BitcoinAddict

AE

Valued Contributor

Trying to vet out toxic leadership at future AE roles, what do you think of these questions?

So as of right now, I have 5 interviews out of 8 that are heading to a manager screen. Looking back at my career, I had to leave a couple of roles (including one I was doing well in) because of toxic management. By toxic, I mean personally insulting you based on your ethnicity or trying to find any excuse to come at you regardless of performance.

I have decided to come up with some questions to vet this behavior out in the interview process. I am also hoping that you all can propose some questions that can help me avoid a toxic sales org.

Here are the questions.

1. Speak to me about a time you held a preconceived notion about a rep before seeing them operate and how that played out. 

2. Speak to me about a time when you feel like you failed a rep as a manager and the lesson(s) you learned from that failure. 

3. How did you apply those lessons to future situations? 

4. Speak to me about a time when you were given a tough ask from senior leadership as a manager and how you navigated that alongside your team.

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18 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

10

☕️

These are great questions…if you’re the CEO.

You need to turn these into behavioral questions that are less interrogating and perhaps a red flag. If a rep asked me a lot of these I’d create a pre conceived notion that they are a problem and asking if they can breathe easy under my leadership.

Now sure how to reframe, but that’s where we should start.

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

3

AE

Interesting, yeah, this was a brainstorm and rough draft. Trying to turn them around a bit while getting the answers I need. Going to rethink them and try to get the updates versions up.

Charizard

Opinionated

3

Business Like Things

Unfortunately you’re going to have to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge to figure this one out. They’re not going to show their cards to you in the interview process. Are there previous AEs you can reach out to?

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

4

☕️

I think if you reframe to “tell me about a rep” and get their anecdotal brain going.

jefe

Arsonist

1

🍁

Agreed. Really solid questions but they're not going to help you land a job. They can come off as combative @BitcoinAddict

GreenSide

Politicker

1

Sales manager

“Speak to me…” needs to be softened.

#2 is probably where I’d focus and reframe it a little. Asking all 4 of these are overkill.

lowhangersalesbanger

Executive

8

Account Executive

Your best bet is talking to current or former employees about the leadership and the culture of the business.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

1

ERP Sales

True, there is a slim chance they would say if they are toxic or not, or say a true story about them being bad at their job.
Just like when I am asked for a story for when I failed, its usually about a story how I succeeded.

Gasty

Notable Contributor

0

War Room Community Manager

Agreed! Nothing else. Heck, people forge their real identities for years, I am pretty sure one can do the same in a 30-60 minute interview.

medhardwaredr

Politicker

2

Director of Sales NA

Too direct for someone trying to get a job. These are good question if you’re on the other side of the table.
Tailor your questions to the specific role and what the job description asks/requires. Then incorporate a nugget on whatever you want quietly.

Phillip_J_Fry

Opinionated

2

Director of Revenue

First one comes across as a tad aggressive. It gives the impression that you're brining baggage into the role.
The other questions are good, but you need to reframe them to be less...interrogation-y.
Maybe something like "Leadership is something that I see being very important at my next role. I would love to hear about a time that you positively impacted a rep's role and how you did so. Conversely, has there been a time that you felt like you could've approached a situation better, and what steps did you take to get back on track?"

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

0

AE

Thank you. I do want to keep some of the aggressiveness though because I want to find out if it is a toxic environment before entering but I am still working on framing the questions correctly.

TennisandSales

Politicker

1

Head Of Sales

i would work on HOW you ask these questions. if you say it like you have written it i would be concerned it comes across negatively.

Lyceum

Big Shot

1

Strategic Account Executive

In my experience asking these types of questions is a negative. People don't like people who question their integrity even if it's deserved. I've done it and gotten the rejection email every time afterwards.
If you'd like to learn this about the company you need to find out before you start interviewing. Reach out to current and previous employees and ask them to shoot straight.
Unlikely you'll get anyone to admit they are toxic and asking will just make them suspicious of you.

MRK47

Personal Narrative

0

Head of Growth

Forewarned is forearmed but IMO you have to assume the best going into an interview and read between the lines and use your intuition based on who you interact with (and if I got asked those questions, respectfully, it would be a candidate red flag)....100% agree in reaching out to prior employees but general tenure of staff and internal upward progression is a positive indicator...while often meaningless (check boxes), you could ask about what employee engagement activities are in place if trying to get a sense of culture. Research when your potential manager got their position and see if there was an exodus from that dept within a few months etc.

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

0

AE

See the thing is also that I rather lose the job than get the job and find that it is a toxic atmosphere. I guess I just need to come up with better questions.

pirate

Big Shot

0

Account Executive

Good questions on what directors should ask sales managers but yeah same as others I probably would not ask these from a sales manager

KB_FarmerType

Opinionated

0

Strategic Sales

@BitcoinAddict I get your intent - these are very important questions but in this job market , I also want that you turn them inward because while they are key questions, they exhibit that you might have very high expectations from manager (most managers are worried about their jobs and don’t want more trouble or competition)
. So your first question can be reframed as “I have had passionate managers who used to draw tight boundaries with preconceived notion, that almost failed both of us, how is the culture in this team ? Are there boxes people need to stay within?

Just a food for thought

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