One reason that it is so difficult to find good people is that few managers, when asked, can describe ‘good’. Others can’t agree on what qualifies one to be qualified, at least in measurable terms. When asked to describe their best employee, employers respond with adjectives such as ‘self-motivated’ ‘dependable’, hardworking honest and loyal. One would guess you can evaluate dependability by an employee’s attendance record and loyalty might be assessed by an employees work history.

But how do you asses’ self-motivation, hard work and honesty? More importantly, let’s say you found an employee who appears self-motivated and hardworking and his or her references tell you that he or she was as dependable and honest as the day is long. Is that good enough to translate into top performers?

There is a lot of confusion these days in organisations about how to measure if a candidate is competent. The only individuals who can assess whether individuals are competent or not are the people that work with them or the people they service. But that doesn’t mean you can’t put the odds in your favour. For example, everyone these days wants to know if an individual has leadership ability (or potential).  If you have identified leadership as a core competency for your organisation, then how will you assess if candidates have it  and incumbents demonstrate it?

For new hires or employees on a management / leadership track, what can be assessed without actually observing on-the job performance are the behaviours, attitudes, traits, and abilities that likely will make it easier for an individual to satisfy or meet a particular competency. One action that might demonstrate that an individual has leadership ability would be if the individual encourages people to take on new tasks and if the person wants to stretch him or herself with new challenges.

A candidate’s personality can also seriously affect how much competence an individual might develop. A candidate’s personality might indicate that an individual prefers to work alone, is highly competitive, prefers strict guidelines and compliance, is easily agitated by critisim, and is a sceptic. This individual may know how to lead but being competent will be a daunting task.

Another individual is outgoing, enjoys working with people, exhibits a moderate level of assertivenss, is innovative and tolerates stress level. This person’s personality certainly would make it easier to build rapport with and acceptance from direct reports and the management team, but even this doesn’t indicate if the individual will be competent on the job.

There is a huge difference between identifying the competency and demonstrating competence. Just having the competency is not enough.

Competence or how proficient an individual is in using the competency must be evaluated by individuals who observe or interact with the employee. Competence may be assessed by the individual through self-reporting evaluations or by co-workers, customers and managers with assessments and evaluations.

 
So what makes a good employee?

A good employee has the right combination of personality, competencies and motivation. In other words, those hiring needs to know what competencies an employee needs ,and what personalities are most likely to demonstrate competence.

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