What the Scores Mean
These scores are calculated as a percentage of the possible points your employee could have scored for each attribute. This can help you understand how strong their leanings are towards a specific trait. As you might guess, a higher score means they identify with an attribute more. This isn't a right-or-wrong type of score- just an extra indicator of their preferences!
What is the Domain Breakdown?
This is a snapshot of what form of compensation matters most to your employee and the balance between them. The report is intentionally broad and should be used only as a guide as assess their fit with an opportunity. The three domains (Approach, Environment, and Outcomes) are presented as a diagram proportionally divided to correlate with their responses. We find it helps to see the forest before we focus on the trees.
Basil Boggs's Results
Your employee's results have been compiled below! You will see their High-low Report, which includes breakdowns of their top 3 and bottom 3 key indicators, as well as their Mid Report, which shows which attributes fall in the center of their workplace preferences.
Check out our guide on How to Read Your Results.
Domain Breakdown
What's this?The strength of the Domain scores indicates what class of compensation an individual values most. While not as specific as the individual results that follow, these results help us better understand the priorities and enable more productive conversations. Consider focusing negotiations and team-building discussions around the Domains that are strongest, even if you need to give a little on the side of the chart that is least represented. (For more tips on developing Domain-based strategies, contact our team of consultants.)
High Report
The following results represent the Attributes that contribute most to your employee or candidate's fit with employment opportunities. With the insights shared below, you should be able to develop a strategy that will effectively support evaluating a candidate, contract negotiation, performance evaluation, and aid with their self-discovery.
Predictability Highest Attribute
87%
What's this?Strategic Insights
A person who values predictability is likely a planner. They get more done when they know what is expected and feel capable of exceeding those expectations. They would likely be frustrated by a lack of structure or when there isn't clear guidance.
For these employees, knowing in advance how they will be evaluated is crucial to their success in a new position. Unfortunately, most employers are rarely clear enough about what they need from their employees. This lack of clarity can lead otherwise talented employees to underperform. Because these employees value predictability, they will likely see the tasks that need to be done before others do. This ability to anticipate needs can make them very valuable to their organization as an employee and a leader. Chaos is not what they are looking for.
Regardless of what work they are doing, clear communication, particularly related to expected outcomes, is the key to predictability (and success) in virtually all jobs. Some jobs lend themselves to this type of clarity more than others.
Predictability can also be a management decision, so you have influence in this. If a person’s manager has not given them a clear sense of what is expected from them, they can and should ask some questions to clarify. But even if they do not, a lot of good can be done by checking in on them for the first few months and asking them specifically if there are any aspects of their job that they wish were more predictable. Asking is caring, and actually making improvements is 10x better.
Things to Consider for Fit with a Position
- What would their ideal working day/work week look like?
- How will they know if they are doing a good job?
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 a time where a job was excessively unpredictable and how that impacted work.
Stories like these are invaluable for gaining insight into how people actually see the world, what their expectations are, and what negativities they are acutely sensitive too. Listen to their story and pay attention to what they explain as the central things that were “excessively unpredictable” and the negative outcomes they associate with them. How does this fit with the position you are considering for them?
What is the importance of quality control?
Predictability can coincide with reliability. Some aspects of your operations particularly need to be performed consistently, repeatedly, and reliably. While no one likes boring or exessively repetitive work, someone who values predictability might be ideally suited to work on products that don’t vary as much but have a standard that must be met. They know what to expect every day, what it will take, and when they have done a good job. This question will help you assess a person's capacity to help in these situations.
Tell me about a time when something you were asked to do changed and you had to adjust. What did you do? How did it make you feel?
This question will help you learn how someone deals with change (and emphasize the importance of some degree of flexibility).
Clarity
67%
What's this?Strategic Insights
Someone with clarity high in their results is looking for positions that have clearly defined processes, outcomes, and expectations. Many of the most satisfied employees are so happy because they can see that they have become very good, even expert, at something. The feeling of mastery, and making progress toward mastery, is one of the greatest gifts work can offer.
This doesn’t mean that this person needs their hands held to succeed, far from it. It simply means that success must be clearly defined. Through hard work and ingenuity, with clear benchmarks and expectations, they can become more successful in their role every day. They will do best in jobs where there is little mystery to how success is measured or achieved. They want to spend their time becoming great instead of guessing what they’re supposed to do.
One great way to add some clarity to their role is to provide clear benchmarks of success and failure, and especially, benchmarks for promotion. This helps them and others keep track of what they are capable of doing. Clarity in what these employees need to know lends itself to clarity in what they need to do, which is something they appreciate, and for good reason.
Also remember that, as with predictability, many times you can increase the clarity of a position by encouraging management to set clear, realistic expectations for success up front. Nearly all will benefit from moves in that direction, whatever the case.
Things to Consider for Fit with a Position
- What would their typical day at work look like, and how will they know if they’ve done well that day?
- What would your dream employee for this position eventually become excellent at? Is this a match with what the applicant wants? Be open about this in the interview process.
- How clear are the expectations for how success is measured in this role?
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 questions do you have about the job description or this role?
The job description frames the job to be done but also sets the employee's expectations for performance review. Benchmarking is important for a person who values clarity highly. Unfortunately, most job descriptions are poorly written or only capture the minimum standard. A conversation about the job will help you and your candidates get on the same page.
Tell me about a time when you were asked to do a job but weren’t given directions on how to do it?
Perfect clarity is impossible. But those who value clarity are often good at self-direction, particularly when they know the parameters of the task to be done and their latitude for discussion making. This question will help you assess their judgment.
What are the responsibilities of the manager and the employee in clarifying how a job should be done or a problem solved?
Employment is a relationship. Learning a candidate's views on the roles you and they will play in that relationship is important – particularly if the candidate values clearly defined roles.
Flexibility
60%
What's this?Strategic Insights
Someone with flexibility high in their results wants to be able to blend their work life more seamlessly with the needs and desires they have for the rest of their life. Research shows that those who value flexibility and free time tend to be the happiest and most satisfied with their lives. Why? Because it's a signal that they are overcoming some of the '(un)happiness traps’ of spending too much time focusing on the wrong things, and this makes for better, happier, and more productive employees.
People scoring very high on flexibility often do very well in jobs that are outcome-oriented, perhaps project-based, and where strict, in-person face-to-face time is not frequently demanded. More and more employers are making ways for people to be more flexible with their work, and this is becoming a great differentiator in the job marketplace. Flexibility can be offered in hourly jobs, salaried positions, and production-based work. Management is the single most important factor in determining the flexibility of the organization’s operations. More significant even than the industry or organization.
Covid-19 has lead to dramatic changes regarding flexibility and work. A 2021 Harvard study found that of the workers who switched to working remotely, only 12% wanted to go back to work every day in the office as they did before. The rest wanted to either stay fully remote or return to a hybrid situation with some days remote and some in-office every week. Why? The main reason: flexibility. It turns out that feeling like they are under the constant watchful eyes of their employers and co-workers can dramatically curtail how flexible they feel and act with their time. After the first three to four months of remote work in 2020, productivity return to pre-pandemic levels or higher and has remained high, (though some employers have a hard time believing that, and some jobs obviously require more in-person presence). With a little distance, trust, and freedom people have successfully balanced their work with the most important things in their lives. Some managers and CEOs have a hard time with this and may not be a great match for people scoring very high in flexibility.
This is a fast-moving situation, but things will not just go back to how they were before. The overwhelming majority of workers have tasted flexibility and don’t want to give it up. Among workers who have children, men or women (that’s most of the workforce), only 2% want to return to in-person full time work. Increasingly, the companies that offer the most flexibility will be able to get the best talent. With good trust, good management, and good systems, flexibility can be increased in virtually all jobs to some extent.
Things to Consider for Fit with a Position
- Is there a set time that they absolutely must arrive and leave every day? Is there a good reason for this?
- Are there social pressures to be present even when there is no work to be done?
- What is the organization’s sick day/vacation policy?
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.
Can you give me an example of a day where you were able to get a lot done but still had a lot of flexibility?
A need for flexibility is not the inability to accept structure, it is a desire for fluidity within that structure. You can learn a lot about a person and how they manage their own time by simply asking how they would like to spend their time. The ability to effectively use unstructured time is a huge asset to an employer
Why can policies and procedures be important?
Managing someone with a high need for flexibility is about having a good fence rather than a strong leash. It is important that the boundaries are well understood. So, asking how they view policies will facilitate a conversation about boundaries and help you both understand where to build the fence.
Does a good manager give very clear directions or train their people and just trust them to get the job done?
This question is obviously a false binary. A good manager can give good high-level direction and trust them to make decisions on how to get there. The purpose of asking it is to force them to choose one over the other and explain why. There is more than one way to lead. If you are going to support a flexible employment relationship it is important to understand what leadership style your team members respond to best.
Low Report
These Attributes are the least correlated with “fit" for your employee or candidate. In any relationship or negotiation, it is helpful to know what each side might be able to give in exchange for what you need. Where a low need from an employee or candidate aligns with a high need on your part, a mutually beneficial arrangement can likely be made.
Leadership
30%
What's this?Strategic Insights
We give a little more detail in this “low” section than usual because sometimes people are concerned about seeing a “low” on leadership. Having leadership at the bottom of their results does not at all mean that they would be a poor leader. What it suggests is that they are someone who can succeed even if their supervisor is not the best. They are more ok with being their own inspiration and feel fairly self-motivated. With their ability to work even without strong leadership, you don't need to be as concerned with the quality of their leadership team.
The most important things that management/leadership can provide for people are motivation, culture, training, and coordination. People scoring low on leadership will still be able to do well in situations where they are excited to work with those on their team, where the culture is already pretty good, where they can train themselves to do what they will be asked to do, and in areas where they are intrinsically motivated. 80% of employees say they could do their work without a manager. These employees just know this upfront! So, if you have a position that suffers due to a deficit in leadership, just make sure the employee can supply those four things for themself, and they might be a good fit.
Collaboration
23%
What's this?Strategic Insights
An individual with collaboration at the bottom of their results enjoys jobs that others might find too isolating. This might be because they just happen to like it that way or because they feel that their social needs are being met outside of their job through their bowling team, chess club, gaggle of kids, partner, and the hobby farm they come home to every day. Great! Most Organizations need people who can thrive in jobs where they are self-directed and independent.
Although these workers enjoy captaining their own boat, that doesn’t mean that they (or any human) will thrive in isolation. So even if they seem to be doing a great job as a lone wolf, make sure they can still find ways to connect with others in meaningful ways. Taking lunch with friends or coworkers, getting drinks after work, giving everyone a paid day off to do a service project together, inviting employees and their families to join a hike on the weekend, or even participating in a thriving meme-sharing culture on Slack can go a long way toward keeping independent workers socially tethered to the organization.
Variety Lowest Attribute
17%
What's this?Strategic Insights
First off, everybody likes a change of pace from time to time. Having variety low in their report doesn’t mean that this person likes boredom or monotony. What it does say is that they want to know what they’re going to do at work, be able to prepare well for it, and become good at it. High variety positions often preclude people from becoming particularly good at any one thing. Positions where they have a good idea of what they will be doing from day to day are more predictable and allow them to become better at specific things and feel confident that they are doing a good job.
Predictable jobs are less likely to cause people to feel anxious, as well. Expected outcomes are generally clearer and so they can look forward to what they’re going to do at work with some surety, and they’re more likely to get quite good at it. There are many benefits to having stability at work.
Low variety positions are where experts are forged. Virtually every single Olympian has a very low variety job. Yet it’s thrilling, they are extremely good at what they do, and they are openly admired by others for it. Low variety overlaps well with specialization. Try to get some sense of what this person wants to be an expert at. Over time the employee will gravitate toward the things they really enjoy and will stick around long enough to become an expert.
Mid Report
These key-indicators, while not as relevant to negotiation strategies or culture building, but should be studied and understood because, over the course of an employee’s career, it is likely that one or more of these results will increase in importance. There also might be an insight or question that will be of value, particularly as you compare this employee to others.
Location
50%
What's this?Strategic Insights
With location high in a person’s report, it is important to them that they consider not only who their employer is but also where they are working. The physical environment we work in can have a tremendous impact on our creativity, productivity, and even our mental health. Some people want to work in big cities, others small towns. Maybe living near family for the time being, or having some physical distance, is critical to their professional success. A commute to work may help them focus, or it may be a burden. All of this can change over time. If this is something they have scored high on, then have very open and honest conversations upfront about what they’re looking for and about what you can offer.
Another key, but often overlooked, aspect of our work lives is the aesthetic of our work environment. For individuals with location high in their results, things like how their workspace is decorated, the temperature of the office, or even the "style" or "vibe" might have a profound impact on their ability to thrive at work. Having some leeway to decorate their own space can also be a big boon. This may seem frivolous to some managers, but it’s actually very reasonable. People who are working full-time spend more of their waking life at work than they do in their own homes. It can make a big difference.
Covid-19 is changing the calculus of work and location. A 2021 Harvard study found that of those working remotely, only 12% wanted to go back to working in the office every day as they did before. The rest (88%) want to either stay fully remote or end up in a hybrid situation where they work remotely a few days a week and in the office a few days a week.
Even before Covid-19, there was research showing that “homeworking” is associated with increases in employee well-being and more balanced work-home relationships, which are associated with happier more productive employees and lower turnover. The good news is that even with these changes, after the first four months of transition, productivity has kept pace with, or exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
When a person scores high on location it does not necessarily mean that they either want to work remotely or would rather not. They might prefer either one and because of the last few years, they are likely to have more options to find a good fit than they did pre-Covid. So now it’s not just whether they like their work location, it may be whether they like a work location at all. This is all pretty new territory. Even if an employee is working from home, they will need to spend some time and effort creating a physical location that helps them achieve their work and personal goals. If this is something that matters to them you can buy a lot of goodwill, and some extra productivity, if you offer some money for furniture or technology to help them better arrange their remote/home work situation.
For many in the youngest generation of workers, those in their teens and early 20s, there seem to be more benefits to at least initially working in person, instead of remotely. A recent Microsoft study found that most (but not all) Gen Z employees are not as well served by remote work as those in the older generations. Networking, mentorship, and training are easier in person. Compounding that is the fact that often workers at this age don’t have enough money to build a good work-from-home location, and many are without families of their own or tight social structures. Remote work, therefore, can rob them of built-in social connections and be incredibly isolating. Everyone’s situation is different, but location is worth more thought than many give it.
Some may love the fast pace of a hectic and creative open office. Some may love the peace of their own office, with a door between them and the world. Others would rather live in a cabin with their family and get their work done over satellite internet. Even post-Covid, all in-person work offices aren’t going to die, workers will just have more choices. Increasingly, employees will have more opportunities to craft not just the career they want, but the location and nature of the life they want to lead. Taking a proactive approach to their location can be central to that.
Things to Consider for Fit with a Position
- If this is in-person work, ask them what they most value about being at work in person and what their ideal office setup would be.
- Where do most of the team live? Does that match what they are looking for?
- What is the commute like (train, walking, biking)?
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 is your favorite thing about (insert city/town)?
Preference for a given location can be based on a myriad of features. Proximity to family, weather, nightlife, culture, recreation, and entertainment to name just a few. Understanding why a person is attached to a certain location can be predictive of likely employment longevity.
Can you describe your ideal workspace?
Our physical environment can have a profound impact on our well-being and mood. Doing the same job in an office rather than in a cubical or where we see others frequently rather than in seclusion can make all the difference to our sense of fulfillment. For someone who tests high in Location, this could be the difference between a great job and a terrible one. If you have some showpiece work locations, show them.
How did you decide you wanted to live here?
Asking someone to relive their decisions helps them put into words what was likely a subconscious process. This allows them to learn about their own preferences and help you determine if they are a good long-term fit for your organization.
Specialization
47%
What's this?Strategic Insights
Specialization means that one values becoming very good at something. Every crime procedural (Bones), heist movie (Oceans 11), or superhero story (Avengers), features a team of highly-specialized individuals. These teams work because the group is made up of people who are incredibly good at their individual specialties. That is their calling card. To them, it’s exciting, satisfying, and meaningful to be the resident ‘expert’ on something. The fact that specialization is in their top means that this is something that will be particularly enjoyable to them.
Scholars often delineate between ‘generalists’ and ‘specialists.’ These workers want to be (or become) a specialist. They thrive in situations where they can focus on hard skills that are easy to quantify. That doesn’t mean they have to be a coder, but they excel in positions where they can measure, and show, their progress in some skill or area.
Perhaps surprising to some, specialization often dovetails nicely with ‘low-variety’ jobs. This does NOT mean boring jobs. It means jobs where the employee is given the time and opportunity to become excellent. Sometimes high-specialization/low-variety jobs can be extremely competitive (think: professional video gamer). Most areas of specialization, however, are not so crowded, and so it doesn’t take the same high levels of expertise for them to become the best in the room or the best in the company. Feeling like they are the resident expert in _____ will be very meaningful to them.
Becoming a specialist also helps these employees recognize how important their work is, because they are often the only one who can perform a particular task. This also comes with some social status. Expertise can be achieved in any job or at any education level. Master’s degrees and trade certifications are, by definition, paths to mastery in some specific area, and a great way to show expertise. Even if they don’t have the specification yet, people who are scoring high on this list are more likely to thrive in positions where they need to teach themselves skills and are heavily relied on for things that only they can do, or do well. In these positions, people scoring high on specialization are excellent at learning on the job.
Things to Consider for Fit with a Position
- What hard skills are vital for this job, and how do they feel about spending a lot of time getting good at those things?
- Are there any company-sponsored trainings/certifications that are part of this job?
- Does your organization offer any educational programs to help employees gain more skills? Share if you do as this will be particularly valuable to 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.
What do you do best
When someone values specialization they are either already experts or would derive great self-worth from becoming an expert in a task or skill. A good indication of how this desire can serve your organization is to ask about their self-assessed areas of greatest strength, and the areas where they would like to build that strength (see below).
Describe a time when you were asked to do something that you feel you do poorly? How did you approach the task knowing you weren’t ideally suited to it?
No one is good at everything. Specialists often prefer to delegate or outsource that which they do not do well. That might be an excellent option in your organization, or it might not. Regardless, asking this question will help you start a discussion on options for meeting expectations that fall outside of a member of your team's core competencies.
What would you like to become known as an expert in?
Often, we don’t know our employees’ aspirations. For someone who correlates highly with Specialization, their skills-based ambitions drive them. Understanding their goals and working with them to develop the desired skills will help you retain them and make them more valuable members of the team.
Excitement
47%
What's this?Strategic Insights
Someone with excitement high in their results is looking for something that provides them with a literal physical/psychological reaction, at least from time to time. Excitement and work are not often spoken of together because most jobs, even great ones that people enjoy, aren't usually 'exciting'. Nobody wants a monotonous job, but they would probably prefer something beyond just ‘not monotonous.’
Excitement is mental, but it has effects on the whole body. It is motivating, thrilling, and can enliven the senses. Excitement is associated with perceived danger, and there are many jobs with a risk of physical danger (firefighter, etc.). These important jobs require people who thrive in dangerous situations. [A caution: ‘thriving’ in dangerous situations is not the same as good decision-making in dangerous situations. Make sure you pick for, and train for, both]. Physical danger, however, is not the only form of perceived danger. Social danger can also be exhilarating. Virtually any type of performance in front of a crowd is exciting, from arts to athletics, to public speaking, sales, or even teaching.
Excitement at work often overlaps with unpredictability. A hallmark of exciting work is solving unexpected problems on the fly, even problems outside of their job description or skill set. When done right this can lead to a lot of growth and personal development. People who can make things happen AND make good decisions on the fly in high-stress situations are diamonds in the rough.
Forging a new path is also exciting. When a worker can go to bed at night knowing that something new was created today because of the work that they did, that's exciting. While some of the jobs listed above may provide a thrill, unpredictability and urgency also go hand in hand with excitement and can be found in many positions. Those who don’t value excitement will often pass up on such jobs because of their unpredictability and urgency.
Things to Consider for Fit with a Position
- What parts of this job will they think are the most exciting?
- What are the most tedious parts of this job? Be very open and upfront about those. The new firefighter who understands up front that a lot of the job is waiting and cleaning things up at the station, interspersed with moments of high intensity is much happier than the firefighter who comes in imagining nonstop excitement and is met with a different reality. Create accurate expectations.
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.
If work is not exciting who all is responsible for changing that, and how?
Boredom leads to underproductivity and resentment, particularly for those who value excitement in their work. Knowing how someone copes with these inevitable feelings will be critical to managing them effectively.
What do you do to keep from getting bored at work?
While managers and leadership certainly play a vital role in how work feels, ultimately we feel the most empowered when we feel that our success is our responsibility. This question is designed to help your team or recruits see how they can take ownership of their approach to work.
How will I know when you are ready for a new challenge or more responsibility?
The goal here is to see the interviewee's self-awareness. Do they know when they are bored? Can you help lay the groundwork for open dialogue in the future?
Remuneration
47%
What's this?Strategic Insights
How much money we make impacts practically every aspect of our lives. It determines what we can buy, where we live, and when we can retire. Someone with remuneration high on their list is likely aware of the power of money, and to some degree, their self-worth is tied to how much they make. Accordingly, their employment relationship needs to be aligned with their life and financial goals. Their pay also might be the measuring stick by which they gauge how valuable their work for the organization is. If what they are paid and how they value themself is out of balance, they will likely be dissatisfied at work. If they see their compensation as an accurate reflection of their worth, they are willing to work hard.
Pay transparency can be critical to those who value remuneration highly. Don’t be sneaky here. A common source of conflict between individuals who have remuneration high in their results and their employers is the differences in pay between employees, particularly if the employee's contribution is viewed as inconsistent with their financial compensation. These issues are exacerbated when that information is discovered rather than disclosed. Be aware of these tensions as you make decisions.
Valuing remuneration does not mean that they don’t care about having a terrible job. A large study of current employees found that across all income levels, pay is not the top predictor of workplace satisfaction. Instead, it is the culture and values of the organization, followed closely by the quality of senior leadership and career opportunities within the organization. These are the hallmarks of good employers. Making a lot of money can help someone achieve certain goals in their life, but it does not make a miserable job less miserable, nor does research find that it makes up for relationship casualties that can come from an unbalanced life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with placing a high value on remuneration. Money creates opportunities and can enable a very balanced, fulfilling life.
Things to Consider for Fit with a Position
- Have very honest conversations about them up front about the possible salary and how they feel about it. You might need to spend some time convincing them that this is not a negotiation tactic and that you truly care.
- Explain very clearly how raises work, and to the extent possible give them benchmarks to achieve them. This will be very motivating to them (and they will feel betrayed if they achieve those and then no raise materializes).
- Are there opportunities to earn additional commissions or bonus pay? Be clear about those, but don’t promise what isn’t there.
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 are your retirement goals?
Bringing up their ultimate career goals, even early in the relationship, shows that you care about their career and are a partner in helping them strategize to achieve their dreams. Listen carefully and think about how you can help them achieve it (even if they are brave enough to admit they don’t necessarily expect to retire working at your organization). This helps you take a more developmental approach with your employees, increases loyalty, and decreases turnover.
What are your five-year professional goals?
Goals are important. They help us know if we are on track for the life we’ve planned to lead. Helping your team meet their goals will improve loyalty and performance. Bonus points if you follow up one these goals with them in the future. They’ll likely feel very cared for and a bit stunned.
How does an employer demonstrate how much they value their employees?
Benchmarks, particularly financial benchmarks, are sometimes a score card for employees. If someone values remuneration highly they may equate their paycheck with their worth. It will be important to what meaning they put behind their pay.
Autonomy
43%
What's this?Strategic Insights
When someone scores low on their desire for autonomy, it does not mean that they aren’t self-motivated or independent. The opposite of autonomy is coordination. This indicates that this person likes being part of a team. They enjoy the interactions and the feeling of being an important part of a multi-faceted team or process. Many high-profile careers are relatively low autonomy (acting, professional sports, politics, etc) because their outcome and processes are deeply intertwined with the work of others. Low autonomy is not a negative, and it doesn’t mean that these employees need their hands held more than others. Not at all.
That said, nobody likes to be micromanaged. Even in the most interdependent positions, how the managers oversee and correct their employees matters a lot. Micromanaging drives everyone crazy and makes it harder to do great work. Low autonomy demands mean this person is happy working with others, not that they want to be micromanaged and nitpicked. Also, people who score low on autonomy can make incredible managers because they enjoy the processes of coordination and negotiation and take more care on this front than others. They may need a little training early on, and some occasional reminders that giving people as much discretion as they can within the needs of the project has vastly better outcomes than micromanaging. For all their strengths, they may do well with some occasional reminders that others still want their autonomy. What feels to the manager like high involvement and giving frequent helpful input (which they love) can to their subordinates feel more like a lack of trust and micromanaging. Reducing the autonomy of others unnecessarily can obliterate intrinsic motivation.
Sociability
43%
What's this?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.
Purpose
40%
What's this?Strategic Insights
If someone has purpose at the bottom of their list, it does not mean that they don’t care about meaning, nor does it mean that they aren't passionate. It means that they do not rely on their employment to satisfy their need for life purpose. In fact, for those who find purpose in supporting their family, just having a job can be very purposeful. This group of people are also more likely to score low on needing purpose from what they do at work. This often means that they use the resources provided by their job to facilitate the things that give them a sense of purpose. Despite all the “follow their passion” rhetoric they were taught about their future career growing up, they are more clear-eyed about using their work to allow them to find purpose elsewhere and facilitate their other passions. This is very healthy, and more likely to lead to a happy/fulfilled life than trying to find all or most of their purpose from their job.
This doesn’t mean that a job devoid of purpose will be delightful to them, and it often does mean that they will find extra value in things like flexibility, which allow them to better contribute to the things that are giving them purpose.
Some people are willing to compromise on other outcomes in favor of working somewhere purposeful. These employees can find a position that maximizes their other career goals, even if it means they aren't working for an organization with a mission about which they have deeply held feelings. They can still enjoy the satisfaction of contributing to the efforts of their fellow employees. Flexibility, free time, and even money are great tradeoffs for them.
Status
37%
What's this?Strategic Insights
Having status-seeking relatively low in their motivations means that this person can more easily find value and meaning without being constantly recognized by others, (though it always feels good to be admired). It can also mean that even in less meaningful/enjoyable work they are getting enough respect and esteem in their life outside of work that they don’t need as much affirmation from their job and co-workers.
These employees can often do better than others in work that they are proud to have done even if few ever see or recognize that they did it. Not needing as much external validation opens up good opportunities that others might not enjoy. It has the side benefit of helping to keep them away from some of the potential pitfalls and temptations of self-aggrandizement and self-promotion that can sometimes make it more difficult for managers to clearly evaluate other, more status-oriented, employees.
On the flip side, they might not do a good enough job of self-promotion and might even downplay their own accomplishments. This is one case where you might want to look a little deeper and see if the work they have done is better than what they are giving it credit for. Because they don’t get as much satisfaction as others from external affirmation, it might not occur to them how important it is to recognize their own achievements.
Training
33%
What's this?Strategic Insights
With training at the bottom of their results, this person is likely comfortable figuring it out as they go, or they are at a point in their careers where they already have a lot to offer. Since they don’t feel a great need for new training, there’s a good chance that they want to make significant contributions now. Look at what IS meaningful for them, and you’ll get much better insight into what they want out of a job right now, and it’s likely to include making a meaningful impact.
For these employees, opportunities for training become fewer and fewer as their responsibilities increase and they work independently. That said, we all need training, and the best are constantly learning. Just because this person scored low on a desire for training right now doesn’t mean that they are untrainable, it just means that learning new things isn’t a large value-add to them. This is often the case with seasoned managers or those who have already earned the title of “expert” in something. Figure out what they feel they are expert in.