Help Yourself
The Best Kept Business Secret

Jim Collins, author of the recent best-selling book, “Good to Great”, makes the point that the most important criterion for business success is to have the right people on your ‘organizational bus’. This is even more important than having shared vision and goals, since these intentions likely will change with time and circumstances.

There are relatively few business leaders however, who are adept at selecting the right people. Concurrently, there are many incidents of inappropriate selections for vital roles with the resultant loss of time, effort, money, good will and credibility all round.

Behavioral scientists first tackled this challenge back in the early twenties, and by the late thirties had something substantial to offer. Psychological tests and inventories were introduced, with some mixed results, and the concept of ‘assessment centers’ gained popularity in the military and airline industries particularly.

In the sixties another, even more attractive and cost-effective solution was offered – Behavioral Interviewing. Despite its common-sense based approach, low cost and proven effectiveness though, we entered the third millennium with barely more than a quarter of business organizations embracing the strategy. Why such reluctance to use a system that is significantly superior to conventional practice?

Dissatisfaction with the traditional methods is evident. Few would defend the use of ‘speculative’ questions, “What would you do if you had a poorly performing employee . . .”, ‘leading’ questions such as, “Do you believe you possess the traits of an effective change manager . . .”, and ‘abstract’ questions, “What are the essential characteristics of high performance teams . . .”.

Behavioral Interviewing is based on a simple premise. The best indicator of future performance is past performance in similar circumstances. To define this performance, the demands of a particular role needs to be isolated by specific areas, broadly into job-related, business and inter-personal factors. Each of these, in turn, is divided into precise skill and trait topics that can be quantitatively measured by reference to actual facts in a candidates background.

Facts are determined by questions like, “Describe for me an occasion when you had to deal with stubborn resistance to needed change, and tell me how you handled it”. The story that results could reveal much, especially in the precise areas of the role-related competencies which have been pre-defined. Furthermore the responses can be verified quite readily through subsequent reference checks.

The likely reason why Behavioral Interviewing has not been accepted with enthusiasm is now clear. Considerable preparation is required to define the role related competencies, and then some imagination is needed to formulate appropriate questions. This effort is assuredly worthwhile though when assessed against the high cost consequences of a failed selection.

Is your interest piqued?
Would you be prepared to give it a try if some easy assistance were available? I am completely persuaded that Behavioral Interviewing is more than worth the efforts of implementation, and I recommend it without qualification. I’d like to demonstrate this to you if I may.

You’ll find attached two valuable and free assists. Firstly, a list of potential ‘competencies’ in the three areas of Technical (job related), Business and Interpersonal skills, complete with two-line definitions. Secondly, a sample of behavioral questions in context and a pool of associated suggestions for other questions pertinent to the competencies given.

There’s a comprehensive guidebook available too, providing a step-by-step process and containing a great deal of additional, constructive help. Contact us for more details if this would be useful. Meanwhile, why not give it a try? There’s enough information attached to get you started on the right foot. Can we afford to make any more expensive mistakes when filling the key roles of our organizations?

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Speakers' Corner
Give your meetings / conferences a boost. Have our dynamic speakers inform and inspire on these subjects - and more!

Keynote Addresses:

Linking Personal with Organizational Success - Employee Commitment that works! more info...

Substantial Steps to Organizational Growth - a strategic view of business management. more info...

People plus Performance equal Profit - a radical view of the role of management. more info...

Turning My Emotional Crank - the impact of effective interpersonal dynamics. more info...

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