How To Spot A Truly Exceptional Employee

A recent international study surveyed more than 500 business leaders and asked them what sets great employees apart. The researchers wanted to know why some people are more successful than others at work, and the answers were surprising; leaders chose “personality”as the leading reason.

Notably, 78% of leaders said personality sets great employees apart, more than cultural fit (53%) and even an employee’s skills (39%)

“We should take care not to make the intellect our God; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.”- Albert Einstein

The problem is, when leaders say “personality” they don’t understand what they’re referring to. Personality consists of a stable set of preferences and tendencies through which we approach the world.

Being introverted or extroverted is an example of an important personality trait.

Personality traits form at an early age and are fixed by early adulthood. Many important things about you change over the course of your lifetime, but your personality isn’t one of them.

Personality is distinct from intellect (IQ). The two don’t occur together in any meaningful way.

Personality is also distinct from emotional intelligence (EQ) and this is where the study, and most leaders for that matters, have misinterpreted the term.

The qualities that leaders in the study called personality were actually emotional intelligence skills. And unlike your personality, which is set in stone, you can change and improve your EQ.

Exceptional employees don’t possess God-given personality traits; they rely on simple, everyday EQ skills that everyone can incorporate into their repertoire.

Leaders don’t need to go searching for these skills either (though it doesn’t hurt when you find them); their duty is to help everyone on their teams harness these skills to become exceptional.

Just consider some of the EQ skills that leaders and managers commonly mislabel as personality characteristics. These are the skills that set exceptional employees apart.

1. They’re Willing To Delay Gratification

One thing an exceptional employee never says is: “That’s not in my job description.

Exceptional employees work outside the boundaries of job descriptions. They’re neither intimidated nor entitled; instead of expecting recognition or compensation to come first, they forge ahead in their work, confident that they’ll be rewarded later but unconcerned if they’re not.

2. They Can Tolerate Conflict

While exceptional employees don’t seek conflict, they don’t run away from it either.

They’re able to maintain their composure while presenting their positions calmly and logically. They’re able to withstand personal attacks in pursuit of the greater goal and never use that tactic themselves.

3. They Focus

Student pilots are often told: “When things start going wrong, don’t forget to fly the plane.”

Plane crashes have resulted from pilots concentrating so hard on identifying the problem that they flew the plane into the ground. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 is just one example – the flight crew was so concerned about the landing gear being down that they didn’t realise they were losing altitude until it was too late, despite alarms going off in the cockpit.

Exceptional employees understand the principle of “just fly the plane.” They don’t get distracted by cranky customers, interoffice squabbles, or the switch to a different brand of coffee.

They can differentiate between real problems and background noise; whether it’s to ask a difficult ( or embarrassingly simple) question or to challenge an executive decision. However, that’s balanced with common sense and timing. They think before they speak and wisely choose the best time and place to do so.

5. They’re In Control of Their Gods

Exceptional employees have egos. While that’s part of what drives them, they never give their egos more weight than what is deserved.

They’re willing to admit when they’re wrong and willing to do things someone else’s way, whether it’s because the other way is better or it’s important to maintain team harmony.

6. They’re Never Satisfied

Exceptional employees have unparalleled convictions that things can always be better – and they’re right.

No one is ever done growing, and there is no such thing as “good enough” when it comes to personal improvement.

No matter how well things are going, exceptional employees are driven to improve, without forgetting to give themselves a healthy pat on the back.

7. They Recognise When Things Are Broken And Fix Them

Whether it’s a sticky desk drawer or an inefficient, wasteful process affecting the cash flow of the entire department, exceptional employees don’t walk past problems.

Öh, it’s been that way forever” simply isn’t in their vocabulary. They see problems as issues to be fixed immediately; it’s that simple.

Source: The Star, 2nd Sept 2017

 

Presentations Can Impact Staff Buy-In

Powerful presentations are our most critical tools in an organisation today. We use them to build buy-in with our team members, to communicate our big ideas and connect with employees to inspire them into action.

Yet, the majority of the time, our presentations are bland and boring, and the only impact they have is to get staff running for the doors (if they haven’t already fallen asleep in their seats).

Our important and urgent messages are hidden in badly designed slides, complex paragraphs of information, and screens of bullet points that have no clear purpose or call to action.

While you may not be able to magically transform a poor presentation into a powerful one overnight, to truly educate or inspire your team to leap from their seats with glee (not to flee), here are some small changes you can start with.

Pick One Key Message

When you present, pick one clear message to structure your presentation around, and then repeat that message throughout to make sure the message sticks. It is that one idea, purpose or point that is the glue that holds everything else together.

Once there is a clear bumper sticker message then it’s easy to figure out what the key take-home message for the audience and what it is they should do as a result.

Anything else in the presentation that does not align to this message should be deleted, stripped out and banished. What gets left out of a presentation is more important than what goes in.

Make It Emotional

In business we’ve traditionally been thought to do the opposite; to just present the facts. But these days, the best presenters are those who can use a combination of facts and emotion to explain a future place that everyone in the organisation wants to work towards.

Use images that match your words and make your team feel an emotion, whether that’s excited, happy, angry or sad. You may use video in place of static images to make their message more memorable.

Remember, people buy from people they like. We buy based on how we feel about something – or someone.

It’s your passion and authenticity that will help you to bond with your team, so they feel like you’re all in this together, instead of you just barking out orders of what they need to do. That emotional pull is what will impact your team’s decision to “buy in”to what you are saying.

Be Honest

It’s important to not try and hire or cover up negative information or numbers. Nothing turns your team off more than when you lie about your financial position.

You need to treat your team as equals. Provide your employees with confidence going forward. Be future focused and take ownership of the problem.

Explain the steps you’re implementing to turn things around to minimise loss, and how your team can help with this too.

You need to be open and honest about where you are at right now, and what is involved in the journey to get where you are going – together. Leave them inspired, not deflated like it is their fault.

Bad slides and presentations are used like a security blanket to hide things under. So start with small changes to your content and attitude, and stop hiding and hoping for the best. Your team will respect you for that.

Source: The Star, 2nd Sept 2017