The Big Mistake When Hiring People Managers

I've sat in on a lot of interviews throughout my career. I've been the interviewee and the interviewer. I've hired individual contributors and leaders and I've been hired to lead others.

As I continue to ponder how to create jerk-free work environments, something BIG occurred to me.

When we are hiring those who will lead others, why aren't we (more often) asking to speak to their former direct reports? (if applicable).

I find this especially important when hiring at Director level and above. Most of these people will have managed others before. If there is anything we need to install more towards the top, its leaders with palpable emotional intelligence. Why do we rarely evaluate the effectiveness of a potential leaders by speaking to those they have actually led before? This applies for internal and external hires.

The importance of healthy and trusting relationships between a leader and their team is of essential importance.

Well this is going to be added to my mission; to reach as many hiring managers and recruiters. Who knows, maybe there are already some forward thinking people doing this, and if so, I'd love to hear from you.

Here are some of the questions to consider asking former direct reports of leadership candidates (and why):

1. How frequently did this individual share genuine appreciation? Even if you personally don't thrive on this, for the majority of employees, this is important. According to Zippia, 79% of employees quit because of lack of appreciation. Your direct boss will often be the largest source of this appreciation, so you do the math.
2. If you were to use ONE word to describe this individuals leadership style, what would it be? Whenever we ask people to distill their experience with one word, we will often get the dominant experience they were left with. Here are some words to listen for: supportive, motivating, approachable, honest, integrity, mentoring, authentic, collaborative or inclusive. Always follow this question up with "Can you share an example of that leadership style in action?"
3. What was this leader's greatest strength? Some of these answers may echo the answers to the previous question, but this one may be more descriptive and in depth. Listen for elements of the nature of their leadership relationship and the impression they left on the individual.
4. What was this leader's biggest opportunity for growth? People may shy away from this question, but never accept the answer of "they need to stop working so hard." This is often the same answer people give when speaking about themselves. If you need to rephrase it, ask "What could this leader have STARTED to do that they didn't do that would have made them even more effective?"
5. What was the biggest impact this leader left on your own career development? Leaders leave a mark on people and it is critical that we see leaders as developers of individuals and teams. It's telling when we can understand how they contributed to the development of others in the past.

Now the trick here is, to contact the direct reports of multiple last or semi-final round candidates and compare this qualitative data. It's also important when evaluating this information to think about the current team and culture and asking what this team is most in need of.

Recruiters and hiring managers underestimate their contribution to shaping the culture of an organization. Every time a leader is hired who genuinely cares about people while still creating and holding people accountable for results, this has the potential to impact people, teams the entire organizational culture.

Don't misunderstand me, this isn't about hiring more "nice" managers, its about hiring people with personal integrity who take the role of leadership seriously. It's about wanting to be an organization that cultivates supportive and collaborative leadership to contribute to a positive work culture. It's also about setting a a courageous and unwavering standard for leadership.

Coaching is the LANGUAGE of Leadership.

If there is anything leaders begrudge its being forced into meaningless trainings that don't leave them with any applied learning. In my signature Coaching Skills for Leaders program, I take leaders through a LEAN and impactful journey of learning how to speak the language of leadership by applied coaching skills. With a short time commitment and bursts of skill based learning and practice, leaders see immediate results. I've led this program to thousands of individuals from the C-suite to first time managers across industry and cultures. This program also includes the impactful use of Cloverleaf , an automated coaching platform that provides individual with leadership development in just a few minutes a day. If you are a talent or people strategy leader and want to create a coaching culture, schedule a quick chat with me HERE. See testimonials below from managers currently in a cohort of this program:

• We are all so used to getting through one task after another and being busy. This process has really helped me slow down and be more intentional in my interactions with my team. The daily coaching also helps me keep creating a coaching culture as my focus for each day.
• I'm so glad I was nominated for this program. I've addressed my challenge with conflict, and I address it as soon as it comes up and empower individuals to resolve it themselves instead of always giving them the answer. When we have issues within the team, or we are changing the way we do something, I involve the whole team and let them collaborate on how we are going to address it together.
• I have put more effort into listening more and talking less. You learn much more about the person and the situation when you let them completely explain their view of the situation.
• I am able to better regulate my own thoughts before going into a coaching session with an employee