Dan Pink in his book ‘To Sell Is Human’ and in this video above, makes some great points about power, selling, persuasion, and extremes in personality (–T) that affect job performance.
Points I found Interesting
We are all in sales positions.
We need to convince others to work with us to assist us in completing our work to keep people self-directed.
This is best when we partner and work with others in their self-interest. As Pink states, the employee may help if she is told to do it – but grudgingly.
Power and Perspective Taking
The higher you are in power the less likely you are to take others perspectives and the more likely you are to think others have the same perspective as you.
Working with Managers and Executives the best ones that move the organization ahead are the ones who understand that management is:
- About completing your work through the work of others
- You need them more than they need you
- You get paid for what employees do, not for what you do
Shifting to the thinking above forces managers / team leaders to continually think and ask How can I add value to the decision making and judgment of others?
Personality Extremes Are The Problem
There is NO special personality characteristic for any position. And it is about time the Human Resources, recruitment, Organization Development people, and managers STOP the madness.
Using assessments to identify personality traits for jobs is useless and dangerous.
Pink shows, what he calls the Ambiverts to be the most effective. Those that are not too extreme on one end of the spectrum. While illustrating the extremes are where the concerns belong.
Sounds like –T to me. Instead of looking for certain behaviors, work to identify if the person has any behaviors that are sooo extreme to be deleterious to them completing the work in the role effectively.