What’s really required in a role?

Harry was having trouble recruiting for a key position that is often misunderstood; the role of ‘Office Manager’. It’s amazing how many different job descriptions I have seen for this role! These range from mainly acting as an accountant, to being responsible for Social Media and marketing the business. As you know these are vastly different roles and require quite different characteristics, skills and traits. So how do you attract the person with the right working style, attitude and motivation?

Harry is a classic Entrepreneur and full of great ideas. He loves starting new projects and the business is growing on the back of his success at getting into new markets. He is very effective at spotting a gap in the market and creating solutions that are cost-effective to the end user and yet produce a good margin.

If what you are doing is not working . . .

As the business was growing quite rapidly Harry felt he needed an Office Manager to bring some order and discipline to the business. But he was getting very frustrated that the people he hired would leave after 3 – 6 months and he felt it was holding back the business.

After chatting with him it became clear that he was attracting and recruiting people who were very similar to him, in that they wanted variety and the excitement of starting new projects – which he actually promised them at interview! However, the requirements of the role were really quite different. It needed someone who could set up and manage a number of quite strict processes and procedures that would become the backbone of his customer service.

Do something different . . .

We designed a Job Advert that was highly attractive to people with a high preference for procedures, completing the job and making sure it was done right. But the real challenge, was getting Harry to realise that the person who would be able to do the job he wanted, would not necessarily be someone he could easily relate to and like from the outset. He needed to understand that there might well be some clashes and misunderstandings because they were at the opposite end of the motivational scale to him.

Harry’s love of innovation, ideas and variety demonstrates that he has a preference for and is motivated by ‘Options and Experimenting’. This is a great trait for creativity and problem solving, but it is not unusual for people with a high preference in this pattern to leave tasks unfinished (because they get excited and motivated by the next new ‘idea’). They often need someone to provide structure, to ensure things are closed off and completed. This means getting someone who is very systematic and motivated by ‘Procedures’.

Behavioural flexibility

It is worth noting that it may well make Harry feel a bit uncomfortable to be around someone who he deems to be boring, inflexible and pedantic. Yet it’s exactly what he needed to build a sustainable business!

After some coaching and gaining some insights from his own language, behaviour and thinking preferences, Harry was not only able to recruit the right person for the job, but he was able to make sure he communicated with them in a way that was motivating and that made sense to them.

For example the Office Manager was primarily motivated by knowing ‘how’ a job needed to be done. They wanted to clarify “the order of things” and “the steps to take”. They wanted to know “the right way to do things” and “what the completed job looks like”. His usual way of communicating all the possibilities, alternative approaches and options can be very confusing, upsetting and stressful for a person who is primarily motivated by procedures.

Harry was not used to speaking in procedural terms and it actually made him feel very awkward at first. But when he saw how the new Office Manager was able to nail down the best way to implement office procedures and implement a systematic and methodical way to ensure customers got the best service, he was delighted. He recognised the benefits of being flexible in his language in order to influence and motivate his Office Manager.

A shortcut to identifying preferences

As mentioned in previous articles, the patterns mentioned above are some of the motivation traits in the Language and Behaviour Profile. ‘Options Vs Procedures’ is often at the core of misunderstandings. Being a keen observer of how people speak and behave can give you many clues to what they need to feel motivated, engaged and fulfilled at work. It also tells you what kind of information they can handle.

There is a very cost-effective shortcut to getting a vast amount of data about what really motivates and engages your people (and job applicants). This data can then be matched against a robust Job Success Formula to find and select the people who will flourish in the role because they are playing to their strengths.

For more information about how to attract and select the best candidates for your vacancies please get in touch.

I am always interested to hear your thoughts and opinions about any of the above so please drop me a line at [email protected]

Remember . . . Stay Curious!

With best regards

David Klaasen

www.talent4performance.co.uk

Written on February 5, 2015

Revised in 2022