by Mark Murphy
CEO of Leadership IQ

Our Leadership IQ study of 20,000 new hires found that the number one reason why new hires fail is that they are not coachable. A high performance workplace is dependent upon employees that have the ability to accept and implement feedback from bosses, colleagues, customers and other key players. There is no point in investing time and energy in people who are not going to positively respond. Doing so is a time consuming and exhausting exercise in futility. Coachability is a universal issue, and there are four
steps that will allow you to easily assess those candidates that have it, and those who do not.

Step 1: Make them believe you’re going to talk with their previous boss.

Begin by asking applicants for the full name of their present or most recent boss. Once you’ve got the name (e.g. Kate Johnson), confirm the spelling of the name; “Did she go by Kate or Katherine? And how do you spell Johnson?” In doing this, you create a situation where the applicant believes you’re actually going to call their boss. And if they believe that, they’re much more likely to be truthful in their responses to the hiring questions you ask. Please note: This whole process will not work if you don’t confirm the spelling of their name. This little psychological twist is what makes this whole process so revealing.

Step 2: Ask them to describe their boss.

A simple way to do this is to ask, “Tell me about what Kate was like as a boss.” The answer the applicant provides will give you some hints about what they’re looking for in a boss. If they answer, “Kate was very handson and wanted regular updates,” and they say this with a snarl, you can infer that this applicant doesn’t like that style of management. Whether their response is positive or negative, they usually won’t give you a complete response. So followup with questions like, “Tell me about a specific example,” or, “What was that like?” If they indicate (whether implicitly or explicitly) that they don’t respond well to micromanagers, and you’re a bit of a micromanager, ask yourself whether you could successfully manage them. If their last boss sounds like you, and they loved working for him or her, that’s a great sign.

Step 3: Ask them about the biggest compliment they received.

This is easily done by asking, “Tell me about the most meaningful compliment you received from Kate.” This question has two purposes. First, before you start asking about the criticisms they received, it’s nice to start with a more pleasant question. Asking about their most meaningful compliment gets the candidate talking and keeps them comfortable with you.

Second, it gives you an honest look at the qualities that they like best about themselves. If they talk about being processoriented and very detailed, and you’re looking for an outofthebox, bigpicture
thinker, you just learned something very valuable. Sometimes people ask whether this is the same as asking the candidate to describe their strengths (one of the questions we suggest you never ask). The answer is no. If you ask them to describe their strengths, you’re going to get a canned answer that reflects what they think you want to hear, not what they actually believe.

Step 4: Ask them about the strongest criticism they received.

Again, this can be accomplished with a question as simple as, “Tell me about the strongest criticism you received.” This is the most critical question, but it only works if you’ve completed the previous three steps. In fact, if you do the first three steps successfully, you might be shocked at the level of honesty you elicit with this last question. You want to listen to their answer on two levels. First, you’re going to assess whether the criticism is something you can live with. If they say they were criticized for lying, or being too political, or not completing assignments on time, then you may have uncovered that they share characteristics with your low performers. Second, if they say they can’t think of any criticisms, then you’ve hit upon the biggest warning sign that someone is not coachable. If they didn’t (or couldn’t) hear the constructive feedback offered by their previous boss, what are the chances that you’ll be successful giving them feedback? If someone can’t hear and assimilate constructive criticism, they’re not coachable. And if they’re not coachable, they’re going to be a nightmare to try and manage.

© 2007, Leadership IQ