Jim Gilchrist B.E.S.
Superior performance occurs when these tasks are completed with better quality, with more innovation and faster than what was initially expected. Whether the tasks involve planning, designing, managing, assessing or actual physical activity, superior performance will be sustained over time when the person involved has the required educational background, technical skills, industry experience and work personality characteristics which fit with their employment position, management group, team and organizational culture.
Assuming that a manager or staff member does have the appropriate education, technical skills and industry experience, the difference between average (or below average) performance and superior performance is dependent on the personality match between the individual and the position, their manager and the organization as a whole.
Picture an arrow spiraling upward and an arrow spiraling downward. The upward arrow represents an organization that truly values their human assets and attempts to employ as many people as possible who will perform and an above average rate. Because of this they tend to be more innovative, they are more profitable, they offer challenging work to their people and they are therefore more attractive to top performers. By comparison, the downward spiraling arrow represents an organization that sees their personnel as a cost rather than an investment, they survive financially but have trouble moving forward and they have difficulty attracting the better managers and staff. The worse ones will experience above average staff turnover and not know how to stop it. Which arrow would you rather be associated with?
When we realize the potential impact of high performers on the organizational bottom line, to increasing the effectiveness to the people around them and their impact on our own careers, we appreciate the importance of understanding what makes them above average. Having the ability to assess key performance characteristics will grow our competitive advantage by enabling us to identify, employ and retain better people than the competition.
So what personality characteristics should you look for?
It would depend on the specific results that you would like to experience from the specific position. But in general we can say that above average performers will have consistently significant strength in six major categories.
They will have:
· the necessary problem solving capability for their relative position in the organization,
· the ability to maintain their concentration and perform well while under stress,
· superior motivation that is maintained over time and under stressful circumstances,
· strong interpersonal skills
· excellent communication abilities,
· emotional stability / intelligence, and
· sufficient ethics and integrity.
Within each of these categories are a number of defined personality characteristics that all function in unison in order to formulate the overall work personality. By indentifying the relevant traits that are required, then evaluating their presence in the person and interpreting their interrelated overall impact, we can assess the relative fit of the individual to the position requirements and the likelihood of their success therein.
How do you determine if your current people, or your new hires, have the work personality characteristics that you need?
Despite what many will tell you, there is no one easy method. I believe that extensive quality candidate interviewing backed by valid, reliable and appropriate personality assessments can provide the most accurate information regarding current personnel and new employment candidates. Assessments by themselves will only give part of the picture, and they should always be viewed as a valuable supplementary tool. And of course, no one assessment “fits all”.
The first thing to do is to determine the performance results that you require, and then the subsequent functional tasks that will need to be performed to achieve them. By initially identifying “where you want to end up” you can accurately identify the necessary educational, technical skills, industry experience and personality characteristics that are necessary to fulfill each task and thus ensure the achievement of the desired results. Critical to this process will be the identification of all of the key “must have” personality characteristics (per task) with reference to the desired overall results. You must also account for a “personality match” in relation to the immediate manager, the team and the organizational culture to determine an appropriate fit between the person and the specific position. Once completed, you can focus your interviewing, assessment and evaluation processes appropriately.
True success will be experienced with the proper co-ordination of appropriate assessment tools, and then the proper evaluation as compared to the pre-determined desired results. Relevant assessments can be valuable in identifying non-apparent personality characteristics and in the assessment of their combined impact. They also provide background information which can be further probed in a formal interview and as a cross-referencing tool to verify or clarify interview answers. A key consideration is that the assessment, and the interview questions, should not “tip off” the respondent as to what you want to know, thus avoiding them telling you what they think you want to hear. Trained interviewing professionals (and credible assessment products) can conduct information gathering without allowing the respondent to manipulate the results.
Why are these key categories significant to superior performance?
1) Problem Solving Ability
Different positions in an organization will require the ability to work with problems of varying complexities and that may span anywhere from one day to several years. As positions become more complex and managerial, different time orientations (scope) are required. Cognitive scope refers to how a person handles information complexity. The greater a person’s ability to handle information complexity, the greater will be his or her ability to think ahead and work with more complex problems. And the ability to conceptualize and to envision multiple possibilities greatly expands that person’s scope level.
It is initially important to estimate the scope requirement of the position and then to determine if the individual has a scope that is a suitable match to what is required in both the short and long terms. The scope of a person’s thinking and the time-span demands of positions in an organization need to fit the same pattern for relative success to be experienced. As the scope required for each position increases as you go up the organizational hierarchy, mismatches of people’s scope to the demand of the position will have a negative impact. Those with scope below the positional requirement will be ‘over matched’ and unable to perform at a suitable capacity. Those with scope that is significantly beyond the positional requirements will be bored, feel underutilized and see little value in interactions with their immediate supervisors.
In addition, by knowing an individual’s current scope and age, it is possible, to predict how fast an individual’s scope may grow and, therefore, predict when an individual is apt to be ready for a greater managerial level of responsibility. This has tremendous implications for succession planning, internal workforce mobility options and retention considerations and when hiring new candidates.
It is critical to be able to measure an individual’s ability to plan, to think strategically, to analyze problems and to anticipate the consequences of various courses of action within the context of the scope of their respective position. When combined with the measurement of conscientiousness, initiative, tenacity, judgment, achievement motivation and planning skills, you will be able to identify problem solvers who will be capable of making quality decisions regarding problems faster than the typical person.
2) Concentration Skills
Every position has a certain degree of stress that will ebb and flow as situations change. Superior performance is dependent on the ability of the individual to concentrate and make good decisions, or take appropriate action, while dealing with the stress involved at that point in time. Knowing that each individual has a dominant concentration style, identifying their style, and comparing it to the typical stress tolerance requirements of the position and environment, will increase the likelihood of superior performance. More importantly, as stress levels increase a properly matched concentration style will enable the person to better handle the increased demands.
In addition, we can measure a person’s ability to easily adapt to changing concentration requirements. Since priorities and stress situations are dynamic and constantly shifting (especially at the upper management levels), we need to know an individual’s ability to react quickly and instinctively to changes that occur around them, their sensitivity to the environment and to the non-verbal (emotional) messages that people often send. We also need to know the individual’s tendency to become distracted by task irrelevant things going on in the environment, or of the tendency for the person to become distracted by their own thoughts and or feelings. These external and internal distractions have a negative impact on performance and will be accelerated with elevated stress levels.
Lack of concentration flexibility can cause a person to either become too focused internally or externally, and performance mistakes are made because the person fails to make needed shifts in their focus of attention. If we find that a person has a preference for a wide variety of activities, or a need for, and enjoyment of change, they will lose concentration more readily when engaging in repetitive tasks or attendance to details. This may also serve as an indication of his or her ability to cope with shifting priorities and a relative lack of structure.
Problem solving capability, and decision-making, will obviously depend on an individual’s ability to maintain their concentration in a variety of stressful situations.
3) High Motivation
High motivation and superior performance go hand in hand. But it is not enough to simply be “motivated”. The person’s motivation must be matched to, and supported by, the motivational characteristics of the immediate work environment, the team members, the manager and the overall organizational objectives and culture. So here we are interested in first determining the motivational characteristics available in the work environment and then determining the relative match with the individual’s personal motivational requirements.
We need to identify what triggers the person’s interest and, conversely, what environments or activities will de-motivate them. Does the person stay motivated by judgments from external sources or by using their own standards? Does the environment give them the appropriate feedback that they need to stay motivated? Is the person’s motivational energy focused on goals, or problems to be dealt with or avoided? Are they motivated by continually looking for alternatives or to follow established procedures? Are they expected to achieve goals or avoid problems? Will they be expected to take the initiative or wait for others? How does the person react to change, and what frequency of change do they need? Does it match with the environmental rate of change? In other words, what are the elements in their work that they need to have a positive physical and emotional reaction, and are these elements present in the work?
Highly motivated people will have greater energy, and will energize those around them. They bring a positive attitude, they encourage and support others, they foster a collaborative team environment and they help to move organizations forward toward organizational goals regardless of difficulties and adversity. When their personal motivation and goals are congruent with those of the organization, they will be willing to make long term sacrifices for the sake of accomplishing specific long term goals or objectives
By understanding an individual’s motivational requirements, and matching them to the motivational aspects of the position and the organization, they will be less impacted by the influence of unforeseen stressful situations, more focused in their concentration and better able to solve problems and make meaningful decisions.
4) Strong Interpersonal Skills
Human relations are a critical component of successful performance as nobody operates within a vacuum. Whether internal or external to the organization, on a peer to peer basis or an employee – manager interaction, everybody has numerous interpersonal interactions daily. Superior performers are adept at creating and maintaining strong relationships, and via these relationships they subsequently encourage collaboration, support for their ideas and commitment to performance. People are more likely to agree with, and follow, someone who they respect and like. Top performers naturally use their interpersonal skills to make this connection with those around them.
By evaluating a person’s “people judgment” we can determine their ability to build and maintain relationships. A successful performer will typically demonstrate empathy and the ability to understand and respect the needs of others. The measure of a person’s level of agreeableness will tell us whether they are compassionate and cooperative with others, whether they will try to get along, and whether they will compromise their personal interests with other team members for the common good. Conversely, we can also tell whether a person is generally unconcerned about other people and more likely to put their own interests ahead of the team and the organization. Since in a managerial role people interaction, motivation and accurate evaluation are all essential to departmental and organizational success, sound people judgment is critical for the manager to be able to properly utilize their human ‘assets’.
Further, by measuring a person’s level of extroversion we can determine their need or desire to be around others, as compared to their level of introversion, the measure an individual’s enjoyment of working alone, and their need for personal space and privacy. With the proper information we can go beyond simply identifying positions that will require an extraverted personality type for success. We can take it further to the task level and identify the extent and frequency of the required trait and then also determine the comfort that an individual would have in adapting to changing socialization circumstances. By avoiding a “one or the other” scenario, we can create a better fit determination for those who are extraverted in some situations while introverted in others.
When we combine aptitude in relationship building, people judgment and appropriate extraversion / introversion with characteristics such as self-confidence, self-esteem, the need for control, eagerness to take on responsibility, and comfort in following others, we can obtain a more complete picture of an individual’s interpersonal skill set. This can be extrapolated into assessing such items as a person’s willingness to take the initiative or to assume a leadership role in high-pressure situations.
A motivated problem solver will be able to maintain their concentration under stress. But will they be able to encourage others to participate in the process and actively implement the subsequent solutions? The positive interactions with other organizational members, fostered by strong interpersonal skills, will ensure that policies, directives and actionable solutions are properly implemented.
5) Strong Communication Skills
Positive interaction with others is only one part of the equation. The ability to effectively get their message across to these people and to understand the other person’s point of view is a common characteristic of superior performers. We can determine a person's dominant expressiveness style, and match that with what would be required of their respective position. More importantly, we can ascertain their comfort with the expression of ideas, their ability to understand and adapt to the communication style of the recipient, and their acceptance with having their thought processes challenged. We can also identify each person’s dominant style for receiving communication input, for adapting to alternative forms of input while maintaining appropriate concentration, and whether their learning style is visual, auditory or kinesthetically based. Finally, we can evaluate true aptitude for written and verbal communication as per the requirements of their position.
Going deeper, we can determine if the person will be positive and supportive in their communication with others or if they will have a tendency to be confrontational and overly critical. Obviously, how people communicate with others will have a direct impact on their ability to develop and maintain personal relationships, to influence the opinions and actions of others and to encourage support. We can also determine if the person is strong at teaching others, would be confusing in their explanations, has strong listening skills, and if they are effective communicative motivators.
An essential compliment to a superior performer’s ability to build relationships with other people is their ability to communicate effectively to ensure that things get done. Listening being as important as speaking, strong communicators adapt their approach to their audience depending on the situation, and are capable of getting their message across regardless of the stress level involved at the time.
6) Emotional Stability
An often neglected element involved is performance assessment is an individual’s level (or lack of) emotional stability. Most people have suitable levels of stability to cope with their daily stress loads, however when stress levels are accelerated less stable people will tend to be emotionally reactive and vulnerable. This can emerge as anger, anxiety or depression, and will obviously affect their performance, problem solving and concentration levels, as well as have a negative impact on the people that they interact with. Often in a bad mood, they are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as negative and have difficulty thinking clearly and making appropriate decisions in a reasonable period of time. Their emotionally stable counterparts will tend to be less emotionally reactive, have a more positive outlook and can make calm, logical decisions in highly stressful situations.
Obviously, we want to determine whether a person’s level of emotional stability is a factor that will be, or is, restrictive to performance, either at the hiring stage or in performance reviews. Emotional instability will have a significant impact on performance, motivation, a person’s ability to concentrate under stress, in their interpersonal relationships and their communications with internal or external personnel. It is also important to note that emotional stability is an essential requirement for success in a leadership or management role.
7) Ethics and Integrity
Hiring managers have grown more interested in making sure that they hire people, for positions at all organizational levels, who are trustworthy and share the organization's ethical values. Talented or not, one would question why anyone would knowingly hire a dishonest person in the first place, better yet maintain their employment knowing that they were untrustworthy. There is comfort in knowing that superior performers will tend to score high on integrity and ethics evaluations.
Beyond interview questions that will evaluate a person’s past response to ethical circumstances, we can assess a person’s behavioral control, which relates to a person's tendency to play by the rules or make up the rules as they go. We can determine if they might misuse authority, if they have an unfounded sense of superiority or if they have a tendency to over-exploit others for their advantage. We can also identify if the person has a sense of entitlement (common with the younger people) that will emerge as a poor work ethic and restrict performance.
Neglecting to factor ethics and integrity into human resource decisions can be a costly omission.
We can take a person’s assessment data and compare it to extra-organizational norms by position (ie CEO, Manager, Engineer, Sales Representative, Technician) or by function (leadership, performance under pressure, etc). We could also create internal organizational performance profiles based on information gathered from specific currently employed top performers, or that which is collected from departmental counter parts or from that which we develop based on a desirable model. The key is to have an end result in mind so that any performance profile will accurately depict what we require to be assessed in accordance to this end result.
Also, it should be obvious that, beyond employment candidate selection and interview refinement, the proper use of personality assessments can be valuable in identifying issues and creating action plans for other organizational improvement initiatives. Quite often they are utilized in such areas as:
Whether in developing your current human resource capability, or in selecting new managers and staff who will fit with your current compliment, the appropriate use of personality assessments will help you to identify, attract and retain superior performers. The more superior performers you have, the better your organization will be.
CAES Career Advancement Employment Services Inc.
Search, Assessment and Recruitment Specialists
Established in 1997, CAES Career Advancement Employment Services Inc. is a privately owned Canadian corporation. We have built our reputation by successfully satisfying the requirements of a wide range of clientele, with demonstrated expertise in recruiting management, engineering, environmental, and technical personnel. By utilizing a consultative, research-oriented approach that ensures the identification and attraction of managers and staff who truly ‘fit’ with our clients, we have not only met their expectations, we have exceeded them. CAES truly helps to build organizations.