personality competence and fit

7/28/2019 Personality Competence and Fit

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BULLETPOINT

FOCUS REPORTS

Getting Personal

Type-testing

Testing forIntelligence

Competence & Fit

Missing Link:Motivation

Online Testing

How to Test

UnderstandingPersonality

Personality Change

Finding Leaders

References &Further Reading

I N S I G H TI N S P I R A T I O N

SOLUTIONS

K N O W L E D G E

IN JUST 16 PAGES

Personality,Competence & FitUntil recently, when assessing people for recruitment or promotion, it was commonto ask technical questions first and leave personality issues to the end.

Now this wisdom is being reversed. Many skills are soon outdated; whats needed isthe ability to pick up new ones fast, and to handle problems arising from situationsrather than systems. So, instead of assessing technical record, attention is switching to:

O thepersonality needed for success in a people-centred workplace

O the competence to stay technically proficient in a learning organisation

O and the right fitwith buyers and colleagues already in place

Personality has been shown to shape the acquisition and exercise of skill. Hence the

demand pull from recruiters who find psychological deficiencies harder to fix thanskill gaps. But theres also a supply push, from psychometric testers claiming tomeasure soft skills as precisely as hard ones. This report shows you how to steerbetween push and pull, to reach a proper measure of the people you employ.

Personality,

Competence & Fit

F O C U SR E P O R T S

BULLETPOINT

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Tracking the shiftAfter years of technical fixes and strategy initiatives businesses have learnt to think ofchange in terms of people. Human Resources (once Personnel Management) is being

reconceptualised as Intellectual Capital - investment in which may give higher returnsthan in most hardware or software.

But to demonstrate those returns, HR must put a value on people: measuring whatthey do, and how this relates to performance, was till recently much easier thangauging who they are. So valuing people often means little more than logging theformal skills they bring to the job, the precision with which they carry it out, theresulting performance, and what this means in terms of profit.

Personality, harder to quantify than formal skill and impossible to grade with thesame precision, was pushed aside in this initial rush to calibrate the human side. Yetwhen someone approaches a company, the way its representatives engage with themis key to how well they believe theyve been served.

The test explosion20 years ago, psychometric testing was still a laboratory pursuit; today, there are fewcompanies that dont employ tests in some form. Sales of psychological testingservices grew around 15% a year through the 1990s, mainly because of:

O deregulation: chartered psychologists, regulated in the UK by theBritishPsychological Society (BPS), lost their control over test design and administration,and a new range of independent testers moved into the market

O new types of test: established tests were reconfigured to be more quickly andeasily administered; and new tests arrived, many claiming to pinpoint more

specifically and reliably the personal characteristics needed for particular jobs

O objectivity claims: despite their still wide error margins, tests promised a moresystematic and insightful assessment than interviews, references or group discussions

O the rise of people-centred work: a growing no. of jobs involve servicing, managingpeople, for which personality can be as important as objective ability; exam gradesand achievements on a CV may tell you about technical competence, while revealinglittle of the personality - for which a test may be the only way to get an insight

O Generation X: the 1963-80 birth cohort, now prominent in selection roles, hasbeen found to value relationships and people-centred leadership more than itspredecessors - and it wants to see these qualities reflected in those it recruits

O marketing and branding: with over 3,000 tests now on offer, those who publishand administer them have stepped up their selling effort - playing up the scientificfoundations, and performance gains following adoption

Getting Personal

Personality, Competence & Fit - Leading from the Front SeriesEntire contents Copyright Bulletpoint Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any form is unlawful.

A BROADER

CONTRIBUTION

Disney World: when looking forways to measure theme parkstaff competence, and

effectiveness of training them,discovered dangers of metricthat left out personality: it couldhave measured sweepers solelyon the task they performed, bybenchmarking against cleanersin other organisations - but thiswould have ignored theirimportance for helping,humouring and entertainingcustomers, for which theemotion and the right charmcount for even more than themotion of the right arm.

GUEST APPEARANCE

Hotels: found that while skillsof behind-the-scenes staff getmost management attention, itsthe personality of front deskstaff that mainly shapes guestsservice perception, and whereextra HR budget is best spent.

CLOSED MINDS AT THE TOP

While more current and

aspiring employees are beingexposed to psychometrics,those at the top are stillallowed to keep their thoughtsto themselves; survey of seniorexecutive appointments in 200large UK companies found:

Oonly half used any formalassessment during selection:the rest relied entirely oninformal soundings andrecommendations, or internalappraisal information, despitewidely claimed (and legallychallenged) risk of old boynetwork excluding womenand minority applicants

O few of the rest used anypsychometric test: just as topexecs who go to businessschool dont expect to sitexaminations, they dontexpect their interview tobe followed by any point-scoring test

O top people tend to choosetheir own successors: withhelp of head-hunters - looking

for personalities likethemselves, with no attemptto determine if this is moreappropriate than others forthe job

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ACCOUNTING FOR SUITABLE PSYCHOLOGIES

Big Four accountants: together receive up to 15,000 graduate applications for less than

1,000 vacancies, and initially used literacy and numeracy tests as screens for assessment

and interview. Deloitte & Touche added psychometric tests in 1999, and registered an

improved professional exam pass rate. Ernst & Youngpioneered routine personality tests

for graduates, and others have trialled them,building on already extensive use when

selecting for internal assignments and promotions.They serve as a kind of comfort blanket in

a time when there is increased risk to the employer in terms of ... relying on subjective information

... [and] substantial pressure on cost during the recruitment process PwC recruitment director.


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Getting Personal

People measurementWhen deciding what furniture to bring into your house, you wouldnt measure onlyone dimension: physical size, shape, style, material, cost, special features, and how itfits with past and future acquisitions - are all important in deciding whether whatgleams in the shop-window will still sparkle when its actually in place.

Its the same with bringing people into your organisation; except that there are manymore dimensions to consider, theyre harder to identify and measure, and what countsas right is much more likely to change over time.

A century of research has spawned hundreds of tests for different aspects of humanity,on which UK firms spend over 150m/year. Psychologists distinguish between tests of:

O ability: potential to understand, learn, acquire skills on and off the job; classicallymeasured by the intelligence (IQ) test, of so-called general intellectual ability

O aptitude: what people can actually do, as result of natural ability or past training;typically measured by exam or practical test in specific area where strength is sought

O personality: enduring features of a persons attitudes and behaviour that set themapart from others; also termed Level B, the first two test types being Level A

Mind the crossfireMore than with ability and aptitude, researchers ofpersonality disagree over:

O how much its fixed, vs how far its features can be changed or new ones learntpersonality can change gradually through experience, or sometimes suddenlythrough traumatic events, and people can work to change aspects of it that they orothers dislike; but some psychologists question the extent to which personalityimprovement courses can deliver on their promises

O how many dimensions it has, and in what ways these can be mixedits usual to identify at least 4-5 independent personality traits, and 16-25possible combinations; some are disproportionately represented in certain activities,eg management or sales, but this doesnt stop other combinations succeeding there

O whether it has features that are measurably good and bad, or just differentmost scales merely position people on different extremes, eg introvert or extravert- placing no number on it, so not permitting comparison with others

O how different ones fit together, and whether there are optimum combinationstests can reinforce recruiters tendency to look for people like themselves - resultingin teams and firms clustering similar people, and forming a culture thatsuncomfortable for other types; but best teams may require a mix of personalities -synergy and unity of opposites beating monoculture and community of clones

O how closely particular personalities are a good or bad fit with particular jobstests have little to say on where best to employ the personalities they identify - thisneeds separate research, to see if best performers fit a particular personality profile

O how culture-free personality tests can betheres evidence that tests may assume a set of values that discriminate againstthose from non-mainstream cultural and social backgrounds; with over 90%originating in the US, theres also risk of a more general cultural bias; eg as Britishpeople in generalare less emotionally expressive than Americans, most will farebadly on an emotional intelligence test designed and standardised in the US


TESTING TO

DESTRUCTION?

Whenever a group ofpsychologists or HR people gettogether, you can start a round

of Monty Pythons FourYorkshiremen by describingsomeone you know who usespsychometric tests badly.

Chartered occupationalpsychologist and test

publisher Robert McHenry

SEARCHING FOR NORMS

A tests results are morerevealing, and less likely to

discriminate unfairly, if its firsttried out on large samples toestablish a performance normto which subjects test scorescan then be compared; but theexpense of this means:

Omany older tests were normed10-30 years ago, in the US -unlikely to be appropriate totests conducted now in theUK, where cultural differencesare known to producesystematically different scores

O some newer tests have nonorm - they can only describecharacteristics, not assignthem a score and show howthis compares with average

One way independent testerssignal scientific status is byinvestment in researching andupdating the norms for theirtests - or subscribing to larger,out-of-house testingprogrammes. The biggest UKinvestor in test design andnorming research, OxfordPsychologists Press (OPP), now

sells to 60% of FTSE100 firms.

TRAPPING THE CHEATS

The best tests include questionsthat catch people out if they tryto misrepresent their personalityto bring it closer to what theythink selectors are looking for;eg CPI test designers claim theycan easily spot an untruthfulpattern of answers, alerted byresponses to specially plantedalarm bell questions. A studyof 10,000 applicants to the USArmy (a traditional test testingground) found only 5% triedfaking it.

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PERSONALITY TYPES

ISTP often diffident and detached till given tasks theyre interested in and good atperformers - when they take charge and show unexpected grit and skill

ISTJ reliably follow established procedures, value consistency and integrity, butinspectors arent good at handling new situations or less predictable people

ISFP want freedom, but find it in trends that others setfashion followers

ISFJ accept instruction and dislike delegation, often go beyond the call of duty, areworkhorses keen to serve others but reluctant to order them around

INTP like the precision and predictability of closed systems, so prefer taking risks inanalysers a strategy game context (chess, bridge) rather than in real life

INTJ exert authority in chosen specialist area, dislike straying outside it; good atsystem builders getting job done, less good at involving others or tolerating their errors

INFP fascination with chosen tasks makes them good teachers, communicators, peoplewonderers developers, as long as disciplined with enough reality checks

INFJ work hard for a cause - especially one that promotes underdogs - communicateactivists fluently, generate strong friendships through ability to empathise

ESTP admire winners and take risks to get among them, more concerned about resultimpulsives than style or scruples on the way to achieving them

ESTJ like organising and leading groups, value hard work and rule-obedience,administrators communicate well, but are happiest with order and continuity

ESFP like novelty and fun, good at entertaining and galvanising othersenthusiasts

ESFJ fight injustice but prefer correcting to punishing those who play foul; can beprotectors emotionally torn when conviction and compassion conflict

ENTP take risks to do what others view as impossible, ignore rules that blockvisionaries progress, value interesting people but ignore or ditch the rest

ENTJ like deciding, for others as well as selves, stick to courses of action throughleaders conviction, cant easily listen to contradictory voices

ENFP quickly adapt to the role required to fit into a group, and whose vision of whatactors

its doing triggers new ideas, especially in brainstorming situationsENFJ caring and charisma make them visionary leaders but who risk taking on toosocial entrepreneurs much, being undermined by more ruthless entrepreneurs

The Myers-Briggs Type Indication (MBTI)

Still the biggest test, given to 3m+ per year, MBTI uses multi-choice self-assessmentsto place people on four personality spectra, yielding 16 possible combinations:

1 Introverted (I) vs Extraverted (E): how far people keep their thoughts andfeelings to themselves, solving tasks on their own, and how far they share plansand problems with those around

2 Sensing (S) vs Intuitive (N): how far people must rely on direct experience andobservation to assess their situation, and how far they can use instinct or insight toreach quicker or deeper understanding than immediate observation allows

3 Thinking (T) vs Feeling (F): how far people rationalise situations, basingdecisions on cost-benefit calculation, and how far they empathise, engaging withown and others emotions, to see how these might subvert strict logic, predictability

4 Perceiving (P) vs Judging (J): how far people can look at a situation objectively,drawing conclusions from the observation, and how far they need a preconceivedidea before attaching meaning to what they see

Type-testing


THE RIGHT STUFF

Ariel Capital: founder JohnRogers INFJ personality wasessential to the $14bn fundmanagers rise, according to

investment leadership study:values of hard work, integrityand interest in people,revealed by MBTI, underpinthe combination of coolcalculation and warmrelations needed for financial-world success; againstexpectation, hi-touch feelingcounts for more than hi-techthinking in taking the lead.

SELF-AWARENESS SAVES

On learning he had ENFP traitsof people-orientation, conflictavoidance, flexibility andstrong concern for feelings andvalues, a manager saw how thiscaused a recurrent problem -over-promising and over-commitment, caused by fear ofletting people down.

By developing his ability todelegate tasks, or turn themdown, he worked on his abilityto say no to undoable tasks -raising colleague satisfactionwhile reducing own stress, andlaying the basis for long-runperformance improvement.

MINDING THE GAPS

A business services firm neededto create a global team to offerone-stop consulting, legal andaudit advice for a global client;putting prospective teammembers through the MBTIshowed how the styles ofthinking and actingsystematically differed between

the professions, assisting theformation of congruent teamsand helping them communicate.

SATISFIED CUSTOMERS

We do personality testing onall of our shortlist candidates, itgives our clients one morearrow in the quiver to assesscandidates and see how theydfit in culturally ... At the end ofour searches we give bothclients and candidates a qualitysurvey, and 99% of them say

the [MBTI] test is very helpful.

Gayle Gorfinkle, president ofexecutive search firm

Gorfinkle & Dane

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MBTI CaveatsMBTI carries a health warning in recruitment: it was never designed for applicantranking, and early versions showed gender, cultural and ethnic bias in their contextualknowledge assumptions. Drawn from Jungs personality theory (which stressespsychodynamics rather than psychometrics), MBTIs ubiquity may reflect first-comeradvantage, coming before newer tests more specially designed for recruitment, eg

O DISC (examining Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness,marketed as Personal Profile System)

O 16 Factors

O Occupational Personality Questionnaire

It may be better to recruit first, and ask MBTI questions later, when deciding wherepeople go next in the organisation.

Newer tests tend to probe more dimensions; eg Hogan Development Survey(HDS) gives percentile rank on 11 scales (Enthusiasm/Volatility; Duty/Dependency;Vivacity/Drama; Independence/Detachment; Shrewdness/Mistrustfulness;Care/Caution; Focus/Passive-aggression; Confidence/Arrogance; Charm/Manipulativeness; Imaginativeness/Eccentricity; Diligence/Perfectionism). But iftheres a new consensus, its the Big Five factors, tested explicitly by tests likeNEO-PI or the Personal Characteristic Inventory, and sometimes known by theacronym OCEAN.

Inner direction

O display consistency of a strong set of principlesor personal convictions, sticking to beliefs evenwhen pressured to conform to majorityopinion - acclaimed as admirable steadfastnessin some cases, condemned as foolish obstinacyin others, depending on whether the majorityturns out to be right

2 Conscientiousness

O implies hard work, reliable performance andwillingness to strive for goals

Complacency

O disinclination to work harder gives moremotivation to work smarter, finding betterways that eventually raise productivity, andguard against the burnout that can afflictthose who slog on without inspiration

4 Agreeableness

O consensus seekers are often best equippedto bring about change, since they can rallypeople behind it and get the understandingthat permits implementation

Idiosyncrasy

O by going against the grain have the betterincentive to drive change, being readier tochallenge convention and seek to show themerits of their alternative approach

vs

vs

vs

3 Extraversion

O good at settling into groups, taking the leadwhen they need direction, enthusiastic andoptimistic for projects they get involved in,and easy communicators

Introversion

O eager to express themselves in less obviousways, like diligence at tasks and steadfastnessin friendships, and more likely to finish aheadon tasks that need reflection to get roundintuitively obvious but wrong ideas

vs

5 Neuroticism

O being out-of-tune with surrounding emotions

can generate neurosis, leading to heightenedsensitivity, anxiety and depression; but someneuroticism may be vital to give leaders theagitation that triggers change

Equanimity

O emotional stability is needed to stay friendly

with other personalities, and stay focused onpracticalities; but being out-of-touch withemotions leaves people too disengaged, liableto shock when their senses return

vs

Type-testing


FUZZY LOGIC

The power of feedback tomake people live up to theirMBTI labels meansclassification mistakes can be

costly: eg someone finelybalanced between Sensing andIntuition could swing one wayinto ESFP or the other way toENFP, with very differentexpectations of whether theyllbe leaders or mere transmittersof novelty and change.

MBTI is less effective whenpeople show only slightinclination towards one end ofeach dimension, so balancecould be tipped if just one ortwo choices went the other

way. Designers advise re-testingthe slight scores, within 6weeks, to make sure they wereplaced on the right side of thepersonality divide.

A TOUGHER TYPOLOGY

Unlike MBTI, which providespositive feedback across the 16types, using the Big 5 in worksettings, such as training andcoaching, tends to be

evaluative ... Individuals maynot want to learn that they areneurotic or lackagreeableness.

James Michael, Journal ofLeadership and Organisation

Studies, Summer 2003

COMING OF AGE

Mid-life crises may arise from amismatch between peoplesnatural personality and the one

theyre forced to adopt forprogress in early career.

With self-knowledge fromMBTI and other personalitytests, those whove risen todecision-making roles can startto leverage the aspects theyvepreviously repressed, thusadding meaning to their livesandeffectiveness to their work.

For example, those whovestifled their Sensing can dustoff forgotten interest in thearts, those with suppressedFeeling can switch to a lesscommanding, moreunderstanding approach tohandling other people.

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1 Openness to experience

O people are sensitive to others needs, andadaptable to new situations - but they canalso be pliable and suggestible, yielding toothers pressure

THE NEW BIG FIVE


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Personality testing may be controversial, but the debate remains sedate compared tothat which continues to rage over intelligence testing.

Intelligence Quotient(IQ) theorists argue that its normally distributed over thepopulation, with average score 100, 150+ signifying genius. But the search for

general intelligence unearthed specific types - eg verbal, numerical, analytical - onwhich people could score high even if their general IQ was low. Moreover, businessuse of intelligence tests is problematic because of charges that they:

O discriminate unfairly, especially between genders and ethnicitiesdespite efforts to be culture free, most tests favour candidates who are familiarwith the questions language and assumed knowledge, and the test situation;suspicion that minorities are likely to score lower, irrespective of ability or aptitude

O dont accurately define or consistently measure intelligencesome say that high IQ is nothing more than the ability to score well on IQ tests;peoples frequent ability to improve their scores by training challenges the

assumption that whats being measured is innate, and grounded in basic ability

O falsely assume a connection between intelligence and job competenceeven if it exists and IQ tests put an accurate value on it, theres little evidence linkinghigh intelligence with superior job performance; IQ scores on average can explainaround 15% of employee performance variation; some psychologists ascribe theother 85% to softer forms of emotional intelligence (EQ); notable issues:

- many high achievers score normal or below-average IQ

- designers admit its hard to set accurate tests for people brighter than themselves

- high intelligence can be unlinked to performance if people lack effort ormotivation, and can link to dysfunctional performance if wrongly channelled

- components may be too narrowly focused to give advantage in real-life situations;not everyone who zooms through crossword puzzles excels at all other verbal tasks

O ignore the group context in which intelligence is exercisedhigh IQ minds may clash with those of less gifted team members, loweringoverall performance, especially if knowledge of high IQ tips self-confidence intoarrogance; but teams with uniformly high IQ can also underperform, if membersare demoralised at finding colleagues are as bright as they are, and startundermining instead of complementing one another in the battle to outperform

Cognition gains recognition

Many studies now point to cognitive capacity as the best personality predictor ofperformance; new research suggests that cognitive tests explain on average 35% ofperformance variation, second only to costlier job simulations (45%). US studiesshow cognition correlating as high as 0.47 with job performance, 0.76 with trainingsuccess; and focus on cognition contributes to success of tests such as ABLE, because:

O it shapes peoples capacity to learn, solve problems and adaptin changing environment, ability to pick up new skills quickly counts for morethan proficiency with existing skills

O it can be defined and measured with reasonable accuracytests show less gender or culture bias than those of verbal/numerical ability, gettingcloser to the pure aptitude test that earlier IQ measures tried and failed to provide

O it mixes influence of personality, IQ and EQcognition spans hard problem-solving and soft person-handling capabilities; itmay be the overall combination of these that determines work potential

Testing for Intelligence


DOES IT EXIST?

You cant measureintelligence. You can onlymeasure how well peoplefunction under certain

conditions. The real issue is thecharacter of a person. Youcant measure that in a test,and character is what measuresthe adequacy of employees.

Dana Dennard, psychologist,Florida A&M University

BEATING THE BIAS

US restauranteurs, convincedof cognitive tests ability topick best candidates in themajority population,commissioned HR consultantsto remove its known biasagainst applicants fromminority populations. Mainsolutions are to minimise use ofvocabulary, give lots ofexamples, and not to set a timelimit; pilot tests showedminority candidates scores onrevised test only 1-2% down,vs 25% on traditional tests.

Its being developed becausemany operators are seeingpotentially viable candidates

who are not given a chance toprove themselves because theydid not pass the cognitiveability test. Then they see theseapplicants shooting through theroof in a competitorsorganisation.

Faith Hall Jackson, co-director, Hospitality Industry

Diversity Institute,University of Houston

GAIN AND ABLE

Instead of testing what peoplealready know - with risk ofgender and racial bias -ABLEtests give people information,assessing their ability tointerpret and absorb it. Bytesting the full package ofnecessary skills, it comes closerto the job simulations that topthe performance-predictioncharts (but avoids theirexpense). Available for 12 jobtypes (eg sales, customerservice, manufacturing, senior

management), it has woncautious Commission forRacial Equality approval afterearly tests in police recruitment.

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Competence & Fit


Once its accurately established, two other sets of information are required to make apersonality profile commercially useful: the competences to which this personalitymost lends itself, and the other personalities with which this one best fits.

Competence: the right person for the workThere are no inherently successful people: only people who succeed in particular jobs.

While they still identify general competences that allow some individuals to excel inmany jobs, occupational psychologists now tend to acknowledge more specificcompetences - and recognise that these can vary across companies, and through time.At different stages in its core-product life cycle, the same organisation may needcompetence for innovation, sustaining rapid growth, marketing, cost reduction,geographical expansion and product diversification. The same characteristic can bedifferently labelled in different organisations, eg pursuit of excellence in a hospital =aggression in a high-growth technology firm.

Six essential steps when adding personality to technical criteria:

1 identify the main tasks - required by the job thats up for selection or promotion

2 determine the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) - needed for bestperformance on these tasks

3 check the candidates technical preparedness - by seeing how closely they matchtheir KSA requirement - as evidenced by qualifications, experience or performanceon practical tests

4 determine the personality- needed to acquire, adapt and best apply the KSAs

5 check the candidates personality preparedness - through scores on personalitytest with the best record of identifying these characteristics; or on test of behavioursassociated with best performance, eg Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)

6 share assessments around - so that everyone whos been involved in assessment, ofKSAs or personality, can swop notes and reach a consensus.

Fit: the right person for the workplaceAs well as the personal skills and ability to do solo aspects of the job, a successfulworker needs interpersonal skills and compatibility to fulfil those aspects that link toothers - co-workers, customers, managers, counterparts in other units - and to help

others in their own solo work.

Where its easier to fill competence gaps than reconcile personality differences,recruiting for fit wins out over recruiting for skill. And as its never certain hownew recruits will fit in, existing talent, where known to fit, shouldnt be neglected -recruiters with strong cultures advise going for the internal unless an outsider scoresat least 25% higher - to offset the risk they wont fit in.

MISFIT

Avery Dennison: selection usestwo interviews specifically toassess fit - one conducted by

behavioural interviewers in asocial rather than an officesetting, to give better insightinto candidates interactivity.

Averys Spartan Internationalsubsidiary discovered downsideof failure to take fit seriously:manager recruited from largecompany had ideal CV for the90-person company, butsuffered instant and irreparablepersonality clash:

O couldnt get used to smallfirms non-hierarchical,

informal communication style

Obecame impatient at slowerprogress of changes thatresulted from their beingagreed through dialogue notimposed by command

O alienated other managers bytrying to export the changesonto their territory, when hisown proved too small

It definitely isnt a culture fitand thats been very difficult ...Its much easier to fix a skill set

than an individual. I cant sendhim on a course.

Jenny Cruickshank,Spartans HR manager

CRAMPED COCKPIT

Never hire if you think thereis going to be a mismatchbetween the candidate and theculture. You should nevercompromise on the values, butyou can certainly compromiseon the technical knowledge. Itsabsolutely a never because the

values wont change.

Alan Davis, chief recruiter ofCanadas first astronauts

SELF POLICING

Survey: an employee whospends an hour a day on non-work-related Internet andemail use can cost employer20-30,000/year; monitoringsoftware can reduce this, butis costly to buy and use, andhurts staff morale; a cheapersolution is to avoid recruiting(or giving ready Internetaccess to) personality typesmost prone to engage in suchsurfing safaris.

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HUNTERS AND GATHERERS: SYMBIOTIC PSYCHOLOGY

Caliper: recruitment specialists research identifies two complementary types of

successful salesperson: 2/3 are hunters with the drive to track down and haul in clients,

but 1/3 are farmers with the empathy to wring most orders from them once they arrive.Very few have both qualities - its a case of combining them in the right ratio. So the

best fit for a sales team depends on whos already there.


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Highly conscientious people tend to be high on motivation, and highly neuroticpeople to be low on it; but beyond this, instilling the right motivation and checking thata person can fulfil their personality potential is as important as establishing what thatpotential is. Studies of business, diplomatic high-fliers suggest achievement motivation,and competences driven by it, are better predictors of success than raw intelligence.

The main requirements for maximum motivation:

O right interests and temperament for the workfew people can stir themselves to keep doing well at work they find inherentlyuninteresting or unrewarding, or which doesnt play to their strengths

O financial incentives alone are costly and usually insufficientalso risk encouraging tricks to inflate performance artificially; better solutions areto make the work more interesting, intersperse it with other more interesting tasks,or re-assign job to someone who doesnt find it boring

O proper assessment of capabilityif task is too far beyond their current capabilities, people lose motivation whentheyre not getting good results; if task is too far within their current capabilities,they lose motivation - because its too easy and may become careless

- moderate overstretch essential for talented employees who get more motivated,and learn faster, when given duties slightly beyond what theyve handled before

- moderate understretch for tasks that have to be right first time; gaps betweengrasp and reach are best closed by training and development to extend reach

O belief that better performance will be rewardedsustained motivation requires assurance that people believe the work is important,and recognise its being done well; extra pay for improvements made or targets

met is one way to give such assurance; non-financial accolades, like extra time offor positive feedback from customers, can also be powerful motivators

O addressing poor performance, but not punitivelyhelping people admit and address their lagging productivity - so they get extrarewards - works better than removing rewards, which often saps motivationfurther; but better workers lose motivation if others slackness or incompetence gounchecked - so if anyone keeps underperforming after skill and motivational gapsare redressed, they must be moved on before they drag down the rest of the team

O matching values - between individual and organisationpeople only do their best if its for a purpose they believe in; employers must eitherexpress and uphold values that chime with employees, or recruit people who

accept the values it has chosen to articulate; cultural fit must be ensured on top ofall other requirements for skills and personality fit

Missing Link: Motivation


PRIZE PERSONALITIES

Two surveys, 16 years apart,show aspiring top managersconsistently seek one or moreof five challenges:

O starting a new business:launching a product orprocess, exercisingentrepreneurial freedomwithin the firm

O turnaround: bringing back toprofit a business or majorunit that would otherwisehave to close

Omanaging a big project:providing, and ensuring theuse of, contact points betweenemployees to avoid the

communication breakdownsthat often lead to accidents

Odefining a new job: taking ona post that hasnt been donebefore, with broad range ofresponsibilities

Oworking abroad: exposure toother countries national andcorporate culture

Unless given such tasks, highflyers recruited for leadershipand creativity qualities maynever show them - poorperformance showing failurenot of the tests, but of howthe material they reveal is putto use.

TOO CLEVER BY HALF?

As well as setting a lower limitfor test scores, below whichapplicants are assumed unableto keep up with the jobdemands, some companies setan upper limit - those scoring

too high are equally unsuitablebecause theyll get too farahead of those around them,destroying others motivationand, ultimately, their own. Anupper bound to the hiringrange also avoids over-focuson one spectacular score thatmay not be the most relevant.

Research: test performance,like job performance, is notdetermined by cognitive abilityalone but also variables such asmotivation, persistence, values,and environmentalconsiderations.

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MOTIVATION: IGNORE IT AT YOUR PERIL

Surveys: (SITE) 85% of employees say motivation affects quality of their work; 59% say

company doesnt motivate enough, 75% would try harder with a formal system of

recognition; (Zogby) 78% of employees ready to leave for better offer elsewhere.

Employees need more recognition. Make sure you are rewarding employees with

something they actually want - Frank Katusak, executive director,SITE Foundation.

Were finding from our exit interviews that the number one reason why knowledge

workers leave is because they feel their talent was never fully leveraged - Nick Bontis,

director, Institute for Intellectual Capital Research.


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Online Testing


Screen-based screening helps trawl a wider talent pool while avoiding getting snaggedon unsuitable catches: online tests speed of delivery, completion and assessment can letthem go into more detail than paper equivalents; and appeal to the PlayStationGeneration makes younger applicants take them more seriously. Other advantages:

O improved detection of qualities that are key to performance

O cost and time savings

- Abbey Nationals online graduate recruitment offers 30-50% reduction inprevious 5k/recruit cost sifting 2,500 8-page applications for 80 places within6 weeks

O frees up HR time to probe those whose skills and personality fit the basic bill

- KPMG screens out 30% of graduate applicants through its online applicationform and two follow-up tests

Next technical step: artificial intelligence interviewer, eg Unicrus Smart Assessmentprogramme spots reliability, loyalty, sales, service and management potential amonghourly-paid employees, cutting avge hire time to 3 days from 7; customerBlockbusterVideo says it has improved retention and so grown the pool of future store managers.

But even if tests administered online use the same questions and scoring systems astraditional questionnaires, caution is needed over:

O self-selection: it may be only a subset of personality types that comes forward forcomputer-based or online testing - so norms for this group differ from those whotake traditional tests, and some suitable applicants may not apply

O difference in attitude: people may feel different, and reveal different things aboutthemselves, in the more distant, anonymous online test situation: variations inmood, attitude and test conditions might cause variations in same persons test score

O artificial help: online questionnaire gives testee more chance to boost their resultsby checking answers with other people or info sources, exceeding time limit;PwC

sets only half its numeracy tests online, the other half under its own supervision

O misunderstanding: on remote keyboard, testees cant seek guidance if theressomething they dont understand, about specific questions or the test in general

FLYING HIGHER

British Airways: internet-based psychometric test cutgraduate recruitment cost42% in first year; test data

provide a check on accuracyof other recruitmentprocedures (eg interview,group exercises), and ownaccuracy can be tested bylater performance on the job;test outcomes also checked toensure theres nodiscrimination, eg againstethnic minorities.

DIY PSYCHOMETRICS

B&Q: cut recruitment costs30% with online applicationsprocedure includingquestionnaire that highlightsright personalities for retailenvironment; handling over100 online applications aday, its TalentTrackerprogram picks out those whofit the company culture andwhich jobs they would bebest for - and forwardschosen applicantsanonymously, to avoid anyrisk of discrimination.

PERSONALITY PUSH

After putting their CVsonline for potentialemployers, applicants cannow offer a matchingpersonality profile - filling inonline psychometric surveyand being emailed the detailsof jobs that match its results.

Abbott Laboratories:diagnostics division used self-

profiles from the DiscoverMesite, by first putting 30 of itsbest sales reps through thetest to establish the rightprofile, then contactingapplicants who matched it.

We can find people who havethe right qualifications andskill sets, but they personallywouldnt be happy working forAbbottin a sales role. If wecould get both - the person thatmeets the role profile and hasthe qualifications and skill sets

necessary to be successful - thatwould be ideal.

Abbott Labs recruiter LauraHennessy

9

CALL UP THE COMPUTERS

Capital One: credit card issuer linked recruitment to its information-driven strategy for

customer handling, with initial selection test administered online or via automated 45 min

freefone questionnaire. Answers are automatically checked against proprietary database

that matches traits to employee performance data. Closest matches invited to submit

biographical info, and take computer-based tests at an assessment centre. Key benefits:

O more intensive second stage: with unsuitable applicants eliminated early and cheaply,

the rest can be probed much more fully - over 2 days, for 2-3 hours/day, with tests

including a 60-90 minute simulation of typical work conditions

O quicker decisions: time-to-hire reduced by 52%, and rate at which vacancies can be

filled raised by 71%

O higher-quality hires: even with more competition for telephone talent, new recruits

are more loyal (first 6 mths quit/dismissal rate down 75%), and more productive: sales

from centres up 36%; calls handled/hour up 12%; time used unproductively down 18%


10/16

How to Test


(1) Job applicantsPsychometric test publishers claim more than 2 in 3 UK companies now use them. AChartered Institute of Personnel and Developmentsurvey puts it at a lower average,

but confirms its over half in people-centred professions.

Tests objectivity might seem to give rejected applicants less ground for protest thanmore subjective interviews and references; but recruiters who probe personality havehad to fight accusations of discrimination (if it picks out features that arent relevantto the job) and privacy invasion (if personal details are extracted and held on file). Sowhen using any psychometric test, its essential to:

O decide what youre testing foras well as tests like Myers Briggs which position personality on a general set ofscales, theres an increasing range of tests for subsets of personality characteristics, eg:

- theAptitude for Business Learning Exercises (ABLE) for capacity to learn on the

job and adapt to changing conditions- Firo-B for interpersonal behavioural success

- the five-factorBass-Avolio Transformational Leadership Model

Decide what personality elements the job requires, then find a test that reveals these -use only if convinced that a specific personality type is preferable andidentifiable.

O avoid relying too much on testspsychometric scores may help confirm, and quantify, tendencies detected in CV orinterview, and reveal relevant detail that these dont unearth; but they should neveroverride what candidates show of themselves elsewhere in selection process

O

avoid over-focusing on the norm for the testtests are designed so that results are close to a normal distribution; its tempting togo for those who come close to the norm, but best choices for a job are often theones who stand out, even though theyll often be harder to manage or fit into ateam that already contains them. We dont want 750 people who are identical,because clients have different personalities too - HR director,PwC

O back up tests with behavioural interviewingbehaviouralinterviews focus questioning on how candidates respond to differentsituations and people; if you cant simulate one, ask them to name and discuss onetheyve handled in the recent past, to move them beyond hypothetical answers andsee which personality showed itself - and where it led them - at a moment of truth

O measure the effectiveness of tests, and keep them under constant reviewbefore adopting it, trying a test on current employees of varying quality can showhow well it retrodicts on-job performance; after adoption, see if tests add anytalent-spotting value by comparing performance of those whose selection includedpsychometrics with those whose didnt; and keep checking that the personalitytypes picked out by the tests are those best suited to available work

PERSONAL ACCOUNTS

Robson Rhodes: accountantsmoved beyond traditionalimpressionistic City of Londonrecruitment by:

O identifying competencesrequired by managers andother staff groups - andchecking for these whenassessing applicants by moreinformal methods

O sending staff todevelopmental assessmentcentre at key career points -including application forpartnership, to check theyhave the intellect andinterpersonal skill to go to the

next stageBest defences: make sure anytest is triangulated againstother, independent measures;observeBritish PsychologicalSociety (BPS) guidelines onwhich tests to choose, and howto administer them.

COULD DO BETTER

TheBPS in its 1997 review of40+ psychometric testsaccuracy found only half were

adequate, 5 poor and noneexcellent or even good; andsomeBPS reviewers warnedthat tests standard may bedeclining, because of:

Opeoples growing ability totrain for the tests - to improvetheir score or put better spinon their personality

O increasing difficulty ofchecking test predictionsagainst subsequentperformance - as fewer stay

long enough in a particularjob to have this measured

O companies reluctance to giveindependent monitors theinformation - that would lettest accuracy be assessed

O growing tendency to test forpersonality features thatarent clearly linked to thetype of work or level ofperformance being recruitedfor- or to use general testswhen a specific characteristicis being sought

Survey: partly due to suchdoubts, US personality test usefellto 16% of all recruitmentsin 2000, from 28% in 1998.

10

TEST VS INTERVIEW VS SIMULATION

BPS research: shows avge correlation only 0.15 between personality questionnaire score

and on-the-job performance - a worse predictor than structured interviews (0.25) and

job simulations (0.45).Tests can reinforce and partly substitute these measures, but cannever wholly replace them, at present accuracy levels. Some more specific tests may do

better: eg those for cognitive skills achieve an avge correlation with performance of 0.35.


11/16

How to Test


(2) Existing employeesAs well as their growing use in selection, tests are increasingly being applied to existingemployees, mainly for purposes of:

O monitoring performanceannual sales of employee performance monitoring software are forecast to reach$2bn by 2005, from $0.1bn in 2001, as firms start to track efficiency of theirhuman asset use; egBritish Airways, long accustomed to counting the flying time,turnaround time and downtime of its aircraft, now runs programs that counttime spent to sell tickets or resolve complaints, and length of service reps work-breaks, with capacity to adjust pay for productivity differences

O testing goodness of fitpersonality scores can highlight those temperamentally unsuited to their work, ifnot showing where they might be better deployed; employees often welcome thechance to show theyve been given the wrong sort of work, or told to do it in a

way that doesnt suit them; it shows any under-performance was due tomisallocation not laziness, and helps them move closer to where theyd like to be

O selecting for promotiongood past performance isnt the only important criterion for promotion, if thehigher-level work will make new demands eg solving more complex technicalproblems, taking charge of more people, coping with higher stress; psychometricmeasures can be a useful part of the capability evaluation for promotion potential

O selecting for redundancytesting for appropriateness to post-restructuring job might appear less arbitrarythan last-in first-out or age-related choice; Sun and GE owe continuous

improvement in part to an annual search for the 10% worst performers, who getpaid off if they cant raise their game within 90 days; butmany psychometricprofessionals advise against using tests for this purpose: embittered victims canallege discrimination - safer to use a more direct measure of past job competence

O filling the information gapif tests for new recruits were only recently introduced, youll know more aboutthem than those who joined earlier; retrospective testing can raise older staffprofile to the same amount of detail; butbeware of testing for information only(its going to look like intrusive employee surveillance), and of data protectionrules that may require restoration of symmetry by deleting new recruits records,not expanding those of older employees

SHOP-FITTERS

Sainsburys: internal review ofrecent underperformanceshowed buying and logisticswere still good, but chain often

weakened at shop level - whereup to 20% of its 500+ storemanagers werent suited to thetask; in service-intensivebusiness, right manager in rightstore can add 15% to turnover,mainly by adopting innovationsand correcting malfunctionsquickly - misfitting managercan reduce it by same amount.

LEGALLY BINDING

Fuzziness of definitions and

looseness of link between testdemands and job demandsmake IQ and related testsespecially vulnerable to legalchallenge, eg industrial tribunalforced reversal of decision, andrevision of psychometricprocedures that went into it,whenBritish Railtests rejectedall 19 non-white applicants(from 23) for conversion fromguard to driver.

To survive legal challenge,testers must show not only thattheyre distinguishing

candidates only on ability, butalso that ability difference willaffect job performance; testsmust show (in descendingorder of legal defensibility):

O content validity: practicalskills needed on job are seento be those gauged by the test

O concurrent validity: peopleperforming best on the jobget highest scores in the test

Opredictive validity: highscorers on test have gone on

to be good performers on job

O construct validity: generalabilities and characteristicsneeded on job are seen to bethose gauged by the test

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

TechTarget: advertising firmseeks natural salespeoplewith competitive, self-motivated, hard-workingpersonality features, which itaims to identify in series of

interviews. Looks especiallyfor behaviours that signal theright personality, eg athleticsports participation.

11

WHAT OTHERS THINK

Hallmark: housebuilder entrusts personality and EQ assessment to co-workers.The

Multi-Rater prompts online peer review of peoples self and social awareness, self-

management and relationship management ability. Main advantages:

O helps executive team assess own management skills: by understanding how

they come across to others; any problems boardroom colleagues perceive are likely

to be amplified in the eyes of employees reporting to them

O promotes awareness of room for improvement: on which the eight executive

team members must update one another at subsequent monthly meetings

There was a huge difference in how some people perceived themselves versus the endresults. Some went through shock, anger or denial, and then reality, like Maybe Id better

work on this -Allison Britton, EVP.


12/16

Corporate personalityThe personalities a company hires, and those its members are encouraged to express,define its corporate personality - which customers soon come to recognise, whicheveremployee is at the phone or desk when they call.

An ongoing challenge when recruiting and promoting is to find enough matching orcomplementary personalities to preserve the best aspects of current culture, whileintroducing sufficient new or contrasting personalities to enable necessaryimprovements and adaptations.

A Big Five of organisational personality traits have been identified, with scales of:

1 authoritarianism: degree to which a firm has to secure obedience by commandsand financial incentives, rather than trusting people to do whats good for business

2 punitiveness: degree to which punishment for underperformance or mistakestakes priority over rewards for excellence and diligence

3 conformity: degree to which employees are expected to follow rules and keep toprescribed behaviour, rather than reaching own judgement on whats right

4 participativeness: degree to which employees can contribute to forming andimplementing decisions, and are kept informed of whats decided elsewhere

5 inclusivity: degree to which organisations values and beliefs match those of itsmembers, through letting them set corporate values or recruiting to match these

Role over personality: helping people transcend their typeCorporate personality can override that of individuals, helping them adopt a differentapproach through the role theyre given and incentives they receive. For example,extraverts are often assumed to be better at approaching and communicating withstrangers, and so better suited to roles such as selling and service which depend onmaking contact and building trust. But a study of organisational networking showedthat introverted types did it equally well - just in a more soft-spoken way.

Once given a job that demands a confident and outgoing nature, people tend todisplay one, even if it goes against the underlying type suggested by personality tests.In general, peoples ability to adopt the best behaviour for a given situation is strongenough to overcome any constraints from having the wrong personality traits.

Understanding Personality


THRIVING ON DIFFERENCE

The best way to bridge ateams culture or personalitydifferences is often not toimpose one norm, but to

accommodate a variety:

Oknowing that a key memberwas high on creativity butlow on self-discipline andorganisation, a multiculturalteam reached a deal: he couldturn up late, as long as heemailed latest work results inadvance - and didnt complainthat theyd started themeeting without him

O recognising some memberswere naturally forthright andothers reticent, but all hadimportant things to say, across-functional team found asimple rule to maximisecommunication effectiveness:introverts were allowed tointerrupt the extraverts, whohad to stay quiet when anintrovert was speaking

VALUING THE SQUARE PEGS

As well as discarding the lowertail of under-attainers, its notuncommon for recruiters toreject those who do

too wellin

attainment tests, or comeacross too strongly inpersonality tests - on thegrounds theyll quickly becomedisruptive or demotivated, onceits clear their abilities arentgoing to be stretched.

O cutting off the upper tailmakes senseprovidedtheresevidence linking top scores toless than top performance inthe job; but while cream cansour the milk if left to sink, itsmore often an enhancement if

allowed to rise

O research evidence suggeststhat eliminating those whoscore above the upper limit ofthe selection range would notadd to the predictive value ofthe tests; in addition,eliminating more intelligentindividuals through fear oftheir inability to function inparticular jobs could impedethe organizations future byreducing the pool of high-ability candidates for higher-

level jobs and futureleadership positions

SAM Advanced ManagementJournal, Spring 2003

12

PUTTING PERSONALITY TO THE TEST

Piper Alpha legacy: oil rig operators tightened their offshore platform manager

selection procedures after criticisms in Lord Cullens blowout enquiry.As well as

looking for 6+ years experience and degree-level technical skills, most seek personality

strengths of leadership, communication, team building, decisiveness and coolness under

pressure. But only 5 from a sample of 38 use personality tests to gauge these, the rest

inferring them from experience and past record - need for familiarity which means 71%

recruit exclusively from inside, and only 5% exclusively from outside. Most are now

increasing their use ofemergency simulations to see how personality traits revealed in

the calm of the test room translate in to behaviours when the sirens start to wail.A

four-day emergency management course, developed for firefighters and soldiers, displayscandidates through CCTV and one-way glass as they sweat inside a simulated control

room; expensive - but not as much as mishandling a real workplace disaster.


13/16

Understanding Personal ity


Mixing personalities

Cultural differences

From formalising different personality types within one national culture, researchershave gone on to reveal differences across cultures - both their typical personality,and the social attitudes and conventions that shape (and get reshaped by) its traits.National stereotypes may express them too starkly, but characters vary acrossborders, in ways that firms trading or recruiting internationally need to know, eg:

O self-discipline, and what other people think, are especially important in Britaineg on the California Personality Inventory (CPI) test, UK subjects on averagescore lower than US on every measure except two - they place a higher value onexercising self-control and creating a good impression

O respecting and serving the group is more important in Japanese circlesinterpersonal attitude tests show Japanese to be less concerned (than westernersand most other Asians) about other peoples feelings, and more willing to sacrificean individuals interest for that of the group theyre a part of; eg over 50% ofJapanese managers say main recruitment criterion should be right fit for the group,whereas over 90% of Americans say it should be right skills for the job

O Americans are the most profit-drivenUS priority for shareholder value over wider stakeholder commitment isconfirmed by Centre for International Business Studies 15,000 manager poll:74% of Americans (vs 55% Britons, 41% Germans, 19% Japanese) view the firmas a group expediently assembled to do task for financial reward, not ascommunity with value in itself; 40% of Americans say profit is the only goal (vs33% Britons, 24% Germans, 8% Japanese); 1% of Americans expect to stay with

organisation, vs 16% Britons, 59% Japanese

Blending team spirit

Teams that bring together complementary personalities can perform as more than thesum of their parts - eg the secret of contrasting chair/CEO combinations and of teamsmixing functions with different typical personalities.

But disaster awaits teams whose personalities clash, or bring out the worst in oneanother: the traits and behaviours people show are shaped by those who workaround them, as colleagues, coordinators and competitors. While measuring at theindividuallevel, personality tests most constructive use may be in helping decidewhos best brought together, or kept apart, at team level; especially as:

O teams determine the personality people displayalthough most tests measure them in isolation, people rarely work in isolation:theyre surrounded by machines, information systems, co-workers and supportstaff, whose collective input is vital to their individual performance; the best skilledand qualified employee, with the wrong personality, can slip down the resultsleague because others do the minimum to help them, and may even undermine them

O teams are the best place to store valuable knowledgebecause people take away knowledge when they leave - those with best ideas oftenleave fastest - its vital to get knowledge shared across the team, so its retainedwhen original holders move on; a brilliant mind that keeps its secrets often adds

less lifetime value than one thats less creative, but shares out what it comes up with

Identifying right-fit members for teams, before theyre assembled, requires tests thatmeasure cultural difference alongside culture-free measures of other personality traits.

SELLING CHANGE

Different products, and people,need different presentationalstyles, so the personality-drivensales world has no one success

formula. Even those born tosell must re-tune tactics to eachclient; by going their own way,people who arent naturals canstill top the sales chart:

O financial products: salesrecruiters looking for high-energy, extraverted, results-driven individualists almostrejected one candidate on hispersonality test results; but hetalked them into trying outhis more soft-spoken, other-oriented, analytical approach

- and rose to become topmutual funds seller, via clientrelationship building andattention to service detail

O electronic goods: a mild-mannered telephone seller,forced into aggressive coldcalling, generated muchstress for himself and histargets, and few sales; left toadopt his own style, withfewer, longer calls that builtup trust through dialogue, hissuccess rate rose to over 1 call

in 4, and he became topsalesperson within 18 months

CULTURAL VARIATION

Geert Hofstedes survey acrossdifferent national units ofIBM(to control for the effects ofcompany culture) launchedresearch revealing five axes ofcultural difference:

Opower distance: degree towhich people accept hierarchy,obeying orders from above

O individualism: degree towhich people expect selves,and others, to pursue owninterests whatever others think

O uncertainty avoidance: degreeto which people take risks inpursuit of bigger but uncertainreward, instead of sticking tocurrent actions that get smallerbut surer reward

O time-horizon: degree ofwillingness to plan, and makestrategic sacrifices for, the longterm, rather than focusing on

immediate gratificationOmasculinity: degree to which

men, and male values, areexpected to take precedence

13


14/16

Personality Change


Even where a personality trait is relatively fixed, its owner can learn to change thebehaviour by which personality is expressed:

O cognitive therapists: claim success in stopping dysfunctional thoughts that causeanxiety and depression

O behavioural therapists: claim the same by changing dysfunctional conduct, fromwhich better thoughts and attitudes can follow

O emotional intelligence trainers: say that learning to recognise and interpretothers behaviours, and watch the signals sent by ones own, can significantly raiseEQ, with consequent improvement in other abilities central to work success

All three offer not a wholesale personality change, but a reconfiguration thatminimises frictions and maximises synergies with others.

Organisations can change their personality by altering those of their employees, or byrecruiting a different personality type. But differentpersonalities can easily becomedifficultpersonalities if the team context theyre placed in forces them to act out of

character, or surrounds them with people who dont appreciate it.

Personality tests dont always pick out personality problems - the people afflicted dotheir best to hide them, and the problems often only come to light when they start thejob or run into others on it. Six types of discordant personality can cause particulardisruption, but sound diagnosis can neutralise or even capitalise on them:

LET OUTGOING TYPES

GO OUT ...

Extraverts, the personality typethat tests most reliably identify,are worth spreading thinly.

When dispersed so theres onlyone per team, they cangalvanise the introverts aroundthem; if clustered together,theyre likely to battlethemselves to the ground.

... BUT CLUSTER THECONSCIENTIOUSNESS

In contrast, Conscientiousness,the most performance-linkedtrait, is best kept apart from

other types. Put hard grafterstogether, and theyll spur oneanother to ever greater efforts;spread them around, andinstead of lifting others out oftheir laziness, theyre morelikely to be dragged down tojoin them:

The minute they see oneperson thats not working hardor not trying, they startrestricting their own levels,while the other team membersfeel the person high onconscientiousness is too anal-retentive, and they dontapopreciate his style.

John Hollenbeck, professor ofmanagement, Michigan

State University

IT TAKES ALL SORTS

Because personality-disordered individuals mayalso be talented andproductive in other aspects oftheir work, their more

dysfunctional behavioursmay be tolerated in theworkplace, or co-workersand supervisors may evenexploit them ... Personalitiesmay not be easy to change,but they often can beaccommodated, and aseemingly obstreperous orhopeless employee may besalvageable if you know howto play to his or herstrengths.

Laurence Miller

psychologist and author ofShocks to the System

14

PROBLEM PERSONALITIES

TYPE DESCRIPTION HOW TO HANDLE

Dependence O over-reliance and clinging to others,due to fear of exercisingresponsibility that could end in

failure; easily wounded by criticism;needs regular reassurance to avoidloss of confidence and depression

O keep in secure, low-stress jobswhere they can gain confidence byachieving targets and receiving

approval - with motivation secured,can become diligent and loyal toextent that repays early hand-holding

Avoidance O shyness that inhibits workplace andsocial interaction, raising rates ofabsenteeism and stress

O give work that doesnt need detaileddealing with others, or closesupervision; can become amonghardest working and willing toserve, once protected from thepressures of the crowd

Histrionics O excessive expressiveness - ofenthusiasm, anger and otheremotion - that drains others; whenattention is withdrawn, easily sinksinto depression and animosity

O give them work that harnesses theirgenuine creativity and likeability,exposing others to upbeat side,while checking follow-through;stop friendliness tipping over intoattention-seeking

Borderline O swing between histrionic andavoidant, from phases of optimismand impulsiveness to pessimism thatpunctures self-image, creatinglove/hate relations with others

O highly consistent rewards anddisciplines that prevent the euphoricidealisation that later upset couldconvert to demonisation

Paranoia O mistrust of others driven by fear -often self-fulfilling - that theyrehostile and deceitful

O give work where they can fightexternal enemies, eg rivals and cantake leadership role in innovationand strategy formation

Obsessive-compulsion

O revels in detail and need for orderor exactness, gets frustrated byothers who are untidy, unpunctualor imprecise; often extraverted andcognitively sharp, but more skilled atperfecting current procedures thanthinking up new or improved ones

O assign to jobs that can utilise theirattention to detail and give them asense of control, shielding themfrom situations that call for quickdecisions or spontaneity in anunrehearsed social situation


15/16

Finding Leaders

After much testing of existing leaders psychologists have retreated from the idea of aleadership personality. The spurs to assuming a leadership role are more

O situational(external conditions that pull a person to the front), than

O psychological(internal dispositions that push them there)

Almost any mix of characteristics can be moulded to lead, and different conditions callfor different types of leader. Every type has a way to the top - HR challenge is to makesure they do so at the right place and time, in their own and the companys career.

Just as theyre not especially good at ranking a persons competence or predictingtheir performance on the job, personality tests cant judge a persons inherentleadership ability. But they can offer important clues as to whether theyre suited fora particular leadership role, or one that may sometimes require them to take charge:

O whether their personality is the type that leadership requires in this contextextravert, intuitive, dominating personalities may be ideal for leading a battalion outof the war zone; introvert, sensing, consensual personalities are more likely to

lead a reception-desk team out of a flexible rostering dispute; tests like the KeirseyTemperament Sorter (which classifies as Idealists, Rationalists, Guardians, Artisans)offer a quick check of informal temperament judgements; self-aware candidates willbe ready to admit when theyre reaching for a role that doesnt suit their strengths

O whether their values would be consonant with those they seek to leadas much as their ability to take the right decisions, leaders success lies in gettingthose decisions accepted and implemented by others - which they wont do unlessthey can see the justice as well as the logic; tests like the career values inventory,while often administered earlier and for different purposes, help to show if acandidates values will inspire or incense those theyll be overseeing in the job


EMOTIONAL BUSINESS

The combinations of desirabletraits revealed in psychometrictests are similar to those oftenidentified in individuals

assessed for high EmotionalIntelligence (EQ), on whichhigh scores are claimed to linkclosely to job performance.

Multinational consultancy:highest EQ partners won onaverage $1m/year more profitthan those scoring lower. EQattracts business because clientsare drawn to those who bestengage their emotions; andmakes it more profitable, asmore mutual benefits getexplored and communication

costs are kept down.

LEADING WITH EMOTION

Experiment: emotionalintelligence coaching raisedteam members EQ scores50% - and boosted theirleadership skills by a similaramount: members gained thetransformational leaderspersonal touch - and greaterability to get on with eachother meant the team overall

exerted and nurtured betterdecision-making.

Permanent change inbehaviour cannot be achievedjust by improving employeesskill levels. Change, especiallyregarding how we manageour and others emotions, canonly be achieved by alsochanging employees beliefson emotional management.

Serge Sardoorganisational psychologist

and consultant

LIMITS OF CHANGE

Ive seen a senior managerassume that giving a difficultstaff member more attentionwould change deeply rootedbehaviour. Laudable as thismay be in its belief that no-one should be written off, itwastes time. If someone ispersistently cynical, negativeand disruptive in theirbehaviour, it is more helpfulto them, to you and to their

colleagues if you help themfind a different role.

Brian Clegg, co-author CrashCourse in Managing People

15

REGAINING THE LEAD BY RE-TUNING THE LEADERS

A leading manufacturer: new CEO traced steady loss of market share to culture of

complacency: customer service slow and bureaucratic; rivals beat it to new products,

underperforming departments expected others to support them, and units didnt share

information or cooperate despite efforts at integral strategic plan. His solution mixed

skills and personality initiatives in pursuit of performance uplift:

O re-asserted the companys mission: explaining why performance had to improve to

guarantee survival; set up dialogue between managers, supervisors and staff to distil

corporate goal into attainable individual goals

O re-clarified the companys values: seeking consensus on acceptable ways to achievethe goals, ensuring peoples goals were consistent with their values, convincing them

that better performance would result in better reward

O monitored executive performance: via data-based tracking of outcomes against

goals, and 360-degree appraisal to reinforce subordinates sense of their leaders

accountability; used multi-rater questions to check theyd not only attained goals, but in

a way that upheld company values and complemented others efforts to attain their own

O linked pay to performance assessment: so managers seen to be rewarded only

when theyd shown competence, delivered results and stayed true to values

Though goals were mostly of the stretch type, they were quickly achieved, and share

price recovery ensured survival. Positive motivational effect of this quickly increasedcustomer satisfaction, as people went beyond call of duty to anticipate and

accommodate needs, and pass round product improvement suggestions.


16/16

References & Further Reading

Are You the Right Man for the Job? FT The Business 8 April 2000

Born to Sell?J Chang Sales and Marketing Management 155(7) July 2003

Employee Workplace Effectiveness: Implications for Performance ManagementPractices Y Wong & R SnellJournal of General Management 29(2) Winter 2003

Fit More Important than Skills D Brown Canadian HR Reporter14 July 2003

Getting to Know YouJ Barbian Training38(6) June 2001

The Organizational Personality and Employee Performance V Natoli Nonprofit World21(1) January/February 2003

People, Competencies and Performance D Hofrichter & T McGovern Compensation andBenefits Review33(4) July/August 2001

Personal Styles and Behaviours P Reid & T Reid Industrial and Commercial Training35(2/3) 2003

Personalities at WorkL Miller Public Personnel Management 32(3) Fall 2003

Personality Fit: A New Approach to RecruitingJ Laabs Workforce August 1999

Psychometric Assessment Under Test N Coull & J Eary Training JournalNovember 2001

Psychometric Tests - Psychokiller? E KeelanAccountancyMay 2003

The Seven Cultures of Capitalism C Hampden-Turner & F Trompenaars Piatkus 1994*

Too Intelligent for the Job? K Moustafa & T Miller SAM Advanced Management Journal68(2)Spring 2003

True or False:Youre Hiring the Right People A Overholt Fast CompanyFebruary 2002

Using the MBTI as a Tool for Leadership Development? Apply With CautionJ MichaelJournal of Leadership and Organization Studies 10(1) Summer 2003

When the Psychometrics of Test Development Meets Organizational RealitiesP Muchinsky Personnel Psychology57(1) Spring 2004

The Wisdom of Employment Testing T Stanley SuperVision 65(2) February 2004

* Indicates books

Managing Difficult

People

The Human Side of

Change

Making Knowledge

Work

The Art of Coaching

Leading Teams

Emotional Leadership

Other Reports:

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Personality, Competence & Fit is published by Bulletpoint Communications Limited, Furness House, 53 Brighton Road, Redhill, SurreyRH1 6RD, UK.Tel: +44 (0)1737 231431. Fax:+44 (0)1737 231432. Entire contents Copyright Bulletpoint Communications Limited.All rightsreserved. Reproduction in any form is unlawful.This publication reflects a synthesis of the references listed. Any opinions expressed in thispublication are not necessarily those of Bulletpoint.Bulletpoint may occasionallymake its subscriber list available to top quality third parties;pleasecontact us if you do not want to receive their information. ISSN 1350-3197

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