If it’s hard to hire great people, it’s even harder to hire great managers.

 

The Managerial Success Traits (MST) tool is a simple, easy-to-use  
tool that can help you navigate this hiring challenge. It’s a list of  personality traits and abilities that strongly correlate with success at the supervisor, middle manager, and chief executive levels.

 

The next time you need to fill a key manager spot, use the MST scorecard to rank both internal and external candidates on each of  the traits. Discuss any low scores with the candidate during the hiring process. You’ll know you have a winner if a candidate wants to talk about his or her weaknesses and sees them as learning opportunities. Winners don’t pretend to be perfect; they acknowledge their shortcomings and explain how they’re working on them.