Of all the characteristics that are measured and reported on the Performance Profile results report, there is one that most of my new clients identify as the most important: mental abilities. “I want to hire the brightest people I can find for the job,” is a comment I have heard many times.
But does high intelligence guarantee exceptional performance? In my experience, the answer is, “Not necessarily.” I readily concede that exceptional performance on the job is less likely if basic mental abilities are too far below average, but my experience tells me that average to above average mental abilities are more than adequate for most jobs.
Why is it that exceptionally high intelligence doesn’t always guarantee exceptional performance, whereas someone with average intelligence may be one of your consistently exceptional performers? To answer that, we need to look at the less measurable characteristics that I believe contribute to exceptional performance on the job.
The Anatomy of Exceptional Performance
A complete list of the characteristics, attitudes, and abilities that contribute to exceptional performance would be several pages long, but there are three important ones: curiosity, motivation, and experience.
Curiosity – The Soul of Exceptional Performance
Curiosity is the soul of exceptional performance. My dictionary defines curiosity as, “The desire to learn or know about anything; inquisitiveness.” The curious person asks questions: “Why do we do it this way?” “How can we do it better?” “What would our customers like that we aren’t giving them?” He looks for new ways to do things, new ways to satisfy customers, and new ways to improve “the way we’ve always done it.”
Motivation – The Heart of Exceptional Performance
If curiosity is the soul of exceptional performance, then motivation is its heart. Motivation is the thing that takes the good idea that curiosity comes up with and turns it into action. If curiosity is the seeker, motivation is the doer. Motivation overcomes obstacles, deals with objectives, and finds a way to make the idea work in the real world. Motivation gets things done.
Experience – The Muscle of Exceptional Performance
Curiosity and motivation are necessary, but they need experience to show the way to consistently exceptional performance. Curiosity and motivation alone are what people who are new to the working world, such as interns, sometimes have. They may have great ideas and strong motivation to try them out, but lack the experience that would provide guidance for how to proceed and how to succeed.
Experience can generate counter-intuitive solutions to seemingly insoluble problems. It can create the insights that go beyond textbook explanations into how things actually work. It can create the vision to see how solving one problem can be applied to a completely different kind of problem.
How To Hire For Exceptional Performance
An individual is most likely to be able to apply her mental abilities to produce exceptional performance when she is curious, motivated, and has relevant work experience. The stronger the level of mental abilities when these three factors are present (curiosity, motivation, and relevant work experience), the more likely the exceptional performance. These folks don’t walk in the door every day, but the goods news is that they don’t have to. Any one of these three attributes, or any combination of them, can result in exceptional performance. Let’s look at ways to evaluate a candidate’s level of relevant experience, motivation, and curiosity.
How To Recognize Relevant Work Experience In An Applicant
There are two warnings that are important to keep in mind when you evaluate a candidate’s work experience:
· First, you are not looking for any kind of work experience. You want to see work experience that is relevant to the job you want your applicant to do.
· Second, although the resume is the first place to look for relevant work experience, remember that it may be a better example of the applicant’s creative writing abilities than an accurate and complete description of what the person actually did.
Start with a good idea of what the new candidate will be required to do, and from that understanding, prepare a guide for the kind of work experience you would want to see in a candidate. Remember, you are looking for evidence of actual experience, not just job titles (which can be misleading.) Then, check references! Try to pin down exactly what the applicant’s duties and responsibilities were for any job listed on his resume. A department head with responsibility for two subordinates and one project faces a much less demanding job, for example, than does a department head with eighteen subordinates and multiple project responsibilities.
How To Recognize Curiosity In An Applicant
There is no good way to measure curiosity directly, but you can look for indirect indicators. One such indirect indicator is the Intelligence rating on the Performance Profile report. Higher ratings on this characteristic indicate an individual who has the intellectual horsepower to question the obvious solution or process that isn’t working, and look “outside the box” for a better way.
A word of caution: greater intellectual ability does not guarantee curiosity. A fairly common lament in athletics, for example, is, “He never lived up to his potential.” In a similar way, strong mental capacity provides the potential for curiosity, but it doesn’t guarantee that the potential will be used. For that reason, look for other indirect indicators of latent curiosity. In the interview, questions that can be answered with “yes” or “no” will seldom provide you with much insight into how curious a person is. Instead, ask candidate about his interests. Does she appear to be interested in new challenges, problems, or opportunities?
How To Recognize Motivation In An Applicant
The strength of a person’s motivation to succeed on the job is influenced by the person’s health, financial situation, ambition, and by countless other issues particular to the person. Like curiosity, motivation is hard to measure directly, and at least part of the reason is that we don’t all mean the same thing when we use the word, “motivation!”
Once again, you are best served by looking at indirect measures to evaluate a candidate’s motivation. Start with his Intelligence rating on the Performance Profile report and then look also at Energy Level and Impulse Control.
Generally speaking, higher Energy Level ratings indicate both the capacity and preference for turning ideas into action. A strong energy level is the gas that drives the engine of multiple activities and accomplishments. To pursue multiple activities takes energy as well as an interest (curiosity again!) in the activities, and so it stands to reason that a person with abundant energy will have more capacity to commit to accomplishing ideas, and to setting and reaching goals.
Impulse Control is the accelerator pedal (or control) on a person’s Energy Level. It’s good to see a reasonable amount of Impulse Control as Energy Level increases, because that is what allows the individual to channel and control all that energetic action.
Again, there are exceptions to every rule. There are individuals with lower energy levels who demonstrate high motivation to work hard and succeed because they have learned how to manage their energy level and focus it on accomplishing goals. But they are the exception.
In Summary
Exceptional performance is rare, and that’s why we call it “exceptional.” Select the candidate with the most potential for exceptional performance, and then nurture that potential through careful placement and specific coaching. Exceptional performance is not just a matter of finding and hiring the smartest candidate. Exceptional performance can be developed once you understand the attributes that your new employee brings to the job. And that will be the subject of my next newsletter.
Remember, people are not your most important asset:
