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This article is part 1 of a series “Beyond the Gut Feeling: A Scientific Approach to Executive Assessment” by Brant Burke, Managing Director at TRANSEARCH Greater China.
In today’s competitive talent landscape, hiring the right executive isn’t just about credentials — it’s about behavioral fit, and leadership style. Our Managing Director, Brant Burke, has shared his insight into Executive Search Assessment in this series, that helps organizations make confident, informed hiring decisions.
It consists of:
- The Behavioral Table of Elements
- Decoding the Color Key Legend
- Balancing Intuition with Data
- Personality Type Assessments vs. Behavioral Table of Elements’ Color Key Legend
- Merging Behavioral Analysis with Personality Insights in Executive Search
The Behavioral Table of Elements is Executive Search Assessment
In executive search, structured interviews offer consistency and reliability in assessing competencies. They help to answer the question: “How well can this person probably do this job?” The ability of a candidate to demonstrate their competence and of a consultant to measure and record it are the minimum to have a seat at the table. Recording and contrasting objective qualifications are not where search firms add their value. It is arguably the minimum delivery in an executive search.
To add value to the selection processes, search firms typically offer psychometric and behavioral assessments designed to provide deeper candidate insight. TRANSEARCH Greater China can support their clients with any manner of assessment – with solutions from SHL and Harrison Assessments, or DiSC, MBTI, and the Big Five being among the most popular.
To help provide a more sensitive and nuanced aspect of leadership assessment, I have discovered the Behavioral Table of Elements. A structured system for analyzing human behavior, designed for situations like interrogations and negotiations, allows the categorization of behaviors based on body language, stress levels, deception likelihood, and other psychological factors.
The key aspects of the Behavioral Table of Elements in the context of an executive assessment are understanding how an individual indicates:
- Stress through self-soothing gestures (face-touching, posture shifts) and changes in baseline behavior.
- Discomfort or deception through inconsistent gestures, delayed responses, or subconscious cues (covering mouth, touching neck).
- Engagement and confidence through open gestures, mirroring, and steady eye contact which in turn indicates enthusiasm and honesty.
These cues can guide appropriate follow-up questions to probe more deeply to clarify when body language, gestures or behaviors indicate a contradiction with a candidate’s words.
You can explore more details on the Behavior Table of Elements online or contact me to talk about how this tool might be helpful in your organization’s next leadership search.
Brant Burke
Managing Director, TRANSEARCH Greater China
Brant leads TRANSEARCH Greater China’s Industrial and Technology search practices. He uses collaborative, methodical processes to recruit best-in-class talent for his clients, prioritising cultural fit, suitability, and alignment in equal measure to core competencies.
