“What about the dark side?” asked Russell. We had been talking about interviewing for attitude. “I understand about interviewing for positive behaviors.” He paused. “But what about the negative stuff. It always seems that the bad attitude stays covered up. A couple of months into the job is when things begin to surface. Can we interview for that?”

“You can interview for any behavior.” I replied. “You can call it attitude, but you cannot see an attitude, you can only see a behavior. Likewise, you cannot interview for an attitude, but you can interview for a behavior. All you have to do is connect behaviors to attitudes. What negative attitude are you thinking of?”

“Arrogance,” Russell said, shaking his head.

“What behavior might be connected to an attitude of arrogance?”

“Maybe, when a supervisor is teaching someone how to operate a machine, if he is arrogant, he will be impatient, talk down to the person and criticize.”

I nodded, “So, here are the questions. Tell me about a time when you had to train someone on a piece of equipment, and they really had some difficulty learning the skill. What piece of equipment was it? What was the person’s first name? Step me through your teaching process. Where did they have difficulty? How did you respond? How many times did you have to repeat the teaching process? Was the person successful in learning the skill?

“Tell me, Russell. If you ask these questions, what are you listening for, in the response?”

Russell thought for a minute. “I guess I would be listening for behaviors. I would be listening for patience. I would be listening for tone of voice. I would be listening for critical feedback, both positive and negative.”

“Exactly. You are now listening for behaviors. These behaviors may be connected to an attitude, but the key is to look for behaviors.” -TF