Strengths-Based Hiring: Building Dynamic Teams

In this episode of the Dr. Don Connections podcast, the host, Sarah, and Dr. Don Gilbert delve into the intricate process of matching personalities and strengths with job descriptions during the hiring process. Drawing from Dr. Don Gilbert's five-quadrant personality test which was explained in the last episode, they explore how understanding personalities can optimize hiring decisions. Dr. Gilbert introduces the concept of the 80/20 rule, emphasizing the importance of aligning personality strengths with job performance. Using the analogy of animals, he categorizes personalities into five types: the producer (Beaver), the pleaser (Golden Retriever), the peacemaker (Chameleon), the playful (Otter), and the powerful (Lion). By discerning whether a job requires task-oriented or people-oriented skills, employers can identify the ideal personality profile for the role. Dr. Gilbert provides practical insights into assembling a balanced team, cautioning against potential conflicts when certain personality types are overrepresented. Additionally, he discusses strategies for recognizing and leveraging employee strengths within the workplace.

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Transcript

Sarah:
Welcome back to the Dr. On Connections podcast. I'm joined again with Dr. Don Gilbert.
 
Dr. Don:
Hey there. How are you today?

Sarah:
 We are so excited to hear more about personalities today. In our last podcast, we talked a little bit about personality tests and the five quadrant personality test that Dr. Don Gilbert developed. And today we're going to talk about how we apply that to hiring our employees. So the question today is how do you match personality strength to job description when you're hiring?
 
Dr. Don:
Well, that's a great question. This is something that I have used many different times with managers as they look to hire. They have particular job descriptions and they want to make sure that they're matching those with the appropriate personality strengths. So when we talk about personalities, we're really looking at what are the strengths of that personality and matching that strength with the job. And so I use kind of the 80/20 rule, which is the pro-rata principle. We want to match their personality strengths at least 80% with the job performance or the job description that they're doing.

And so how do we do that? Well, there are five P's that I use for each of the animals, which really gives us a pretty good idea, a fairly simple way to understand what their particular overall strength is. And using this one word really is helpful for you to keep in mind.

So when we think of that, we think of the Beaver as a producer. The Beaver is always working to produce something. they really like to work independently. T

he Golden Retrievers, the pleaser, they're the ones that's really going to look at the job and say, How can I please the person, my boss, my supervisor, the client? And so we call them the pleaser.

Then there's the chameleon who's the peacemaker, wants everybody to get along, wants everybody to work really well together. So that's the chameleon.

The otter is very playful and so they really like to have fun when they work and they like to make work fun because fun is really what motivates them.

And the lion is the word power. So they're really looking for power to produce and the power to actually be in control of some things so that they can create something that's a bigger than just themselves.

So those are the five words. Again, Beaver is the producer, Golden Retrievers, the pleaser   the chameleon, is the peacemaker, and the otter is playful and the lion as powerful.

And so those are the things to keep in mind when you hire. So what are you looking for? So that the Beaver and the Lion are really task oriented in their work environment, whereas the Otter and the Golden Retriever are very people oriented in their environment. In this case we're talking the environment context work. The chameleon can be either or. They like to people, but they also like to work in produce for themselves. They like independent working, just like the beaver in the Lion do, whereas the Golden Retriever and otter like to work together with people. They like people. They like to work around people.

So when you look at the job description, 80% of the job, is it task or is it relational? And that will give you some idea of what you are looking for in terms of the personality profile.

 Now, if you need a job where they need to do tasks, but they're not necessarily going to be in control of something, like a big project. Then you probably want a beaver because beavers produce things, whereas lion create things that produce things. And so it's understanding. You want somebody who can lead or do you want somebody who can follow and work independently? Well, that's the beaver and the lion, whereas the otter and the golden retriever are like people. So otters probably are more likely to be salespeople. They like to work around people and with people, and they do really, really well with people. So maybe a receptionist, maybe someone who is the voice or the image, if you will, that you want to create. And so it's really people oriented, whereas the golden retriever is really the pleaser. So they work really well with people, but they're really going to get along with people. People are always going to like them and they're really good at that. Whereas The Chameleon really can be either or, but you know, they're not going to be working really well just in isolation and task, but they're not going to work really well if they always have to work with people. So they're kind of 50/50.

So you want to match their personality and their strengths to the job. And that's really where the 80/20 rule comes in. You know, what's the major aspect of this job that you're looking for someone to fill? And then you're really looking to see what is the mix of your personalities in your business? How well do they all work together? I can tell you you don't need more than one or two lions. Otherwise, then you're going to have a power struggle. You don't need a whole lot of golden retrievers because then nobody's going to really make any decisions and lead. So you really need a mixture of the particular groups of people. What is the basic function of your job? Is it sales? Is it IT? Well, if you're going to have IT, then you're going to have a lot of beavers So it really looks at what is the kind of structure of your business and what is the business that you're trying to create. And what's the mixture of people and personalities?

Sarah:
That is so interesting. It makes me wonder, are there any particular personalities that struggle to work well together?
 
 Dr. Don:
Two lions working together. If they're on the same project over the same project, that's a disaster. If you have two lions, you want each of them to have their own project that they're in charge of. That would be one thing if you have too many otters that are working with lions or beavers in particular. Otters and beavers really don't mix really well because if the beaver is trying to produce something and the otters trying to relate and connect, that's going to be a problem. So there are some depending on the particular job performance that you're looking for. Some of them don't really work well together.

Sarah:
As a manager, is there anything that you can do to pull out some of these strengths and to recognize these strengths in your employees?

Dr. Don:
Yes, One way, again, is understanding the personalities of each of your employees and looking what is their strengths and really looking to see how can you match strengths with the right people and the right job? And then really trying to get them in a place where their strengths are like the 80/20 rule   they're really working in your company 80% of the time out of their strengths.

Sarah:
Thank you so much for joining us today, Dr. Don. Join us next time as we talk a little bit more about personalities. And we're going to talk about how do we motivate our employees in their personality and in their strengths. Thank you again.

Dr. Don: 
Thank you.