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Hiring a ‘manager’ for your team is a significant challenge and is not one to be taken lightly. As we all know, great leaders can make a team, but just as quickly, a poor leader can break a team. And it’s not easy to get it right at an interview – we have all recruited or seen people hired into leadership roles that, on the face of it, should work but don’t.
Confidence vs Narcissism
One of the biggest mistakes people make when hiring leaders is hiring the person who makes the ‘biggest’ impression. Yes, it’s true that confidence, based on conviction, integrity, and a belief in the ability to succeed, is important. However, confidence-cloaking narcissism, or an ego, isn’t.
But how can you tell at an interview when you expect people to talk up their achievements or put on a confident show?
One way would be to probe them about how other people they’ve worked with, or have led, would see them? Most good leaders are self-aware, so they should be able to comfortably answer this – one who is self-centred probably won’t and may stumble. Additionally, watch out for whether they claim their achievements as their own. A good leader will show their contribution, of course, but will usually attribute some credit to their team or peer group.
IQ vs EQ
Intelligence does indicate a likelihood of someone making a good leader, but without high EQ (emotional intelligence), it is unlikely that this potential will be realised. Across the board, the best leaders have a higher than average EQ, demonstrated by a high level of self-awareness and awareness of others. Testing competencies at interview such as conflict management, influencing, how they deal with sensitive situations, and their approach to leading teams through difficult times may be a way to get a sense of their level of EQ, if you don’t have the facilities to test someone formally.
Past Behaviours
The best way to understand someone’s leadership approach or philosophy in order to evaluate the potential match with your own organisation is to assess their behaviours using competency-based questions that require them to use past examples. Think of a couple of situations that you know commonly occur in your organisation and that this leader will have to deal with, and ask them to talk through how they’ve dealt with similar situations.
Here’s a suggestion of some vital leadership competencies you should test:
- The ability to influence and persuade at all levels of an organisation.
- The ability to lead teams through change/take them on a journey.
- The ability to manage conflict and challenge.
- The ability to manage underperformance.
Future Thinking
A great leader needs to be able to adapt, flex and think in a proactive or innovative way. One thing not commonly assessed in an interview is forward planning, or the candidate’s capacity to deal with hypothetical situations. Asking a candidate, on-the-day, to prepare a 30 60 90 day plan on what they’d do coming into the organisation, or to prepare a response to a case study situation testing a pre-defined leadership competency might just reveal behaviours, thought patterns, weaknesses or synergies that might influence your decision to hire.
Above all, always take references, or seek advice from a peer if there is something you are not sure about. Your gut is nearly always right – so if something is left unanswered, play it out at interview. Leadership competencies can be developed, but there are some characteristics that can’t be changed, so assess wisely.
Good luck!