PARTNERING INTERVIEW


A Partnering Interview is a structured behavioral interview that assesses a candidate's strengths as a smart partner. This collaborative methodology uses tailored questions to elicit concrete examples of a candidate's past experience and behavior in situations similar to those of the open position. This empirical methodology allows a hiring manager to assess a candidate's qualifications objectively against the set of partnering competencies required for success. In a Partnering Interview, three to five interviewers, including the hiring manager, share responsibility for asking questions, probing, and taking notes. Conducting a Partnering Interview as a team provides multiple perspectives on a candidate's competencies, distributes responsibility for focused probes and focused listening, and requires less time for the overall interview process. The basic steps involved in preparing for and conducting structured behavioral interviews are well documented, and so we present only refresher points here. Figure 6 illustrates a general format for a team Partnering Interview.

The Partnering Interview consists of four parts: opening, obtaining information, providing information, and closing. Interviews can take from thirty to ninety minutes, depending on the position and preinterview investigation.

  1. Opening (Hiring Manager)

    1. Welcome the candidate, establish rapport, and introduce other interviewers.

    2. Make sure the candidate is comfortable (chair, lighting, room temperature).

    3. Explain how the Partnering Interview will be conducted.

      1. Focus on the partnering competencies required for the position.

      2. Explain that you and other interviewers will be taking notes.

      3. Review basics of a behavioral interview (if new to candidate).

      4. Indicate that there will be time for questions at the end.

    4. Briefly describe the position, or show candidate the job description.

  2. Obtaining Information (Partnering Interview Team)

    1. Use your interview plan: ask a broadbrush question be quiet and listen probe for detail be quiet and listen probe listen close the episode.

    2. Probe for more information based on the candidate's response.

    3. Gather sufficient examples to assess the candidate in one competency before moving to the next.

    4. Clarify remaining discrepancies, gaps, or questions from your review of the résumé.

  3. Providing Information (Hiring Manager)

    1. Go into more detail about the position (discuss job description).

    2. Respond to candidate's questions about the position.

  4. Closing (Hiring Manager)

    1. Give cues that the interview is nearing its end.

    2. Thank the candidate.

    3. Describe what happens next.

    4. Conclude with final rapport building.


Figure 6: Partnering Interview Format (Sample)

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PARTNERING ORGANIZATION CASE STUDY: CREATING A WORLD-CLASS SUPPLY-CHAIN ORGANIZATION

Part 4: Partnering Competencies

Once the structure team defined the roles of supply managers and supply service representatives, it became apparent that the jobs called for different, higher-level skills—a new set of competencies. The supply management team approach led to establishing a set of twelve key supply management competencies for the new positions. These competencies are in fact comparable to those of sales managers and customer service representatives.

The Supply Management Competency Model, designed to function as the DNA of the strategic framework of the reconfigured procurement function, includes three competency categories as outlined below. Four competencies—comfort with change, comfort with interdependence, drive to cut costs, and negotiation skills—were designated core competencies. They are considered the absolute baseline requirements for any hire because of their vital link to successful future performance of a supply management team. The selection team eliminated from further consideration any candidate who did not furnish multiple, varied behavioral examples demonstrating these four core competencies in high measure.

Partnering Competencies

  • Self-disclosure and feedback: representing the company's needs straightforwardly and seeking to understand the needs of all stakeholders

  • Win-win orientation: building collaboration among internal customers, vendors, and Finance and working to achieve group goals and outcomes

  • Comfort with change: adjusting to how individuals, organizational units, and cultures function and react

  • Comfort with interdependence: empowering people to achieve desirable, agreed-upon outcomes and trusting them to follow through

Individual Performance Competencies

  • Drive to cut costs: aggressively persisting to drive down costs of purchased goods and services

  • Communication skills: transmitting information accurately, understandably, and effectively

  • Analytical skills: recognizing patterns in data, information, or events drawing logical conclusions, and making recommendations for action

  • Problem solving and decision making: taking a well-ordered approach to solving problems and acting confidently despite obstacles or resistance

  • Planning and organization skills: anticipating future events and structuring resources and actions in a logical manner

Technical Competencies

  • Negotiation skills: influencing others to get their agreement on terms for the purchase of goods and services

  • Vendor expertise: demonstrating broad, in-depth knowledge of internal and external supply sources

  • Global commodity knowledge: demonstrating detailed knowledge of worldwide markets for specified commodities

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For a team Partnering Interview to produce the empirical data needed to make a sound selection decision, every member of the interview team must be trained in the methodology The most common comment we have received from our clients in this regard is that it is a whole lot harder than it looks. Without individual feedback on interviewing techniques from an experienced interviewer, a new interviewer is highly prone to lapse into a traditional interview protocol and style, resulting in such useless mindbenders as, "If you could be a tree, what kind of tree would you be?" At the end of this chapter we have summarized some commonsense tips on team behavioral interviewing. But remember: Tips are not a substitute for training.

The Partnering Interview Plan is a tool we've developed that interviewers can use prior to interviews to note critical questions to ask and also during interviews to ensure that they probe all relevant partnering competencies. The Partnering Interview Plan is structured with preplanned questions listed in a prescribed order and focuses on one competency at a time. An interviewer does not move on until satisfied that enough behavioral data have been gathered to evaluate the candidate on that competency. But a Partnering Interview Plan is also flexible, allowing any interviewer on the team to probe for additional information based on the candidate's responses and examples to validate information previously gathered about the candidate from other sources such as a résumé, internal references, or a screening interview. The plan also specifies roles for the Partnering Interview team including the following:

  • Hiring manager:

    • Opens and closes the Partnering Interview

    • Describes the position and the partnering competencies

    • Asks questions related to the specific competencies

  • Partnering Interview team member:

    • Asks questions and probes assigned competencies

    • Listens for examples of assigned competencies in response to questions about other competencies

    • Takes brief notes related to the candidate's responses

  • Facilitator/timekeeper:

    • Keeps interview questions and probes focused on behavioral data

    • Monitors time overall and for each competency

    • Makes smooth transitions between competencies

    • Ensures that the team covers all the competencies before wrapping up

Figure 7 shows a sample one-page extract from a Partnering Interview Plan.

Position/Title:

Candidate Name:

Hiring Manager:

_____ Initial Interview
____ Follow-up Interview

Team Members and Facilitator:

Interview Date & Time:

Interview Location:

Background:

  1. Self-disclosure and feedback: promoting the frequent, open, mutual exchange of business information, points of view, and performance feedback.

1.1  

Give an example of when you raised an emotional issue with a subordinate or colleague.

 

1.2  

Describe a time when you asked for feedback on a project you were working on.

 

1.3  

Talk about a situation in which you gave someone else performance feedback.

Notes:


Figure 7: Partnering Interview Plan Extract (Sample)

Part 5 of the continuing partnering organization case study illustrates how a Partnering Interview can help ensure the selection of the job candidates who demonstrate the partnering competencies at the highest levels. It also contains a note on "paying for partnering."

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PARTNERING ORGANIZATION CASE STUDY: CREATING A WORLD-CLASS SUPPLY-CHAIN ORGANIZATION

Part 5: Partnering interview

To ensure that every member of the new supply management team had the "right stuff" and to signal to employees and vendors alike that a strategic change was underway in the procurement function, the company decided to restaff the organization. They launched an aggressive search for highly qualified individuals to fill the positions with people who had the new set of competencies, starting with the top position, vice president of supply management. Candidates came from both inside and outside the company, with a distinctive variety of backgrounds in procurement and inventory management, finance, engineering, and manufacturing operations.

The company chose to use the Partnering Interview as its methodology for screening preliminary candidates, evaluating final candidates, and making selection decisions. Once the president and a team of senior leaders agreed on who would fill the position of vice president of supply management, the new VP immediately took a strong lead in the staffing process, partnering with Human Resources to involve managers from Sales, Marketing, Engineering, and Manufacturing in the Partnering Interview process.

A team of at least three interviewers conducted every interview, and most interview teams had four members. In each case, the hiring manager led the interview team, supported by at least one internal customer and a staffing professional from Human Resources. For the supply manager positions, an operations manager or a production foreman from one of the manufacturing plants was added as a fourth Partnering Interview team member. The same team conducted Partnering Interviews of all the candidates for a particular opening so that every selector heard from every candidate for that position. Secondhand information on competencies of candidates was prohibited. Employees who previously held purchasing positions were given primary consideration for the new Jobs. They were given copies of the new job descriptions and the Supply Management Competency Model, and they received thirdparty training to prepare for the interview process.

At the conclusion of the staffing process over 60 percent of the incumbents in the existing procurement function were replaced. The new supply managers and supply service representatives were selected on the basis of both their partnering competencies and individual performance competencies, with a combination of strong technical skills, as well as proven expertise in negotiations and sales. Those individuals who were not placed elsewhere in the company received severance packages and outplacement support.

Note on "Paying for Partnering"

It was also apparent that by raising the bar for the type of people needed in the reconfigured organization, the company needed to build a new compensation system to attract, retain, and motivate skilled people. According to the new vice president of supply management, a major factor in ensuring the success of the staffing process was an innovative compensation strategy. Attracting candidates with the right mix of competencies (partnering, individual performance, and technical) required a flexible salary schedule that would pay for partnering on par with Sales and Marketing. The company introduced a "broadband" salary scale that could cover both the supply managers and the supply service representatives, with bands of pay that allowed for sensible differentiation on the bases of both the strategic magnitude of assigned commodities and the strategic importance of critical vendor relationships. Additionally, based on personal and supply management team achievements, supply managers would be eligible for incentives that could total as much as 1.75 months' salary, a performance incentive on par with their Sales and Marketing counterparts.

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Powerhouse Partners. A Blueprint for Building Organizational Culture for Breakaway Results
Powerhouse Partners: A Blueprint for Building Organizational Culture for Breakaway Results
ISBN: 0891061959
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 94

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