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Performance Management

Published March 2010

Do Your Leaders Have Personality?

 

  Ryan Ross

In the wake of scandal and economic crisis, even the most firmly rooted traditions of corporate leadership are in upheaval. Where the old guard once ruled from lofty offices and stuffy boardrooms, new leadership is emerging from the trenches of a more diverse, global and younger demographic.

Fresh ideas are the new currency, and a person's ability to generate those ideas and express them clearly is directly related to personality. Who they are will determine not only how they lead, but also the overall effectiveness of those around them.

From leading-edge tech companies, such as Dell, Cisco and Google, to global manufacturing conglomerates, such as Toyota, traditional corporate hierarchies are being rethought, reorganized or otherwise dismantled to increase employee engagement. Instead of managing workers as drones for remote, upper-tier management, engagement promotes the concept of working "in" the business, rather than just working "on" critical job tasks.

The ultimate goal is to develop a culture-driven model in which more employees are empowered as policymakers, product owners and strategists who function more efficiently.

Why Personality Matters

Assessment firms often are tasked with explaining why personality matters and how personality assessment may be practically applied to any number of strategic organizational development scenarios, such as succession planning, restructuring and talent development. According to Robert Hogan, founder of Hogan Assessment Systems, personality matters to talent managers in at least three ways.

"First, they need to know what kind of employee you will be. Will you be cranky, difficult and hard to manage, or will you be a world-class organizational citizen?" said Hogan. "Second, they need to know if your personality fits the demands of the job for which you are applying. Do you have the drive to succeed in sales, the social skills to succeed in customer service, the good judgment to succeed as a manager? Third, they need to know if your values are consistent with the corporate culture. It doesn't matter how talented you are; if your values are inconsistent with the corporate culture, you will not succeed in that organization."

Further, personality is related to leadership. Who someone is determines how he or she will lead. Yet leadership traditionally has been described in terms of the people in charge — if a person is a manager, president or CEO, he or she is by definition a leader.

"This is a big mistake for at least two reasons," Hogan said. "First, ask yourself how a person rises in a large, hierarchical, bureaucratic, male-dominated organization. The answer is by playing politics, not by exercising leadership. It was said of Dwight Eisenhower, 'He didn't become a politician because he was a general; he became a general because he was a politician.'

"Secondly, people typically rise in large organizations by pleasing their superiors with their loyalty and technical knowledge, not by displaying leadership skills."