I am ready to hire my first outside VP of Operations, but I am terrified they will come in and instantly try to rewrite our entire playbook or clash with our existing culture. How do I vet them for actual operational capability without relying on their resume?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Hiring an outside executive is a high-risk move if you rely solely on standard interviewing techniques. To ensure they fit your team and can perform the job, you must evaluate them using objective operational frameworks.

Before You Interview

The hiring process should begin long before you look at a single resume.

• Define the Seat: Before looking at any candidates, define the seat on your Accountability Chart. Document the exact roles and responsibilities this VP of Operations will own.
• Success Metrics: Do not write a generic job description. Instead, clearly define what success actually looks like in this specific seat. This clarity will serve as your north star throughout the vetting process. For more on defining roles, consider how to [restructure your team](/qa/restructuring-seat-for-legacy-leader-hitting-ceiling) without causing issues.

Vetting Candidates with GWC™

Once you have defined the role, run every candidate through the GWC™ filter. This stands for Get It, Want It, and Capacity to Do It.

• Get It: This means they naturally understand the operational pace and nuances of a business at your stage. They grasp the unique challenges and opportunities your company faces.
• Want It: They are genuinely motivated by the role itself, not just the paycheck or the title. They are passionate about operational excellence within your specific context.
• Capacity to Do It: They possess the cognitive and conative abilities to execute the responsibilities required by the role. This is where objective assessment tools become critical.

Measuring Capacity with Kolbe A™ Index

To objectively measure a candidate's Capacity, use the Kolbe A™ Index during the interview process.

• Conative Strengths: Kolbe measures a person's natural mode of operating, or their conative strengths. This helps you understand how they will instinctually approach problem-solving and task execution.
• Follow Thru: If your business requires a highly systematic operations leader to build scalable processes, you need someone with a strong natural inclination for Follow Thru. A candidate with a low Follow Thru score will likely struggle to build and maintain the systems you need, regardless of how impressive their resume looks. This insight can prevent issues like those seen with a [Head of Customer Success with low Follow Thru](/qa/head-customer-success-low-follow-thru-kolbe).
• Strategic Fit: Understanding their Kolbe profile can also help anticipate how they will interact with other leaders, such as diagnosing why [Sales and Operations heads might conflict](/qa/kolbe-sales-operations-conflict-handoffs).

Culture and Values Alignment

Finally, vet them rigorously against your core values.

• Non-Traditional Settings: Have different members of your leadership team interview them in non-traditional settings. This can include casual meals, a tour of the facility, or even a short project. Observe their natural behavior and how they interact when they aren't "on stage."
• Values Alignment: If they do not align with your core values, do not hire them. A mismatch here will invariably lead to cultural clashes and poor performance, regardless of their operational capability. You must protect your [company culture](/qa/handling-top-performers-who-violate-core-values) above all.

Related questions

• [We are planning to promote our internal Operations Manager to the Integrator seat, but we are worried she lacks the executive presence to hold the rest of the leadership team accountable. How do we assess if an internal candidate is ready for the Integrator seat?](/qa/promoting-internal-operations-manager-integrator)
• [How do we use the Kolbe A Index to diagnose why our Sales and Operations heads are constantly in conflict over project handoffs?](/qa/kolbe-sales-operations-conflict-handoffs)
• [Our Head of Customer Success is a great culture fit and passes the gets it and wants it tests, but her Kolbe score shows she has a very low Follow Thru and high Quick Start. She keeps starting new client retention initiatives but never completes them. Is this a GWC capacity issue, or can we solve this by restructuring her seat?](/qa/head-customer-success-low-follow-thru-kolbe)
• [How do I know it is actually time to hire a dedicated Integrator, and what is the first step?](/qa/when-to-hire-coo-integrator)
• [Our long-tenured VP of Finance is a perfect core values fit and gets and wants their seat, but they lack the capacity to build the complex forward-looking financial forecasting models that prospective buyers are demanding for our exit. How do we handle this GWC issue without firing a loyal leader?](/qa/gwc-vp-finance-exit-capacity-issue)