VXP-How to Pick the Best from the Rest
“Being skillful is not a process of repeating a solution, it is repeating the process of finding a solution” (Gray, 2022)
As an engineering or programme leader, you know how hard it is to find and hire the best talent for your team. You want people who can solve problems, innovate, collaborate, and deliver results on time & in budget. But how do you measure and predict who can do that in a complex and dynamic role like engineering or programme leadership? And how do you avoid the common mistake of picking leaders based on how long they've been around, which is a poor way to predict performance?
In this blog post, I will share with you some secrets and tips from the latest research and industry experience on how to identify the best engineering & programme leaders from the rest. I will also show you how we created a new framework called VXP (Valuable Experience Points) to assess the potential of candidates for roles in engineering, programme or operational leadership.
The Trouble with Tenure
Organisations frequently prioritise tenure when hiring engineering leaders. The assumption is that more years of experience translates to greater leadership capabilities. However, research reveals a weak correlation between tenure and performance (Schmidt, 2016). Measuring tenure alone reveals little about a leader’s actual talents.
Why does tenure fail to predict effectiveness? Simply accumulating years does not necessarily lead to growth. Without sufficient challenge and variety, leaders stagnate (Katz, 2004). Long-serving managers also become prone to outdated mindsets and inertia.
Additionally, tenure provides no insights into the developmental value of a leader’s experiences. Their roles may have lacked diversity, complexity, and opportunities for deliberate practice (Ericsson & Harwell, 2019).
While equating tenure with wisdom is tempting, data shows this is a misleading indicator. Orgs fixing on tenure when hiring engineering leaders rely on a false proxy.
The Inspiration from Ecological Dynamics
Before we dive into the concept of VXP, let me explain where it came from and why it matters. VXP is inspired by the theoretical framework of ecological dynamics, which is a branch of science that studies how complex systems self-organise and adapt to their environments (Davids et al., 2015). Ecological dynamics applies to many domains, such as sports, medicine, education, and of course, leadership.
One of the key ideas of ecological dynamics is that performance is not determined by individual factors alone, but by the interaction between the person, the task, and the environment. These are called constraints, and they shape the behaviour and learning of the system. Constraints can be positive or negative, depending on how they affect the system's ability to achieve its goals.
Another key idea of ecological dynamics is that performance is not static or fixed, but dynamic and emergent. This means that performance changes over time and across situations, depending on the constraints present and how the system responds to them. Performance is also influenced by feedback loops, which can amplify or dampen the effects of constraints.
Ecological dynamics teaches us that to understand and improve performance, we need to look at the whole system and its context, not just its parts. We need to consider the quality and impact of the experiences that shape the system's behaviour and learning, not just the quantity or duration of them. We need to measure the developmental punch of the environment surrounding the experience, not just the person's time in the environment.
This is where VXP comes in.
Introducing Valuable Experience Points (VXP)
Valuable Experience Points (VXP) provides a model to assess the quality of a leader’s developmental journey. It evaluates key factors like (DeRue & Wellman, 2009):
- Variety - Diverse roles, teams, and challenges
- Complexity - Tackling difficult problems requiring new learning
- Learning orientation - Actively seeking feedback and self-improvement
- Deliberate practice - Engaging in structured skill-building activities
- Optimal challenge - Taking on manageable stretches for maximum growth
Leaders who score highly on these VXP factors are far more likely to excel. Their experiences equip them with superior learning agility, adaptability, and progressive thinking.
For example, one engineer may have 15 years of experience but a low VXP score if their role was narrow and routine. Another engineer with 8 years experience could have higher VXP through seeking diverse challenges, constant learning, and skill expansion. VXP reveals their readiness for tackling the constant variety of challenges faced in engineering or programme leadership, not just tenure.
The Need to Assess Experience Quality Not Quantity
The key is examining experience quality, not just quantity (Tesluk & Jacobs, 1998). You can integrate VXP questions into your traditional interviews by asking questions to uncover the richness of a candidate’s developmental journey:
- How much novelty, variation or repetition were in their transition between roles? Look out for the phrase “natural progression”, this could be a sign of new roles being very similar to prior roles, just further up a hierachy.
- How novel or ambitious were your solutions in this role? Have they used the same toolbox each time or have they continuously tried, tested and reflected on new ways of tackling different challenges.
- How did you reflect on mistakes and adapt your management approach? Learning comes only when expectations don’t meet reality, reflecting on what worked or did not work when you did not expect it provides the foundations for continuous improvement.
These questions surface valuable details about learning orientation, deliberate practice, optimal challenge-taking, and growth mindset. Together, they reveal the developmental punch of a leader’s experiences.
Implementing More Accurate Assessments
Improving engineering or programme leader selection requires rethinking outdated assumptions like tenure equalling ability. By focusing on the developmental punch of experience you gain a more accurate picture of leadership readiness.
This allows identifying high-potential candidates - even those without lengthy tenure. You attract progressive, growth-oriented leaders prepared to take on modern challenges.
The ROI of enhancing selection is immense. Even small improvements in validity yield dramatic performance gains and cost savings from stronger talent (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998).
Engineering leadership is pivotal to innovation and execution. How might imbedding VXP across your recruitment process give you a hot hand in identifying talent . You may be amazed by the calibre of leaders discovered.
I would like to thank Mark Williams, Cindy McCauley, Robin Hogarth, Keith Davids & Jess Hornsby for all their support in bringing these different ideas into VXP as well as my HR colleagues for continuously testing and improving the application of VXP.
Anders Ericsson, K., & Harwell, K. W. (2019). Deliberate practice and proposed limits on the effects of practice on the acquisition of expert performance: why the original definition matters and recommendations for future research. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(OCT). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02396
DeRue, D. S., & Wellman, N. (2009). Developing Leaders via Experience: The Role of Developmental Challenge, Learning Orientation, and Feedback Availability. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(4), 859–875. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015317
Gray, R. (2022). Learning to Optimize Movement, Harnessing the Power of the Athlete-Environment Relationship. Perception Action Consulting & education LLC.
Katz, R. L. (2004). Skills of an Effective Administrator. Harvard Business Review Press.
Ludovic Seifert, Keith Davids. Ecological Dynamics: a theoretical framework for understanding sport performance, physical education and physical activity. CS-DC’15 World e-conference, Sep 2015, Tempe, United States. ffhal-01291044f
Schmidt, F. L. (2016). The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology: Practical and Theoretical Implications of 100 Years. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.18843.26400
Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology: Practical and Theoretical Implications of 85 Years of Research Findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 262–274. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.124.2.262
Tesluk, P. E., & Jacobs, R. R. (1998). Toward an Integrated Model of Work Experience. Personnel Psychology, 321–355.