- What am I responsible for and what decisions can I make on my own?
- What does success look like in my role?
- What is the biggest challenge for the team currently?
What else?
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The most common mistake with vetting HMs is primarily accessing whether they’re good managers, will be supportive, a good coach, etc. but all those factors aren’t nearly as important as whether they’re politically influential. (you can get coaching, etc. from other people, but you need you manager to be able to fight and win political battles on your behalf)
It’s good to ask HMs about you and them will interact together (e.g. what does success look like), but also very important is how they interact with the rest of the org.
Good questions to ask:
- How are priorities set by the execs? What’s your role in that process?
- Who’s your manager? How do you work together?
- Who’s your cross-functional partners? How do you work together?
Be very attentive to the words your manager uses to describe the people they work with.
It’s of course hard to get perfect information on the political landscape, but the answers you get to these questions will be worth their weight in gold once you start.
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