By Liana Sangster
Consultant, Human Synergistics Australia and New Zealand
Over the course of the past 10 years working within corporations and most recently consulting to leaders, I have spent literally hundreds of hours in interviews and coaching conversations. If there is one thing I have learnt, it is just how ‘make or break’ hiring decisions are to every organisation large or small.
As a result, I have learnt how to mitigate the risk by knowing how to spot Constructive mindset in potential candidates.
Here are 7 tips to watch and listen for when you are next recruiting:
The ability to speak to their strengths without bragging
The ongoing quest for excellence means that an Achievement oriented individual will be seeking improvement. This is different from the often harsh critic that sits in Perfectionistic, where nothing is ever good enough. Achievement oriented individuals are typically able to articulate the outcomes of their work and the approach they took that made it effective. They will say things like “In my previous role I was responsible for delivering… my approach was… and as a result was able to achieve…”. Mistakes aren’t seen as failures but opportunities for ongoing growth.
The ability to talk comfortably about past failures
It will become apparent that an individual has a learning mindset by their willingness to share mistakes and lessons learned from past failures. Whereas high Perfectionistic and Power tendencies may be less inclined to share out of discomfort admitting weakness. The constructive applicant will share when things didn’t go according to plan and they will have no qualms in claiming responsibility. They will use language like “this is what I learnt” and “what I would do differently next time is…”
A goal that means something to them
A goal is a goal is a goal. However, a goal linked with purpose creates grit and determination to see it through (refer Angela Duckworth on Grit for more about this). Being clear on their goals and why it matters helps people to direct their efforts particularly when things get difficult because they know it is in service of something greater than the task itself.
Motivated to pursue excellence… not being ‘the best’
People will always want to put their ‘best’ foot forward in an interview. There is however a difference between demonstrating strengths to the best of your ability, and wanting to be seen as better than others. The type of language that should trigger a red flag for competitive behaviours are “I out-performed my team members” or “I was the strongest performer on the team”. Different from someone who will establish their own measures of success, the more competitive you are the more likely you are to compare yourself to others and be driven to win at all costs. Having the competitive advantage in an interview process is great but what you don’t want is to cultivate competitive behaviours within your teams and your organisation.
The ability to connect on a human level
We know that the more effective individuals are those that strike a balance between people and task and that no one constructive style alone makes a whole constructive individual. Tune into applicants who are able to talk about the quality of their relationships as well as what they have achieved. They will be interested in who else is on the team, how they work together, whether they take the time to socialise and get to know each other. Also pay attention for how willing they are to share about themselves, particularly where leadership skills are important, the ability to connect with people is essential (Connect then Lead, Amy Cudworth HBR).
Visibly curious by having a lot of questions for you
People who hold a strong sense of self (Self Actualising) will be determining whether you are a suitable fit for them, as much as you are looking at the strength of their candidacy for the role. The Self-Actualising candidate will have considered what is important to them and will have questions that help to source out where there is alignment between the company and their personal values.
The desire to seek new experiences
Seeking out new experiences demonstrates that an individual is not threatened by change. Someone who is able to embark on new experiences and see them through will be well positioned to manage change. This isn’t just limited to their employment experience, remember to also look for experiences of travel and different hobbies/outside of work activities, these can be great indicators for a person’s openness to try new things and their ability to be adaptive in a changing environment.
Whilst these tips may not guarantee the ‘perfect hire’ they will hopefully point you in the right direction towards hiring people who will emulate constructive behaviours. And don’t forget, your culture will be your biggest determinant of whether they stay this way in your business!