Please note that my blog is not located at http://drdianehamilton.com/blog … If you signed up for my old blog, you will not receive notifications of the new one. Please go to the new site for current blogs. Thanks
In my recent NACACS presentation, I received a lot of questions about the differences in personalities in the workplace. Some of the participants had gone through Myers-Briggs, DiSC, StrengthsFinder, or some other type of assessment. However, many of them had not had any training regarding personality preferences. There are a variety of personality assessments that can help people learn how to get along at work. Therefore, it may be challenging to determine which assessment to use. I believe that there are some important things to learn from many of these tools. Toni Rothpletz and I wrote It’s Not You It’s Your Personality to summarize the important aspects of each of the major personality assessments and help employees thrive at work.
Many guests on my Take the Lead Radio Show are experts in different aspects of helping employers improve communication. That is really what these assessments are meant to improve. We need to communicate more effectively; we can do that through improved understanding of each other’s preferences. Whether it is the introvert learning how to get a word in edgewise with an extravert, or a dominant personality learning to listen better, it is all about communicating effectively. In the 1970s, two separate research teams came up with what we now call The Big Five Factors of Personality, based on research that came out in the early 1930s. Societies have endeavored to determine the best ways to communicate. It is a challenge that will continue because there are so many unique personality traits.
What may help is to develop empathy, which is a big component of emotional intelligence. I studied the importance of empathy on interpersonal relationships as part of my doctoral dissertation. Empathy, mood self-regulation, self-presentation, along with practical intelligence was a big factor related to work success. Employees who demonstrate empathy understand other’s feelings when making decisions that might impact them. Companies that focus on developing these important skills can have more productive and engaged employees. It behooves employers to proactively encourage effective communication, due to the $550 billion a year productivity loss due to unhappy employees. They can begin by helping employees understand personality preferences. People are more accepting of personalities that are different from their own if they understand why people display certain behaviors. Once they understand different personality traits, they can develop empathy and other key emotional intelligence traits to help them be more successful, cooperative, and productive workers.
Related Articles:
Employers struggle with a variety of motivation and emotion-based issues with employees. How to attract, engage, and inspire top talent to create winning teams is one of the most requested keynotes. This is usually combined with some form of addressing generational differences, communication, culture, leadership, teamwork, and personality conflict. Engagement has been broken down into three parts by Gallup including engaged (13%), not engaged (63%), and actively disengaged (60%).
With such a large percentage of workers in the category of not engaged, it brings attention to the costs involved with ambivalence. If workers are not engaged, they do not put forth any extra effort, they are less innovative, less effective at customer service, less loyal, more likely to job hop, and are less productive. Ambivalent workers are there to get a paycheck, but they are not likely to volunteer for much more. They may be harder to spot because they are not necessarily unhappy, but they do not feel connected to the organization and therefore, are less concerned about customers, profitability, and safety. They are more likely to leave, resulting in costly turnover expenses.
Consider the costs associated with engagement:
For a complete list of costs involved in engagement, check out 2016 Employee Engagement/Retention Statistics. There are ways to improve employee engagement. These include:
Engagement may vary based on generations and length of service to the company. As Millennials become the largest group in the workplace, it behooves leaders to learn more about how to attract and retain this group. They do not require long, detailed-recognition, but frequent notifications that they are doing well and are on track may be very important to their emotional commitment.
Leaders should recognize that the way people work must be evaluated. The days of 8 to 5, no flexibility, and yearly performance reviews are no longer the norm. People require frequent recognition and feedback. Leaders who schedule time for feedback will be the ones who reap the rewards. Now that 40% of global workers are remote, it is important to find new ways to connect and to empower people to work virtually. The successful leaders will begin by hiring the best people, monitor their outcomes, and continue to provide feedback, respect, recognition, and support.
Related Articles:
With the advent of self-publishing, realizing the dream of writing a book has become a reality for more people. Many guests on my nationally-syndicated radio show have been authors. I was fortunate to interview Sharon Lechter recently, and she brought up how a book has become the new business card. Sharon, of course, is the co-author of the Rich Dad Poor Dad series and several best-selling books based on the recently re-energized Napoleon Hill Think and Grow Rich series. Sharon is the ultimate example of a successful author. Most authors do not have Napoleon Hill Foundation behind their work. However, many have access to sites like Createspace and others to showcase their writing skills.
Years ago, Seth Godin, is a well-established author, made news when he decided to self-publish. Godin had enough customer relationships that he no longer needed his publisher. Publishers can offer a lot of advantages for a new author. However, once an author is established and has identified their audience, they may not be as necessary. At that time, Godin told the Wall Street Journal, “Publishers provide a huge resource to authors who don’t know who reads their books. What the Internet has done for me, and a lot of others, is enable me to know my readers.” The Internet offers a platform that has changed publishing forever.
The popularity of self-publishing is undeniable. The old definition of what qualifies as a book or being published has changed. Books can include fewer pages than in the past, and they can be downloadable e-books. They open doors for speakers and consultants. They offer international recognition. More than 725,000 self-published works were registered in 2015. “As the field of self-publishing matures, the quality of both content and format for many of these titles is becoming indistinguishable from those published by traditional houses,” said Beat Barblan, Direct of Identifier Services at Bowker. “In recent years, the number of independent authors topping prominent bestseller lists is a clear indication that readers are embracing author-published titles.”
Has this made a book become the new business card? Andrew Medal believed it had, as he explained in his entrepreneur.com article Books are the New Business Card in 2015. This question has become an even more intriguing since that time. Books are a marketing tool just as a business card has been in the past because it establishes expertise, sets you apart, opens doors, and brings in new business. It also begs another question: If everyone has a book, how has that impacted the value of having one?
Related Articles:
I think in a way, the book has become the new business card. However, what worries more is the quality of stories available online. Self-published books are usually fine, but on sites like Wattpad, the quality of stories is horrible. The sad part is most of these poorly written books are getting published, so I wonder what that says about the publishing industry.
There is an emotional component behind most of the things that will make or break employees’ and leaders’ success. When someone first hears the word emotion, it may suggest emotional intelligence. Developing emotional intelligence is one important factor that has been demonstrated to lead to success. However, that is just part of the picture.
Emotions are a big part of engagement as well. Engagement is the emotional commitment the employee feels toward the organization and its goals. Emotion creeps up when discussing soft skills, culture, sales skills, and just about anything regarding success at work. Soft skills include components such as interpersonal skills. Having strong interpersonal skills are a big part of emotional intelligence.
Sales skills often require tapping into consumer’s emotions. Sales skills are a big part of being successful as an entrepreneur as well. Some of the top emotion-based issues employees, leaders, and entrepreneurs face, involve managing emotions, finding ways to become emotionally committed and having others become emotionally committed, and developing ways to improve emotional awareness in others. What makes a top salesperson successful? They find an emotional need or pain. Sales are based on people’s greed, fear, envy, pride, shame, and a host of other emotions that lead to a feeling of emotional reward. When creating content for consumers, marketing professionals consider the motions that design, color, and images will have on them.
Gamification has been added to the workplace to develop employees on an emotional level. Emotions are powerful and impact learning. Training programs must have aesthetically pleasing aspects, or negative emotions could result. Gaming has become a strong focus for Millennials as they see it as a form of entertainment. However, it can also be used to create positive emotions to improve training and productivity. Plutchik’s psycho-evolutionary theory of emotion explained there are eight primary emotions which include anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy. These emotions trigger behavior. He suggested eight primary bipolar emotions: joy versus sadness; anger versus fear; trust versus disgust; and surprise versus anticipation. Up to 90% of purchasing decisions are based on an emotional response.
People in sales situations, at work, in school, or at home, may have difficulty expressing emotions or even understanding their emotions or those of others. This difficulty has led to a multitude of problems that impact behaviors. Most people are hired for their skills and fired for their behaviors. This problem with behaviors is a big part of what employers call soft skills. Soft skills can include a multitude of issues including lack of effective interactions with others. The sooner employers realize that emotions are not just a part of emotional intelligence, but engagement, productivity, sales, and a vast array of outcomes that can be either positive or negative if employers find ways to capitalize understanding their value at work.
To find out more about emotions, check out some of these authors and speakers. All but two of them have been on Take the Lead (my nationally-syndicated radio show), and I have been part of events where I heard the other two speak. I highly recommend looking into the work that these individuals have produced because all of them are very impressive:
Related Articles:
As technology becomes more sophisticated, some activities previously completed by employees can be handled by computer programs. HR professionals have already found that AI can perform candidate searches and determine best matches for jobs. Using technology can help make candidate reviews more manageable. AI can even monitor email to determine if employees are engaged at work and notify leaders of those who may be ready to leave the company. Some companies already offer some AI-related assistance to track candidates or monitor workers. Some examples include SAP, Entelo, Veriato, and Bluvision. It is possible to receive alerts if employees have poor performance or if they are not where they should be at work.
Why continue to have employees when computers can do all the work? AI can have its biases. It may make decisions based on past information. It has no gut instinct. There is no way to determine if AI is more effective than the human choice yet because it has been unchartered territory. However, AI has offered some insight into things managers and leaders may not have time to track. That is not to say there are no issues. Privacy is something that jumps to the front of the line as companies track people’s online footprint. Some argue that AI reports may lead to incorrect assumptions by leaders. While leaders want to determine the best way to predict success in their employees, the current software options available may not have the level of sophistication required. There may be important pieces of the puzzle left out in the process. How can a machine grasp the human emotional aspect of performance? Instead of using AI as a replacement for employees, it may be more of a tool to use in addition to personal insight, gut instinct, and common sense based on experience.
If blue and white color jobs are already at stake, will leaders soon be replaced by AI? Sydney Finkelstein from Dartmouth argued that middle management is already virtually extinct. Frey and Osborne’s (2013) study “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerization” predicted that 47% of workers will be replaced by machines. Accenture (2015) found leaders lack some basic human skills including social networking, people development and coaching, and collaboration. The Accenture results indicated that “84% of managers believe AI will make their work more effective and interesting. Manpower performed a survey of 18,000 employers in 43 different countries, which found 82% expect to maintain or increase staff levels because of automation.”
Perhaps it is not a question of if leaders and managers will be impacted, but more a question of how much and when. Disruption continues, and all levels of management cannot escape some impact. Leaders and managers will need to keep pace with advances, communicate to keep the human component indispensable, be creative, and design organizations that utilize human and AI talent to take advantage of both.
Related Articles:
If IQ is a measure of intelligence, EQ a measure of emotional intelligence, then what is CQ? In each of these cases, the Q stands for quotient, which means a measure or degree of that characteristic. The Cultural Intelligence Center defines CQ as, “the capability to relate and work effectively in culturally diverse situations. It goes beyond existing notions of cultural sensitivity and awareness to highlight a theoretically-based set of capabilities needed to successfully and respectfully accomplish your objectives in culturally diverse settings.” Companies are becoming more culturally diverse, and that means leaders must adapt.
If leaders have positions where they have considerable involvement with foreign cultures, it is critical that they truly understand that culture. It is not enough to just read about cultures. It may be challenging to determine a level of CQ. To be a cultural master is different from being culturally competent according to Ricardo Gonzales at Bilingual America. To develop a level of mastery is a journey. Leaders continue to develop.
Some important skills to develop to have true cross-cultural awareness may include things associated with EQ, such as adaptability and empathy. Just like EQ, CQ can be developed. One way to do this is through experiential learning. Immersing oneself into a culture can be challenging. However, it may be helpful to develop a true understanding of cultural norms.
Leaders may work with people in foreign cultures and have little appreciation for what is embraced in that society. It may be important to know about their favorite sports, their appreciation for different artists, musicians, etc. Some leaders may know historical information, but not truly be mindful of what is popular, or what employees hold dear. To connect with others at a cultural level, leaders need to dig deeper and strive to have a greater understanding of those things that give the people with whom they connect meaning. This has been referred to as cultural metacognition or cultural mindfulness.
It may be important for leaders to work on their cultural mindfulness. To do this, it may help to consider past successful and unsuccessful interactions. Echo Yuan Liao of IESE Business School explained that in addition to reflecting, paying attention to other people’s reactions can help as well. Bilingual America offers cultural training for help with interacting with the Latino culture. This may be helpful to all levels of leaders and managers who manage Latino workers.
As organizations grow into emerging markets, increasing their CQ becomes paramount to their success. The Cultural Intelligence Center found, “Fortune 500 companies expect that their greatest revenue streams over the next decade will come from emerging markets, and top universities are recruiting students from around the world and from groups previously underrepresented on campus. Organizations with culturally intelligent students and staff are more likely to accomplish their mission in today’s multicultural, globalized world.” Those leaders who have the foresight to embrace the importance of CQ will benefit, just as those who have embraced the importance of EQ.
Related Articles:
Job listings often describe the skills needed to perform in a position. However, many of the skills required for success fall under the category of soft skills. Many employees may be hired for their knowledge and yet may end up being fired for their behavior or lack of social skills. Forbes reported that 46% of newly hired employees will fail within 18 months. Mitchell Communications Group found that companies lose $37 billion a year in the United States due to miscommunication. Research from Adecco Staffing considered what the C-suite thinks about the type of skills employees lack. They found that the C-suite believed 44% lacked soft skills including communication, critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. This has led to missed growth opportunity, low productivity, and reduced profits.
The good news is that we can improve these social or soft skills. The first step is realizing that there is always room for improvement. It can help to observe others who have strong skills that may need development. To determine areas that may need improvement, start by considering some questions.
It may be critical for people to develop empathy by considering how they would feel in another person’s position. When making decisions, consider how those decisions will impact others. Most of the issues that employers deal with are communication-based. Once you can recognize your own emotions and empathize with how others feel as well, that is a big step to building emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence and emotional commitment to one’s job (aka engagement) are two important pieces of the employee success puzzle.
There are two fascinating TED talks that may help. Amy Cuddy’s talk “Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are” and Susan Cain’s The Power of Introverts may provide some insight regarding how to truly know your strengths and weaknesses and learn to embrace them. Personality and preferences play a big role in how we interact at work. It is important not to under-estimate the impact of interpersonal skills. Rather than waiting for schools or employers to help, individuals can learn a lot from:
As with any learning, it takes time to develop soft skills. The U.S. Department of Labor created a great workforce readiness soft skills training downloadable PDF for youth ages 14-21. Although that is intended for young adults, older workers could benefit from many of the activities as well.
Related Articles:
Gallup’s 2016 survey results have shed light on how poor engagement is in the workplace. If only 13% of workers feel engaged, there are serious consequences for productivity, turnover, and team effectiveness. Managers may be instrumental in encouraging employees and helping them improve their levels of engagement. Gallup (2016) focuses on 12 elements that are important to having effective and productive workers, which include:
If managers and leaders had a conversation with their employees about these 12 areas, they could determine where employees lack engagement. Employees may simply lack clarity regarding what is expected of them. If leaders understand this, they can create engaging conversations to help improve communication. It all begins by asking questions and opening a dialogue.
Because there are so many areas where employees may experience issues with engagement, it may be helpful to take on each area one at a time. Perhaps begin a conversation about job expectations this week and spend the month working on that if that is problematic. Next month consider asking questions about their materials or opportunities, etc. Take some time to get to know each person’s individual needs. Have a plan to meet with employees and follow up on any information obtained that indicates improvement is required.
Keep in mind that engagement involves emotional commitment, and people base 70% of how they make decisions on factors that involve emotions. Leaders must recognize the importance of focusing on feelings and emotions because that impact how employees behave and the choices they make. By increasing engagement or emotional commitment, organizations found less absenteeism, less turnover, and improved productivity. The key is to recognize that leaders have the most impact on employee engagement. Employees do not leave companies; they leave their bosses or leaders.
Please click on this link: to take a Generational Engagement Survey.
Related Articles:
On March 7, 2017, Forbes’ Editor John Tamny will speak in San Diego about the fed. What does that have to do with sexy marketing? Tamny has done a great job of utilizing celebrity examples to make his points about economics. Think about his latest book title: Who Needs the Fed?: What Taylor Swift, Uber, and Robots Tell Us About Money, Credit, and Why We Should Abolish America’s Central Bank. If it were just titled Who Needs the Fed? that would not be nearly as intriguing. Taylor Swift is far sexier. What is great about Tamny’s writing is that he discusses important economic subjects, while bringing in celebrity examples to bring his points home. By using timely examples like Taylor Swift’s stance on Apple’s decision to give away music for free, he appeals to the masses. Tamny’s title and content choice demonstrate how even the most challenging topics can be made more appealing if the right picture is painted in consumers’ minds.
Tamny probably learned many content publishing tips from his work at Forbes. One thing his book’s title demonstrates is how important it is to reach prospective customers with a personalized message. That is what top marketing professionals hope to accomplish. However, many marketing professionals can attest that this may be challenging when creating content at scale. To help improve this process, I wrote and taught some brand publishing courses as part of my work as the MBA Program Chair for the Forbes School of Business and Technology. I was fortunate to interact with many CMOs at last November’s Forbes Summit in Coronado. My interactions with these professionals reinforced how many of them experience the same frustrations involving the difficulty with the process of transitioning from traditional forms of advertising and marketing toward brand publishing. Personalizing content, making it appealing or sexy, can be quite challenging. When creating the brand publishing courses, we used Bruce Rogers’ Publish or Perish Report as a key component. Bruce did an excellent job researching how top companies use the vast number of vendors in the most effective ways.
Whether marketers want to create a social media campaign or individuals want to write a book, the same thing is true; content is king. That is evident through the work from John Tamny. For those of you in the San Diego area on March 7, I highly recommend reserving your spot for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see John Tamny, top Editor at Forbes, speak for free. I will be there and look forward to interviewing him.
About the Author:
Dr. Diane Hamilton is an award-winning speaker, nationally-syndicated radio host, educator, and the co-author of It’s Not You, It’s Your Personality Dr. Hamilton has spoken for top companies including Forbes about topics including leadership, engagement, emotional intelligence, and generational conflict. She can be reached at DrDianeHamilton.com. If you would like to sign up for her update please click here: Contact Dr. Diane Hamilton.
Related Articles:
Dr. Diane Hamilton's Blog 
Reply