WHO SHOULD NOT BE TRUSTED WITH YOUR PROJECTS?

May 01, 2023

MANDATORY SKILLS FOR THE MANAGER

Successful projects experience

An elderly Chinese sage says: It's not so much the first 90 percent of the project that's scary as the second 90 percent of the project

The past experiences of a manager can significantly influence their approach to work. When you hire a manager, you’re not just hiring a person, but also their previous boss, team, and clients. It’s essential to look for a candidate who has previous experience leading teams to complete projects successfully. The ability to motivate oneself to complete a project and not quit halfway is an important skill to look for.

Management skills

Don’t hesitate to contact the candidate’s previous employer to obtain insider information (they’ll tell you more than you expect in 80% of cases). However, keep in mind that the previous employer may be biased, so ask specific questions that allow you to get concrete facts. For instance, did the candidate:

hire anyone,
promote someone,
fight for better working conditions or salaries for himself or his team members?

It can provide valuable insights.

Ability to get off a dead horse… on time

A businessman beats a dead horse with a stick in the hope that it will walk again, saying: I think I saw it still moving

Another essential quality to look for in a manager is the ability to recognize when a project is not worth pursuing and stop it. The manager must understand when the horse is dead - and not continue to drag it — in other words identify an unsuccessful project that wastes energy and resources and know when to move on and when to stop. So a candidate’s experience in stopping unsuccessful projects is an added advantage as well.

Business skills

It’s also plus to look for candidates who have experience running their businesses, as this can indicate their response to challenges. For instance, if a candidate has kept their business going even when it’s not profitable, it’s not just a circumstance that has developed, it could mean they have difficulty making difficult decisions, and this behavior can carry over into your projects as well.

For example, you communicate with a person who has been doing badly for 6 years. For 6 years, his business has been slowly deflating. You can work with such a candidate - but you cannot put him in a position where you need to make decisions. “Here we finish, here we close, here we shoot” - the manager must be able to do this.

The same logic works with hiring and firing developers, testers, and others. Can your candidate do it? You can learn about that in step 1. Otherwise, all significant decisions for such a manager will be made by the CEO, and the manager will only exist nominally.

Conducting an Interview

During the interview, it’s important to ask questions about negative experiences, such as what the candidate did when they realized their project was not taking off. The candidate’s reaction to such questions can reveal a lot about them. If they answer slowly, quietly, and look away, they may be hiding something. In such cases, postponing the decision and gathering more information is necessary.

Do you know what the adjustment of behavior is? The candidate at the interview, and he, after six months or a year of work, are usually different people. We all adjust our behavior when we know we’re being watched. To bypass the candidate’s adjustment of behavior during an interview, stress tests can be used to limit their reflection or resources for problem-solving.

It’s also a good idea to talk to the candidate about things that are not work-related to see how they relate to projects in general.

Making a decision

Please, don’t make the decision alone. Involve somebody else to evaluate the candidate on a scale from -2 to 2, where -2 means definitely not and +2 means definitely hire the candidate. From experience - this is the best way to clarify your ideal manager.

SUMMARY: HOW TO AVOID HIRING THE WRONG MANAGER

To identify the wrong manager before hiring, it’s essential to find out as much as possible about the candidate’s real experience. Gathering feedback from previous executives and partners, especially when hiring for top positions, is also critical. Tracking immediate reactions during the interview, finding out about non-work-related matters, and not making the decision alone are also essential steps to take. Evaluating the candidate on a scale from -2 to 2, where -2 is definitely not and +2 is definitely yes, is also recommended. Lastly, involve other interviewers in the hiring process to evaluate the candidate thoroughly.