The Bright Side and Dark Side of Personality:

How does this affect job performance and how can we manage this?

Richard Brady, C PsycholChief Executive Officer

Mentis, UK & Middle East

www.mentis-consulting.com

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What’s Life About?

Freud: Overcoming your neurosis.

Jung: Overcoming your neurosis.

Maslow: Overcoming your neurosis.

Hogan's: Getting along and getting ahead.

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Socioanalytic Theory

Group Living Animals Needs

Get Along

Get Ahead

Find Meaning

Hogan & Hogan, 2001; Hogan, 2007

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Socioanalytic Theory

These needs are met through interactions at work

Social contact (get along)

Status and power (get ahead)

Gain purpose for their lives (find meaning)

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What is Personality? Two Perspectives

Perspective 1: From the Inside

Personality from the inside, or actor’s view, is defined in terms of a person’s identity.

How a person sees him/herself

Defined by hope, dreams and aspirations

Difficult to measure

Difficult to study

Not always reflected in behaviors

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What is Personality? Two Perspectives

Perspective 2: From the Outside

Personality from the outside, or observer’s view, is a person’s reputation.

Defined in terms of traits (e.g., calm, ambitious, careful, etc.)

Reflects how a person’s behavior has been evaluated after repeated interactions with others

Used to predict a person’s performance

Easy to study -- most of what we know about personality and job performance is based on observer’s perspectives

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Why Personality Matters

World-wide research of employment issues

General Reasons People Fail

Poor fit with job Poor fit with organisation

General Reasons Managers Fail

Inability to build and motivate a team Inability to develop or adapt Poor working relations Lack of vision or “big picture” No strategic execution

HPI

HDSHBRI

MVPI

Hogan inventories concern dimensions that are crucial for getting along and getting ahead: Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI)

concerns strengths that enhance an individual’s career characterises the person at his/her best

Hogan Development Survey (HDS) concerns dysfunctional dispositions that can derail a person’s career these tendencies appear when people let down their guard—fatigue, illness, frustration

Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI) concerns personal drivers and fit with organisational culture

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Cost of a New Hire Year 1 Costs of a $50,000 Employee

Salary $ 50,000 Bonus at 30% $ 15,000 Benefits at 40% $ 20,000 Recruitment / Placement at 25% $ 12,500 Selection Process at 10% $ 5,000 Relocation at 15% $ 7,500 Development / Training at 50% $ 25,000

Total Cost of New Hire $ 135,000

Year 1 Costs run between 1.8 and 2.5 Times Base Salary

It is expensive to make a mistake

Personality & leadership

Leadership is either a function of circumstances (Enron)

Or leadership is a function of personality (GE)

We believe leadership is related to personality

Two Views of Leadership

How to Define and Evaluate Leadership

Leadership should be defined in terms of the ability to build and maintain a high performing team

Leadership should be evaluated in terms of the performance of the team relative to the other teams with which it competes

This is rarely done

Implicit Leadership Themes

People want to see four things in their leaders:

Integrity: keep their word, don’t play favorites Decisiveness: make good decisions quickly Competence: be good at the business Vision: explain why it matters

Good to Great Themes

Characteristics of CEOs of Fortune 1000 companies with 15 years sustained superior performance:

– Amazingly persistent– Humble

Competency Models: I

Every well-run organization has a competency model.

Every competency model contains the same four themes:

Intrapersonal skills: Integrity, emotional stability, self-control

Interpersonal skills: Able to build and maintain relationships, compassion, empathy, humility

Business skills: Analyzing data, allocating resources, forecasting budgets

Leadership skills: Vision, empowering staff, being a good role model

Competency Models: II

Any competency model can be translated into an assessment model:

Competency Theme Assessment Dimension

Intrapersonal skills Adjustment, Prudence Interpersonal skills Interpersonal sensitivity Business skills Cognitive ability Leadership skills Ambition, Inquisitive

Personality and Leadership

Research shows overwhelmingly that personality (reputation) can be defined in terms of five broad dimensions:

1. Adjustment – core self-esteem2. Ambition – social potency3. Interpersonal Sensitivity – social charm4. Prudence – conscientiousness and rule-following5. Inquisitive – curiosity and vision

MOVE AWAY FROM Excitable: Erratic emotional outbursts Cautious: Risk averse, won’t make decisions Skeptical: Mistrustful and vindictive Reserved: Poor communicator, insensitive to morale issues Leisurely: Passive-Aggressive meanness

MOVE AGAINST Arrogant: Narcissistic feelings of entitlement Mischievous: Careless about commitments Colorful: Manages by crisis to be center of attention Imaginative: Bad ideas and decisions

MOVE TOWARDS Diligent: Over-controlling micro-manager Dutiful: Too concerned about pleasing superiors

Dimensions of Managerial Incompetence (HDS)

A recent and definitive meta-analysis (Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, 2002) shows five important things:

1. The personalities of managers directly influence employee satisfaction.

2. When employee satisfaction is high, positive business outcomes result.3. When employee satisfaction is low, negative business outcomes

result.4. The link between leadership and unit performance is mediated by

staff morale.5. People don’t quit organizations, they quit their boss.

Leadership and Business Unit Performance

Correlations n r sigMentis recommendation rating & Expert panel rating 50 0.46 **

† Mentis competency rating and Expert panel ratingCustomer Focus 20 NADelivering Results 41 -0.28 *Change & Innovation 33 -0.31 *Self Management & Personal Development 13 NAPlanning & Organising 24 NAProblem Solving & Decision Making 24 NABusiness Awareness 14 NAWorking with Others 17 NACommunicating & Influencing 46 -0.14 NSLeadership, Mgt & Coaching 46 -0.16 NSComposite competency rating 48 -0.33 **

† scales are in opposite direction, hence negative correlation** Significant at 1% level of confidence* Significant at 5% level of confidenceNA Cases are too small to warrant analysisNote - correlations not corrected for restriction of range

Executive profiling & job performance

Personality & individual contributors

HIRE BETTER EMPLOYEES

Fortune 25 Telecommunications Company

8 weeks: Attrition rate decreased from 25.7% to 5.9%

Stable or increased performance trends 14 weeks: Attrition rate decreased from

27% to 14% (nearly 50% lower), with savings over $750,000

Employees selected with assessment earned company $50,000 more per pay period than those not selected by assessments

Results - 1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

8 weeks 14 weeks

% T

urn

over

Rat

e Hired withoutAssessments

Hired withAssessments

29%Better Opportunity

35%Job Dissatisfaction

77%Failure to Return from Leave

71%Job Performance

12%Training Performance

46%Misconduct

7%Job Abandonment

40%Excessive Absences

Incident ReductionBottom-line Problems

29%Better Opportunity

35%Job Dissatisfaction

77%Failure to Return from Leave

71%Job Performance

12%Training Performance

46%Misconduct

7%Job Abandonment

40%Excessive Absences

Incident ReductionBottom-line Problems

Study Design

18,000 new hires

1,012 new hires terminated (Voluntary and Involuntary)

506 assessed with the Hogan Personality Inventory

506 (matched sample) were not assessed

Participants were tracked for 1 year

Termination data was collected

Those assessed demonstrated significant reductions in incidents across all bottom-line indicators

HIRE BETTER EMPLOYEES

Results - 2

SAFETY CONCERNS

PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT

4,388 participants

2,194 assessed with the Hogan Personality Inventory

2,194 (matched sample) were not assessed

Participants were tracked for 2 years

Bottom-line problem data collected

Those assessed demonstrated significant reductions in incidents across all bottom-line indicators 57%Failed Drug Test

83%Refused Drug / Alcohol Test

40%Inefficiency

29%Frequent Tardiness

22%Excessive Absences

80%Insubordination

58%Improper Conduct

100%Fighting

24%Dishonesty / Theft

50%Unreported Accidents

67%Preventable Accidents

Incident ReductionBottom-line Problems

57%Failed Drug Test

83%Refused Drug / Alcohol Test

40%Inefficiency

29%Frequent Tardiness

22%Excessive Absences

80%Insubordination

58%Improper Conduct

100%Fighting

24%Dishonesty / Theft

50%Unreported Accidents

67%Preventable Accidents

Incident ReductionBottom-line Problems

Job-Level

Candidate Entry-Level Lead Supervisor Manager Director

Person A Ready with

Difficulty Ready with

Development Poor Fit Poor Fit Poor Fit

Person B Ready with

Difficulty Ready Now Poor Fit Poor Fit

Ready with Difficulty

Results - 3

Personality & Teams

Thank you

Questions please?