What is your core?

1st November 2016

What is your core?You might well be thinking, what does an apple core have to do with people and their personal development? So let’s explain…

Whether interviewing a prospective employee, considering why a colleague or friend prefers to behave in a certain way (perhaps in a very different way from yourself), or reflecting on your own behavioural style or stress levels, you will be aware that we are all different to a smaller or greater degree.

At the core of the way we behave is personality. The accepted premise is that personality is an inherited and nurtured complex of traits that controlled our behaviour in the past, controls it at present and will be in the future. Based on years of research, psychologists agree that there are five fairly fixed dimensions of behaviours. Conscientiousness, likeability (Agreeableness), Un-conventionality (Openness to Experience) =, Extraversion, and Stability (Neuroticism). We all have preferred way of behaving and will have a varying degree of preference for these dimensions. If we have a behavioural preference in one direction and our job role requires us to behave in a different way, over time the job will become increasingly uncomfortable leading to personal frustration, poor performance, de-motivation etc. We therefore need to find ways to help us cope. For example, this could include developing a strategy to help overcome anxiety at presenting in public or learning how to be more assertive with colleagues or delegate tasks more effectively, etc.

So why the apple? Well, suppose we are recruiting someone, we might base our decision n their CV and our impression of them at an interview. Evidence suggest that most interviews rarely go beneath the initial impressions of the individual, let alone get to the core of what the individual is really like! It may be a rosy apple on the outside and appear perfect but once we get to the core we might discover another story! Research has found that many candidates admit to lying on their CV and that a typical CV and unstructured interview only achieves a 40% probability of success- that makes it a very risky business!

Similarly we find ourselves delegating a task or working with a colleague on an activity and find their behavioural preference not appropriate.

Job FitHow would you feel when asked to do a task for which you are not behaviourally suited? For example, you might like to follow a set of strict rules and a defined structure when your preference may be exploratory and unstructured. So, are you the right person for the task? Could you delegate the task or do you need to build a strategy around the activity that allows you to behave closer to your preference? The trick is to find a good job fit and that is where we can help!

Visit our website www.big5assessments.com to learn more about personality, how it is assessed and explore how it might help your own organisation to improve the way it selects and develops individuals.

By Nigel Newman – Founder and Director of Big 5 Assessments

Filed in: Job Fit

About the Author:

Nikky van Bommel is the Marketing Director for Big 5 Assessments and has worked in the Psychometric Testing industry for over 10 years. Nikky is responsible for all marketing and social media for the organisation.

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