A four-step process

We assisted this management team by using the interviewing process described here. Our objective was to identify the natural abilities possessed by the top-performing city managers and then to design a series of questions that would help our client identify those abilities in the candidates they’d interview. This was a four-step process.

Our first step was to talk with the management team about the importance of natural abilities for this key position: city manager. They acknowledged that their “A-Team” city managers (there were six of them out of a total of 17) seemed to have some innate and natural abilities that drove them to success.

The management team acknowledged, however, that they just didn’t know how to identify these natural abilities in the candidates that they interviewed for the city manager position. The management team knew that they could teach the day-to-day skills and knowledge that the city managers would need, and they also knew that they couldn’t teach the needed natural abilities to those who didn’t have them.

Our second step in the process was to interview the six top-performing city managers to determine the natural abilities they possessed. We wanted to know what their secret sauce was, what they naturally brought to the position that enabled them to be so successful.

In preparation for our interview with each of these six city managers, we asked each of them to think hard about two issues. First, what natural abilities did they possess that made them so good in their position? Second, how could we identify those abilities in candidates that crossed our threshold?

Then, several days later, we interviewed them to determine the answers to those two questions. We asked them several questions designed to detect natural abilities. (“What activities give you great satisfaction, at work or at home?”) We also had discussions with them to determine how we’d find those natural abilities in others. (Recognizing that we can’t ask a candidate if they possess such abilities because they’ll simply tell us that they do!)

For step three, we determined the natural abilities that these top performing city managers had in common. In fact, there were several of them. And in some cases, there was great similarity in the words used by these managers to describe these natural abilities.

The key natural abilities identified by at least three of the six individuals, together with the number of individuals who identified these abilities, were:

- (6) Communicator: love to find things in common, excite customers, read them well, listen to what is important to them.

- (6) High-energy.

- (4) Goal oriented.

- (4) Competitive.

- (3) Always optimistic or positive.

- (3) Strong work ethic/sense of responsibility/passion.

Although not specifically identified by the managers during the interviews, it also became apparent to us that they used humor in their communications. We considered that to be potentially important to the success of these individuals in their role as city managers.

In step four, with great assistance from these city managers, we created some questions and situations that the company then used in its interviews with candidates. We also created annotated answers to these questions, indicating what to look for in the candidates’ responses, for each of the natural abilities we identified. In some instances, we could use a simple question, whereas in others we needed to look for a pattern or habit of behavior throughout the interview.

This is, of course, tough stuff. Detecting natural abilities in a candidate is not easy. This approach, however, will greatly increase your chances of identifying the natural abilities that a candidate might possess to excel in the position you are filling.

Please bear in mind that the information here should serve as a starting point for your company. There is no single set of questions that will work for all positions. And there are numerous combinations of natural abilities that could spell success in any given position.

You will, however, be able to refine the process for your company to make it more effective for every position. Remember to start with only your very top performers. The natural abilities that make them successful are very likely different than the natural abilities of the average performers.