John (not his real name) was a well-qualified and experienced serviceman, who was well-liked by customers and staff alike. He was a team player and respected by all who worked with him. Feedback from customers could not have been better.
But John, after some ten years in his role, decided it was time for a change and as there were no opportunities for advancement in the organisation he worked for, he decided to talk to a well-respected recruitment consultant. Being a personable individual, the recruitment agency took an immediate liking to him and because of his experience they decided that he was ready for a management role. His testimonials were glowing and his employer of the time told the recruiter that he would reemploy him without hesitation. He “ticked all the boxes” for a role in the same industry, as a manager for a competitor. But the recruiter had overlooked one very important aspect – John’s behavioural style.
John took up his new role with vigour but found that his new employer’s company had a different culture. He also learned that the role had become available because his predecessor had resigned after only a few months in the job and the reason/s soon became obvious to John.
After some six months, the owner of the company who employed John became very concerned, as he simply hadn’t met his budgets and the atmosphere in John’s department was tense. So the owner engaged a consultant who related this story to us. The first thing the consultant did was to get John to do a Behavioural Assessment, and the Profiles from the Report are shown opposite.
Profile II showed that John was under pressure (the Profile is elevated) and his natural style was mainly S (85%). John had some D traits (a small percentage of 5%) and it’s likely he demonstrated this style when applying for the role. Profile I showed that John felt the need to make a very significant change to his style to cope with the challenges of his new environment, feeling the need to become 70% D and 30% I. The suppression of S in the Profile indicates stress and so the combination of stress and pressure was beginning to have a serious effect on John’s performance.
The Diamond taken from the Report (shown opposite) demonstrates even more graphically how much of a change John felt he needed to make and, of course, it took him well outside his comfort zone.
The outcome was that John resigned after the consultant interviewed him, realising that the role simply did not suit his style. The employer had to go through the whole process of finding a suitable applicant again, for the third time in less than a year, despite having received assurances from the recruiter that John had met all the required criteria as a manager. Both employer and recruiter learned from this not to make assumptions about the person you interview for a role, and that it’s crucial to always obtain a Behavioural Report as well as an aptitude test for employment in recruiting situations.
