You can avoid costly mis-hires by alerting candidates that they must arrange reference calls with former managers…and as a final step in hiring, ask them to arrange those calls and then make those calls.

As the founder of Topgrading, I have used this powerful “truth serum” to motivate almost 7,000 candidates I’ve interviewed to tell me the truth. They did. And for the past 15 years, since General Electric adopted Topgrading hiring methods, tens of thousands of managers have injected this “truth serum” — and they, too, got the truth. There is no doubt about this, because hiring managers eventually talk with the candidates’ former managers and verify interview conclusions.

After you have motivated candidates to be honest, use the Topgrading Interview to get the most complete information from the candidate.

After reviewing the thousands of case studies I’ve compiled during my Topgrading history, I’ve found that when coaching managers, my single most common recommendation, other than to become a Topgrader, is to use active listening a LOT more. In this article, I’ll explain active listening and spell out the most successful techniques managers have used to dramatically improve their reputation and effectiveness as leaders.

HOW SERIOUS IS THE NEED TO IMPROVE AT ACTIVE LISTENING?

If anyone should know the easiest, best way for managers to improve, I should. As many of you know, I’ve assessed more than 6,500 senior managers. Using my Topgrading approach, I ask candidates 16 basic questions plus follow-up questions in order to understand every success, failure, key decision, and key relationship, as well as how their bosses appraised them. That’s 6,500 interviews X 10 jobs = 65,000 oral case studies that reveal ways leaders improved. No skill turbocharges career success more than Topgrading, but after that there is one skill, an Uber-skill, that is the most powerful lever for improving their effectiveness: active listening. Hundreds of managers I’ve coached had stalled out in their careers because they were told, “You’re not considered promotable at this time, because you fall short on the interpersonal aspects of leadership.” Some failed to improve and, despite good operating results, they were fired. Why? It wasn’t so much because they were lazy, dishonest, disorganized, or dumb; these managers were typically getting good results, but experiencing a career plateau or getting fired. The pattern I discovered was often a manager was described as:

• A mediocre team player
• Disrespectful to colleagues or staff
• Weak at achieving buy-in to organizational changes
• A “know-it-all”
• Excessively impatient
• A poor listener
• Low in emotional intelligence
• Autocratic
• Stubborn
• Insufficiently participative
• Publically berating or making fun of people
• Acting like “the smartest person in the room”
• Stingy with praise
• Excessive with criticism
• A mediocre coach

Do some of these characterizations fit you…or any of your managers? To make this article more personal, let’s suppose it’s you who have a lot to gain if you can become a significantly better leader.

THE GOOD NEWS

Improve at listening, or more specifically active listening, and you’ll be perceived as improving in all of these areas. I’ve helped hundreds of very good leaders scale up to excellent, and frankly, have helped many leaders keep their jobs by teaching them to use active listening. When leaders progress from mediocre to very good listeners, their team considers them much improved as leaders overall, and specifically as motivators, team players, coaches, developers of talent, and yes, even better Topgraders, because their more positive leadership style attracts more A Players.

ACTIVE LISTENING: THE LEADERSHIP PANACEA

If there is a panacea for leadership development, something akin to parabolic skills or large-head tennis rackets, this is it: Most leaders need to improve at not just listening, but active listening. Listening is just grasping what the other person is saying. Active listening is playing back to the person what you heard, engaging in a dialog to really understand not just the words, but what the meaning behind them, and the feelings, emotions, and passion underlying what is said.

LISTENING:

Subordinate: "I need a vacation."
Leader: "You need a break — so do I!"

ACTIVE LISTENING:

Subordinate: "I need a vacation."
Leader: "You've been working 70+ hours per week for weeks, and you deserve a vacation!"
Subordinate: "I know you appreciate my hard work."
Leader: "I sure do! Not only your dedication, but your great ideas are saving the Acme account! You seem to thrive on hard work.”
Subordinate: “I love hard work … but a vacation is … needed.”
A Player Leader: “Sounds like something else is going on.”
Subordinate: "It's not me so much as some family obligations; I need some time...off."
A Player Leader: (sits down, with full attention) "I'm not going to pry, but when you say you need some time off, you got it."
Subordinate: "I don't mean to be secretive. Jeannie (wife) just found out she has breast cancer, and these international trips we're scheduling will leave her feeling abandoned just when ..." You get the point.

Active listening involves what is sometimes called "listening with the third ear," which means paying attention to more than the words. When the subordinate said she loves hard work, but still needs a vacation, active listening prompted more of an explanation. It's being sensitive to body language, inflections, pauses, and eye contact, so that your responses show some understanding of what is not being said, what the feelings are beyond the words.

HOW YOU CAN USE ACTIVE LISTENING TO BE MORE SUCCESSFUL

1. Conduct an email 360º survey. There are hundreds of free or inexpensive examples available, such as Google email surveys. Pick one that is short, but has items that ask about listening, leadership, collaboration, and acknowledging successes, etc. If the results confirm the common perception that you are excessively negative, try some additional methods.
2. Use active listening all day, every day. Patiently “play back" to the person what you think you heard. "Pat, let me check if I understand : You want to personally make the presentation next week because you did the study, you can best field any questions, and after a year with the company you'd like some visibility, is that correct?" If Pat has a fourth reason, she'll say it, but at a minimum she'll know you were a good listener.
3. Measure your frequency of using active listening. Use the "10 Dime Technique." Put 10 dimes in your pocket and every time you are really proud of yourself for using active listening, transfer a dime to another pocket. When you end up with most dimes transferred ... you're improving!

SUMMARY: Active listening is the turbo-booster of leadership effectiveness. It's also a vital skill for successful Topgrading!

Recommended Resources:
Quarterly Topgrading Workshop. How about attending or sending key managers to our June 12-13 Topgrading Workshop in the Chicago area? Brad and two other Topgrading professionals will not only teach Topgrading methods but for about half of the workshop, observe and personally coach attendees in how to conduct the Topgrading Interview, analyze the information, arrive at valid conclusions, and provide feedback and coaching to the "new hire." Workshop ratings have exceeded 9 (on a 10-point scale) for years. Click here for information.

I’ve never seen so many sharp people, A Players in their careers, unemployed. Since 2008, as you well know, terrific companies have chopped head count (and they still are doing it), and a lot of smaller companies – the ones that create most jobs – have scaled back or gone out of business. A Players are out of work because:

1. they don’t know how to get a job…because former co-workers have come to them with job offers, and
2. they are too humble in their resume and interviews.

What to do: If you’re an “out of work” A Player:

1. Get meetings with sharp people. Go through your Contacts to identify sharp people – not just people who might employ you. Go back 10 years and think of additional people who were sharp, who didn’t make into your Contacts, and add them. Then email and phone people hours every day to get face-to-face meetings with people who can put you in touch with people who might employ you.
2. Don’t be so humble. When former associates recruited you, you could be humble (“The team deserves the credit,” “I was lucky.”) and the former associates would sing you praises. Spend hours refining your accomplishments in every job.
3. Admit mistakes/failures. You’re an A Player, so you’ve learned from mistakes and don’t repeat them, right? So, #3 does not contradict #2.

After reviewing the thousands of case studies I’ve compiled during my Topgrading tenure, I’ve found that when coaching managers, my single most common recommendation — other than to become a Topgrader — is to use active listening a lot more. Are you regarded by your team as even one of the following — a mediocre team player, disrespectful, a “know-it –all,” excessively impatient, a poor listener, low in emotional intelligence, autocratic, publically berating people, stingy with praise, or excessive with criticism? If so, use Active Listening 20 times per day and within months you will be perceived as a much more effective leader. Listening is simply grasping what the other person is saying. Active listening is playing back to the person what you heard, engaging in a dialog to really understand not just the words, but the meaning behind them, and the feelings, emotions, and passion underlying what is said.

Want more leadership tips from Brad Smart? Download his free eBook and subscribe to the Topgrading Tips newsletter.

For over 40 years more than 2 dozen Topgrading professionals and thousands of managers trained in Topgrading have scrutinized up to 50 competencies for high level jobs – and maybe 10 competencies for entry jobs. For professional positions (sales rep, engineer, etc.) and EVERY managerial position, the most important competency is RESOURCEFULNESS.

ALL high performers are high in RESOURCEFULNESS, and I’ve never interviewed an A Player who is NOT high in RESOURCEFULNESS. It’s that important! Resourcefulness is a combination of drive, determination, analytic, skills, and creativity. It’s figuring out how to get over, around, or through barriers to success. It’s not giving up.

In the Topgrading Interview, candidates are guided in a walk down memory lane, starting with the education years and then 16 questions about every job. In Topgrading Workshops and in the 3rd edition of Topgrading I stress this: Every time the candidate utters a word about ANYTHING that has occurred in the past, look for evidence of RESOURCEFULNESS. By the way, when the candidate says, “I was immature and a goof off during my school years, and regret wasting opportunities to do things, to make things happen,” what do you conclude? Is the person saying, “I’m a goof off today?” No, that candidate is promising that when discussing jobs, you’ll see indications of RESOURCEFULNESS. And particularly when interviewing someone about recent jobs, either be convinced that candidates are motivated to overcome obstacles to success, or pass on them!