The 6 personality traits associated with job success



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Are you curious, aware and competitive? Do you also have more mysterious qualities, such as "easy adaptation", "acceptability of ambiguity" and "risk approach"? If so, congratulations! According to research in psychology, these six traits constitute a "high potential" personality that will take you far in life.

The truth, of course, is a little more nuanced. The same traits in excess can also affect your performance. The real secret of success may be knowing exactly where you fit in each spectrum and how to harness your strengths and react to your weaknesses. But this new strategy promises to be an important step in understanding how our personality traits affect our work.




  The new strategy promises to be an important step in understanding the impact of our personality traits on our work

A new strategy promises to be an important step in understanding the impact of our personality traits on our work

There is a long history of attempts to understand our personality at work. One of the most used tests today is the Myers-Briggs-type indicator (MBTI), which clbadifies people according to various thinking styles, such as "introversion / extroversion" and "thought / feeling". Nine out of ten US companies use the Myers-Briggs test to rank their employees.

Unfortunately, many psychologists believe that the theory behind the different categories is delayed and does not include actual performance measures. One study suggested that the MBTI is not good at predicting successful management. Some critics even say that it's pseudoscience.

"Getting started is a good tool, but if you use it on a large scale to predict performance or to try to find high-performing candidates, it does not work," says psychologist and co-author Ian MacRae. of the book High Potentia (High potential, free translation).

Thinking that recent advances in psychology research might be better, MacRae and Adrian Furnham of UCL (University College London) recently identified six features that are systematically related to job success and were added to the indicator of stroke. High potential (HPTI).



  Feeding your curiosity can help you learn more easily, increase your job satisfaction and protect yourself from burnout

MacRae says that in extreme cases, each trait may have limits, which means that there is an ideal value for everyone. He also points out that the relative importance of each trait will be determined by the work you do. Therefore, the limits will have to be adapted to depend on the field in which you wish to succeed in a technical position, for example. But the trial version I saw was focused on management positions.

With this in mind, the six traits are:

Consciousness

Conscious people dedicate themselves to their projects and lead them to the end. They master their impulses and think about the wisdom of their decisions in the long run. After IQ, awareness is often considered one of the best indicators of academic success. At work, good awareness is essential for good strategic planning, but too much can mean that you are too rigid and inflexible.

Adaptation

Everyone has concerns, but people with high coping skills can deal with it under pressure without allowing them to negatively influence their behavior and decisions. People with low scores on this scale seem to have poor performance at work, but you can combat these effects with the right state of mind. Several studies have shown that coping with a stressful situation as a potential source of growth – rather than a threat to their well-being – can help people recover from negative situations more quickly and more productively.

Acceptance of Ambiguity

Are you one to prefer that tasks be defined and predictable? Or do you like the unknown? People who are very tolerant of ambiguity can integrate more points of view before making a decision, which means that they are less dogmatic and their opinions are more nuanced.

"Less tolerance for ambiguity can be considered a kind of dictatorial feature," says MacRae. "They will try to distil complicated messages into an easy-to-sell argument, which can be a typical trait of destructive leadership."

More importantly, one who can accept ambiguity will find it easier to react to changes – such as the changing economic climate or the emergence of new technologies – and to deal with complex and multifaceted problems. "We are trying to identify the ability of leaders to hear different opinions, listen to complex arguments and understand them proactively instead of simplifying them," says MacRae. "And we found that the more you hold a management position, the more important it is for decision-making."

But less ambiguity will not always be a problem. In some areas, such as regulation, it may be better to have an order strategy that will clarify the whole process. Knowing where you are on this spectrum can keep you out of your comfort zone.

Curiosity

Compared to other mental traits, curiosity has been neglected by psychologists. Nevertheless, recent research shows that an inherent interest in new ideas brings more benefits to the workplace: it may mean that you are more creative and flexible in the procedures you use, can help you to learn more easily, increase your satisfaction with regard to the work in general and protect you from burnout.

However, curiosity can also cause you to have a "butterfly spirit" – which flies from project to project without you taking the lead.

Approach to risk (or courage)

Would you like to flee a potentially unpleasant confrontation? Or are you faced with knowing that short-term discomfort will solve the situation and bring long-term benefits? As one would expect, the ability to cope with difficult situations is crucial for leadership positions where you must act for the good of all, even in the event of opposition.

Competitiveness

There is a line of demarcation between the pursuit of professional success and the unhealthy envy of others. At best, competitiveness can be a powerful motivation that takes you further. at worst, can split teams.

Together, these six traits consolidate much of the knowledge we have so far about the different qualities that influence work performance, especially for those looking for management positions.

As interesting as these personality traits are that MacRae and Furnham did not include. The extroversion-introversion scale, for example, may determine how we handle certain social situations, but it seems to have little effect on overall job performance. Our ability to be consistent with others does not seem to influence professional success either.

To measure each trait of the High Potential Line Indicator (HPTI), participants should indicate how well they agree or disagree with a series of statements, such as "I am frustrated when I do not know exactly what is expected of me at work "(to discover the acceptance of ambiguity) or" my personal goals go beyond those of my organization " (which measures consciousness).

Leaders of Multinationals

MacRae has now validated HPTI in a number of areas, including the performance of multinational business leaders.

Research is still ongoing, but other research published last year indicates that these characteristics can predict subjective and objective measures of success. In one badysis, participants' responses accounted for about 25% of the income variance – which is a fairly strong correlation (and comparable to the influence of intelligence) even though it leaves many unexplained differences . In this study, competitiveness and the acceptance of ambiguity became stronger indicators of earnings, while awareness seemed to better predict subjective measures of satisfaction.

The researchers also examined the relationship between these traits and IQ – another important factor for career success – finding a small correlation between the two.

As part of a recruitment process, HPTI can be used to evaluate high-potential candidates, but MacRae says that it can also contribute to personal development, so you can identify your own strengths and weaknesses and how to manage them. . It can also be useful for building a balanced team that reflects the full range of "high potential" traits, given the wealth of research that indicates which groups have different thinking styles. Almost everyone will not have all the qualities at an excellent level, but this is not a problem if we have colleagues who can give us a helping hand.

But has anyone ever pbaded all these criteria? MacRae said he thinks of some people who pbad all the criteria, including the CEO of a bank in Canada. "He was excellent in every way," says MacRae. "And I must say that it was very intimidating." Despite this scary feeling, the benefits of this unique personality became evident at the meeting. "Even though it's a little scary to work with this kind of person, you know exactly what to expect.This is someone you can trust, trust, and who you can trust. respect. "

See also:

4 futuristic inventions that can happen in 2019 and change our health

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