Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Carol Quinn
Read between
April 3 - April 18, 2021
To hire well, interviewers must have a greater understanding of motivation to be able to correctly distinguish those who are genuinely self-motivated from those who will need to be motivated to do their job. Some skilled candidates lack the right kind of attitude, while others are missing the passion for doing the work—two key components that fuels the high achiever’s self-motivation.
Knowing what I know today, I’d put my money on the candidate with the most self-motivation to do the job, hands down!
After thousands of interviews, along with tracking the job performance of those hired, I discovered the real difference between high performers and everyone else. It’s not how eager a person is to get the job, or even about their bounty of skills, but rather, it’s how eager a person is to do the job.
Around the turn of the century, this age-old problem got a new name: “unmotivated employees” are now called “disengaged employees” and the act of motivating employees became “employee engagement.” It’s the same problem—unmotivated employees—just a new name.
Why do we assume we have hired well when the employee is underperforming? Did they change or did we miss the mark? If the act of motivating employees is so effective, why then do we still have unmotivated or disengaged employees? Why do we think trying to fundamentally change another human being is a better strategy than fixing the selection process?
Skills are useless without the initiative to apply them. The world is filled with people who lack the initiative or motivation to do what it takes to make full use of their potential.
People may be on their best behavior or their worst behavior, but that doesn’t mean they are always that good or always that bad. What is important to interviewers is how a person behaves most of the time. This is a much better predictor of future performance.
For organizations that are ready to get out of the Dark Ages, I’ve created a great tutorial on how to track quality-of-hire. It’s easy, effective, and free. It includes a downloadable Excel spreadsheet with the formulas already built in and simple step-by-step instructions. To find it, visit the Hire Authority website and look for “Tutorial—How to Track Quality-of-Hire” under the “Free MBI Resources” menu, or go directly to it at www.hireauthority.com/qoh.
The customer service industry is a prime example of hiring gone wrong. Poor customer service is at epidemic levels. That’s because people who don’t like to serve customers are hired and placed into customer service jobs, and no amount of training or motivating will fix what interviewers miss. Realizing that motivation assessment is the key to hiring well isn’t a new concept. Understanding that neglecting this assessment is the number one reason why most hit-and-miss hiring occurs and knowing exactly how to fix this problem is a new way of thinking for many.
It assesses the three components all high performers share in common: skill, attitude, and passion.
Every goal—every goal—involves some degree of impediment that blocks the path to the desired outcome. These impediments are known by a number of different names: roadblocks, barriers, hindrances, adversity, challenges, problems, complications, hard times… the list is almost endless. In MBI, these impediments are called obstacles. Obstacles are a normal part of success. The first law in the process of achievement is: there are always obstacles. They exist for high performers and low performers alike. This may sound like a no-brainer, but for some people it’s not. Low performers believe others
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The secret to success is all about one’s ability to come up with ideas that can be cultivated into viable solutions. Think about it. If we don’t figure out a way to get to the other side of the obstacle, for whatever reason, then everything comes to a standstill.
If we conclude that we cannot conquer an obstacle, what we do next is—get ready—not much! We’re not very motivated to achieve something we believe to be unachievable. On the other hand, if we think there is a glimmer of hope, that it is indeed possible to achieve our goal in spite of not having the solution at hand, that’s when we become motivated to try. It’s this thought process that is the most critical point in the process of achievement. It’s also the point at which the process of achievement most commonly breaks down. It’s a fork in the road that will ultimately determine who succeeds
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This book defines “attitude” as one’s tendency to think and behave in either a positive or negative manner toward obstacles.
Attitude is a powerful predictor of future performance and success. Attitude is so extraordinary that it dictates who enters problem-solving mode and tenaciously pursues a solution versus who gives up and quits trying.
To recap, every time a person encounters an obstacle, they must make up their mind about whether the obstacle can or cannot be hurdled. Only those who believe it’s possible take the next step. For those who don’t, they stop trying here. It’s really that simple.
With “I can” thinking activating the problem-solving part of the brain and “I can’t” thinking causing this part to remain dark and dormant, it seems that the human brain is wired to prove our attitude right. This is what makes attitude so significant.
There is a third law in the process of achievement: there is always a solution. For some problems, a solution may not occur in one’s lifetime—for example, finding a cure to a disease. It may not be cured today or tomorrow, but like many diseases, a cure is eventually found. Low performers have a tough time with this law. Their rationale for not trying is their belief that something is impossible in the first place so there can never be a solution.
Defeat, setbacks, complications, disappointments, and an endless parade of obstacles with no apparent end in sight all test our resolve. In the process of achievement, perseverance is a must. The high performer’s steadfast belief that a solution is within reach, often in the face of opposing points of view, is what keeps them engaged long enough to achieve the toughest of goals.
there are always obstacles; only those who find a way to overcome the obstacles reach their goal; and there is always a solution.
A negative attitude refers to the “I can’t” or “it can’t be done” mindset. It creates barriers and self-imposed limitations, and builds a case for why a goal cannot be achieved. It makes mountains out of molehills. This attitude is considered passive because it stifles action. This attitude is unhelpful, discouraging, and problematic. It blocks knowledge and even erects mental barriers to prevent success.
As Thomas Edison said, “People are not remembered by how few times they fail, but by how often they succeed. Every wrong step is another step forward.” He also said, “None of my inventions came by accident, they came by work.”
In the movie Apollo 13, a NASA employee is overheard saying, “This could be the worst disaster NASA has ever experienced.” Never giving up, Gene Kranz, the director of flight operations (played by Ed Harris), speaks up: “With all due respect, I do believe that this is going to be our finest hour.” And against the odds, the astronauts returned safely home. Gene Kranz still gives motivational speeches with the tagline of his film counterpart, “Failure is not an option!” That’s the kind of person you want to hire—someone who believes a solution can be found for everything, no matter how
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Pessimists focus on the negative aspects of their lives: a bad childhood, personal losses, traumatic experiences, past failures and struggles, fears, and self-pity, often caused by what others have done to them. And it is not just past wounds that get attention; they want to emphasize what is currently bad or wrong in their lives too.
Pessimists often garner polite sympathy from other people, which in turn fuels their negativity and enables their ineffective approach to difficulties.
So, here’s the general rule: the attitude hired is the attitude that remains. That means hiring someone with the right attitude should take priority—even over hiring someone with the right skills—because skill, unlike attitude, can be changed after the hire.
When an obstacle or an undesirable situation blocks one’s path, it’s the attitude that “I can succeed anyway” that creates a sense of power that we can shape the outcome into what we want it to be. This is called perceived control. One’s attitude can either give us a sense of power or take it away from us. Perceived control is invisible to most people most of the time. We can’t see whether we have it or not. We don’t see what we do with it—we don’t even think about it, because it’s become habitual behavior. We don’t equate trying or not trying with our thoughts about perceived control.
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According to many psychologists, there are multiple factors that influence the development of a child’s locus of control, but by age seven it is 80 percent formed.
These complainers see themselves as the victims of everyone and everything imaginable yet assume responsibility for nothing. The feeling of powerlessness parallels feeling like a victim. Externally motivated people focus outward on what others do to them, an area they cannot control. They don’t focus inward on their own behavior or on what they can do and can control. Internal control is not really missing in people who are externally motivated, but they can’t see it because they’re focused on what was done to them as opposed to what they can do about it. As discussed, outcomes are indeed
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It was clear to me that this person wasn’t a high performer. He had one excuse after another for why he couldn’t accomplish results. He was completely unaware of how he was coming across because he thought his excuses made perfect sense.
Some common external behaviors and characteristics include denying any wrongdoing, playing the victim, exaggerating the obstacles, negating solutions, and getting defensive, to mention a few. These are all common strategies they use to keep them from looking bad.
One of the toughest things to deal with would be the realization of the times when you mentally gave up without trying, blamed others, and made excuses, now that you know you could have done things to change the outcome. Your actions would have made a difference, but you didn’t bother trying because you thought you were powerless. Now imagine the tidal wave of regret that would come with owning up to the responsibility for a lifetime of wasted opportunities. For many externals, they can’t handle the truth. Externals operate under two basic principles: Principle one is do whatever it takes to
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Solutions are equally accessible to all, but they never manifest for the “I can’t” thinkers because those people don’t believe solutions exist.
it’s crucial to understand that every human being, without exception, thinks both “I can” and “I can’t” thoughts. In truth, no one is fully cognizant of all the control they possess. From time to time, everyone denies responsibility for their results, or rejects something that is actually possible. The question is, how often? In each person, one way of thinking and reacting to challenges occurs more often than the other.
In MBI, passion is simply defined as a person’s likes, strengths, and goals, because these three indirectly correspond to a person’s passion.
Strong Interest Inventory.
“We expected that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. We found instead that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.”2 Notice that he didn’t say transform or motivate the wrong people into engaged employees.
All high performers have an “I can do it” attitude and believe they are in control of their results. This attitude is behind their ability to be highly self-motivated.
Passion acts like a glue; it has a sticky quality. Without it, there is nothing to hold a person in place when a job becomes frustrating. The reality is that every job has its frustrations. Having passion for doing the work increases tolerance levels.
Learning to correlate the components of motivation with job-performance levels will allow us, the interviewers, to see beyond a candidate’s polished exterior and expose the information we need to choose the best person for the job.
That’s because skills are enablers, meaning they enable a person to do a job. Skills are not motivators. They don’t guarantee a person will do the job, or gauge how well they will do it. That’s where motivation comes in. How self-motivated a person is or isn’t is an indicator of the degree to which their skills will be applied.
Persistence corresponds to the degree of control a person believes he or she has. It’s unnecessary when control over the outcome is believed to belong elsewhere. The greater the feeling of control, the greater the persistence. A bold “I can do it!” attitude produces relentless persistence in pursuit of a goal.
persistence level is fueled by these two ingredients: A strong interest, or passion, and the level of perceived control over the outcome. Together, these two ingredients turbo-charge persistence.
“If something’s going on in your life and you’re struggling, embrace it, because you’re growing.”
High performers may also struggle with learning, but they’re apt to take control and do whatever extra work they need to do or action they need to take to overcome the situation. They take responsibility for their skill deficiencies rather than blame others for not teaching them. They seek mentors and do what it takes, even on their own time, to learn what they need to learn. It’s a night-and-day difference compared to how low performers react.
We transform into full learning mode. Someone who is genuinely interested and wants to learn a topic will do it, even if it involves extra effort.
Educators only provide the information. It is up to each individual to learn it. Training effectiveness is greater when those who are receiving the training have both an interest and take responsibility for learning. Learning reaches its highest peak when people are motivated to learn.
Low performers who lack self-motivation will often blame their environment for demotivating them. They have no problem pointing out the imperfections and shortcomings in their employer and boss. They have a laundry list of external factors that robbed them of their drive. They’ve shed responsibility for their lack of self-motivation and make their employers responsible. Many employers have wrongly accepted the blame.
Instead, they learned it’s okay to quit trying as long as you have an excuse for why.
Low performers often believe it’s others who don’t understand, when in reality, it’s the low performers who don’t.
