Do You Possess the Big Five Traits of
Success?
Passion: a love for the work you’re
doing.
This is what drives motivation,
inspiration, and exceptional performance. The doctor on the tour was an expert
in infection-based diseases. He told me he was hooked on medicine as a career
when he opened his first anatomy book when he was 18. We met an elephant
scientist who thought living in a tent in the bush was a dream come true. It
even paid a small stipend. When I asked a world-class cook at one of the tent
camps on the banks of a hippo-infested river, what his favorite dish was, he
said he couldn't decide. He said he loved them all! Passion is infectious and
it’s worth catching, even if you have to chase an elephant to get it.
Talent: the ability to do
outstanding work.
Skills, knowledge, abilities
(SKAs) and experiences aren't just a list to box-check. This is where most
interviewers – including myself – are often led astray. For some jobs they're
more important than others. For example, the doctor had a memory like an
elephant and the experience to back it up. It was essential for instantly diagnosing
serious medical conditions for 30-40 patients a day. The cook on the other
hand, was a creative genius and in a just a few years was able to demonstrate
his exceptional ability. The scientist was a problem-solver, applying all her
knowledge to ensure the survival of the elephants she clearly loved. It wasn’t
her years of experience that was important, but how she applied them on the
job. Box-checking skills and experience is a waste of time. Instead, assess
people on how these skills and experiences are actually used on the job.
Team Skills: the ability to
influence, organize, develop, lead and cooperate with others.
We had a guide in Rwanda trekking us through the gorillas
in the mist. He was initially quite reserved, but within 15 minutes he had the
porters, the trackers, the guides and the tourists – including the
semi-physically challenged – climbing jungle trails to see a family of gorillas
who seemed not to care we were only five feet away. Seeing team skills in
action was as inspiring as the experience. When assessing team skills ignore first impressions and affability;
instead ask about the teams the person has been assigned to over the past 5-10 years. The bigger and broader the
better.
Thinking: the ability to apply a
person’s SKAs for planning, problem solving, seeing out of the box and decision
making.
The elephant scientist – who was
brilliant – described exactly what she needed to track birth and movement
patterns, but didn’t have access to big data. The doctor – equally brilliant –
was reluctant to change his diagnostic techniques since they worked so well for
the past 20 years. I had no concerns the guide could figure out how to handle
any medical emergency even as we were perched on the side of 45-degree jungle
wall. To figure out thinking skills, just ask candidates how they'd solve
realistic, job-related problems. Then get into a back-and-forth discussion to
understand the logic behind their thought process in developing a solution. The
answer is less important than how they'd figure out the answer. Forget the
brain-teasers and clever questions. They don’t predict the thinking skills
needed for success.
Perseverance: the fortitude and
commitment to get the job done regardless of the circumstances. Sometimes you have to live in a tent. Sometimes you don't
have all the tools, time or resources to get the job done properly. Getting the
job done without making excuses is at the core of the big five. You might even
want to give up a little of all of the other traits to get it.
Even if a candidate possesses these
big five traits of success, it won't matter in the long run if the fit isn't
right. So while not a big five personal trait, assessing fit needs to be
a part of every assessment.
Fit: the relationship of the job,
the team, the manager, and the company culture to performance.
If the candidate isn't passionate
about the actual work, it's unlikely the person will be a star performer. If
the leadership style of the manager clashes with the needs of the new hire,
underperformance is assured. If the person can't work with the team or doesn't
fit with the company culture (pace, level of sophistication, decision-making
process, resource availability, etc.), expect mediocre results. While fit is of
vital importance, few hiring managers assess it formally or properly. Instead,
most rely on gut-feel, intuition, and first impressions. My approach is to
embed each of these fit factors into
a performance-based job description clarifying actual job
requirements. I then ask candidates to describe their most comparable
accomplishments and ask about each of these critical fit factors. This is The
Most Important Interview Question of All Time. The best people are those that can thrive
regardless of the circumstances and who don’t make excuses when things go awry.
So whether you're hiring doctors,
scientists, cooks, guides or whatever, don't ignore the big five. As important,
recognize that the big five are not generic plug-and-play skills and abilities.
They need to be assessed in comparison to actual job needs and the underlying
fit factors. That's how to tame your own jungle.
Lou Adler
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140306163344-15454-do-you-possess-the-big-five-traits-of-success?trk=eml-ced-b-art-M-0&midToken=AQGIPog6-r4O6Q&ut=23nNjB1SP8AS81
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