibility
How to run it
- 1
Screen for Role Competence
Confirm that the candidate meets the role's essential technical and performance requirements before involving a broad team.
Pro tip Use the same role-specific criteria for every candidate.
Watch out Team fit should never excuse weak competence or discriminatory screening.
- 2
Create Real Team Exposure
Let the candidate interact with a representative set of future colleagues across levels and responsibilities.
Pro tip Include a collaborative exercise or realistic discussion rather than relying only on conversational chemistry.
Watch out Do not make the process an unstructured popularity contest.
- 3
Collect Independent Assessments
Ask interviewers to record evidence about competence, trust, communication, and working compatibility before the group discussion.
Pro tip Require each concern to reference something observed during the process.
Watch out Vague claims about cultural fit can conceal bias.
- 4
Ask Junior Voices First
Begin the debrief with the youngest or least powerful teammate and move upward through the hierarchy.
Pro tip Have participants reveal written ratings before discussion to reduce conformity.
Watch out If the leader speaks first, other participants may simply echo that view.
- 5
Make the Play-With Decision
Ask whether the group genuinely wants to depend on and collaborate with the candidate. Treat serious, evidence-based objections as decision-relevant even when the candidate is prestigious.
Pro tip Distinguish coachable concerns from fundamental trust or conduct problems.
Watch out Do not reject a candidate merely because they bring a different style or perspective.
- 6
Share Ownership of the Hire
Once selected, remind the team that it helped make the decision and should actively support the new colleague's integration.
Pro tip Assign interview participants concrete onboarding roles.
Watch out Team participation in hiring does not remove the manager's duty to manage performance fairly.
In the wild
According to Butler's account of Steve Kerr's explanation, a prospective player visited for a weekend. On Monday, coach Lute Olson asked the existing players whether they wanted to play with him. If they said no, Olson stopped recruiting the candidate, even when he was the country's top-ranked player.
→ The team protected collaboration rather than allowing individual prestige to dominate recruitment.
Butler adapted the practice by having nine or ten people interview a prospective teammate. He passed the decision to the group and began the discussion with the youngest person, asking whether they wanted to work with the candidate.
→ Future colleagues received meaningful ownership of team composition and culture.
Common mistakes
Letting the Boss Speak First
A senior leader's early opinion can anchor the room and suppress honest objections from junior teammates.
Using Fit as a Bias Shortcut
The question must focus on observable collaboration and conduct, not similarity, comfort, or shared background.
Ignoring Technical Ability
A pleasant candidate still needs the competence required to contribute to the team's work.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for interdependent teams where cooperation and daily working relationships strongly affect performance.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal as a substitute for skills assessment, structured interviewing, or fair and lawful hiring criteria.
From the transcript
“do you guys want to play with this guy?”
“And if we if we said no, then then he stopped recruiting him.”
“We start with the youngest person first and we say, hey, do you want to play with this person?”
From the episode
Dave Butler Discusses Finance and Basketball
Dave Butler