How to Establish the Level or Degree of Management Competence Needed to Fill the Position

The most common mistake in selecting managers, from first line supervisors to top executives, is setting unrealistic expectations. If any human being could fully satisfy the typical job description, it would be just short of miraculous. Wise recruiters, therefore, stay aware of the typical baggage that normally accompanies exceptional performers. Even Babe Ruth would have been a failure if excessive strikeouts weren't tolerated.

Level I: First Line Supervisors
(The Initiative Level)

Typical Compensation:	$20,000-$45,000
Typical Experience:	3 Years
Typical Responsibility:	Supervise outputs on a daily or weekly basis

Typical Habits	Normal Limitations
See themselves as a champion of their area or project assignment and take personal pride in their accomplishments or outputs.	Can become overly focused on trying to prove they're right, competent, etc., to impress others instead of focusing on learning more, new, or different things to grow beyond their present assignment.
Will take the initiative to fix or improve, and make suggestions where higher levels of approval are needed.	Can become defensive, or even withdrawn, if their initiative is challenged or their suggestions ridiculed.
Will monitor and be aware of the status of work, timelines, and productivity influencing conditions.	Will tend to stick to what's happening short-term, i.e., what they have to do now rather than be interested in more strategic or long-term needs or plans. They may also resist major change.
See themselves as self-sufficient and don't rely on superiors to tell them what to do.	Will tend to focus on maintaining and reaching established objectives. As a result, they are prepared to quickly react, instead of carefully planning to prevent all but the most typical or expected problems.

Level II: Middle and Upper Level Managers
(The Time, Priority, and People-Management Level)

Typical Compensation:	$45,000-$150,000
Typical Experience:	5-15 Years
Typical Responsibility:	Manage functions, departments, or projects

Typical Habits	Normal Limitations
Capable of ignoring or deferring trivial issues or problems, i.e., "letting small fires burn out by themselves."	May set some priorities unilaterally and be perceived as conflicting with superiors.
Manage or assign tasks more than they "do" tasks themselves.	Direction of decision-making may become so central or integral to their position that things can't run well without them for more than a very short time.
Will assign responsibility for necessary but lower priorities to subordinates.	May tend to "abdicate" that responsibility and not follow up to make sure weaker subordinates are developing fully.
Will review progress and accept responsibility for major results.	May overestimate the capabilities of subordinates or spend insufficient time motivating them, expecting them to be as self-motivated as they are themselves.
Keep close awareness of a few key monitors and controls.	May be impatient with the learning curves of subordinates and step in too quickly to make changes personally.

Level III: Top Executives
(The Leadership and Strategic Level)

Typical Compensation:	$150,000 and up
Typical Experience:	10-20 Years
Typical Responsibility:	Total corporate performance (line executives), major corporate, functions (staff executives)

Typical Habits	Normal Limitations
Able to influence others to focus on key priorities.	May be unrealistic in terms of how quickly major objectives or changes can be accomplished.
As leaders, they are able to effectively elicit the energy and cooperation of others.	May fail to establish sufficient back-ups and successors for themselves.
They understand the rewards and motivations that influence others.	May depend on subordinates too heavily for ongoing feedback on the organization's morale.
Know the capacity and limitations of the organization.	May allow the organization to rely on them too heavily for setting the direction (top-down instead of getting bottom-up involvement).