Spotting talent in employees and bosses is difficult. Here’s how to do better.
I often meet with individuals – and companies – in various states of searching and hiring, and it’s amazing how difficult it is for good people to get connected with other good people and companies.
Claudio Fernández-Aráoz is a senior adviser at the global executive search firm Egon Zehnder and the author of “It’s Not the How or the What but the Who.” They have some great research and empirical data on what kind of people we should be looking for – and working for.
Fernandez-Araoz maintains that for the past several decades, organizations have erroneously based most of their hiring decisions on competencies. The question now is not whether people have the right skills; it’s whether they have the potential to learn new ones.
Fernandez-Araoz found that motivation is perhaps the best indicator of potential and success. This is consistently marked by a fierce commitment to excel in the pursuit of unselfish goals. High potential individuals have great ambition but also exhibit deep personal humility, and invest in getting better at everything they do.
Fernandez-Araoz has identified four other qualities that are hallmarks of motivation and potential:
Curiosity: a penchant for seeking out new experiences, knowledge, and candid feedback and an openness to learning and change
Insight: the ability to gather and make sense of information that suggests new possibilities
Engagement: a knack for using emotion and logic to communicate a persuasive vision and connect with people
Determination: the wherewithal to fight for difficult goals despite challenges and to bounce back from adversity
So how do you find these folks? How do you find these bosses? By mining his or her personal and professional history with good questions. Don’t just ask, “Are you curious?” Instead, look for signs that the person believes in self-improvement, truly enjoys learning, and is able to recalibrate after missteps.
Nice, smart and motivated team members are the ones you need. They know how to persevere, they know how to get along with people, and they know how to win.
Have a great week.
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