It happens over and over in businesses every day.

Within large companies, people are promoted to management positions to reward them for performance as individual contributors. After all, the compensation system limits reward options, so why not just promote them?

In small businesses, the owner is getting overwhelmed with all that needs to be done. They think that hiring a manager is the solution to give them a little more balance. The hunt begins!

Unless you get the RIGHT person for the position, both cases have the potential for disastrous results!

You can save yourself and others a great deal of stress and angst if you take the time to be mindful enough to make an intentional decision.

Here are 10 questions to consider BEFORE you select your new manager.

1. How will they fit into the environment?
   

2. How well will they develop and treat the employees?
   

3. How much do they really want to be responsible for getting things done through others?
   

4. How well will they build relationships with customers and other business partners?
   

5. How will they react under stress and when things get the most difficult?
   

6. How much initiative will they take to assess barriers and make process improvements?
   

7. How much flexibility will they show when the unexpected arises?
   

8. How responsible and accountable
   
   
   will they be for achieving results?
   

9. How committed will they be to supporting changes in business goals and directions?
   

10. How much initiative will they take to develop themselves?
    

Get creative and use these questions in a variety of ways! Suggestions:

• Fine-tune or change them so they fit you better
  

• Use the concepts in creating your interview questions
  

• Use the concepts in questions you ask reference providers
  

• Turn them into a rating system for narrowing down your final candidate selections
  

Take special notice here that all of these questions begin with HOW. Typically, it's not WHAT the manager does that creates issues; it's HOW he/she goes about it that can open the door to disaster. People join companies or businesses, but they leave because of their managers.

Lora J Adrianse is the owner of Essential Connections. She is a Coach, Consultant and Facilitator who specializes in the professional development of highly motivated business professionals. She recently left a long-term corporate career to focus on her passion for helping others bring out the best in themselves. She can be reached through her website www.connectionscoach.com.

coach@connectionscoach.com