Jerks at Work
As an increasing number of organizations try to force-rank their way to idealistic staffs of only the best and the brightest, a new study reveals that most people prefer working with likeable, less-skilled coworkers than with highly competent jerks. Harvard Business School professor Tiziana Casciaro and Duke University's Miguel Sousa Lobo reported their findings in the June 2005 Harvard Business Review. The researchers wrote, "A little extra likeability goes a longer way than a little extra competence in making someone desirable to work with."
As Casciaro and Lobo found, workers tend to avoid seeking the competent jerk's help, and any added knowledge goes unexploited. "We found that if someone is strongly disliked, it's almost irrelevant whether or not she is competent; people won't want to work with her anyway. By contrast, if someone is liked, his colleagues will seek out every little bit of competence he has to offer."
This is valuable information for leaders responsible for hiring and retaining employees. While it's great to find people with the skills you need, identifying people who "fit in" is critical to building a productive team. But in their haste to attract candidates, mangers often neglect to fully explain their organization's culture. For their part, applicants must be comfortable with an organization's culture to contribute fully, so companies should very clearly spell out their values during the interview. And, when possible, organizations should include as many current employees in the interview process as possible in order to determine the candidate's likeability.
Successful companies hire people whose personalities are in alignment with their organizations. As Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, once said, "I'd rather interview 50 people and not hire anyone than hire the wrong person." Invest the extra time and effort needed to find competent and likeable employees and watch your retention improve.
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As Casciaro and Lobo found, workers tend to avoid seeking the competent jerk's help, and any added knowledge goes unexploited. "We found that if someone is strongly disliked, it's almost irrelevant whether or not she is competent; people won't want to work with her anyway. By contrast, if someone is liked, his colleagues will seek out every little bit of competence he has to offer."
This is valuable information for leaders responsible for hiring and retaining employees. While it's great to find people with the skills you need, identifying people who "fit in" is critical to building a productive team. But in their haste to attract candidates, mangers often neglect to fully explain their organization's culture. For their part, applicants must be comfortable with an organization's culture to contribute fully, so companies should very clearly spell out their values during the interview. And, when possible, organizations should include as many current employees in the interview process as possible in order to determine the candidate's likeability.
Successful companies hire people whose personalities are in alignment with their organizations. As Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, once said, "I'd rather interview 50 people and not hire anyone than hire the wrong person." Invest the extra time and effort needed to find competent and likeable employees and watch your retention improve.
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Driver’s Ed for Leaders
A July 5, 2005, article in the Wall Street Journal described the increasing popularity of advanced driving schools. Intended to lower accident rates by teaching modern defensive-driving skills, these programs update many of the approaches we learned in high school driver's education classes. For example, the old rule of pumping the breaks in an emergency does not apply in cars with antilock breaks. And remember learning to steer in the direction of a skid? If your car has front-wheel drive, you'll want to steer in the opposite direction.
A primary defensive skill taught in the classes involves training drivers to spot an opening and steer toward safety. In exercises simulating a car veering into a driver's path, most untrained participants respond by hitting the breaks and steering into the encroaching vehicle. With practice, drivers learn to look where their car needs to go--rather than fixating on the impending danger.
There's a lesson here for leaders, too. How often do we allow difficult employees or hapless coworkers to draw us into workplace collisions? We let distractions--like complaints, personal agendas, and gossip--become roadblocks. And then we struggle to regain control and get back on course.
So, like a skilled driver, focus your attention on where you want your organization to go. When danger appears in the form of negative people swerving into your lane, steer yourself and those around you toward your ultimate destination: the fulfillment of your vision.
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A primary defensive skill taught in the classes involves training drivers to spot an opening and steer toward safety. In exercises simulating a car veering into a driver's path, most untrained participants respond by hitting the breaks and steering into the encroaching vehicle. With practice, drivers learn to look where their car needs to go--rather than fixating on the impending danger.
There's a lesson here for leaders, too. How often do we allow difficult employees or hapless coworkers to draw us into workplace collisions? We let distractions--like complaints, personal agendas, and gossip--become roadblocks. And then we struggle to regain control and get back on course.
So, like a skilled driver, focus your attention on where you want your organization to go. When danger appears in the form of negative people swerving into your lane, steer yourself and those around you toward your ultimate destination: the fulfillment of your vision.
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Author George Brymer's comments about the leaders who get it, and those who never will.
