Swipe Right... to Supercharge YOUR Workforce!

By Michael Markovsky

Swipe Right... to Supercharge YOUR Workforce provides a provocative analysis of the impact that a person's personality has on their ongoing dedication to company success.  It challenges the typical people management process that rarely - if ever - considers the impact of personality on job performance over

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Markovsky
• Release date: Jun 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781087901220

Book preview

CHAPTER 1 – PEOPLE AND THE UNICORN EMPLOYEE

UNICORN: Something that is highly desirable, but difficult to find

Have you ever wondered what an employee was thinking when he or she did something very odd and/or counterproductive to what you were trying to accomplish? An employee’s ability to think things through and act accordingly can unfortunately be a rarity today… we have created several generations of robot-like employees who mechanically do as they are told or at least how they understood their instructions. No questions asked: Walk through that wall. Okay… BAM, Ouch! If that employee represents one end of the thinking spectrum, then at the opposite end would be a Unicorn Employee! As mentioned earlier, a Unicorn employee is someone who is very curious to know what’s going on in the business, where they fit and add value and why their current project or direction is important. Is that none of their business? Perhaps, in days gone by... but today, a Unicorn employee is a super-valuable asset in many ways. Aside from their own personal growth, their preoccupation with why drives more clear instructions from their management, which also minimizes the potential for mistakes and very often leads to discussions that amend directions and ultimately lead to better outcomes. As a rule, Unicorn employees are also preoccupied with winning or accomplishing their objectives and then taking a bit of a bow! I don’t mean, taking a bow literally… Unicorns are their own toughest critics; their self-expectations almost always exceed the expectations of their management.

Unicorns are also people who you can count on for on-time, quality results with minimal management intervention and who are upwardly mobile within the organization… and, they know it! That’s because they typically are sponges for information and knowledge and that personal growth also usually leads to them outgrowing their present assignment. So, their value increases as they gain that knowledge impacting their current assignment and beyond. Put simply, their desire for personal and company success adds to their value to the business over time. These are people who want a career, not just a job! These are also people who are difficult to find and even more difficult to keep challenged and content. They are people you can count on without watching everything they do! Ultimately, they are the people who will help with success today and lead the charge tomorrow!

Unicorn employees make us better, more confident and more candid managers.

In these days of rapidly changing markets and increasingly difficult demands to do more with less, managers at all levels need to be ready to literally turn on a dime! Today’s employees are different and the management of these folks needs to change along with them. This book will take a candid look at the changes managers need to make in their own attitudes in order to adequately cope, or better yet, prosper in these times of remote working and otherwise managing from a distance.

Based upon my experience over the years, I’d estimate that between 80% and 90% of the manager-level people in businesses today manage the same way that their managers managed them earlier in their own career. That is, by doling out project work and awaiting the completion of that project before doling out the next one. They are used to (and MUCH more comfortable with) primarily managing hours present at the office and not necessarily the volume and quality of finished work that employees return to them. Certainly, quality work is anticipated, but the primary things that most managers manage are people showing up, them being there on time and them being present for the entire workday.

The Covid-19 pandemic changed all of that in a hurry! Almost overnight, many non-essential businesses were forced to shutter on-site operations leaving senior managers and owners to decide whether to wait out the shutdown or continue mostly modified operations with employees working remotely wherever possible. I can only imagine the stomach churning that occurred and is still occurring among managers who were used to managing hours and not results! All of a sudden, their subordinates were working from home… in their bunny slippers!

In Chapter 9, Building & Managing Your Team, we’ll delve into a concept called Results Only Work Environment™* (ROWE™). Without jumping too far into that topic now, ROWE breaks the mold of managing hours and suggests instead that we buy results from employees whose job functions often times allow for remote operation. Clock-watching and even presence on-site – in appropriate positions – isn’t required as long as the employee delivers quality results on time. With ROWE, managers hire adults – people who don’t need to be watched closely for attendance (etc.) – and treat those employees like adults.

As we’ll see later, the biggest challenge with the ROWE concept is that managers must be very specific with assignments handed out and the expected finished work output must be very clearly defined along with the timing for completion. If any lack of clarity – or a management failure to remove impediments – results in allowing the employee to offer up a valid excuse for failure, that failure is the manager’s responsibility and not the employee’s.

As I think back on all of the many managers I’ve dealt with over the years, a good portion of them would have problems dealing with managing in this brave new world. As the old expression goes: Adapt or Die! I’d paraphrase that by simply saying, Adapt or Get Passed By!

Engaged employees make us make better decisions.

Think about all of the decisions that are made daily across all businesses in every industry. What percentage of those decisions are made in the strictest best interest of the business as opposed to those that quietly protect a perhaps weaker subordinate, or accept an excuse, or sub-optimal finished work? Or, maybe it’s not wishing to take a chance on a business approach or action that might be criticized if it doesn’t work out. Middle managers are rarely criticized for maintaining the status quo. Or, maybe it’s a decision that happens because someone procrastinates long enough that things just move ahead without approval! Consider the collective costs of all the mediocre-to-bad decisions made daily throughout all industries. Unicorn employees typically make management think through and explain their decisions, which leads to better decisions and better outcomes. It’s different and difficult to manage a Unicorn employee… but, highly worth it in the long run!

At the end of the day, we are all paid for accomplishing our piece of the overall company goals: be that profit, volume, new product introductions, a market share metric or all of the above. I once reported to a CEO who said (many times) "if you’re working on something that isn’t making us a profit… Stop, Right Now!" Exaggerated? Probably… but, it does make a point. How often does a singularly focused direction drive down through all layers of a decent size business? In my experience, not very often; usually, the top echelon of the company understands the direction and stakes of a larger-scale company initiative. That’s because they live with the broader corporate challenges and initiatives to handle them every day. That can lead to an assumption that the employees below the senior management tier somehow automatically understand the situation and direction. However, the lower you go on the old org chart, the less employees know, seem to care, or have bought into the plan. Unicorn employees seek an understanding beyond just taking an assignment and crunching it out. They actually make a business stronger and more agile.

This material deals with Unicorn employees, people in general and the management of a group of folks who most likely cover the gamut of personal commitment to you and your business as a whole. We’ll be covering my observations amassed over a four-decade career in management and people watching. I, myself, am a Unicorn and that curiosity is what led me to formulate and confirm a number of theories on people and what makes them tick and what drives some to excel.

Early in the 1970s, I was given my first true management assignment. Prior to that time, I already had an intense curiosity about the people with whom I worked. Some seemed to really care about what they were doing, were committed to personal excellence and seemed to want to know what was going on around them and how/where they fit into the company’s success plans. Unfortunately, this was usually an exception. Generally, most rank and file employees were mainly interested in a job… not a career. While that’s understandable at the lower levels, I’ve witnessed that same attitude at higher (let’s say professional staff) levels, and very unfortunately, across a number of entire management teams.

Back in those days, as a recently-minted young manager, I began to assemble a thought process and perspective about what created the difference between a Lunchbox Larry – who rarely, if ever, thought about his or her job in off hours – and someone who took success in their job – and of their company – personally. I’ll be targeting the middle to upper-level manager and business owner who understands the foregoing questions and has tried to identify and nurture those Unicorn employees who really and truly care. It also targets those middle managers who seek higher capacity, higher quality, higher employee satisfaction and higher levels of stability among their teammates and peers.

While we will focus on Unicorn employees, it’s very important to also recognize that a Unicorn needs the correct structure – in terms of clear directions and foundational support – and competent management to fully develop and flourish.

What do you get when you introduce a Unicorn employee into a group or department populated by people who want a job and not a career, and are being managed by task managers using weak or lax processes?

Answer: A Unicorn looking for another job!

That means providing an environment that encourages discussion and healthy debate, with flexibility and understanding of the other person’s perspectives. On the other hand, if you treat people like robots, you’ll receive robot-like behavior! It also means there will need to be operating processes, procedures and metrics that must be followed and attained. Period! If you’re clear enough with your instructions, there are clearly defined processes in place and you, as the manager, assure that impediments to progress are removed, it’s up to the employee to show their true capabilities. If you were managing like that when the pandemic hit, having your staff work remotely has been much less stressful!

How much of a role does personality play in making an employee successful?

Does an employee’s personality really matter? It absolutely does matter! In fact, this material is, to a large extent, about providing you with the tools and reasoning why you should consider personality factors across the entire spectrum of hiring and managing the people with whom you work.

Personality is the most overlooked aspect of personnel selection, hiring and ongoing management in industry today… and, I’d venture to guess it’s been that way for decades!

Many companies employ one or more of the personality profile tests that are available on the market, which is a good start. Yet, I’ve seen it many times where there is a disconnect between the computer-generated test results and what you actually experience after hiring a new employee. Why is that? I believe that people who are put into a testing environment (aka: knowing that they are being evaluated) will provide the answers that give them the most positive results. Are they lying? I wouldn’t necessarily say that, but I would suggest that they may be giving you the most positive perspective on how they might operate without the personal and work-related pressures of the day that one might realistically face. So, YES, personality matters quite a bit. Now, I’m also not suggesting that profile testing doesn’t work… I’m simply saying that administering a personality test, as part of the new-hire application process, is not the end all for providing a complete picture of what makes that candidate tick. AND, aspects of their personality will impact everything they do for you after they are on board. How often are personality traits considered after a person is hired? Very rarely, if ever!

To illustrate this point, let’s play a little game. Suppose for a moment that you are the chairperson of a high-profile government crime prevention advisory board and your group needs to add a talented psychologist to the team. You are considering a clean-cut, bright young man with a pleasant manner. He graduated with distinction from a top-tier university being awarded a degree in psychology. He also brings a solid work history… and, interviews exceptionally well. In fact, although you don’t know the exact number, his IQ of 136 is very apparent in that interview. You administer personality profile testing as a matter of standard procedure. In so doing, you understand that as a psychologist he may know how to game the testing, but it’s an HR requirement. The testing comes back fine, as does his background and reference checks, and you end up extending him a significant job offer. Congratulations! You just hired Ted Bundy.

Now, I’m not suggesting that considering the hiring of a serial killer happens with any frequency, nor am I suggesting that every applicant will be capable of manipulating prehire testing the way a psychologist might. But, while the standard personality testing might expose Married With Children’s hapless Al Bundy, in this case Ted Bundy slipped through.

What I am suggesting is that an applicant’s personality plays an enormous part in how valuable an employee will be to your business over time.

Throughout this book, please consider the word Unicorn to be synonymous with Super-High Potential.

I’ll be suggesting that there is an undeniable link between a person’s personality and their ability and desire to achieve Unicorn or Super-High Potential job performance status.

When it’s time to hire a new employee typically the elements, in order, include:

1) Evaluation of skills and talents required against a job description

a) Relevant education

b) Relevant experience

2) Attitude – How they carry themselves in an interview

3) Fit – Will this person be a cultural fit in the business and department

4) Personality – Is their personality a fit? You will certainly get a feel for this during an interview. However, personality is typically left up to one or more personality profile tests. It’s difficult to fault this approach because a candidate will be on his or her best behavior during the interview process and few hiring managers are competent at evaluating personalities in an interview setting.

If a candidate comes through all of that sparklingly clean, they may – pending possible background and reference checks – be extended an offer.

Does anyone ever slow down to consider the personalities of the people they hire and then supervise once they are on the job? Not often in my experience. Yet, I’ve learned that personality traits will continue to impact every employee’s performance as long as they are in your employ. So, does personality play a role in the success and upward mobility of employees? Unequivocally, YES!

There’s no substitute for having the right people on your team!

To be very clear from the outset, being a Unicorn employee is a personality distinction… it is not a management-training program, per se. It may well point out certain employees who could and should be in an organized management training program, but it’s more about the attitude a person is bringing to their job and not as much what you ultimately do to further develop them.

Throughout my management career, I’ve had the opportunity to work with, report to and supervise a very wide swath of global employees in companies ranging from Fortune 500 to start-ups.

One thing remained consistent from company-to-company, location-to-location and industry-to-industry: PEOPLE. Our employees are the lifeblood of our company! How many times have you heard that one? Yet, in saying so, the management of most companies really doesn’t regularly and objectively focus on individual employee capabilities and performance from a personality perspective. Sure, we do performance reviews once a year, but do we ever consider why employees perform to the level they do? Does personality ever come into view after the original battery of tests is applied at the time of hiring?

Success this year should start with an objective view of your planned tactics versus the individual and overall capabilities and strengths of your team!

How many companies objectively consider their true staffing needs and overall capabilities by functional group annually? How much have things changed in the markets your company serves over the past five years? How much has technology impacted your business internally? How much have the specific projects your staff is working on today changed versus five years ago? Yet, how much has your staff makeup (not necessarily headcount) changed to keep pace?

While I’m not suggesting that you reorganize your department annually, I am certainly suggesting that you carefully study the company’s strategic plans and build your tactical strategy to fulfill on the company’s goals. I believe that those tactics can and will change from year to year. The cumulative effect of those tactical changes over several years may well have you trying to accomplish a crucial tactical goal with a person or persons who are not ideal for those roles… simply because they are on the staff already. Tactical changes can move you away from the sweet spot of your current teams’ capabilities… it often happens slowly, so it can sneak up on you if you’re not watching objectively and carefully. Again, this isn’t a suggestion that you rework your team annually, but it may be appropriate to contract out specific new projects to someone who specializes in that particular area. Then, if the new skill set is repeated in subsequent years, you can always make adjustments to your team accordingly over time. The point is that having an existing employee learn a new skill set while working on a critical project in this year’s plan is nothing more than a ticking bomb! Conversely, having an employee on staff who is expert at something you no longer do is obviously quite wasteful. I would suggest that these things are all too often not objectively considered by senior management on a regular basis.

An important point with regard to strategic plans: I remember when strategic plans were a five-year directional view; then as business and market changes accelerated, they were shortened to three-years. Today, a well-thought-out strategic plan is a dynamic thing, subject to changes as often as marketplace changes dictate. Please realize that when we cover strategic plans, those directions are fluid and managers must all recognize that they are subject to change… welcome those changes, as they are the difference between a cutting-edge operation and an also-ran antique.

Objective people management is a companywide thing!

Annual planning at the highest levels should begin with overall mission and vision statements, as well as a strategic plan. From there, all more granular activities spring: including department by department tactical plans and organizational blue-prints supporting the company strategy, employee hiring and development guidelines, performance processes to assure consistency and measurability, candid performance assessments, internal employee rankings and – when necessary – employee terminations. All of these things should be done in an objective, consistent, open and calculated manner. The backbone of strong management is objectivity and candor. All departments must participate in the planning process to the same level of depth and objectivity. Senior management should assure that these internal departmental tactics are reviewed and/or approved above the departmental level. That way, the senior tier can be comfortable that the planned departmental tactics will drive toward the intended companywide outcomes.

I’ve seen it all too often where senior managers trust their departmental management to come up with the proper tactics to accomplish corporate goals without any critical review prior to launch. I always tried to make it a habit to have my subordinate managers sell me their tactics and make me comfortable that their piece of the puzzle was strong enough to reach our collective goals.

How about the individual employee?

Think about the best employee you ever managed. Now, consider why you think that way… what did he or she provide to your business that perhaps made you wish you had more of them! Was it that that person could be counted upon for results? Or, you knew that he or she knew what they were doing, and win or lose, you would get their best shot? Perhaps, it was some intangible reason like their never-say-die competitive attitude, or their innate knowledge of their job, or your company or the industry… or, all of the above.

Why are some employees just better than others? What does better mean? These are questions that I carried through most of the 40+ years that I worked as a manager, senior manager and executive