Finding the Best Management Candidates

The challenge that is finding the best management candidates is real. There are a lot of people out there who want to be a leader or manager, but do they really want to do the work of a leader or manager? The relational skills of the candidates are equally as important as their technical abilities. So, how do you explore with your candidates what relational skills they have?

This is part 2 of the 4-part series on Optimizing Your Management Team by Diana Gabriel, Certified Strengths Strategy Coach.

Developing great interview skills and questions that allow you to get to know your candidates personally is critical. Click To Tweet

In order you to run the most effective division or organization you need the most effective management team, which calls for putting the right people in management roles. Those right candidates will have the strongest relational skills, the ones associated with EI. It is so important to stress this attribute in the recruiting and placement process. While, technical skills are necessary, weighing them too heavily can be a critical mistake.

I wrote about this in my last post. Employees respond much more favorably to managers who know how to relate with them than those who have technical savvy. Technical skills can be honed to lead technically, but your people desire a leader or manager who they believe cares about them personally. Unlike technical skills, on paper, people skills can be more difficult to assess. This is why developing great interview skills and questions that allow you to get to know your candidates personally is critical. To grasp a candidate’s soft skillset interviews can be valuable.

When this topic comes up with my coaching clients, we discuss key areas to explore with a candidate, whether they are internal or from outside the organization.

• What is their leadership philosophy?
• How does their character convey positivity, motivation or inspire others?
• How do they exhibit pride, humility, respect, and accountability?
• What kind of wisdom, discernment, and insight do they have?
• Are they personally interested in people, and enjoy engaging, supporting and encouraging them?
• How do they show that they value their staff?
• Do they care about their people as people or just physical resources?
• What kind of collaborative or interdependent spirit do they have?
• Do they seem interested in benefitting themselves, others, or the greater whole?
• What is their definition of fairness?
• Are they a good fit for your culture?

You can get many of these answers through conversations with your candidates. Talking through what-if scenarios, asking your candidates to role-play different situations, or to describe real circumstances can help them to illustrate and you to gain further information about them.

I encourage my clients to make sure that the candidate’s people skills are strong enough before offering them a leadership or management position.

What do you do to explore the soft skills of candidates? How have you found the best management candidates for your team? I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me here and on LinkedIn.