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Industry News

 

Cognitive Characteristics of High Performers in Marketing

Friday June 12, 2009

 

Madbury, N.H.
A yearlong study has found similarities in the cognitive characteristics known as executive skills of high-performing individuals working in marketing, promotion and advertising departments.

The findings are part of a study that has determined there is a correlation between a high performer’s job function, industry type and title with their executive skills strengths and weaknesses.

The study, now in its second year, focuses on the 12 executive skills that are brain functions or cognitive skills that neuroscientists have located in specific regions of the brain, primarily the frontal lobes. The term “executive skills” comes from the neuroscience literature and refers to the brain-based skills that are required for humans to execute tasks and manage behavior.

People typically have two or three strongest executive skills and two or three weakest executive skills, with the remaining falling somewhere in between.

The most commonly found executive skills strengths in high-performing individuals working in marketing, promotion and advertising departments are metacognition, working memory, and flexibility, the study found.

“Metacognition” is the capacity to stand back and take a bird’s eye view of yourself in a situation and be able to understand and make changes in the ways that you solve problems. “Working memory” is the ability to hold information in memory while performing complex tasks.  “Flexibility” is the ability to revise plans in the face of obstacles, setbacks, new information or mistakes.  It relates to adaptability to changing conditions.  

Study participants in marketing, advertising and promotion departments included companies ranging from pharmaceutical companies to financial services and hold titles across a wide range, including CEO, chief marketing officer, vice president, director and employee.

Almost half (47 percent) of high-performing individuals in marketing, promotion and advertising are low in task initiation.  Emotion control and organization are the other two most frequently found executive skills weaknesses.

“Task initiation” is the ability to begin projects or task without undue procrastination.  “Emotion control” is the ability to manage emotions to achieve goals, complete tasks or control and direct behavior.  “Organization” is the ability to arrange or place according to a system.  

The results are based on more than 130,000 questions answered by more than 2,100 high-performing individuals including a wide range of organizations such as Flint Communications, Fidelity, Euro RSCG Edge, Valpak, Periscope, Timberland, Under Armour Performance, CVS, Reebok and NBC.

The study is being led by Chuck Martin, CEO of NFI Research, the best-selling co-author of Smarts: Are We Hardwired for Success?

A research team from the Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire is assisting with the study.  The research is the basis of a book Martin is writing to be published by AMACOM/American Management Association.

The study comprises a 60-question survey completed by individuals who have been identified by their management as high performers in their organizations. The questions make up an instrument used to profile executive skills, the same instrument used in Smarts seminars conducted by the American Management Association.  

Participation in the ongoing study is free, and NFI Research provides companies that participate with the aggregate results of the high and low cognitive functions of their high performers.

The intent of the study is for organizations to be able to identify the primary executive skills, also known as executive functions, of their high performers to potentially better predict what types of executive skills are needed to become a high performer in any particular part of an organization.

For more info: http://nfiresearch.com/