Are you the right person for your job?
Have you ever come across someone who was excellent for their job in many respects, well trained, organised and clever, and yet you didn’t like dealing with them? Perhaps they were rude, or gave you the impression that you were a hassle in their day.
I heard a business owner share a similar experience to this the other day – he said that he had one girl on the front desk of his hotel. People would phone to book and she would analyse their situation and tell them what she thought would benefit them, often encouraging them to stay elsewhere (at a hotel closer to the event they were traveling for etc). She viewed the phone (the customers) as an intrusion on her day.
Out the back was another lady. She loved to talk on the phone, and organise work functions. Unfortunately she was officially in charge of keeping the books. The books were a mess and took a couple of days a month of the accountant’s time to sort out. Under the banner of multi skilling their staff, this business owner swapped the two ladies around and found that they worked much better.
Businesses run better when people with the right personality attributes are in the right jobs. Training is easy to acquire, you can teach someone how to use a spread sheet, but you cannot necessarily teach them to love being meticulous.
I had an interesting experience recently that caused me to think about the question of how suited we are to our jobs.
I had to go in for an unexpected medical visit and my specialist was away so I saw a different doctor. He had years of training and he was definitely professionally qualified to treat me.
I was very surprised when he walked and began to criticise me personally for the way I had been taking care of myself.
I was too shocked to say much back to him, but I spent much of the rest of the afternoon thinking about the incident.
The conclusion that I came to was that despite years of training and plenty of smarts, he was not actually suited to the job of treating people.
Why? Because a large part of successfully treating people is being able to have a good rapport with them.
I would also say that he misunderstood his basic responsibility, which was to be a resource for me. He felt that our difference of opinion on my treatment was a direct challenge to his authority, while I see it as a right to have an opinion.
This experience underscored for me that not everybody is suited to every job, and that although formal education and experience are important, so is personality.
Bringing this closer to home, what do we do if we suspect that we have staff who are square pegs in round holes, or what do we do if as business owners we feel that we do not have the personality attributes needed to make the business succeed?
Firstly let’s talk about some of the information on personality analysis that we can use to review our situations.
There are many different personality analysis systems out there, and while it is easy to go overboard in their use, they can be helpful, provided a few points are remembered.
- People can change over time. So although someone may look either suitable or unsuitable for a certain position now, that can change in the future.
- People change according to circumstances and their relationships with those around them. Some situations pull out or analytical sides, some our people friendly sides etc. Some people pull out our different sides – I am sure we have all encountered customers who make us feel like we have great customer service skills, and other customers who make us feel like Shrek.
One personality assessment tool I heard being discussed recently is DISC. (Dominance Influence Steadiness Conscientiousness).
It basically says that everyone is made up of these four basic different personality types.
- Dominance: Direct and Decisive. These people tend to be independent and results driven. They are strong-willed people who enjoy challenges, taking action, and immediate results. Their focus tends to be on the bottom line and results.
- Influence: Outgoing and Optimistic. These individuals tend to be very social and out going. They prefer participating on teams, sharing thoughts, and entertaining and energizing others.
- Steadiness: Stability and Status Quo. These people tend to be your team players and are supportive, cooperative and helpful to others. They prefer being behind the scene, working in consistent and predictable ways. They are often good listeners and avoid change and conflict
- Conscientiousness: Cautious. These people are often focused on details and quality. They plan ahead, constantly check for accuracy, and what to know “how” and “why”.
This description makes Dominance sound the most exciting, I think, but all these aspects are important to a well rounded business (and person).
In the story I shared at the start of the article, of the two women working in the hotel, the lady keeping the books was a strong I, and the lady at the front desk was a strong C. Swapping them was an easy solution.
Other possible solutions for staff “in the wrong place” include retraining, although you cannot always train someone to become something that they currently are not. This would have to be looked at on an individual basis.
You can move staff around or you might decide that there is no suitable position for them in your business. This would indicate that you made an error in the initial hiring, as generally any real objections to hiring someone should become apparent during a well run interview process.
Perhaps the more pressing problem is what to do with yourself if you feel that you are unsuited to your job! It is a particularly big problem if you are the owner of a micro business, perhaps its only employee, what do you do?
Well, it is worth honestly evaluating yourself. How balanced do you feel you are between the four quadrants? This site has further information http://www.internalchange.com/what-is-disc.htm
Another good tool to use to assess yourself is Michael Gerber’s Emyth Revisited. In this book he talks about the fact that every business needs
Technician – does the actual work – the plumbing, the teaching etc
Manager – Organises. Likes procedures, likes to make things efficient.
Entrepreneur – Dreams. Comes up with new ideas, is focused on business direction.
So, once you feel you have a handle on what your strengths are, look at ways of balancing out your weaknesses.
You may need to hire people who complement you, you may need to outsource just a few things (to book keepers, IT support). You may decide that your biggest lack is in the entrepreneurial department, and in that case it can help to get together with other small business owners and talk about ideas, or to calendar a few hours a week as a time that you will think about your business, rather than just working in it.
