In the past year, we have had several team members come and go.  I have learned many things through this process of having someone leave and of hiring someone new.  I guess the main takeaway is that the show must go on!  Our law firm must be resilient, and no one person should be irreplaceable.  I found out three things:
1.  New people are fun and interesting and bring a new atmosphere to the whole law firm.  
Even when you think that the last person was the greatest and you will never get on without her, you find that a new person can be the greatest in a new way.  You might even find that the team is happier and more positive with the new team member.  I am finding that it is exciting to see how things will be once a new person comes.
2.  Bringing a new person on the team shakes things up and shines a spotlight on the firm so that you can see the firm from a new point of view. 
You find out what you are doing really well and what things you can improve on.  Onboarding a new person and training them is a really good time to see how we do right from the beginning.  I can say that since we have had more practice this year, we are getting better at making a new person’s training go smoothly.

3.  Interviews using our core values were very helpful.
I used our core values significantly in the interview process this time.  I discussed each of our values in depth and what the values meant to all persons on our team.  Our values are Honesty, Humility, Caring, Courage, and Humor.  We wanted to find someone who shares those values.  It was fun to read what each of our team members said about our core values and hear what the person we were interviewing had to say about what each value meant to them.

I am excited to see what is in store for us this year with some new team members who will bring their creativity, perspective, and energy to our law firm!