By Mark Murphy
Unless you’re hiring someone to fill a role in which they will never be asked to think for themselves, exercise critical judgment, or take proactive action, you will want people who can make decisions. Sure, not everyone is making decisions with an organization-wide impact, but that doesn’t mean that important decisions aren’t regularly made by every single employee.
To that end, you’ll want to assess candidates’ decision-making capabilities, including their problem-solving process, interpersonal skills, and ethical standards. The most direct way to do this is with the interview question, “Could you tell me about a time you faced a tough work decision?”
Don’t make the mistake of adding “helper phrases” to the end of that question, like “and how did it work out,” “and how you solved it,” or “and how you did so successfully.” The research on behavioral interview questions reveals that most interviewers add phrases like those to the end of their interview questions. Still, in so doing, they give away the right answer to the question. Don’t presume that a candidate made a decision or achieved a successful outcome. Plenty of candidates have faced tough decisions and simply sat frozen, while others made a decision with terrible results.
There’s not one perfect way to make a decision. The research on communication styles, for instance, uncovers that people are nearly evenly split on whether they make decisions with a structured and linear process or prefer a more spontaneous approach, free of rules and constraints. Relatedly, the results of the quiz “What’s Your Organizational Culture?” revealed that people are narrowly divided on whether their organization values innovation or following a plan.
Depending on the corporate culture and job role for which you’re hiring, you may prefer structured over ad hoc decision-makers. Or you may prefer rapid to methodical decision-makers. But regardless of the environment, you almost certainly don’t want individuals who are indecisive or who blame their choices on others.For example, here are two real-life interview answers to the question, “Could you tell me about a time you faced a tough work decision?”
Bad Answer #1: “I made the decision to update our modeling spreadsheet to increase the speed at which we were generating reports. That was an easy decision because I knew I was making a wise decision. What made it tough was that upper management, because they were so out of touch with what was happening on the front lines, didn’t understand and challenged my decision. This led to a very trying experience, as I was asked to defend my decision. I had to hash through every step I’d taken in making this decision to try and gain their buy-in.”
Why It’s Bad: The candidate’s phrase “upper management, because they were so out of touch with what was happening on the front lines” could come across as disrespectful or presumptuous. It’s important to communicate disagreements or challenges in a respectful manner. Further, the candidate portrays the situation as “trying” and, without reflecting on whether there could have been a better approach to communicating or implementing the decision, places blame on upper management for not understanding. Even CEOs have to explain their decisions, and it’s likely to be a problem if every explanation is delivered with anger and resentment.
The candidate’s narrative revolves around defending their decision rather than explaining the rationale behind making the choice. This can give the impression that the candidate may be prone to defensiveness rather than constructive dialogue when faced with opposition. The response ends without mentioning the outcome of the situation or what the candidate might have learned from it.
Bad Answer #2: “One time, I knew someone was doing something wrong from a technical standpoint, but I decided to bite my tongue to not cause conflict.”
Why It’s Bad: “I decided to bite my tongue to not cause conflict” suggests a passive approach to decision-making and a potential unwillingness to take initiative. While avoiding unnecessary conflict could be a good trait, the answer suggests that the candidate avoids conflict even when it may be necessary to ensure quality and adherence to standards. And the response fails to show decisiveness in correcting something wrong. Finally, the candidate doesn’t mention the outcome of their decision to stay silent, nor do they discuss any lessons learned from the situation.
These are just a few examples of how a candidate might struggle with making decisions. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to decision-making, candidates who demonstrate decisiveness, accountability, and the ability to learn from their experiences will likely be valuable assets to any organization.
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