John (not his real name) was a well qualified and experienced service man who had proven to be well liked by customers and staff alike. He was a team player and respected by all who worked with him. Feedback from customers could not have been better.
But John, after some ten years in his role decided it was time for a change and as there were no opportunities for advancement in the organisation he worked for, he decided to talk to a well respected recruitment consultant. Being a personable individual, the recruitment agency took an immediate liking to him and because of his experience they decided that he was ready for a management role. His testimonials were glowing and his employer at the time told the recruiter that he would reemploy him without any hesitation. He “ticked all the boxes” for a role in the same industry as a manager for a competitor. But the recruiter had overlooked one very important aspect - John’s behavioural style.
John took up the new role with vigor but found that his new employer’s company had a different culture. He also learned that the role became available because his predecessor had resigned after only a few months in the job and the reason/s soon became obvious to John.
After some six month’s the owner of the company who employed John became very concerned as he simply hadn’t met his budgets and the atmosphere in John’s department was tense. So the owner engaged the consultant who related this story to us. The first thing the consultant did was obtain a behavioural report from John, and the Profiles from the report are shown below.
Profile II showed that John was under pressure (Profile elevated) and his natural style was mainly S (85%). John had obviously shown D traits (he has a small percentage of D (5%)) and he would have probably demonstrated this style when applying for the role. Profile I showed that John felt the need to make a very significant change in his style to cope with the challenges of his new environment, feeling the need to become 70% D and 30% I. The suppression of S in the Profile indicates stress and so the combination of stress and pressure was beginning to have a serious effect on John’s performance.
The Diamond taken from the report (opposite) demonstrates even more graphically how much of a change John had felt he needed to make and of course this is well outside his comfort zone.
The outcome was that John resigned after the consultant interviewed him, realising that the role simply did not suit his style. The employer had to go through the whole process of finding a suitable applicant again for the third time within around six months despite having received assurances from the recruiter that John had met all the required criteria as a manager. The lesson: do not assume the person you interview for a role is the same person he/she seems to be and always obtain a behavioural report in recruiting situations.
Get started with Workplace Assessments
