When You Lose a Key Manager, Hire a Winner

When you lose a key manager your first decision is whether to hire a winner or a potential winner as a replacement. Winners have demonstrated they can do the exact job you need done. They are hard to find and they cost money, but they are easy to supervise. All they need to know is the goals you’ve set.

If the last manager was a winner and you worked well with that person, you might want to make an extensive search to get the same type of individual. If you can’t afford or don’t think you can find — or take the time to find — a winner, your next best alternative is a potential winner. Potential winners have promise, but have not specifically demonstrated that they can do the job you need done. They cost less to hire but they require time and training to develop in your job. Do you have that kind of time? Can you afford to train someone to take the last person’s place?

As you interview an individual, how do you tell whether you have a winner or not? Let me suggest a process that you might use. When you interview a job applicant, begin by attempting to find out as much as you can about his or her background. As the applicant explains his past, probe with questions to learn why he has made certain life decisions. This will give you an initial sense of the applicant’s decision making and analytical quality.

After you get a sense of the person’s background, explain the key responsibilities in the job. Be as detailed as you possibly can and include some of your main concerns and expectations.

After sharing that kind of information about the job, give the applicant a pad and pencil and say, “I’d like you to prepare a strategy to follow once in the job. That is, what would you do first, and in the next three, six and nine months? I’ll give you an hour to prepare.”

Next, say, “I’ll want to read your prepared statement and hear you make an oral presentation on what you would do.” This will tell you something about the applicant’s ability to think and plan, and will also indicate the level of initiative, organization and creativity and ability to present ideas verbally and in writing.

After you have heard the presentation ask, “What kind of supervision would you need in each of the major performance areas in this position? Would you need close supervision (what we call a Directing Leadership Style), or would you need both direction and support and participation in decision making (Coaching Leadership Style), or would you just need support, encouragement and listening (Supporting Leadership Style), or could you be left alone with minimal supervision (Delegating Leadership Style)?”

Suggest that the amount of direction needed will depend on competency in areas of responsibility, and the amount of support and involvement you will provide will depend on the applicant’s level of confidence in the job. For example, to effectively use a delegating leadership style the applicant will need to be highly competent and confident. However, if the applicant is an enthusiastic beginner he will need more direction. Tell the applicant, “I suggest you look at each responsibility and be ready to talk with me in terms of how you would need to be supervised.”

At the same time, based on what you have already learned about the applicant, you should fill out a sheet with your own assessments of management needs.

After both of you have analyzed what would be the appropriate supervisory approach with the candidate, you would come together and share your perceptions and come to some agreement on the kind of supervision the candidate would need.

You are essentially contracting for a leadership style with the person before the job starts. In addition, you are discovering what will be demanded of you from this person. If the demands are more than you are willing to give, or if the contract can’t even be written, you know before you have invested a lot of time, money and energy in the process.

If you can’t replace the manager who has left, you need to discuss the situation with your management team or work group and give them the task of determining how they will divide up the tasks the last manager handled. Make them own the problem as much as you. If everyone chips in, you can probably get along without the person — at least in the short term.