1. Always evaluate the talent you have inside the company first. One of the most critical elements in hiring a solid manager is finding someone who buys into what you do — both the function of the company itself as well as the philosophy that drives it. And oftentimes the best place to find those attributes is within your existing employee roster. Promoting someone from within negates the need to indoctrinate an outsider into what your company is all about. "A careful study of companies who depend on finding and acquiring managers from the outside reminds me of baseball teams like the New York Yankees," says Dr. Manny Steil, head of the St. Paul, Minn.-based International Listening Leadership Institute. "They overspend on supposed superstars and never develop a great farm system." All this said, the best candidate still may be outside your company — and your industry.

2. Have a manager identification process already in place. A company that tries to hire anyone using haphazard methodology — first employing one set of criteria, then another — is bound to have problems finding good fits, no matter where the applicant pool comes from. Think about what you want in new hires, in terms of skill set, experience, level of education and other credentials, long before the need comes up. From there, develop careful, flexible parameters and goals so that hiring over time is consistent and complementary. "The most important accomplishment is to identify the management and leadership demands of the future, and create crystal clear and in-depth templates of every existing and future management and leadership role and position," Steil says. "It's critical to establish comprehensive data on the forces that drive every existing employee and potential future manager."

3. Look for supporting strengths, not a clone. Every new addition to a management team should strengthen and broaden your company's capabilities. But, in looking for someone who may prove a solid fit, don't make the mistake of hiring someone who's just like you (or, for that matter, too similar to anyone else in your management network). Identical thinking and leadership styles may argue for similarity but, over time, they do little to drive creative solutions or a fresh approach to problem solving — attributes that come from someone who tackles things differently. "Leaders should want someone who is unlike them and has strengths that they don't have," says Shawn Doyle, author of "The Managers Pocket Guide to Motivating Employees." "A new manager can bring fresh perspectives to your organization. It's called diversity and it works."

4. Seek out someone eager to interact. Many of us have had the experience of working with someone whose skills, at least on paper, were formidable. But, sharing those talents and other strengths with colleagues and co-workers was akin to luring a scared rabbit out of its hole. In seeking out suitable management talent, don't just focus on what a candidate can do — have him or her explain how they've been able to imbue others with all that they can bring to a company. "Look for team members who are anxious to interact with employees across an organization and who are willing and able to communicate," says Dr. Albert Vicere, Executive Education Professor of Strategic Leadership at Penn State University's Smeal College of Business.

5. Think of the message you're sending with each hire. Every decision a company makes carries an implicit message — be it about its values, its working philosophy or how it feels about the people it employs. Frame your management hire with the message in mind. For instance, if you promote from within, you're projecting a commitment to internal growth. By the same token, hiring an outsider with a background of inclusion and teamwork naturally sends that message as well — both to those within the company as well as any outsider with whom you may work. "They [new hires] should be a model of what you want your organization to look like," Doyle says. "When you hire a person who is different and brings new skill sets to the table, you are sending a message that these skills are now more important."

6. Disqualify — then hire! In the move "The Paper Chase," a law professor urges first-year students to look to their right and left. By year three, he cautions, two out of the three of you will be gone. It may seem rather mercenary, but that kind of aggressive attitude is critical to finding the right manager. So, don't just interview — look to rule someone out and see how long what they have to offer keeps them in the running. "Your goal should be to try to eliminate them as a candidate by finding their flaws," Doyle says. "If you can't, you've got a heck of a candidate. Hire them as soon as possible." Be smart and shrewd in your assessments, however. A person you rule out because of a minor flaw or two may go to work for the competition, and have a major incentive to prove you wrong.