Mastering the Manager Hiring Maze
Managers are no longer just supervisors—they’re the driving force behind team success, employee engagement, and business outcomes, making identifying and developing effective managers even more complex. Are you investing in the right people? What skills and behaviors should you prioritize? And are you equipped to evaluate a manager’s potential for success?
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Starting Off on the Right Path
A recent SHL report revealed that great management goes beyond checking off a list of traditional competencies. The shift to a more flexible, hybrid, and dispersed work environment means that managers must now excel at cross-functional teamwork and lead with empathy and inclusivity. The ability to strike the balance between people, purpose, and profit is what distinguishes effective leaders from the rest—and a key consideration for manager recruitment.
Instead of seeing change as disruptive, successful managers view it as an opportunity to innovate and refine team strategies. They prioritize creating inclusive environments where team members feel valued and can contribute their unique perspectives. This focus on building strong, agile teams not only drives business outcomes, but also fosters a culture of resilience and continuous improvement.
Don’t Lose Sight of What Makes Successful Managers
Many managers are chosen based on technical prowess or individual performance, yet these strengths do not necessarily predict success in people management roles. Recruiters responsible for manager hiring often equate high performance in an individual contributor role with potential for managing others, but the skills required are fundamentally different. Valuing people manager skills and showing your employees that people managers are not just an ‘add-on’ to individual contributor will help the organization embrace this change.
A good starting point is designing manager roles based on skills that result in success—these should align with your organization’s specific priorities and goals. Then the next step is to evaluate not only a candidate’s past achievements but also their current skills, behavior, and future potential.
Data Can Lead You in the Right Direction
By measuring those skills that result in manager success and using data-driven insights on your managers to drive talent strategies, you can objectively hire, develop and promote those that fit the capabilities that you want. It will also enable the business to get a view on areas of strength and development as priorities change and target the right development initiatives at the right individuals and utilize their reskilling potential. Focusing on traits like learning agility, openness to feedback, and the capacity to adapt to new challenges are good indicators of succeeding in changing business environments.
Using data gathered from the 45 million SHL assessments taken each year, we know what sets a truly exceptional people manager apart. Our ongoing analysis ensures we provide you with the most up-to-date tools and manager hiring criteria, helping you find the people who will make a lasting impact on your organization. Learn more about how SHL can help support your manager recruitment.
