The room got noisy, a little commotion at each table with a question from the corner. “But what about values. Isn’t it important to interview for values?”

“So, how do you interview for values? Can you see a value?” I asked. The room was still noisy, but there was no response to the question. “Perhaps, if we narrowed the question to something more specific. Which value did you have in mind?” Several hands went up.

“Loyalty,” someone shouted, “I want my team members to be loyal, loyal to me, loyal to the team, loyal to the company.”

“Okay, let’s take loyalty,” I replied amidst the clamor. “Remember, I don’t want you to play amateur psychologist, I want you to play to your strength as a manager. Ask yourself this one simple question. How does a person, who is loyal, behave?”

“They will put the team ahead of themselves. They will carry out a team decision even if they don’t necessarily agree with it.”

“Good. That is what you interview for. Find out a situation where their team made a decision they did not agree with. Ask them what the task was, the action they took and the result. If they tell you how wrong the team was and how they complained to upper management, it is likely they will fault your team decisions and complain to your management.”

It’s a simple question, how does a person, who is loyal, behave? -TF