Surrounding yourself with trust profiles, from your immediate circle, remains a current reflex for leaders in the development phase. Recruitment by short network, mainly based on the recommendation, responds to a double imperative: responsiveness and security. This mechanism, often adopted for the sake of speed and economy, tends to impose itself as a natural solution in the first states of structuring. However, as the organization becomes more complex, the choice to recruit only in short network has rarely anticipated edge effects.
A strategy adapted to the emergency and consolidation phases
The use of the short network responds to a logic of relational fluidity. Known profiles provide time saving in the selection process and make it possible to shorten the integration phases. For operational positions, where speed of execution prevails over the formalization of the course, this method can effectively meet an immediate need. It promotes rapid circulation of information and spontaneous commitment to contexts where agility takes precedence over structuring.
It also facilitates the constitution of a solid nucleus around the manager, with collaborators often very invested. When the managerial landmarks are still under construction, relational proximity fluidifies exchanges and strengthens internal cohesion. It simplifies decision -making on a daily basis and allows significant responsiveness in the transformation phases. At this stage, the formalization of recruitment procedures is often secondary, even absent, for the benefit of a direct, sometimes informal link, between the members of the management team and newcomers.
A lever that runs out of steam with the rise
As soon as the company crosses certain development levels, relational logic shows its limits. The immediate network, by definition limited, does not cover all the competence fields necessary for structured growth. The expansion of activities involves integrating technical, legal or commercial profiles outside the initial confidence sphere. This requirement becomes all the more pressing since the company is confronted with specialization or internationalization issues.
The management of this transition requires repositioning of HR practices. No longer just recommend, but assessing objective criteria; formalize processes without losing in agility; Attract talents that have no preexisting link with the founder. This transition to a professionalization of recruitment cannot be decreed: it requires a reflection on the real needs, the expected levels of expertise and the capacity to integrate more autonomous profiles. It also involves accepting a longer temporality, a potentially higher recruitment cost, and an increased investment in onboarding to ensure the cultural alignment of new recruits.
Selection bias that harm collective performance
The short network promotes homogeneity. The sharing of common references, if it constitutes an asset in terms of cohesion, tends to reproduce identical patterns. Mirror recruitments, often unconscious, slow down the emergence of alternative visions or atypical skills. In the medium term, this phenomenon creates a saturation effect where resembling profiles follow one another without questioning methods or collective choices.
This lack of professional and cultural diversity can lead to a form of counterproductive interior, especially in rapidly changing environments. A structure that does not open up to external profiles struggles to capture the weak signals of its market, to innovate or question its internal practices. Collective performance becomes dependent on repetitive dynamics, rarely confronted with ruptures from point of view. In a context where the adaptability becomes central, the uniformity of the courses or approaches harms the competitiveness of the organization.
Increased difficulties in the event of rupture
When relationships are based on proximity, professional disagreements take a more personal turn. The management of a conflict or a separation becomes sensitive, because it is accompanied by emotional issues. In some cases, this dissuades the manager from making the necessary decisions, for fear of hitting ties woven outside the strictly professional framework. This deduction compromises the legibility of managerial decisions and weakens the company’s reaction capacity.
This situation can slow down a restructuring, delay a strategic development or weaken the managerial authority. To avoid this type of blocking, it is essential to establish a clear contractual framework as soon as hiring, to individualize the objectives, and to formalize the evaluation criteria, including in a context of proximity recruitment. Loyalty, as strong as it may be, cannot replace a structured evaluation system. Defining a net separation line between interpersonal links and performance imperatives constitutes an essential condition to guarantee the balance of teams and the readability of governance.
Regularly re -examine internal recruitment circuits
Adopting a more open approach does not exempt from questioning hiring reflexes within the organization. Prolonged dependence on the short network is not always perceived as a bias: it often settles in an invisible way, out of habit or by comfort. This lock can exist even in structures with a formalized HR service, especially when the operational teams keep their hands on the final selection.
To expand the recruitment horizons without disorganizing the existing, managers establish internal audits on cooptation circuits and pre -selection practices. This cartography work makes it possible to objectify the flows, to identify any self-production areas and to redefine the points of friction between intuition and method. It is not a question of imposing a uniform model, but of maintaining active management of the diversity of profiles and channels of access to the company.