Chloe Thompson's Results

Strategic Insights

A person with variety in their top attributes is ripe for jobs that don’t necessarily look the same from one month to the next, or even from day to day. One option for them could be jobs that are project-based. They may also enjoy working on a team where everyone needs to wear multiple hats from time to time (for instance, most startups). Variety comes with unpredictability, which might be a perk for these employees. They get to solve problems, and often thrive being thrown into situations in which they are not yet an expert. Variety creates opportunities to gain competency and experience in many different areas. This person will enjoy situations where others might be stressed.

Variety doesn’t necessarily mean a chaotic or unpredictable workplace (though it can in some fields and may be what some want). Some jobs, such as K-12 teaching, coaching, and construction, have variety built into them because of the different topics, lessons, projects, and people these professionals interact with every day.

This person is well suited for positions that have structural reasons for why their work varies. Does the position entail working for a variety of different clients on their various needs? From consulting to accounting to home remodeling, working with clients is one way that variety can be built in. Another often overlooked source of variety is working on a small team or in a small organization. As part of a smaller firm, day-to-day tasks and problems must be addressed by relatively few people, so an individual must pitch in across multiple areas for the venture to succeed.

Things to Consider for Fit with a Position

• Is this a position where they are working with different clients at any given time, and how different might the jobs be for various clients?
• What will their day-to-day work look like? (Often, in positions with high variety this will be a hard question to answer well, and that can actually be a good thing.)
• How big is the team that they will be working on and how do job assignments get handed out?

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 steps would you take if you felt that your job was getting too monotonous?

Repetition is a comfort to some and agony for others. When a person craves variety the most important thing you can do to keep them engaged is to honor that need and build their work profile accordingly. Start a conversation that fuels a conversation around workload balance.

How do you keep yourself challenged at work?

Helping your team feel a sense of ownership for their own progress is important. A need for variety highlights the importance of constantly creating personal benchmarks. Helping your team members challenge themselves will help you keep them engaged.

Describe the project that you most enjoyed working on in the past ten years (not the project that was the most meaningful, but the most enjoyable) Why was it your favorite?

A happy employee is a productive employee, and a productive employee is more likely to be a happy employee. It’s a virtuous circle. Starting a conversation around a good memory will help you learn how to structure their list of tasks in a more compelling way to maximize enjoyment and performance.

Strategic Insights

Someone who values leadership does not necessarily want  to be the boss (though it may indicate that they are well suited to taking a leadership role eventually). Valuing leadership suggests that who is in charge matters to them, and there’s good reason for that. Believing in the organization’s leadership and their vision will play a large factor in if these employees succeed and increase their satisfaction at work.

It is also useful to be aware that a direct manager and top leadership are two distinct things. Surprisingly, evidence suggests that organizational leadership is generally more responsible for people quitting than their direct managers are. In situations with great managers, but poor top leadership, only 38% of employees intend to stay with the company. However, in situations with poor managers, but great top leaders, 60% intend to stay! In situations with great management AND leaders, a full 89% intend to stay. So, leadership matters a lot and people can, and often do, overlook flaws in middle management when the organization’s leadership is great.

Studies also show that in “good” companies managers make a big difference in whether or not people leave their jobs, but in “bad” companies, having good or bad managers makes little difference in a person’s decision to leave (they just leave). This is magnified with those who desire positive leadership.

Also, people scoring high in leadership are often ripe for eventual training into leadership positions. This is not necessarily because they are inherently skilled at leadership. Rather, because they see the value and importance of good leadership, they are often intrinsically motivated to become good leaders and are open to taking developmental opportunities when they arise. On the flip side, a crisis in leadership will often create especially low levels of job satisfaction among those who are particularly attuned to it.

Things to Consider for Fit with a Position

• Ask them what a good leader is to them at various levels of the organization. See if that matches well with what you feel your organization offers.
• What organizational leaders have they most looked up to, either from personal experience or from a distance, and why?

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 working relationship with an employer?

Our perceptions determine our reality. Knowing what your team thinks is good leadership will help you tailor your approach so that they see you as a good leader.

Who is a public figure you admire? Why?

Analogies are powerful. Even more so when they are accompanied by analysis. Learning what and whom your team admires will help you emulate similar behaviors and more effectively manage your staff. This is likely to be beneficial for many people.

What makes a person a good leader?

This is a bit on the nose but just asking what they need, particularly more experienced employees, is a sign of respect and denotes confidence.

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

Sociability relates to the importance of one’s relationship with coworkers, clients, vendors, or customers. The people that we work with are often those with whom we spend the most time. Someone with sociability high in their results is particularly attuned to these relationships, whether positive or negative. Therefore, they do their best in environments that fulfill their social needs, on the clock and maybe even off.

Every workplace has an organizational culture. Even within the same industry, one firm might be very professional and another more laid back. An employee’s ability to fit in and be a valuable part of the team may depend on their innate connection to the organization’s culture and the team. Sociable employees avoid negative social situations, and for good reason! Studies have estimated that between turnover, loss of productivity, loss of commitment to the company, and decreased creativity, having one major jerk on staff can cost a company over $100,000 annually.

There are situations, such as highly competitive jobs/cultures, where being intimidating or putting others down can appear to help people gain power. The effectiveness of the organization and team, however, will suffer as those same individuals have built no goodwill or trust, yet they will continue thinking that their cutthroat ways are the key to their success. Numerous studies show that this is false, but they still believe it, and so will others which is likely a big turnoff to those scoring high in sociability. Everyone experiences some amount of competitiveness in their workplace, and that’s ok! For those who score high on sociability, it’s a red flag if the entire organizational culture is competition-based.

They’re also looking for something beyond just, ‘people don’t fight.’ These employees want good connections at work that allow people to socially bond as well as professionally. Being high in sociability does NOT mean that they are emotionally dependent; it means that they appreciate the relationships they have with people at work. It also doesn’t mean that they can’t handle having a jerk around, especially if there are others that they bond with, and the jerk is not in a position of power over them or constantly making their life miserable.

These employees aren’t necessarily doomed because of less than ideal social situations at work, they’re just more aware of them, and hoping for something better. They can also gain great satisfaction from being a force for goodwill, forgiveness, and service in a previously less-functional group. No one is ever going to find a job with perfect people who are always perfect to each other.

Things to Consider for Fit with a Position

• Let them meet so people that they will be working closest with, or even let them spend a day shadowing the team. Ask both them and the team how it worked out. You need honest feedback, but if it looks promising, and the worker is excited by it, that’s great. Those connections, if good, can also become a large part of why they will choose this job over others.
• As them about their favorite people they ever worked with, and why. Use this as some insight into what sort of work and connections really resonated with them and analyze how likely it is that they might be able to find in this position.

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 tell me about your favorite coworker?

This can be about their current company or their past. Probe into why they enjoyed working with them so much. Companies have a culture or “vibe” and knowing who people like to work and why with will help you know if they’ll fit in with yours.

How important to you is making friends at work?

Some people want friends at work, others just want coworkers. Both are great! You know what you have to offer. Assessing fit is important. If you can’t meet an employee’s social expectations then odds are they won’t be happy at work.

What is the right balance between “getting work done” and socializing with your coworkers?

This will seem like a trick question, (and you might want to say, “this is not a trick question.”) but leading research suggests that productivity requires a balance of socializing and production. The proper balance varies from person to person.

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

Someone with clarity in their bottom three is ok with relatively high levels of uncertainty. High tolerance for uncertainty, even a little chaos, allows them to thrive where others falter. Still, beware if your managers simply communicate unnecessarily vague expectations.

High tolerance for uncertainty is inherently entrepreneurial and makes an employee well suited for being on the cutting edge of new initiatives. They are a good fit for spearheading the creation of new projects within companies or even creating new companies. Also, those who score low in valuing predictability can often thrive in startups. While managers should always try to provide as much clarity as possible for employees, it is often difficult to do that upfront. People who score very high on clarity can have a hard time in some creative fields and may burn out. People who score lower in desires for clarity are more likely to thrive in fields such as arts and entertainment where outcomes tend to be subjective and success is very hard to define upfront, but easier to recognize after the fact.

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.

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 has predictability toward the bottom of their test results, it means that structure and clarity are less necessary for them to succeed. While most jobs offer a job description, some of the most exciting opportunities with the greatest upside are more fluid. People with low predictability demands thrive in startups or relatively new and fast-growing companies. They can handle a little more chaos than most. In these situations, everyone comes into work every day prepared to help pitch in on just about anything. Done right, this can be very exciting.

Even if someone has predictability low in their values, it does not mean that they can fully thrive in a situation with terrible communication and vague expectations. For instance, being a writer often comes with very low levels of predictability—it’s built into the job. Imagine, however, that their editor simply gives feedback to “make this better.” This is unhelpful and can even be counterproductive, even for the most chaos-loving employees. So whatever situation these employees are in, work with their managers to make sure they have a good sense of what to expect.