How to Hire People Who Repeatedly Succeed

Good job candidates have skill, experience, and knowledge. Great candidates have coachability.

Do you want to hire people who repeatedly succeed?   (Is the sky blue?)

Of course you do. But here’s the rub — past success isn’t necessarily the best indicator of future success.

“But Peter,” you might say. “If not past success, what should I be looking for?”

“Coachability,” I’d tell you. Easy question; easy answer.

“Okay. So how do you spot it?”

How to Hire Coachable Employees

First, you can’t necessarily rely on skill, experience, or knowledge.

Candidates who have hit certain levels in these areas might win once or even a couple of times in their efforts to contribute by bringing what they already have to the team. But they won’t keep winning—achieving new and bigger career goals and producing the right results for your company—unless they keep improving.

The one behavior that defines serial achievers, the people who are most likely continue to contribute in a constantly changing business environment, is coachability.
 
So what do you look for in an interview? Here are three ways to spot coachability in your candidates.

1. Improvement
They acknowledge that they’ve been coached in the past.

People are usually afraid to admit that they haven’t always been the perfect package sitting before an interviewer. Talking about coaching they may have received implies that they needed it, which means that they weren’t great at something or maybe—the horror!—they’ve actually made mistakes.

To be coachable, you have to be humble and willing to admit that you need to improve. Look for people willing to admit it. They should do so in a positive, growth-oriented way by mentioning changes or challenges that required them to take on new responsibilities or adjust how they worked.

A truly coachable person might say something like: “When I was at company X, I worked for a great woman who helped me realize I needed to develop my Y skills. I had recently been promoted to Z position and it presented new challenges. What kind of support do you offer people when they’re promoted or given new responsibilities?”

2. Eagerness
They responded to coaching with eagerness and appreciation.

One of the first traits to look for in new hires is not only their willingness to be coached, but their eagerness and appreciation for it. It tells you that they’ll work with you, that every point of potential improvement won’t be an arm wrestling match, and that you won’t be wasting your experience, knowledge, or systems on somebody who won’t use it to make progress.
 
If a candidate hints that he thought the coaching he received was unnecessary, lacked value or reflected a flawed assessment of his skills, he may be uncoachable. Instead, look for a candidate who describes the value of the coaching he has received and how he engaged with his mentor or coach to keep growing.

A truly coachable person might say something like: “I received a lot of helpful advice from a colleague and mentor at B company. I would meet with him occasionally to talk about areas where I felt like I was struggling. I’d keep him updated on how I was incorporating his suggestions. By the way, do you have a coaching program here?”

3. Initiative
They describe their “next steps” after coaching.

Being coached isn’t a passive activity. You have to actually do something with what you’ve been given. Highly coachable people are given a few ideas or insights and they’re off to the races. They do their own research, find their own development opportunities, and find others who can help with specific challenges.

Listen for signs that a candidate took the coaching she received further, on her own. It shows that she’s not only coachable, but also willing to go the extra mile to contribute.

A truly coachable person might say something like: “After getting feedback from our team leader that I should focus on improving M, I signed up for a course with ABC professional organization that really helped. I’m exponentially better at M because he helped me see how it would improve my performance and career path. Do you offer employees a professional development program?”

Know What to Look For
Not every coachable candidate will deliver a pat answer on queue (nor would you want them to), but you get the general idea. Candidates should be willing and able to talk about the fact that they’ve been coached, their eagerness to continue to be coached, and how they found opportunities to learn and grow on their own.

A cautionary note: If you want to hire coachable employees, you have to be willing to coach them. People who sustain and elevate their success seek out coaching. When they can’t find it, they’ll often move on to an environment with more growth opportunities.
Increase your odds of hiring a successful candidate by looking for these qualities of coachability and watch your turnover rate drop and your ROI in new hires soar.

Questions to Ask to Determine Coachability 

These interview questions measure a candidate’s ability to learn and their receptiveness to coaching. As an interviewer, here are questions you might consider when evaluating candidates for their coachability: Does the candidate learn from past mistakes? Does the candidate actively seek help or mentorship? How does the candidate receive and apply feedback? Is the candidate open to learning new things? 

• Tell me about the hardest lesson you've had to learn in your career. What was the situation? What made it hard? How did that lesson impact you? What did you learn from that situation? How do you apply what you learned from that lesson?

• Tell me about a time when you needed to ask for advice or coaching. What was the situation? What made you decide to reach out for advice/mentorship? What did you learn from the situation? How do you apply what you’ve learned from that lesson?

• Tell me about a time you received feedback from a manager. What was the situation? What was your initial reaction to the feedback? What did you do after receiving the feedback? Did you apply the feedback? If, so what was the result? How do you apply what you’ve learned from that feedback?

• Tell me about a time when you received tough feedback from a customer. What was the situation? What did you do with the feedback? How did you use the feedback to improve? How do you apply what you’ve learned?

• Tell me about a time when you needed to learn a new skill. What was the situation? How did you identify what you needed to learn? How did learn this new skill? Did you ask anyone for help or support? How have you applied what you learned?

Increase your odds of hiring a successful candidate by looking for these qualities and asking these type of questions to assess the person’s coachability. If you do watch your turnover rate drop and your ROI in new hires soar.

To your greater success and fulfillment

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Facilitator and Performance Consultant

SMART DEVELOPMENT

Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  
Mobile: 323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, branches, distribution centers, food production facilities, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth. 

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.