Key Drivers of Job performance

There are three key drivers of Individual Job Performance.

1. Competencies
This comprises the learned functional skills, knowledge and behaviours that are required to perform a job.

2. Cognitive Capability
This reflects a person’s ability to problem solve, learn new competencies and apply them effectively. It is the in – born engine that drives all problem-solving behaviour.

3. Personality and Emotional Capability
This comprises in – born personality traits that govern many of our behaviours; determines which competencies we can easily develop; how we use our competencies; and the types of job roles we are likely to be good at or struggle with.

Research clearly shows that Cognitive Capability and Personality and Emotional Capability – or just Capability – are the key drivers of Individual Job Performance. Capabilities account for nearly 70% of Individual Job Performance.

For this reason, and since they are in – born and generally very difficult to change, it is of paramount importance to understand how well an individual’s Capability is matched to a particular role, before making a decision to appoint him/her.

How Capability is Measured

It is critically important to use the correct tools to assess Competencies and Capability respectively. To use an analogy, you would not use a scale to measure temperature, nor would you use a thermometer to measure weight.

Capability can only be measured by means of specially designed instruments called psychometric tests. They are the only tools whereby valid, reliable and objective measurements of someone’s Capability can be made. It is hazardous to attempt to assess Capability with tools that have not been designed to do so. This will result in a subjective and invalid assessment of an individual’s Capability and poor recruitment and career progression decisions. Tools that are not designed to measure Capability include interviews, work sample tests, 360 assessments, assessment centre tools, graphology and others.

The Goal of Psychometric Assessments

Simply put, it is to use scientific and objective measures to understand what a person’s Capability Fit is with the Capability Requirements of a role or future roles. When the fit is good, the individual flourishes in the role and performs well. When individuals across the organisation flourish and perform well the organisation as a whole performs well. There is much research which points to the beneficial impact of a good Capability Fit on the financial performance and overall health of an organisation. The converse is also true. Poor fit drains the overall performance of an organisation.

Capability Requirements of a Role

The Capability Requirements of the role for which a person is being considered is profiled in a Job Profiling Focus Group (JPFC). During the JPFC the Consulting Psychologist in conjunction with Subject Matter Experts use discussion and online profiling tools to determine the Capability Requirements of a role. Specifically, we identify the level of Cognitive Capability and the Personality and Emotional Capability required by this role.

A closer look at Capability Part 1

Cognitive Capability and Levels of Work

Cognitive Capability can be understood in terms of levels of work. They are:

Level 4: Strategic Development (typically senior management roles)
Level 3: Tactical (typically fully fledged middle management roles)
Level 2: Diagnostic Accumulation (typically first line management roles)
Level 1: Operational (typically front-line workers physically producing goods and services)

Obviously problem solving demands become progressively more complex from Level 1 through to Level 4 and place increasing demands on an individual’s “cognitive engine”.

Range

Each of these job levels covers a range, from low to mid to high. Therefore, a job can be low, mid or high in say Level 2: Diagnostic Accumulation, and so on for all the other job levels. It is also worth noting that a job can have some elements of more than one level. For instance, the problem-solving demands of a job may mostly be operational, with some diagnostic elements in it.

Fit

The goal then of the cognitive part of the psychometric assessment is to understand how well a person’s Cognitive Capability matches up with Cognitive Requirements of the job.

If there is a good match, then one can be confident that the person has the inherent Cognitive Capability to deal with the kinds of problems typically encountered; develop the types of problem-solving skills and knowledge required; and effectively apply the skills and knowledge required by that level of work.

If the psychometric assessment shows that the person’s cognitive capacity is less than what the role requires then it is unlikely that someone will perform as expected with regard to the problem-solving elements of the job nor is such a person likely to develop and effectively apply the skills and knowledge the particular level of work requires. This usually leads to various problems such as underperformance; excessive stress for the individual; and compensation by team members and managers to make up for the person’s Cognitive Capability deficits.

If an individual’s Cognitive Capability is assessed as being higher than the Level of Work required by the role, then that would be a good indicator that this person has potential for development beyond the role he or she is being considered for, provided that all other requirements for a future role are met.

A closer look at Capability Part 2

Personality and Emotional Capabilities

Range and Fit

With regard to a person’s fit with the required Personality and Emotional Capability, a few important points should be kept in mind. An individual’s overall personality fit with the Job Profile will fall within a range, from poor, to marginal, to acceptable, to good, to excellent.

Stretch

People who fall within the poor to marginal range are likely to feel over – stretched in a role. This is because they may be playing mostly to their weaknesses or may have major gaps in critical areas. It is generally not advisable to appoint someone into a role in such an instance. It results in stress for the individual, sub – optimal performance and drain, as managers and team members need to compensate for the individual’s shortfalls. We call this category Stretch.

Fit

People who fall into the Acceptable range are likely to be individuals who have a number of attributes that will support them in the role and others that may work against them. Overall though people in this range are likely to feel that they can cope with many of the role requirements; but be stretched and challenged in others. We call this category Fit. Someone in this category can be considered for the position and is likely to perform adequately; but will need development.

Natural

People who fall within the good and excellent categories can of course be considered to be well suited to the Personality and Emotional Capability requirements of the role. They will play mostly to their strengths and will feel both positively challenged and energized by their roles. Needless to say, they can be appointed to the position if they sufficiently fulfil all the other criteria for the role. We call this category Natural.

Derailers

Finally, there are also instances where combinations of personality traits will compound potentially counterproductive behaviours. These combinations are called Derailers, and represent what psychologists call the “dark side” of personality. Simply put, they are strong behavioural tendencies that can prove to be problematic. Derailers serve as red flags which deserve serious consideration when considering someone for a role.