Today I had the great honor of interviewing my possibly future boss.
During the interview, I was looking not only for this person to be the right fit for the company, but I was looking for this person to be the right fit for me.
Here’s what I mean by that.
micromanagement
I dislike micromanagement, but sadly in engineering groups, this might be a common approach to execution.
On this topic, I am usually on the lookout for good delegation, a high-level understanding of the project, well-defined processes, great stakeholder communication, inclusiveness, and utilizing everyone’s talents to their best.
A red flag for me would be someone who feels that they have to control all aspects of the project.
This shows via lots of “I” statements such as “I did,” “I executed,” “I managed and architected,” so on.
empathy
I am empathetic, so when we ask about challenging situations, I like to hear if someone embraces a problematic situation by thinking about the other person first, starting from a position of curiosity and doing their due diligence to fully understand all sides of a given problem.
A red flag in my case is hearing that they made up their minds quickly, placed blame on the individual without holding the team accountable, and probably defaulted to PIPs as a trusted tool.
Friendship
I value friendship, so when I hear about managing stakeholders and relationship building, I love to hear stories of fun moments, camaraderie and getting together to overcome challenges.
For me, a red flag is to listen to stories of political or brute force approach or battle of wills.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this quick rundown through my small list of desires helps you start thinking about your list of wants for your possible boss.
Suppose you ever find yourselves influencing who will be your boss. In that case, It is highly beneficial to prepare in advance and understand the questions that will surface the behaviors you would love to see.
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