Grooming, Recruiting and Hiring Effective Managers is Highly Specialized

Effective Managers Reach Goals Through People

My first HRTools Insight, “Leadership and Management: The Best Managers Also Lead,” made the case that effective managers wear various leadership “hats,” depending on their roles and business and employee needs. In today’s competitive business environment, employers need to hire managers with strong leadership potential.

First of all, every organization needs to have a good leadership development program or succession plan in place as it continues to grow. And as they say, “Look at the talent right underneath your nose.” It is expensive and time consuming to recruit professionals at managerial levels. It can be downright draining.

In other words, some organizations have local talent that can be groomed for managerial roles. So if a business has a strong succession plan in place, they are teaching their front-line people how to manage effectively. These manager-trainees will have already been groomed for reaching business goals through people.

Generally, managers should be able to demonstrate high-level competencies in areas such as:

• Decision-making
• Monitoring
• Planning
• Organizing
• Communicating

Then, should you experience employee turnover — you will have adequately prepared internal candidates who are “pre-groomed” to adeptly move into managerial roles.

When Hiring From the Outside, You Need Specialized Recruiting Methods

If a business does not have a sufficient internal pool of managerial candidates, I suggest consulting with a trusted third-party vendor that specializes in HR recruiting. To hire at this level, you want to make sure you have someone highly qualified and experienced in interviewing and screening qualified candidates.

More specifically to recruit and hire managerial-level professionals, you want HR professionals trained in behavioral-interviewing techniques. This type of interviewing requires in-depth screening and questioning of candidates’ backgrounds, skills, experiences, etc.

For example: Rather than simply asking a candidate about their background and skills, an HR recruiter trained in behavioral-interviewing techniques asks questions such as:

1. Tell me about a time where you led a great team. What was your role in making it a great team?
2. Let's imagine that you are angry about an unfair decision. How do you react?”
3. Describe what you would classify as a crisis.

In other words, you want to put the managerial candidates in situations that will shed light on how they handled leadership “hat-wearing” roles in the past, or how they see themselves handling tough situations in the future. (Again, for details about these significant roles, read my first HRTools Insight “Leadership and Management: The Best Managers Also Lead.”) 

If you get pat answers or responses that are less than well-thought-through, you may not have a well-rounded candidate before you. Normally, you are looking for someone who can adeptly wear any of the managerial hats such as the champion or teacher hats. This type of candidate is more likely to be suited for serving you and your organization in the long term. 

To sum it up, you want managers who can also lead people. Effective managers help your organization reach its goals through the people. You need managers who can coach, teach, inspire and champion their people. As a start, it is important to look at yourself first because your managers will reflect and mirror your values and qualities.

Look for my next Insight to learn more about how employers set the bar and standards for leadership in their organization.

As they say, 'Look at the talent right under your nose.' Make sure your business has a strong succession plan in place and take advantage of internal talent and experience.