Sandra (not her real name) was baffled and a little disconcerted. The team that had performed so admirably just a few years ago was now struggling. They still executed the routine tasks and assignments with no problems, and their commitment level remained off the charts.
“They struggle with the challenges of thinking and operating in our new environment,” Sandra confessed. “They just aren’t keeping up in the midst of all the change and uncertainty we’re facing. More and more cracks are showing up at the time we need them to help us grow.”
“Have they reached their ceiling? And if that’s true,” she wondered, “what do I do with people who have given everything to help us succeed but just can’t do what we need them to do any longer?”
Needed: AAA Team Members
Context is crucial. A short history or organizational hiring and promotion approaches will explain most of Sandra’s dilemma.
There was a time when an employee’s aptitude was the primary thing that mattered in hiring, promoting, or continuing to keep an employee. Work was generally routine, and change occurred slowly if at all. Any efforts to make the environment fun or engaging were appreciated as the exception not the rule. You showed up, did your job, and were hesitant to voice a complaint to anyone who might leak it to the higher ups.
Focusing on aptitude worked because experience was valued. The majority of the workforce shared a similar work ethic. If you did well in your current job, you were given the opportunity to move up. If no one had the requisite experience, the company went outside to lure someone with “enough” of it to assume success.
A second “A-word”—Attitude – surfaced as companies discovered that aptitude alone would not set them apart in a crowded marketplace. Southwest Airlines, Nucor Steel, and Silicon Graphics pioneered the notion that employees who bring a “can-do,” positive spirit to the job are a competitive advantage.
Today, the mantra that you should hire for attitude and teach skills has evolved into an understanding that hiring happy employees makes for better teamwork, productivity, and results. That’s why the best organizations place a heavy emphasis on cultural fit.
Aptitude and attitude are no longer enough, however.
Sandra’s team has the aptitude for the job in which they were hired, and their attitude is amazing. They are missing a third “A” word – Altitude.
Altitude, from a human performance perspective, is best described as tangible and intangible factors that create a high ceiling for accomplishment and success. It is the missing piece in employee selection and development that allows your organization to flourish in a future full of change, uncertainty, and disruption.
Finding and Growing Tall
Basketball coaches at every level of competition know this truth: You can’t teach tall.
The AAA team members you need in the future are the organizational equivalent of “tall.” These three factors are the starting point for finding them.
- A great attitude that fits your culture and makes everyone around the individual more productive.
- Competence and/or intellect – developed or innate – that goes beyond what is required for the job the individual is in or for which she is being considered.
- Demonstrated commitment to continuously increase their value to the organization.
In addition, these competencies will be important indicators of an individual’s altitude in the future:
- Curiosity: Organizations and industries are disrupted because of catastrophic events beyond their control such as a natural disaster or because they were too lazy to look for what might be lurking over the horizon. People with a high altitude are students of the business and how change could affect it.
- Creativity: The seven last words of any organization are, “It’s never been done that way before.” You are looking for people who will work to improve the status quo every day.
- Collaboration: You’ve known that people operating in their real or imagined silos create friction that slows everything down and makes delivering positive results more difficult. It is time to make collaboration one of the key criteria for successful performance.
- Coachability: The leaders at every level of your organization are active learners. They are feedback sponges in search of the technical and relationship skills necessary to succeed in the future. Equally important, they are nimble and adaptable when asked to change.
- Courage: Organizational anthropologist Judith Glaser wrote, “Human beings fear rejection more than any other form of human interaction. Rejection piggybacks on physical pain pathways in the brain. MRI studies show that the same pathways are activated when we are rejected as when we experience physical pain.
A basketball coach can’t make a short person tall. You, on the other hand, can choose to identify and develop existing team members to raise their ceiling. Developing versus hiring altitude depends on your immediate needs, the makeup of your existing team, and your ability to pay for top talent.
The good news is that many of your competitors are currently hiring and developing for a combination of attitude and aptitude. The sooner you add altitude to your mix the quicker you will leapfrog their performance and results.
Randy Pennington is an award-winning author, speaker, and leading authority on helping organizations achieve positive results in a world of accelerating change. To bring Randy to your organization or event, visit www.penningtongroup.com , email info@penningtongroup.com, or call 972.980.9857.
