How to Use Personal Attributes to Select Future Leaders and Strengthen Management Teams

What personal attributes are part of the criteria for selecting senior managers?

Curiosity, Insight, Engagement, and Determination are personal attributes that can be predictors of individual managerial success and can be measured, according to executive search firm Egon Zehnder. That’s great news but only part of the story, especially when managerial team dynamics and the ability for the firm to operate across its functional silos is concerned. People will be generally stronger in one or two attributes and these strengths may come into conflict with peers who have diametrically opposite personal attribute strengths which can create tensions that can affect formation and implementation of strategic initiatives. Without an overall managerial team attribute balance with individual knowledge of peer strengths, this tension can be destructive at senior levels and lead to dysfunction at other levels. SBTI uses the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument to help in individual manager’s understanding of their own and peers thinking preferences in order to foster team cohesiveness and when needed, to help in the creation of the team. Of course, there’s more than just personal attributes to consider. We’ll be discussing more that in future blogs.