All of us work with people day in and day out. Not just at office where we interact with our colleagues, team mates, but also on the way to office (cab drivers, bus drivers, co passengers) and at home as well. And it therefore follows that any advice on how to be a better judge of people is always welcome, don’t you think!!!
This small, simple, yet insightful blog post [Link to HBR Blog Post] gives us 10 quick questions to ask to help us better understand people. I have provided a quick summary of the questions here which can also serve as a ready reckoner for people who are in the roles of conducting interviews to identify potential candidates for roles –
1- What is the talk-to-listen ratio? Ideally you want to interact with people who listen as much as they talk
2- Is the person an energy-giver or energy-taker? Self explanatory I think
3- Is the person likely to ‘act’ or ‘react’ to a given task? Once again, self explanatory, as this question determines the person’s ability to handle unforeseen, unfamiliar circumstances
4- Does this person feel authentic or obsequious? Although we all like our ‘posteriors’ kissed once in a while, we all know that only people who are true and themselves will work out in the long run
5- What’s the spouse like? Now this one question can easily get us arrested from an Indian perspective
6- How does this person treat someone he doesn’t know? The author espouses trying to find out how this person will treat a cab driver or a waiter to get insights about his true personality
7- Is there an element of struggle in the person’s history? This holds true if you are interviewing for people in the Senior Management levels as ability to handle tough situations is a must there
8- What has this person been reading? Once again, very apt for Senior Management positions as reading broadens the mind, thinking and ability to come up with creative solutions to issues
9- Would you ever want to go on a long ride with this person? This to me is probably the most important question for any person with whom you are looking to build a long, fulfilling relationship
10- Do you believe this person is self-aware? All great leaders and good followers are self-aware people who very clearly know what they can and cannot do, what they like and dislike, what works for them and what doesn’t
Insightful, don’t you think…
Image courtesy: Google image search for ‘judging people cartoon’
Mahabore's Mumblings 