How do you pull an effective leader from a pool of candidates with “manager” or “managerial experience” on their resume?
Great leaders are intentional with their leadership. They anchor their intentions on deeply understanding their leadership scope. They understand that to lead effectively, they must tether their actions to the needs of the organization, department, team, and their work.
You’re going to spot them by the questions they ask—questions that reveal what they care about and how they think about their leadership within the context of your organization. To find these leaders, look for questions about the organization’s SCOPE (that is its Strategies, Culture, Objectives, Purpose, and Ecosystem). Let’s break these down.
1. Strategies: The effective leader will want to understand the organization’s shorter-term priorities. They will use this information to decide how and where to deploy resources and people to help the organization achieve its goals and objectives. Some questions they may ask include:
- What are the organization’s strategic priorities this year?
- Does the organization have the resources necessary to achieve the strategy?
- What are my priorities in the first six months, and how do they serve the organization’s strategies?
2. Culture: Your company culture encompasses all the unspoken and spoken rules around how things are done in your organization. If the organization has a culture, each function/team has a sub-culture. The effective leader will want to model the company’s core values in their actions and behaviors and will ensure psychological safety is built into their team’s foundation. Some items they’ll be seeking answers to may include:
- How would you describe the current organizational culture? Do you have a set of company core values?
- In what ways (if any), does the organizational/team culture need to shift in your opinion?
- What does psychological safety mean to you and this organization? How have you seen it show up?
3. Objectives: These are the longer-term targets or visions for organizational success. The effective leader wants to ensure this vision is communicated meaningfully, not simply with key performance indicators (KPIs). Some questions they may ask in setting objectives are:
- What is the vision for success for the organization in the next three years?
- What tangible goals does the organization have to achieve this vision? How have they been communicated to the organization?
- How does my role specifically serve this vision for success?
4. Purpose: The effective leader is aware of the organization’s core mission, functions, or reasons for being, and understands that they must define, align, and communicate their new team’s purpose in a way that serves the organization’s purpose. Some questions they may ask are:
- Does your organization have an existing mission statement? How did it come about?
- How well does the organization know and live its purpose? Can you give me some recent examples?
5. Ecosystem: Every organization exists within an ecosystem of internal and external stakeholders. An effective leader is aware of the key relationships in the value chain and takes an intentional and holistic approach to stakeholder engagement. Because of this, they will better understand, interact, respond, and get buy-in from their critical stakeholders in their first few months on the job. Some questions to listen for are:
- Who are the key internal stakeholders impacting my work? Where are the handoffs?
- Who are the key external stakeholders impacting the organization? How do you expect me to interact with them?
