At IRC, everyone mattered, and everyone felt that our mission mattered. We were all a team. The interesting thing I learned about the hiring of a staff person in IRC was that regardless of the person’s job level, he or she went through the same interview process. All candidates were interviewed by as many of the professional staff as possible; and all interviewers had “something” of a right to have an opinion on all job candidates, regardless of their level. One member of the staff observed that joining IRC was like joining the priesthood. Every candidate had to meet almost the entire
“brotherhood.” It was believed that this would contribute to cohesion within our small organization especially because in our work there was significant reliance on the talents of others.
Moreover, being tied together professionally and intellectually was invaluable to us because our work frequently not only required collaboration, but meeting impossible deadlines and finding truly creative solutions to client needs, which could only emerge in debates and discussions between as many of the staff who could possibly make a contribution to our client as possible.
(Image courtesy of ResearchGate, colorized with IMG2GO.com)