When Hiring Execs, Context Matters Most

Move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach.

- Raj Verma

When choosing a CEO, boards typically take into account the particular circumstances the company faces: Is it in need of a turnaround, say, or will it be scaling for growth? For a CFO position, they might ask, Are we about to do an initial public offering, or are we planning to grow by acquisition? In such cases, boards generally favour candidates with direct experience leading organisations through the situation at hand. But when hiring for and promoting people into lower-level leadership jobs, companies typically don’t pay much attention to the contextual challenges specific to the role. They tend to prefer jack-of-all-trades candidates with varied backgrounds – a tack some in HR dub the “best athlete” approach.

A broad new quantitative study from the Washington based research and advisory firm CEB (acquired by Gartner) suggests that companies will be more successful if they consider the particular leadership context when hiring for every level. Instead of taking on generalists trained to meet any management test, the researchers say, firms should use an assessment system that identifies candidates whose personality attributes and experience are custom-tailored to the contextual challenges of the position.