Recognizing potential and talents: Three useful milestones in decision-making
“How do you find out whether a candidate can lead a candidate”, a customer asks me in the briefing. I ask back: “Who should be led where?” The key point is: which leader do you need for which task? What goals does the company want to achieve in the medium term? This needs to be clarified first. Because this results in the need for leadership and thus the “right” manager.
Successful leadership is based on a lively interplay
The management literature is full of theories about leadership and leadership styles. In executive recruitment, new tools for analyzing leadership skills are constantly being used. The selection of executives is not just about the manager and his or her leadership behavior. It’s about leadership success. This rests crucially on the employees who are led.
Leadership is therefore not a one-sided program that, once carried out correctly, leads to the desired goal. Rather, it is based on the manager’s insight that their behavior has a decisive influence on people: on employees, customers, partners, and suppliers.
We cannot perceive a person’s personality directly. It is therefore important that we observe a person’s behavior closely. What are the characteristics of a candidate? The specialist literature classifies the behavior of executives as follows:
- Employee-oriented
- Task-oriented
- Recently: Transformational
Leadership Assessment helps to ideally fill key positions
But: There is no ideal leadership behavior that, according to a recipe, leads to high performance and employee satisfaction. It is therefore more important to clarify which personality shows which behavior in which situation. We don’t just want to find out whether a person can lead, but rather: whether this manager will be successful in my client’s company.
In addition to the «hard facts», these three pillars serve as useful waypoints:
Clarify the values
You need leaders who identify with your company values. Therefore, outline the behavioral parameters of the ideal leader who should be successful in your company. Identification has a lot to do with personal values. The best way to find out about this is in a structured conversation. Let different values affect you. In advance, however, define a matrix as a guide.
Look for the motivation
What are the inner drivers of a person, what is he passionate about? From this, you can recognize their behavioral and decision-making preferences. These control leadership behavior. Ask curiously and broadly about the basic motivation of your candidate. Do this outside of the job profile. Don’t be fobbed off with simple answers. Also, try to mentally embed new points of view in your organization.
Use diagnostic aids and tools
Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence as to whether your new manager will be successful. You should therefore rely on diagnostic aids and tools: These can withstand your claim of prognostic validity and even predictive validity. It is best to choose a standardized process for the respective role.
Choose between different variants:
- Conversations: In the final selection, put your group together in panel interviews. Always answer the question on the internal committee: «Do we want to entrust this mission to this person?»
- Information: Check verbal references, behavior and personality tests, and presentations.
- Assessments: Give your candidate’s assessment tasks or send them to an assessment center. Always embed assessment reports and graphics in an overall picture.
In addition to all the methods, Wilhelm Busch is also an inspiration to me personally: “Those who trust others too little are afraid in every corner. Whoever builds too much on others wakes up with horror!”.