“Jason joined the AA-ISP (Global Sales Association) for our Spring Leadership Retreat with 50+ Sales Leaders from companies of all sizes. Our event focused on “culture” and Jason was the perfect Guest Speaker for this 3-day event! Attendees gained so much knowledge from Jason’s talk and loved playing the Cards Against Mundanity game. Thanks again Jason!” Kameron Hobbs, Sr. Director, Global Marketing & Operations at AA-ISP
Here are 10 questions to take your employee reference calls from ineffective to informative and revealing. You are spending a significant amount of money to recruit, hire and retain every person in your company along with the future replacement cost.
You can hire significantly better candidates and see “red flags” much quicker if you ask better questions during the hiring process and during reference checks.
Considering using this questions for your candidates. I put them in the order I’d use them.
Questions:
What is your relationship to the candidate? How long have you worked with the candidate?
This establishes a baseline for you.
What were the candidate’s responsibilities, outcomes, and impact?
This lets you know how well the person knew the candidate and you can understand their role versus the role you need them for.
(If the person managed the candidate): Could you please share with me your leadership and management style/philosophy and company culture.
This gives you a guide on comparing your company environment from where the candidate is coming. It also gives you a lens to understand the feedback you will be receiving.
On a scale of 1-10 (one being poor, ten being extraordinary), how would you rate this candidates communication, teamwork, problem-solving capabilities? Please share a specific example that explains your rating.
Where did this candidate fit in well with your company culture? Where didn’t they? (and why for both)
When you worked with this candidate, when did they appear to be highly motivated (and why do think that was? when were they least motivated? What do you believe drives this candidate?
What blind spots do you see with this candidate?
How could have this candidate excelled more in their position? Why?
How did this candidate react to feedback? What developmental feedback did you provide them? How did they react, process and implement that feedback?
On a scale of 1 to 10 (one being poor, ten being extraordinary), how enthusiastically would you endorse this candidate?
“Working with Jason really helped me to work through my blind spots and become a better leader. I can’t say enough great things about how impactful working with Jason was for me personally and professionally.” Joel Clum, COO, Worldwide Express $1B Revenue (Shipping & Logistics)
4. Self-Awareness Is The Number One Predictor Of Your Career Success – Jason Treu, Jason Treu Executive Coaching
95% of people think they are self-aware but only 5-15% really are! It is these blind spots that can cripple your success.
5. Build Psychological Safety Within Your Team – Jason Treu, Jason Treu Executive Coaching
If you don’t have psychological safety you are not going to have a high performing team.
How Do You Build Psychological Safety?
Be open and honest with your team when you mess up!
Use your mistakes to show the team how to be open, honest and vulnerable.
6. Get Accurate Information By Truth Telling – Jason Treu, Jason Treu Executive Coaching
Ask your employees how they would rate your relationship on a scale from 1-10 and then how you can move it to closer to a 10.
Through this exercise you know how the other person is feeling and, if needed, you can do something to improve your relationship.
7. How To Give Negative Feedback – Jason Treu, Jason Treu Executive Coaching
It has been found that feedback is 40% more effective by prefacing it with the statement: “I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.”
8. Support That Works – Jason Treu, Jason Treu Executive Coaching
“How can I best support you?” Instead of…
“If there is something I can do for you, let me know?” or “Is there anything I can do for you?”
Join the Austin Chapter to hear from Jason Treu, an executive coach who helps executives, managers, and teams to maximize their leadership potential and #performance, along with building and executing their career blueprint.
He’ll be speaking on maximizing employee engagement and performance. He’ll be sharing research data and best practices (with written scripts to use) on managing and interacting with others.
Attendees will get to experience why this will work for them and their organizations by playing his employee engagement and team building game, Cards Against Mundanity. More than 10,000+ people have played it. CardsAgainstMundanity.com
