In this blog, we feature insights from  Mike Morse, founder of Michigan’s largest personal injury firm, Mike Morse Law Firm as he details the benefits of using personality testing to identify, hire, and keep top talent to help build a culture of law firm success.

Key Principle #2: Know How to Hire, Fire, Reward, Recognize and Pay Staff

Critical to Mike’s success is the foundation he created based on five key principles. The focus on this blog is on Key Principle #2: Know How to Hire, Fire, Reward, Recognize and Pay Staff.

One of the biggest challenges law firms face is to attract and keep top talent. The hiring and firing process can be an expensive gamble if you don’t truly understand a candidate’s strengths, weaknesses, motivations and fit for your culture. Mike Morse, the best-selling author of the book Fireproof, has cracked the code on this through extensive use of personality testing. His advice: never hire anyone without first putting them through a comprehensive personality assessment.

Mike learned this lesson early on from his mentor and father-in-law, who insisted he give prospective hires a multi-hour personality test before making an offer. Though costly at first, Mike quickly saw the value in avoiding bad hires and gaining deep insights about candidates. For example, his very first hire was flagged by the test as someone who “doesn’t like change”. Rather than dismiss her, Mike was able to successfully adapt his management approach to her, and she became a loyal team member for over a decade.

Reaping the Benefits of Testing

Since then, Mike has made personality testing a requirement for every single hire at his firm, from lawyers to paralegals to the mailroom staff. He credits testing with avoiding hiring mistakes and building an incredibly loyal team with extremely low turnover. The tests provide invaluable visibility into aspects like work ethic, attention to detail, handling of change, motivations, and much more. With these insights, Mike can set clear expectations and tune his approach to communication to match each person’s profile from day one.

But the benefits go far beyond just hiring. Mike uses the test data to optimize how he manages, motivates and develops each team member on an ongoing basis. For example, visual performance scoreboards create positive accountability for team members whose tests reveal they are “numbers motivated”. Personality testing also enabled Mike to identify and separate potentially negative personality conflicts before they arise. He’s found that paying close attention to innate personalities and tailoring his approach accordingly to keep top talent and build amazing staff loyalty.

Building a Culture of Law Firm Success

Mike backs this up with cultivating an incredible work culture — prioritizing philanthropy and community involvement, providing all sorts of workplace perks and amenities, and most importantly, treating people with respect. His own negative early career experiences taught him how not to treat people. The combination of personality insights, thoughtful management, and an amazing culture has allowed Mike’s firm to retain lawyers for 12-14 years on average, which is unheard of at most firms. And it all starts with upfront personality testing as part of the hiring process.

While the testing requires an investment, Mike says the cost of testing pales in comparison to the cost of hiring the wrong people and excessive turnover. With the right test data, managing team members becomes about putting them in the best position to thrive according to their innate personalities and working styles.

Get Started: Use Personality Testing to Identify, Hire and Keep Top Talent

If you’ve struggled with finding top talent or dealt with toxic turnover, personality testing could be a game-changing solution. As Mike has discovered, the returns in terms of productivity, culture, and loyalty make it a no-brainer investment.