Outcomes, not attributes
What must this person accomplish in the first year? Three to five outcomes, written like promotion criteria — specific enough that you'd know at review time whether they met them.
Signals per outcome
- What behaviour or evidence in the loop tells us they can do this?
- Which interviewer owns evaluating it?
- What does a 'strong yes' look like vs. 'weak yes' vs. 'no'?
Non-negotiables vs. nice-to-haves
Draw the line explicitly. Every loop tries to move nice-to-haves into non-negotiables at debrief time.
Bar and dealbreakers
What single-interviewer 'no' would sink the candidate regardless of other scores? Write it down before the loop starts.
Common pitfalls
- — Writing the scorecard after the first interview. Too late.
- — Vague attributes like 'good communicator.' Replace with observable behaviour.
- — Skipping calibration with the loop. Everyone must read the scorecard.