Bill bill's Results

Strategic Insights

A person with collaboration high in their results is often an excellent match for roles where they get to be part of a team. In the sports world, they are more basketball than cross-country. They would rather be part of a band than a solo singer-songwriter. It is useful to find those who value high levels of collaboration because some of the jobs that people assume are the most mundane receive some of the highest levels of job satisfaction. Why? It’s often because the people in those jobs get to work closely with others as part of a team, and that’s what they end up enjoying the most.

Having collaboration in their top three means that this person wants to be part of a larger process and contributing to a team is a large part of what motivates them. They can get beyond some of the more mundane tasks if they feel connected to the larger team and process. Managers should make sure these employees are actually working on team projects rather than working alongside a bunch of people doing their own thing with very little interaction. We’re social creatures, and we love to achieve things together. This is especially true for those scoring high on collaboration.

Things to Consider for Fit with a Position

• Will the person in this position primarily work alone or will they work closely with others on a team?
• Find other people who have this position and ask them what they like most about their job. See if anything related to “the people they work with” shows up. If so, that’s an excellent clue that this is might be a good position for someone scoring high on collaboration.
• What do you know about the team they would be working on? How often do they see each other and work together? How socially functional is it?

Evaluation Questions

This section provides a series of questions, tailored to the tested attributes, that will help you as you recruit top talent, work to retain valued team members, and develop a more effective work culture.

Describe your ideal workflow?

Collaboration can signal a high degree of value in the “process.” Often those who value collaboration describe their job as a series of tasks and responsibilities and how they interact with the overall operation of the business. They tend to be less focused on the outcome (that is not to say the outcome isn’t important to them). To ensure a candidate is a good fit with your team you need to learn how they like to work. This question can help with that.

When working on a team, who is ultimately responsible for the outcome? Who should receive credit or blame for the results of a project?

Ownership of an idea and its outcome is important. Those who value collaboration are often good contributors to group conversations. Their willingness to accept responsibility or share praise for coauthored work varies. Understanding these motivators will help you manage them more effectively.

If you were given a solo project that you did not know how to do, how would you get it done?

Sometimes those who value collaboration struggle to work solo. If you are looking for someone to perform tasks on their own, you need to understand how they’ll go about accomplishing the task at hand. Collaboration signals a propensity to work with others, but it is also a common attribute of great networkers. Asking this question will help you strategize with the employee and understand how their skill set can be used to bring others together to solve a problem.

Strategic Insights

Status is different from power or financial reward. With status high on their list this person likely values respect/admiration, voluntary deference by others, prestige, or having their advice sought by others. Status-seeking is universal and, done right, can lead to considerable long-term benefits for employee and employer alike.

It is important to understand that status-seeking is not necessarily inherently selfish. Rather than calling it status, call it “earned respect.” It’s social feedback that helps measure the success of one’s endeavors. Earned respect distinguishes employees who have exceeded expectations. This means that they are particularly attuned to the value of the evaluations of other humans. Caring about others, and what they think, is a great thing! It can obviously be overdone, and these employees need to be willing to do the right thing even if it won’t help them socially/politically. However, many times, those social signals are helping to point them in the right direction.

They might benefit from a position where they will be able to stand out quickly. One way this often happens is in “big fish, small pond” situations where from the get-go their employer is grateful, and even a little surprised, to have someone like them joining their team. Their title and responsibilities might be a little more prestigious than they would be at a larger organization. This is meaningful to these employees and often drives them to do even better work and take their job even more seriously than others who care less about status.

Being the expert of something on a team is also a great way to enjoy earned respect. Getting to utilize valuable skills that they may hold (or develop) on a team where their contributions are vital can be very rewarding to them, even without a title. And if they enjoy a little more competition, find them a job that focuses largely on individual contributions and recognizes them.

Things to Consider for Fit with a Position

• Is there a clear path to promotion? What does that look like? Be very clear on this upfront and stand by your word.
• Tell them a little bit about some of their top performers and what makes them stand out.
• If you are hoping to woo them over, tell them a little about what stands out to you in their application. (NOTE: this isn’t just for ego-boosting, this is to give them a sense of how much you value/are impressed by them from the get-go.)

Evaluation Questions

This section provides a series of questions, tailored to the tested attributes, that will help you as you recruit top talent, work to retain valued team members, and develop a more effective work culture.

In one sentence describe how you want people to see you professionally?

Status or influence can be a powerful motivator. From the answers to this question, you can gain insight into whether you can help the interviewee reach their goals

If you are looking back over your career in 5 years from now, how will you know if you have been successful?

Success looks different to each of us. Having a personalized definition from a team member will help you with your review process.

Five years from now what does your ideal job look like? What title do you have?

The ability to forecast a career path is critical to motivating a person who is seeking influence. Answers to this question will help you determine the likelihood of satisfaction (and longevity) for an individual within your organization.

Autonomy is an APPROACH

Employee satisfaction in careers depends on how work gets done, not just the nature of the work performed. The same job at different organizations or in different situations can lead to drastically different levels of productivity and worker satisfaction. Understanding how employees want to do their work is key to maximizing productivity, satisfaction, and retention.

Two people can fill a role effectively but can approach their work very differently. Their success and happiness depend largely on their ability to work in the most effective way for them. As an employer, you are looking for a good fit between how potential employees like to approach their work, and how the job at your organization actually gets done, or how much room (or responsibility) the employee has in shaping how their work gets done.

Strategic Insights

Someone with autonomy high in their results values being trusted and appreciates having room to figure out their own way of getting things done. Autonomy can lead to a virtuous cycle with intrinsic motivation – intrinsically motivated employees respond most positively to autonomy, and when given that autonomy they then become more motivated.

Autonomy is deeply intertwined with ownership and trust. Autonomy is the level of discretion employees have over their work and how they do it. The higher the skill level needed for a job, the more autonomy the employee has. Being an expert at something has many perks, and one of them is higher levels of autonomy. Studies show that workers who have high levels of autonomy in their job tend to have better job performance and satisfaction, organizational commitment, lower work-related stress, less fatigue, and more intrinsic motivation.

Autonomy is largely decided by three things: what position an employee occupies within the organization, what type of work they do (surgeon, firefighter, customer service rep, etc.), and who their manager is. Some jobs and positions tend to naturally allow more autonomy, but even in the seemingly best of positions, a micromanaging manager can destroy an employee’s sense of autonomy.

Workers who have autonomy very high in their wants are likely to succeed in jobs where their performance is outcome-based, and their work processes don’t rely on high levels of constant coordination. It’s also worth noting that autonomy doesn’t necessarily mean working alone (though it can). High functioning and close-knit teams can still have high levels of individual, and team, autonomy. Employees who desire autonomy are looking for a role where their tasks are relatively self-contained, and levels of trust are high.

Things to Consider for Fit with a Position

• How is success measured in this role?
• Who else would the worker in this role need to work with to be successful?
• Who else in the organization can do this role? (Often roles that cannot be done by others have higher levels of autonomy—whether that’s being the organization data-wizard, tax accountant, or courier. If nobody else can/will do it, it’s harder to micromanage them.)

Evaluation Questions

This section provides a series of questions, tailored to the tested attributes, that will help you as you recruit top talent, work to retain valued team members, and develop a more effective work culture.

Tell me about your ideal boss?

Candidates who value autonomy highly often recognize the need for leadership, but it is worth understanding how they see themselves interacting with management. Their answer will help you assess their fit within your organization.

How would you (insert task here)?

People who value autonomy need the latitude to do things their way but that doesn’t always mean that everyone understands how to do things well. Gaining insight into how they would approach their job and problem-solve will help you evaluate their ability to be productively self-directed.

Can you describe a situation when you realized that you needed support or direction from a supervisor, and how did you recognize the need for help? How did you get it?

It is imperative for workers who prize autonomy to be able to recognize when they are in over their heads. Probing to see if a candidate possesses that ability will help you make better hiring decisions.

Strategic Insights

Often in early careers, as well as when we are changing industries or job functions, training can be one of the most valuable forms of compensation. Training is an investment. It can be valuable both monetarily and for long-term progress. Professional training is, on some level, why we go to university and accept apprenticeships or internships. With training high in their results, an employee might be at a time in their career where gaining access to expertise is valuable to them. They will appreciate positions where they will get quality mentorship and have access to learning "insiders' tricks," even if this training comes at the cost of a larger starting salary, an impressive title, or other desirable outcomes. (See their other highs and lows to figure out what their optimum tradeoffs are).

While many focus on the external benefits of their current job, these employees focus more on the internal. Rather than simply giving them things of value, they want a job that will make them more valuable. This can obviously pay great dividends in the future and putting a little more thought as a manager into their developmental process is good practice anyway. Studies show that we are constantly seeing ourselves on a path towards our “ideal self.” Though we may not talk about it a lot, we do care about it, and a job that they feel is clearly helping them to move in that direction is a job where they are happier and less likely to leave.

The extrinsic motivations for training are easy to explain. More skills generally equate to greater monetary reward down the line. It’s not just the external benefits though. When one feels like they are improving in something, they feel better about themselves, and for good reason. They’re succeeding on their path towards a more ideal self! In a sense, when a job is successfully helping them to develop, they are better today than they were yesterday, and this means a lot to them. Training may be formal, through workshops, tuition reimbursement, or certifications, or informal, through challenging but achievable goals that require the employee to learn new things and get better at old things to succeed.

Advice is only as good as the person giving it. Try to be thoughtful about who this person will learn from. The mentor-mentee relationship is one of the most powerful in business. Choosing the right mentor can accelerate their career rapidly. Just as selecting the wrong trainer can set them back.

Things to Consider for Fit with a Position

• Do you offer any (meaningful) training programs for new hires? Who would they be working with and how valuable is that to them?
• Are senior members of the organization available to advise newer employees?
• If they have questions or want feedback on my performance, to whom should they direct their questions? Can you officially put people in positions to always be an open ear to this kind of training and feedback?

Evaluation Questions

This section provides a series of questions, tailored to the tested attributes, that will help you as you recruit top talent, work to retain valued team members, and develop a more effective work culture.

What would make an excellent mentor?

An individual who values training often finds that training through an individual mentor. Asking what attributes make for a good mentor will help you determine how/if you can offer the support they need.

What do you feel is our role in preparing you for (insert job title) and what is your responsibility to prepare yourself?

Receiving support is important but some skills are developed through trial and error. It is important to understand the proper balance within your organization and for those you work with to be well positioned to succeed in that environment. This question helps start a conversation about the organization’s responsibility to train and the individual’s responsibility to learn.

If you feel unprepared for an assignment I give you in the future, how will you let me know that you need more guidance?

Communication is critical, especially when someone is looking for training. This question will facilitate a conversation about how you can communicate needs and expectations as the relationship develops.

Strategic Insights

A person scoring low in sociability is not necessarily bad at socializing. This score does not give you secret insight into who might be a jerk. Nor does it mean that this person works best alone. What it means is that they do not require as much social interaction to be fulfilled at work. With sociability low in their rankings this person might not be greatly impacted by relationships with their co-workers or is ok working more independently. Office politics are likely to have less impact on their life unless it makes getting the job done more difficult. They can be considered for employment that is remote, or independent, with more confidence than most.

Sociability is one of the rarest attributes to find in the bottom of someone’s results. Interacting with others helps us achieve a degree of personal satisfaction. This person is likely getting their social connections elsewhere. That said, there may be some benefit to occasionally going out of your way to help them feel welcomed and valued as a member of the team. Even those who aren’t looking for a lot of sociability at work want to feel respected and valued. This is particularly true if they are in a leadership position.

Strategic Insights

Scholars often delineate between ‘generalists’ and ‘specialists.’ Because this person cares less about being a specialist, they can focus all of their efforts on being an excellent generalist. Great generalists are extremely valuable, and generally make excellent managers, because they can “speak the language” of different areas of expertise and help them work together. The best generalists are excellent at making connections between different specialties because they have some familiarity with all of them. Specialists are generally less equipped to do this and must rely on generalists to bridge the gap between different groups. A team of all specialists, with no generalists, is likely to be producing at far below their capacity because they are short of people who understand the various parts well enough to effectively combine them. This is why generalists often become the best managers (and specialists are somewhat less likely to excel in management positions).

The generalists who thrive are often, in reality, specialists in organization and social politics. What this means is that they are particularly good at helping teams work together, organizing their efforts, smoothing over social mismatches between various factions, and helping everyone get the most from their work. They can be helped tremendously by being given the vision of themself as a generalist who needs to get pretty good at lots of things but doesn’t necessarily have to be the very best in any one thing. This can be extremely valuable.

Strategic Insights

When someone scores low on excitement, it doesn't mean that they like boring work or, even worse, that they are boring. There are plenty of very boring wilderness firefighters. What it means is that they don't need their work to provide that excitement for them. This is a great asset because it gives you more flexibility with them, whereas others, who really want to find excitement AT WORK, have fewer options.

Because excitement is often the result of some amount of chaos, jobs that focus on making things run smoothly, creating steady growth, and organizing or arranging things/operations tend to be about creating order, and are very fulfilling, even if they are less exciting.

Excitement is a whole-body experience, and day-in-day-out, excitement can be rough on a person. People who desire excitement at work often pay for it in other areas. This person may be aware of that and have plenty of excitement elsewhere. Scoring low on excitement may make them a poor fit for a few jobs, but it makes them a much better fit for far more jobs. In fact, reducing excitement can motivate people in this category. This is exactly what you want from your IT professionals, receptionists, most operations roles, accountants, quality control, and risk management, to name a few. Jobs that focus on making things run smoothly are often especially satisfying for those who score low on excitement, to the benefit everyone.

Strategic Insights

Having remuneration at the bottom of their results table does not mean that this person doesn’t care about money. We all need money. What is suggested by this result is that after meeting their basic needs and personal financial goals, how much money they make takes a backseat to other forms of compensation. They might prefer to be “paid” with more time with family, a friendly work environment, or a prestigious title.

A study from Princeton University found that having a higher income increases happiness only up to about $80,000 per year. Beyond that, higher pay doesn’t influence our happiness very much, and other things start to matter more. This finding has been replicated multiple times. Most people think that being rich will make them happy. Relatedly, most people making $80,000 a year don’t feel rich, but studies show they are just as likely to be happy as people who are making much more money. A person with remuneration low on their list is free to prioritize other values.

Employers often love the idea of having remuneration low in their report, for obvious reasons. But don’t make the mistake of thinking it just means you can pay them less. It primarily means that they care about other things more, so if you’re able to provide the things that are high on their list, enjoy the fact that right now they don’t require as much money to be satisfied.