DDI’s Talent Management Intelligence

Green Eggs Revisited

By Barry Stern, Ph.D. 

Recently my wife Peggy and I set off on a vacation with our three teenagers to Zion, Bryce, and Arches national parks. I had no idea that this New York City boy would so appreciate the “in-your-face” nature experience. This was the last trip with all three still teenagers.  And so, begging, cajoling, humoring, badgering, and bribing were requisite skill sets for participating in yet another hike in the scorching August heat. We were reality show “Sam-I-Am’s” in our own Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham adventure.

This mesmerizing book echoes through my life. Fifty words, 49 of them monosyllabic, evoke recollections of my own childhood, that of my children, and even business, being cited by a few ex-IBM-ers I’ve met as “the greatest business book on persistence ever written.” (If you know more about the IBM connection, please let me know.)

But I now find myself thinking about this old friend differently.  It’s not just about persistence. At this point, I’m thinking about it more as a tale reflecting our ability to help others realize their potential.

Sam-I-Am was convinced that his target unnamed creature would like those green eggs and ham if he would only just try them. This, despite, the crescendo of protestations, gave him, this monosyllabic strong man, the fortitude to stay with it. What personal power; what insight; what strength of conviction!

I’ve found that many folks confuse past performance with potential, believing that because leaders have been successful in other jobs (or who have eaten standard-issue eggs before, liked them and performed well fueled by them) they will make great leaders (and green eggs and ham consumers). This is a huge mistake, one with disastrous personal and organizational consequences.

Today, we have the knowledge base to understand potential at a deeper level than ever before. There are unnamed characters out there who think they will like and be fueled by green eggs and ham but in fact will get very sick on them; the converse is also true.  So I ask us, do we have the courage to turn our knowledge into action to channel our inner Sam-I-Ams?

Barry Stern is vice president, Consulting Services and Delivery for Development Dimensions International (DDI).

Beware of the Monkey

By Brad Schneider, Ph.D.

Step into any Chinese restaurant and it’s there, a placemat with the Chinese Zodiac. If you were born in 1986, you’re a Tiger. If you were born in 1966, you’re a Horse.

In the Chinese Zodiac, the year you are born determines your personality. Boars, people born in 1995, for instance, are prone to marital strife. Dragons, born 2001, are attractive and vain.

Why do I have such an interest in all of this, you ask? Well, if everyone who is born a certain year shares the same physical and mental characteristics, then, theoretically, all you need to do as an employer is to hire people who are born the same year as your top performers.

Want better salespeople? Determine which year your top salespeople were born, and hire every job applicant who was born that same year. You could fill an entire department filled with creative, intelligent, and dependable Goats.

Could hiring and promoting top talent really be that simple? Not a chance. However, if you have the right processes in place it’s not that challenging.

It may be more difficult than choosing a Horse or a Dog, but you’ll have better luck with new hires if you:

• Identify what it takes to be successful in the job
• Determine which candidates have those characteristics
• Use the data collected during the hiring process to determine development needs for new hires

By the way, in case you’re wondering whether the Chinese Zodiac placemat is as prevalent in China, I can tell that in the eight days I spent shuttling between Beijing and Shanghai, I did not see a single one.

Brad Schneider is a senior consultant for Development Dimensions International (DDI).

Talent Exodus As Things Get Better?

By Mike Hoban

As the economy shows signs of slow resurgence and companies cautiously begin to hire again - and yes, they will hire again – it could trigger the start of a disruptive revolving door in many organizations.  Why?  There’s evidence that talented employees and managers will exercise their “free agent” status and trade employers after clinging to jobs they tolerated primarily because they paid the bills during these tough times.  

It seems there are a lot of folks out there who, while glad to have a job in this downturn, are likely to invoke the old Johnny Paycheck anthem (“Take this job and shove it!”) once better options present themselves.  We could be in store for a talent exodus of the best and the brightest from companies, people who are feeling overworked, under appreciated, or under engaged.  Or maybe all of the above.  They’ve been in survival mode and they’ve been working for bosses and companies who have also been in survival mode these last 18 months and as the economic storm clouds go away and the sun peaks through, many will seek new opportunities. 

Voluntary turnover in the U.S. has historically been about 20% on an annualized basis but that has slowed dramatically in the recession.  Employees - especially younger ones - who would otherwise have been inclined to move on or move up have put their preferences and their ambitions on hold.  But that could end along with the hiring freezes.

It’s that familiar old Maslow Hierarchy of Needs at work.  During the downturn, survival and security were paramount.  Employees’ needs for engagement or “self-actualization” in the workplace got put on hold until those more basic needs were met. When hiring ticks up, they could be, as they say on Wall Street, rushing for the exits.   

Of course, with unemployment currently approaching 10% it might seem that employment musical chairs would be a good problem to have.    

Mike Hoban is a senior consultant for Development Dimensions International (DDI).

Test Your Gut

By Mark Busine

Recently, I was again immersed in hiring for a key internal position. Because I’m operating in a relatively new market, I have been very conscious of not allowing my own biases and perceptions overly influence my judgment about candidates. But this process reminded me that gut feel (or abdominal intuition as I like to call it) should not be ignored. I learned over the years—usually after a bad hiring decision—that my intuition can often alert me to risks that are very real.

This isn’t a new issue. A 2001 HBR article “When to Trust Your Gut”, investigated the role and value of intuition in decision-making and how experiences enable us to develop patterns that help understanding and judgment in all types of situations. More recently, Malcom Gladwell traveled into the human subconscious to explore how we make snap decisions, in his best selling book, Blink.

While both writers draw on significant examples to demonstrate the power of intuition they also recognize the negative impact biases developed over time can have in decision-making. Gladwell in particular notes the negative impact that these can have when making judgments about people.

In the end though, we cannot ignore our gut. As Gladwell points out, the subconscious interplay and categorization of our experiences, knowledge, competence and personal style enable us to make rapid and often sound judgments. At the same time, the biases that are sometimes formed also need to be tested and challenged with processes such as behavioral interviewing, simulations and testing. They ensure that decisions are made on sound and legally defensible grounds.

Too often gut feel is dismissed. While I would never advocate a selection process based on gut feel, next time you’re thinking to yourself ‘something just doesn’t feel right’ or ‘something tells me they could do it’, back yourself and be prepared to test your gut.

Read more on the topic and share your thoughts.

Mark Busine is the Managing Director of Southeast Asia for Development Dimensions International (DDI).