Assess New Hires For Manageability

If the organization has a goal to improve performance by hiring for job fit, it is critical that the leadership assess candidates to identify the personality construct of manageability. Manageability is one’s connection to rules, processes, and authority. People whose DNA is wired for high manageability have a need to follow processes and authority. People whose DNA is wired for low manageability are all about the result, and don’t give as much attention to processes and authority. When a boss and a direct report, or an employee and a culture don’t match up on manageability, the problem it will cause is simply a matter of when. And that problem can often be huge.

People who are described as high manageability put as much emphasis on processes as they do on the result. They are planners because the plan adds confidence, direction, and clear communication. When people don’t follow that plan, the message to the boss who is a planner is “you didn’t follow my plan because you think my plan is stupid”. Not following a process or the authority structure is literally a sign if disrespect. The downside to high manageability is that these people can get locked into obsolete processes at the cost of a result just because the processes is the process and that’s what we do.

People who are described as low manageability are all about the result. They think creatively and often find new and more efficient means to achieve an even better result. The challenge with this behavior is that it is rarely duplicatable by other people, and can cause unforeseen complications and problems that a good process was set up to avert in the first place. There may even be legal or safety implications involved with not following processes.

Hiring for job fit takes an understanding much deeper than competencies, interests, and past job performance. Time has demonstrated that even the most qualified candidates can leave in a few years, leaving people scratching their heads and asking themselves “how come we didn’t see that in the interview”. The personality construct of manageability is a critical component of job fit, and one that is not likely to reveal itself unless you assess for it. Always, always assess for manageability when hiring new candidates.