We're
surrounded by people passing the buck, and as hard
as it is to listen to our leaders and heroes grasp
for someone to blame, it is even more infuriating
when an employee, someone on your payroll plays
the victim card.
You know the
scenario. When something goes wrong, he
immediately looks for something or somebody else
to blame. She whines about how unreasonable the
customer was. He blames his tools instead of
looking in the mirror. She throws her team under
the bus before she owns up to her
mistake.
In a
business, you need people who are going to own up
to mistakes, learn from them, and get on with
their jobs. The last thing you need is
Teflon Terry spending half his time covering up
his mistakes and turning your employees against
each other.
So what is
this magical question?
"Tell me about the last
time you made a mistake."
There are a number
of possible responses to this question. Some are
acceptable; others signal "victim." Here's what to
watch out for:
The victim: Certifiable victims will be paralyzed by
the question. They have been so programmed to
deflect blame to others for their screw-ups that
their system will overload as they search for a
way to answer. They'll fidget in their chair,
request that you re-ask the question, and finally
"admit" that they can't actually remember the last
time they made a mistake.
The victim-in-disguise:
Some people will tell you
about a mistake they made but then start to
justify their actions. For example, they may say
something like "Last Tuesday I shipped a
customer's order to the wrong address... I mean, I
guess it was my mistake, but the guy in sales had
scribbled the customer name so illegibly that it
was hard to read his writing."
Exercise caution before hiring a
person who gives you a half-answer. Once on your
payroll, this person will be quietly sizing up the
most vulnerable people on your team to blame as
easy ways to deflect criticism. If you get a
half-answer from a candidate but you're still not
sure he or she has a full-blown case of
victimitus, you can qualify the question further
by stopping the interviewee mid sentence and
saying, "I'm not looking for an example that had
mitigating circumstances. I want you to tell me
about a time when you made a mistake where you
were 100 percent in the wrong."
If the person still thrashes around,
justifying his or her response, run, don't walk,
away from this person.
The safe responder:
Some people will
offer a safe answer, a benign mistake made in
their personal life. For example, you might have
someone answer with something like, "Yesterday, I
was baking a cake at home, and I added a
tablespoon of salt when the recipe called for
teaspoon - the cake came out a
disaster."
They are
admitting a mistake, taking full ownership and not
blaming others, which is good. However, they lose
a couple of points in my book for not reaching for
a work-related example. Nevertheless, they
answered the question honestly and would pass my
test.
The leader: I
love it when someone comes up with a work-related
example and describes the situation, the decision
made, and the reason it was a mistake in
hindsight. They accept 100 percent accountability
and do not reach for excuses or anyone else to
blame.
I almost
always hire these people. To me, they are
exhibiting the essence of leadership.
BNET
April 2011
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