I’ve spent a lot of years interviewing and hiring candidates for management positions at both high and lower levels of the organization. During that time I’ve tried a lot of different methods and looked over a lot of indicators for what it is that tends to make an individual successful as a manager.
My favorite? Intrinsic motivation. I’ve come to believe that the candidates that I see who are intrinsically motivated to do this work because they like the work, or they enjoy the type of people they get to work with, or they appreciate the customers with whom they get to interact — those are my favorite candidates. 
Intrinsically motivated individuals rarely get messed up if we haven’t trained them right — they’ll read a book, look up a colleague, or take a class. Intrinsically motivated individuals tend not to get freaked out that the manager hasn’t given them enough feedback — they’ll seek it out from the clients, co-workers, or the manager himself. An intrinsically motivated person will often not get too upset if he finds out somebody else is getting paid more for similar work — he’ll demonstrate better performance or recognize that what he’s receiving is fair pay for the work, and work that he enjoys. She’s motivated by the the work, even if she is upset at the boss right now, because of her intrinsic motivation.
Extrinsically motivated individuals, in my experience, need something else keeping them “going” toward the right kind of performance in this job. Incentive plans, feedback, bigger jobs or more power, all of these are things that in my thoughts help them overcome the fact that to them it’s just a job. They tend to be motivated only by the WIIFM concept – “what’s in it for me”, and they really believe that everybody else is solely driven by that, too. Sorry, this kind of lack of commitment to the overall organization’s success (instead of solely my own success) kind of rubs me the wrong way, and I believe it has no business in a managerial or leadership role.
I believe it rubs employees the wrong way, too. People tend to like following an individual because it’s the right thing to do, or the organization will succeed for doing these things, or they are enjoying being part of a winning strategy. Employees don’t like following an individual just so he or she can get promoted or get more money at their expense.
How to I look for intrinsic motivators? Funny, it comes out in so many ways during an interview. People who volunteer in community organizations because it’s the right thing to do, or “I remember when I was in that situation and I want to help somebody else”. Or, why did you choose that particular major in college? Was it to contribute to society (intrinsic) or make more money (extrinsic)? How does he treat the Administrative Assistant outside the Manager’s office? Does he treat her nice because it’s the right thing to do (intrinsic) or not so nice because he figures she can’t do anything for him anyway (extrinsic). (Yeah, ok, sometimes they know we look at that stuff so he’s smart enough to play along. But you may be amazed at how many treat her like dirt anyway, and I never hire one of them.) Why did you join the military? Couldn’t get a job anywhere else (who knows, might be extrinsic, dig deeper) or I wanted to serve and commit to a noble cause (intrinsic)?
Sadly, some organizations really like the extrinsically motivated person, because they’ll often do whatever the boss wants them to do, even if it’s borderline unethical, in hopes of getting that next raise or promotion. Some bosses like that. I never have, because in my mind a person who’s unethical about this can be unethical about just about anything. Especially in HR, if you’ve got no ethics, you’ve got nothing.
Just like any indicator during an interview, looking for just intrinsic motivation isn’t perfect…. there may be other failure factors. But it’s my favorite, for me it’s the most telling, and I don’t believe it’s ever steered me wrong. HR professionals, if you agree with me, make sure you’re looking at this and develop your own body of knowledge around how to get at it. It won’t steer you wrong, either.
HR Strategy and Tactics 