Screening Candidates for Performance Saboteurs

Screening Candidates for Performance SaboteursScreening Candidates for Performance SaboteursScreening Candidates for Performance Saboteurs Chamine, author of Positive Intelligence (Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2012)You may have experienced it job candidates who are poised throughout the interview process, check out well on resume and references, who then dash yur hopes shortly after theyre hired.One way to avoid this type of hiring mistakeis to screen for what I refer to as Positive Intelligence.Analyzing Positive IntelligencePositive Intelligence is a measure of ones degree of self-sabotage. In my lectures on Positive Intelligence at Stanford, I reveal 10 mental Saboteurs that undermine or derail us.These sneaky characters have names like Controller, Judge, Avoider, and Stickler. 95% of the executives in the Stanford program report that one or mora of these Saboteurs cause significant harm to employee performance and their personal fulfillment.Every candidate you interview, and for t hat matter everyone you know, is being undermined by some Saboteurs. The question is how strong they are.Since Saboteurs become more visible under stress, you might bedrngnis easily see them in the controlled interview environment. They will show their true faces under the real stress of the real job.Saboteurs are the internal enemies. They are a set of automatic and habitual mind patterns, each with its own voice, beliefs, and assumptions that work against our best interest.To illustrate, when our mind tells us that we should prepare for tomorrows important meeting, it is acting as our friend, causing positive action.When it wakes us up at 300 a.m. anxious about the meeting and warning us for the hundredth time about the many consequences of failing, it is acting as our enemy it is simply exhausting our mental and physical resources without any redeeming value. No friend would do that.Saboteurs start off as our guardians to help us survive the real and imagined threats to our physi cal and emotional survival as children.For example, the Judge Saboteur represents a bias for noticing and exaggerating the negative. This bias is a critical evolutionary design for our ancestors to have survived the dangers of the jungle. When the tree leaves started shaking, the early human who assumed the worst and ran from an imagined tiger was the one that survived and passed his genes.By the time we are adults, these Saboteurs are no longer needed, but they have become invisible inhabitants of our mind. They form the lens through which we see and react to the world, without knowing we are wearing any lens.Spotting Saboteurs in the Recruiting ProcessOf course most of your job candidates are unaware they actually have Saboteurs, so simply asking them about it would not be productive. There are a few ways for you to remedy that.You can have them take the online Saboteur assessment and discuss their results with you. Or they can take the PQ Score assessment.PQ stands for Positive I ntelligence Quotient and shows the percentage of time someones mind is serving them as opposed to sabotaging them.Ideally you want a candidate who scores above 75, which is the tipping point PQ score for optimal performance. Both these assessments require honest responses to be accurate, but you can still detect a lot from the way candidates present and discuss their results (find both free assessments at PositiveIntelligence.com.Screening Candidates for SaboteursAnother way for you to screen would be to probe during the interview for specific Saboteurs that appear, likely based on someones strengths. Saboteurs often represent the dark side of what someone considers to be their strength.For example, someone priding themselves on attention to detail might suffer the Stickler Saboteur. Many leaders with a forceful and confident style suffer the Controller Saboteur. Someone who is good at relationship harmony might suffer the Pleaser or Avoider Saboteurs.The following table offers a su mmary.SaboteurNameSubvertedStrengthDescriptionLieJudgeDiscernment, responsibility and accountabilityFocus on negative in self, others, or circumstancesUnless I constantly point to whats wrong, nothing will improveControllerConfidence and initiativeNeed to always control and dominateControlling always ensures best outcomeSticklerDetail orientation and organizationNeed for order and perfection taken too farPerfectionism is always the preferred wayAvoiderAppreciation and positivityAvoid difficult or unpleasant tasks and conflicts. ProcrastinateI am just being positive. No good comes out of dealing with conflictRestlessFlexibility and risk toleranceConstant need for busyness.Rarely at peace with current activityThis is the way to accomplish and experience the mostPleaserCaring and compassionConstantly helping, pleasing, or rescuing others, hoping to be likedI do this to help and expect nothing in returnVictimEmotional self-awareness Continuous focus on painful and deflating emotionsThis is my best way to attract attention and affectionHyper-RationalObjectivity and logicOver-application of the rational function in dealing with peopleEmotions are useless distractions. Greatest leader strength is logicHyper-VigilantReliability and dependabilityContinuous intense anxiety about dangers and what could go wrongBest way to protect self and others is through hyper-vigilanceHyper-AchieverGoal and achievement orientationNarrow focus on achievement to the detriment of relationships, balance and perspectiveGreatest success comes from achievement-at-all-costResumes and employee references only point to potential. Screen candidates for Positive Intelligence if you want pepole who are likely to actually reach their true potential.And remember, strong Saboteurs dont have to be career derailers, so long as Positive Intelligence tools are used to conquer them.Author BioShirzad Chamine is author of the New York Times bestseller, Positive Intelligence Why Only 20% of Teams and Individ uals Achieve Their True Potential AND HOW YOU CAN ACHIEVE YOURS(Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2012). He is Chairman of CTI, the largest coach-training organization in the world. A preeminent C-suite advisor, Shirzad has coached hundreds of CEOs and their executive teams. His background includes PhD studies in neuroscience in addition to a BA in psychology, an MS in electrical engineering, and an MBA from Stanford, where he lectures. Find free assessments, tools, and blogs on PositiveIntelligence.com.