What do High Performers Have in common? (Part 1) - Intelligence
How can you identify more and attract them into your organisation? (Part 1)
For the last 23 years I have been helping companies of all sizes source talent. Most of those roles have been genuinely achievement orientated, and for that end we have been assigned to find high performers.
A large number of the roles have been in commercial leadership, but I have also been involved in significant numbers of other searches including HR, finance, manufacturing, R&D, quality and regulatory, and operations. And believe me, the best of these people are just as achievement and results orientated as anyone in sales!
Along with colleagues (and particularly my colleague Lorna Rutter, my organisation has interviewed and assessed thousands of potential applicants. The analysis we have done has drawn us to the conclusion that there are seven essential characteristics of high performers.
In this article we will discuss one of these essential characteristics: INTELLIGENCE.
Which is more important; IQ, EQ, or AQ? Indeed, what are they, and why are they at all relevant?
We need to hire smart people. Is that very ground-breaking you might be thinking? Doesn’t everyone want to hire people that are clever? Well, there are different types of “smart” or “clever”, and high performers are generally the types of folk that gravitate toward roles that suit their specific type of intelligence. It is possible you could have someone with an astonishingly high IQ, but that doesn’t automatically mean that they will excel in the role you have for them, particularly if it requires a type of intelligence that is more than is somewhat simplistically measured by IQ tests. And here is the irony; many attempts to measure general intelligence are in reality, simplistic and therefore not really “intelligent”!
That said, for most professional roles, high performing employees have a measure of intelligence that puts them in the upper quartile for their peers. This may be measured in (as already mentioned) IQ, emotional intelligence (EQ) and adaptability quotient (AQ).?
For some highly technical roles high IQ scores may be very important, and in others, particularly where a large amount of team interaction is required, strong emotional intelligence will enable them to understand the problems of others often before that person knows that they have a problem. This type of intelligence is often demonstrated by the fact that they are highly articulate and persuasive, but they are even better at listening. They use these abilities to give colleagues and customers options that no-one else has thought of.
However, according to many thought leaders, it is not necessarily IQ or EQ that genuinely provides competitive advantage, but “AQ”, or Adaptability Quotient.
In the current time, high performers need to learn faster than ever before just to keep up with the rapid change that is all around them. Technology is changing at an unprecedented rate. Prof. Amy Edmondson of Harvard, suggests that it is this rapid changing technological environment that makes AQ so valuable to individuals, and by, extension, organisations. Essentially, the better an individual or organisation is at adapting, the greater capability they have at dealing with change and identifying opportunities for progression and growth. The hard reality is that those who do not adapt will be left behind, while those that adapt will have a greater opportunity to survive and thrive as they outperform the former. ?
In addition to absorb and adapt to new information, AQ is having the ability to?determine what is relevant; how to overcome challenges, and to discard obsolete or unnecessary knowledge. There is so much information “out there” at present that it is an essentially skill for leaders to be able to determine what is actually relevant to their objectives.
Fundamentally, if you have the ability to read and respond to early signals with effective action with a simultaneous effort to change where appropriate, whilst others are unable or unwilling to respond, you are most likely someone with a high AQ.
With all individuals there will be certain levels of capability in these areas that is down to innate personality. It is said by some, that IQ is constant, and that while you can improve test scores by practice your actual IQ remains the same.
EQ, on the other hand, can be substantially improved through training. (see here: 10 Ways to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence | Inc.com) . Similarly with AQ, it is possible to improve: How (and Why) to Boost Your Adaptability Quotient (forbes.com)
(NB: For a further discussion on change management see my podcast with bestselling author, Holger Rathgeber on the subject Dealing with Change - Nigel Job interviews leading expert Holger Rathgeber. - YouTube or listen here)
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The last area of intelligence that I actively look for in candidates, which is neither IQ, EQ or AQ (though it may be related to all three) is autodidactism; an ability to teach oneself. Autodidactics like to learn, often in their own way, by reading articles, books, training and online learning (if you are still reading this article draw your own conclusions!). Such individuals are continuously looking for ways to challenge and improve themselves. They are also normally comfortable with technology and are adept at using it to further enhance their performance.
Which of these measures we have discussed, then, is most important? (they can all be measured – see the final article in this series). The answer is that the emphasis is dependent, unsurprisingly, on what role you want a high performer for. The relative proportion of IQ or EQ may depend on the amount of detail or communication is required. That said, a high IQ individual with very poor communication style may not be optimal and neither is a great communicator who has a very low IQ (though in my opinion the latter rarely exists). ?AQ is, however, a “must have” for any business or organisation focussed on growth. Adaptability is essential, and with that comes the desire to improve. Genuine high performers will demonstrate these abilities through their careers and in various aspects of what they do, not just in the workplace but in their leisure time too.
Fundamentally, there is, unsurprisingly, a very strong correlation between intelligence and high performance. The intelligent employer is the one that identifies what type and level of intelligence is required to optimise the identification, acquisition and retention of such people.
In the next article we will discuss another one of the other seven essential characteristics of high performers.
Competitiveness
·????????Are you competitive?
·????????What is a competitive personality? (The psychology).
·????????What type of competitiveness is positive and what types less so?
·????????How does competitiveness impact colleagues?
·????????How do competitive people like to be measured?
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Freelance Sales and Marketing Professional, Management Consultant.
3 年Nice article Nigel. Keep ‘em coming…