Three-question framework

Question 1

Tell me about your career - your jobs, the work you did, achievements, key challenges, and learning.

Purpose of the question: Locate the positions this person has held on the pipeline. Has this person skipped a level? Has she mastered each level’s skills, time applications, and values

Question 2

Talk about your current position. What are your issues, challenges, and achievements? What does your calendar look like, what skills do you rely on most to get the job done, and what beliefs govern your work?

Purpose of the question: Determine whether this person understands and is mastering the appropriate skills, time applications, and values for his level or whether the person is just beginning to get them. Assess whether there are obvious development needs, based on responses and objective information such as a supervisor’s perspective, 360 degree feedback, and so on.

Question 3

What are your career aspirations?

Purpose of the question: Identifify future development needs, given this person’s current state tand the leadership level to which the person aspires. Suggest types of experiences that will help achieve this level. Based on the answers to questions one and two, convey your sense of how realistic making the next leadership passage might be.