I was on a webinar recently on whether we can measure whether someone is likely to be a “good employee” or not.
Which got me thinking about what makes a good employee? And can you measure it on a test? Particularly if that is all the information that you have.
This one test measures a potential employee’s sociability, learning and work ethic (defined as the degree to which people get distracted). As a caveat – it’s meant for entry level jobs – and it’s part of a requirement process for high volume recruitment.
I can see the pros and cons of this one.. The pro being that it is a simple profile that allows employers who are doing mass recruitment to make decisions around who should progress to the next round. But the cons are that surely we miss people who are not neuro-typical and who don’t fit the standard mould? Do we want employees who all act the same, and have the same attributes?
We know there are real benefits in having employees who think differently, but that it takes more work team dynamics wise. We also know that as human being we are wired to look for people that are similar, which is often easier in the short term, but which can bring a whole lot of issues around group think.
All of which presents a bit of a conundrum really.
The Takeaway
Today’s takeaway is to think about your team. How diverse are the thinking styles of your team? Do you actively seek out alternative perspectives? What makes for a good employee? Is it compliance? Is it generating new ideas? Is it being able to get on with people?
We often don’t take the time to actively consider the attributes of the people we are recruiting beyond experience, education and skill. But perhaps that’s the missing link.
More Reading..
- Teams solve problems faster when they are cognitively diverse – HBR
- Diverse teams feel less comfortable and that’s why they perform better
- SCARF model
- The hazards of a nice company culture
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