Crowd Pleasers- How to Spot them!
Employees whose personality types are disruptive at work and typically put a wrench in productivity exist in every organization and can be “walking liabilities”.
One type is the “Crowd Pleaser”.
Characteristics: Plays the populist role naturally, likeable, affable, humorous, a live wire and life of the party; knows what and how to say it to the right crowd at the right time and place.
It seems basic. If you like what you are doing it doesn’t feel so much like work. If you enjoy doing something you are more likely to continue doing it and do it well. So shouldn’t a personality assessment being used to measure job suitability include measuring work satisfaction?
Measuring work satisfaction is essential to determine motivation and forecast whether an individual will prosper, succeed and stay with the organization. Most behavioral and personality assessments fail to measure work satisfaction and are therefore limited to predicting personality.
Harrison Assessments’ twenty five plus years of research prove that employees who enjoy at least 75% or more of their job are three times more likely to succeed than employees who enjoy less than 75% of their job. Measuring factors related to work satisfaction makes it possible to predict job success and therefore hire, motivate and retain top talent.
Incessant Complainers. Do you have this type of employee in your organization?
Characteristics: Non-stop complaining about the company, the working environment, colleagues and customers; does not see problems as opportunities to improve a situation. Complains about things but walks away when called to take up the challenge to change things for better.
Traits to look out for: Low willingness to take up challenges. Has a very strong mindset of what things “ought to be”. Low or moderate technical competencies to perform the job and has a weak desire to improve oneself by taking the necessary actions to learn new skills and adopt a mindset shift to address issues constructively.
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There are typically all sorts of various personalities working in an organization. In previous blogs we have reviewed a few. The Drama King/Queen, The Incessant Complainer, etc. Do you have a few “ego almighty’s” working in your company?
“I HATE my work!” How successful do you think someone will be at a job who says this? “I don’t care if you hate it, just do it”. How long will this company be operating if this is the most often said comment from the team leader?
The Harrison Assessment’s Paradox Theory predicates that performance and enjoyment are closely linked, because when one enjoys doing something in particular, one tends to do it more willingly and often. This in turn makes one very competent in that task and thereby makes one an effective exponent of that particular job. Workers who have a great time doing whatever it is that captivates them, will be effective performers and ultimately add to the company’s success rate!
The key is to find what turns on a particular worker and provide an environment where this is readily found and you’ll have a recipe for employee success for sure!
To Hire Leaders from Within, or to bring in Outside Leaders? That is the Question
During these times of high structural unemployment, finding skilled workers to fill open skilled positions is among the top challenges in virtually every organization. As the economy improves, top talent will have more choices and attrition will accelerate. In addition, “X” and “Y” generation leaders will require us to evaluate our approach to career progression/options, work-life balance and global factors. This, along with strategic uncertainty, the impact of social media and data overload, and the increasing velocity of business, indicates mounting people challenges ahead for businesses large and small.
Sometimes hiring external candidates to meet these needs is a sound strategy. However, according to research by the Center for Creative Leadership, an astonishing 66% of senior managers hired from the outside fail within 18 months. Clearly, our historic view of leadership and talent pipeline readiness will have to be redefined.
Harrison Assessments International recognizes that as the population ages, the competition for attracting good, skilled Gen X and Gen Y employees heats up. Employers are finding that monetary rewards are not enough to attract and retain younger workers.
Jamie Gutfreund of the Intelligence Group spends a great deal of time examining the differing motivations and preferences of the generations. Gutfreund (herself a member of Generation X) says it’s important to bear in mind that Xers were culturally different from the Baby Boom Generation that preceded them.
While boomers insisted on being heard by the world, “we [Xers] were a smaller generation [less than half the size of the boomer generation] who felt no one was listening to us,” she says. “We felt we had to fight” to have a voice, to make an impact, to earn a seat at the table of power.
Innovation, Innovation, Innovation. It is hard to read a newspaper or business journal without finding an article on innovation or a reference to how companies must innovate to stay competitive. But the question that few articles address is how does a company become innovative or foster a culture of innovation?
Most will agree that people are the key to innovation, which raises yet another question – how do you know if someone is innovative? There is no easy way to identify innovative people from non-innovative people. Fortunately, there are critical traits found within people who are considered innovative leaders. This creates the opportunity to utilize personality trait assessments to identify those with the most innovative potential.
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One of the fundamental learning objectives in most leadership development training programs is delegation. But how exactly do you go about teaching delegation? Most emerging leaders are identified as top prospects because they excel at performing specific tasks. Their competence is what fuels their success; but when promoted, they are suppose to let go and stop doing the very tasks they have been rewarded for performing well. For some, delegating those tasks to others is is easy; and for others, it is a perpetual struggle.
The challenge for HR and training professional is determining how easily someone will learn to delegate tasks, especially under a stressful environment.
“According to a recent Harris Poll … a stunning majority (69%) of the managers said that they’re often uncomfortable communicating with employees. Over a third (37%) of the managers said that they’re uncomfortable having to give direct feedback about their employees’ performance if they think the employee might respond negatively to the feedback.”
Effective communication is a core trait of leadership and there is an abundance of training materials, books, and articles designed to help leaders improve critical communication skills. Although communication training is a core emphasis within almost every leadership development program, the recent Harris Poll shows that a focus on effective communication skills alone is not enough to help managers and leaders learn how to effectively communicate. What is not provided in the training is the understanding and awareness of how different people react to critical feedback.
By knowing in advance how employees are likely to respond to critical feedback, managers are better able to prepare themselves and develop a plan that allows them to effectively utilize their communication training. Personality Trait Assessments are a valuable tool that can provide managers the insight they need to feel more comfortable communicating with employees and providing critical feedback.
Forbes Magazine published an article on Accountability titled, “7 Ways to Build Accountable Organizations”. Within the article, the author posses the question:
Where do you need to invest your time and attention to build an environment of accountability?
The Forbes’ article on accountability effectively covers the core procedural elements necessary to be able to monitor and report on accountability: clearly defined job roles, mutually agreed upon tasks, positive incentives, consistent reviews, etc. However, the article like many other periodicals on accountability overlooks the significance of job fit.
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In today’s specialized work environment, talent is not enough. Talented people must effectively work together in order for the organization to succeed. HR budgets are tight and finding the right combination of talented people who can work together day in and day out to achieve positive results is difficult. As any good sports team knows, getting the right talent on the team in the right positions working together is imperative.
Harrison Assessments Paradox Theory reveals team dynamics in a way that has never before been possible, enabling individual team members to easily identify how their own behaviors contribute or obstruct the team objectives.
The Verbal Caustic- another Toxic Employee
Almost every organization has experienced some form or another of a Toxic Employee; someone who, whether consciously or subconsciously, disrupts or hinders the advancement of productivity in the workplace.
Also known as “walking liabilities”, they say things and they do things that make them a huge liability. Just because you haven’t been sued for it doesn’t mean they aren’t walking around creating liability for you.
One of those types is the VERBAL CAUSTIC.
Characteristics: Steps on others without even realizing it; blunt and caustic; laser-tongued. Thinks he/she is just being honest, does not know when he/she hurts others’ feelings or doesn’t sufficiently consider others needs while pushing for his/her own (this is certainly not always the case and is less likely).
Do you have a Mini Napoleon employee in your midst?
Almost every organization has experienced some form or another of a Toxic Employee; someone who, whether consciously or subconsciously, disrupts or hinders the advancement of productivity in the workplace.
Also known as “walking liabilities”, they say things and they do things that make them a huge liability. Just because you haven’t been sued for it doesn’t mean they aren’t walking around creating liability for you. One type of toxic employee is the “Mini Napoleon”.
Suitability AND Eligibility.. The winning combination in HR that can help you find the win/win candidate.
Choosing the best candidate to recruit and hire is not an easy task. However, hiring right the first time can save you a lot of time and your company a lot of money. Today forward thinking companies are using HSM’s and new tools to choose the best candidates. A successful HR manager will use tools that focus on both “suitability AND eligibility” to attract and retain good candidates.
Some recruiters make the mistake of hiring people only for their qualifications, resulting in bad hires related to behavioral weaknesses.
Other recruiters make the mistake of over-emphasizing behavioral factors by eliminating people only on the basis of their behavioral assessments. Sometimes they even unfairly eliminate candidates based on a single behavioral factor. Behavioral assessments should be part of the overall assessment that includes qualifications such as experience, education, and skills. That’s why the Harrison system provides a unique eligibility assessment that complements the suitability assessment, providing an overall score for better hiring and succession planning.
Do you have an “Emotionally Moody” type person working for you?
Almost every organization today has experienced a “Bad Apple” employee; someone who, whether consciously or subconsciously, disrupts or hinders the advancement of productivity in the workplace. One type of bad apple is the “Emotionally Moody”.
Characteristics: Temperamental and goes through mood swings; difficult to predict the best time to communicate with such employees. Appears distant and can be rather cold towards others; unable to control emotions and finds it diffcult to maintain self-composure.
Traits to look out for: Introverted, low self-esteem, easily tensed and poor stress management techniques, intolerant to bluntness, pessimistic, weak in interpersonal skills and display low comfort with conflict.
Psychological Traits of a Good White Collar Worker
Baby Boomers remember the old days that had set working hours. You went to work and then around five p.m., you packed up your stuff and went home. If there were an emergency you might stay until five-thirty.
Those days are gone! White-collar work, sometimes called Knowledge Work, is never done. Your immediate To Do list might have twenty items on it, but right behind the immediate To Do list is a supplemental To Do list with another forty action items on it and after that list is done, there’s a third one waiting.
Most white collar workers today need to be able to work autonomously (that big college word for trusted to work on your own and get it done without supervision). And yet, they also need to be able to work cohesively as part of a team when the need arises.
But not all white collar jobs are created equal.
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Do you have a Zealous Extremist working for you?
Characteristics: Strong personal values and life principles; completely passionate and committed to his own belief system. Can be overzealous in preaching or influencing others towards one’s belief system.
Traits to look out for: High influencing power, highly cause-motivated, highly certain and enjoys teaching and/or making presentations.
Negative side: Can either work with the organization or against the organization, depending on whether their values are aligned or different.
How to assess when you hire: If the interviewer finds the above tendencies through profiling, it is critical to takes the time to fully explore the individual’s values as well as the alignment with the organization’s value and direction.
You may even have a “Zealous Extremist” as an employee.
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Robo Advising HR
Algorithms seem to be the hot topic and “Robo Advising” is one of the newest fads. Algorithms are used for predicting everything from the weather, sports, economic indicators, and financial data to who is the best person to date? Trying to predict behavior is nothing new, people in ancient times used oracles, fortune tellers and crystal balls. Today’s technology uses algorithms and the new age of “robo advising” has begun.
According to dictionary.com an Algorithm is: a set of rules for solving a problem in a finite number of steps, as for finding the greatest common divisor.
Even though Algorithm’s are sometimes used in place of a human being, hence the term “robo advisor”, they are ultimately just a very powerful tool that needs to be used with care by human beings in order to accurately predict successful outcomes.
So is there a Robo Advising HR that can choose the right person to hire?
Missing a Step in the Hiring Process
You place an opening on a job board to find the professional employee. This is considered time and money well spent since the position you are filling takes skill and requires a substantial amount of training and investment.
But what do you do with the applicants? How do you know from the resume and their references that they are the right fit for your job? Many past employers are afraid of the legal ramifications of indicating that a person did not work out in the job. Or, they may have an incentive to have you take this bad hire off their hands so they may stretch the truth in order to push the exit.
One of the next steps is typically to choose the top 5-10 and then interview. However, you are “missing a step” in the process.
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