Leadership BITES
Welcome to ‘Leadership Bites’, with your host Guy Bloom. I have conversations with amazing people who impact on the world around them . Always about leadership and hopefully in such a way as to reinforce the good you do and to bring challenge to the things you might be able to calibrate. All links for Guy: www.livingbrave.com
Leadership BITES
Talking Psychometric Assessment | Peter Rhodes
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Psychometric assessments can provide significant insight, but they should never be mistaken for a definitive answer.
In this episode of Leadership Bites, I speak with occupational psychologist Peter Rhodes about what psychometric assessments can genuinely tell us, where their limitations sit and why every result needs to be explored, tested and corroborated.
We discuss personality, resilience, conscientiousness, ambition, emotional intelligence and the handling of anxiety. We also consider what these characteristics might mean when recruiting senior leaders, assessing potential or building an effective leadership team.
Peter shares examples from his work with pilots, chief executives, public authorities and senior appointments, including what happens when ambition is not matched by conscientiousness and why somebody can be socially capable without being emotionally attached.
The profile creates the evidence and the questions. The real value comes from the quality of the conversation that follows.
To find out more about Guy Bloom and his award winning work in Team Coaching, Leadership Development and Executive Coaching click below.
The link to everything CLICK HERE
UK: 07827 953814
Email: guybloom@livingbrave.com
Web: www.livingbrave.com
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Welcome to Leadership Bites with myself, your
host Guy Bloom. This is a leadership podcast
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where I have conversations with colleagues,
I chat with guests and sometimes they'll be
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just me talking. You can connect with me at
livingbrave.com and when you enjoy the episode,
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subscribe and please tell everyone. Peter,
lovely to have you on this episode of the Leadership
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Bytes podcast. Welcome. Thanks for inviting
me. And I, of course, know who you are because
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we have known each other for some time. But
for those people that don't know who Peter
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is, it would be great just to get a little introduction
that kind of just gives a sense of who you
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are and what you focus on. OK, I'm an occupational
psychologist. I've been in business since the
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late 80s, although before that I was in academic
life working across three universities, working
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my way back down south actually from Edinburgh
down to London. So I eight years in academic
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life, which actually was no bad thing. It stood
me in very good stead, it kept me, made me
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immerse myself in the literature and in fact
since that gave me a taste for the academic
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life I've carried on writing for Oxford University
Press, Weidenfeld. Orion and more currently
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Routledge. So I keep myself informed and ensure
I marinate in the literature constantly. But
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my day job is essentially generating reports
for key appointments and that ranges across
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sectors, public sector, private sector, industry,
pharmacy, retail. So I think we met initially
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in a kind of quasi retail setting. also I have
to confess, I have skin in this game because
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as part of this journey I've been on, I set
up a publishing company in the early 90s which
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produces its own psychological tests and distribute
them online. So we do a lot of assessment of
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pilots online. what else? We've branched into,
well for many years, assessment centers running
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assessments that involve more than psychological
tests. They involve doing simulations, role
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plays. one-to-one interviews, ability tests,
and putting all that information together and
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trying to produce a kind of holistic report
of an individual and their suitability for
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a key appointment. So our focus is essentially
on key appointments. yeah. Okay. So if we
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talk about my world, which is leadership development
and working with executives at that level,
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What is it that somebody who is looking at senior
hires, what is it that they might get from
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a psychometric profile that if they don't already
know, what might that give them that they think,
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well, I'll interview them, I'll look at their
CV, what's a psychometric profile going to
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give me? If they just are on the outside looking
in, what would you tell them? I always think
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that what a psychological test does is it fast
tracks an interview. You're starting the interview
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at a very different place, a very different
point than you might otherwise done if they
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just walked through the door because they've
already told you quite a lot about themselves.
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know, the personality test has asked them a
bunch of questions about themselves. which
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they may or may not have answered truthfully,
but that's part of what you're interviewing
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them for, is to try and corroborate that data.
So we're starting at a different place, and
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what the test should do, or certainly the report
will do, is offer up probe areas, areas where
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you as an employer would need more reassurance.
If they've described themselves as deeply insensitive,
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then you might want some... assurance that they
are able at times to pick up on other people's
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feelings and factor them into their thinking
and decision making. So it's a catalyst, it's
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a catalyst with insight, would that be fair?
It's not doing the work for you. There was
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a famous journalist called John Pilger and he
describes how he'd spent hours and hours and
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hours talking to people. and it felt extremely
privileged at the end of that process. I always
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feel, when I heard him talking about it, I
felt the same. I feel extremely privileged
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if I have someone's profile in front of me,
that they have taken the time and trouble to
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tell themselves quite a lot about themselves
and gone into areas that are actually an ordinary
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conversation, quite difficult to question directly.
I mean, that's one of the benefits of a personality
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test in particular is that it are sorts of in-person
questions that we wouldn't otherwise ask people.
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So for some people, they really might not know
the difference between the different versions
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of a psychometric profile. For some, it might
be a catch-all phrase. So if we were going
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to, say, trait and type, if we were going to
talk about the big five, for some people, they
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won't know anything about that. They'll have
done something that is a... part of a training
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program that would, and they might think it's
actually quite a lighter intervention. So
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I think I'd almost like that sense from you
as if to the layman or somebody that didn't
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know the difference, one is preference, one
is assessment, just give that depth as to what
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the differences are. I read quite a good description
of the Big Five recently that it's like if
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you're in a spaceship, looking down on the planet,
you see the big five continents.
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But obviously if you're on earth, you want to
know what country you're in. So it's like
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taking the big five and taking a hammer to them.
And you get out these much more interesting,
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more specific traits, which are worth measuring
separately because they are to some extent
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independent of each other. But at all time,
mean, the thing I must stress, Guy, is that
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I always treat personality data as tentative
and problematic and inferential and above all
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in dire need of corroboration. So I think if
you adopt that approach a lot of the problems
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about faking go away because you assume that
it's all problematic. You know a lot of test
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publishers assume that these pesky test takers
try and sabotage the process by lying and faking.
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Well I think If you just assume it's all problematic
and it's all likely to be prone to some sort
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of distortion, then that problem goes away because
you just assume that all of it needs corroborating.
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And what I mean by that is it needs picking
up an interview and pushing and probing and
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exploring and trying to corroborate. So I always
say it's about taking inferences that come
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from people's responses and corroborating them.
refining them or indeed of course rejecting
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them. So that means for some people it's not
let's get a psychometric profile that will
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do the work for us that will tell us what we
need to know because that is a conversation
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I have sometimes with people where they go well
right we need to do a psychometric profile
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and my position and I think I'm hearing it in
what you say and I'd like you to calibrate
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my thinking is No, it's a start of a conversation.
The individual will offer themselves to you
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through the profile. And there'll be things
in there that even if they feel like a connection
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or they feel like a disconnection, that's a
start of a conversation. Because if somebody
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says, for example, that their agreeableness,
well, they're not using that vocabulary, but
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if there's a score that's high or low, that
might be their innate trait. But in truth,
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if they have a coping mechanism for dealing
with it, they could actually have a very high
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skill in that area. Is that fair? Have I said
that correctly? That's also, of course, one
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of the limitations is people's self-awareness.
know, in reality, we are not always particularly
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self-aware, particularly in terms of where we
are relative to other people. I think that's
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one of the main payoffs. of a psychometric test
is that gives you a feel for where people stand
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relative to others. Because I think we don't
have a sense often of, know, I might feel
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I'm persuasive, but I have no idea how much
more persuasive other people are. And I think
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that's one of the, I mean, because one of great
critiques of personality testing is that it's
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an enormous contric. You know, that I ask you
a bunch of questions about yourself. you fill
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in the thing, I then tell you what you told
me. And often, more often than not, people
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are amazed that I know all this about you. But
you told it. Even though... What ice cream
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do you like? I extremely able people. mean,
I've had the chief fire officer of a huge fire
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service saying, Peter, I don't know how you
know all this about me. And I didn't have the
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heart to say, you told me. Yes. What ice cream
do you like? Rum and raisin. How does it know?
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Well, you told it. But having said that,
there is more to it because obviously we take
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that as a start point for having a discussion
and relating those traits to the job demands.
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Well, there is a validity question with testing
that if we looked at trait type, if we looked
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at what some of the... And I have my own psychometric
profile, but I would never say that it has
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psychometric validity. I would say actually...
Well, very few of them do. Right. And that's
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a huge problem for the industry. Yes. And it
hasn't progressed much since the 1920s in being
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able to establish clear... In fact, there's
this famous test that was done with the guy
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that bent the spoons. was his name? Uri Galla.
Uri Galla, yeah. If anyone could... prove that
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he could do it. That's right. Or they could
do it. They got a million. A million. And
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then that was extended to psychometric tests.
If anyone could prove that a psychometric test
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could demonstrably improve the predictive validity
of selection processes, they got a million.
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I mean, that million still stands. Right. I
mean, the criteria, I have to say, in fairness
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to the publishers, the criteria. for establishing
the predictability were quite tough. know,
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there had to be a reasonable sample size. You
couldn't use the test data at selection. So
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the test data had to kept and stored for a later
date. And you had to have a clear sense of
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what the base rate was. know, was the proportion
of selecting applicants who failed. Yes. and
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whether you can improve on that. And you had
to have clear performance indicators to demonstrate
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there'd been some improvement. And a lot of
problems with the whole validity is that the
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irony being that test publishers criticize recruitment
processes for resting on subjective processes
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like interviews. But of course the reality
is that a lot of the validity the collection
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of validity data uses subjective outcomes like
supervisor ratings, management ratings, which
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are hugely problematic. So that's the irony,
that's the paradox. You're looking at objective
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processes to predict subjective outcomes. So
when somebody is, when people invest, I think
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there's a difference between the tools that,
I mean, you certified me for level AB when
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it came to psychometric testing, what feels
like a hundred years ago. So, and if I look
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at something like your 16 PFs and those kinds
of profiles, to me, there's a real sense that
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they are really saying, this is who you are
as you tell us who you are, but this is who
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you're offering yourself to be. And in reality,
if that is true, and you aren't trying to kind
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of buck the system, you can take this test multiple
times and in reality, it would come out the
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same. Is that true? something more like your
Myers-Briggs or some of the kind of the preference
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type tools, why would somebody go, those tools
you can use for development but not for assessment.
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What makes something valid for assessment rather
than you might just say within a development
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program. the multi-trade tests I think are
as if not more useful in development settings
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as the things like the Myers-Briggs which are
you know they get people talking. mean the
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Myers-Briggs is and similar tests like the colour
one, Insights, is permission to talk. So it
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gets people talking about themselves in a safe
way because there are guardrails around those
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concepts. You can't start having to go at each
other because there are very clear limits to
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those concepts. I think the key thing is, I'm
going back to my point about corroboration,
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is that these things need corroborating. And
the problem is that people often lack self-awareness
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in the notion of what is typical of their behaviour.
Because personality questionnaires ask you
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about what is typically the case. Yes. You know.
So it requires a robust process to go with
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it. It's not get them to fill out a... psychometric
and then we'll read it and that'll tell us
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everything we need to know. No, it's do the
psychometric test and then have a conversation
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with the individual to corroborate or even to
get some clarity about the position in relation
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to it and then we will have the evidence to
make a decision. when you've been involved
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in, well actually I'd like you to just talk
for a few minutes about some of the roles that
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you've been called in to, which have required
the level that you're operating at from either
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with the airlines or with racing teams or when
there's been disaster management and cultural
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shift. I'd just like to hear how what it is
that you do has been called upon because I
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think that really would give it a sense of context
as well. The biggest compliment I ever got
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was from Ofsted where we went into a county
council after it had been taken into special
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measures and Ofsted said, and we did some very,
very depth assessments of the senior managers
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and which included personal disability tests,
some simulations and... scenarios and so on.
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And also said whatever happened at this authority
should be bottled because it had made such
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a difference to the performance of the authority.
Similarly, I spent a few years following
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the Grenfell tragedy going through the invitation
of the chief exec there. I spent ages. week
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in week out going through the management tiers,
the management team from director level right
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down to the people on the front line and then
it went beyond housing into other areas of
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the authority and that was all in order to make
a very profound change to the culture of the
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authority and make it much more... There's assessment.
Is that assessment centers? Is that the profiling?
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that what is this process? With Grenfell, it
was just purely a personality questionnaire
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followed by an interview. And it's the same
with I've been working with an airline and
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they're the same process. do a personality questionnaire,
which, as I say, I always take as inferential,
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tentative, problematic and in dire need of corroboration.
and I spend an hour and a half pushing, pushing
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those scores and finding out what's real about
the way they've described themselves and what's
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patently not real. So somebody does the assessment,
they then sit with you, they have a conversation
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with you, which is to almost do a diagnostic
on the report and go, what rings true, what
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under pressure may not stand up to muster or
whatever. So you refine, corroborate. or reject
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the hypothesis. And then are you writing a report?
Subsequent. Yes. So there's a do the test,
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have a conversation, here's a report and that
becomes something then for the line manager
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or as part of a kind of a cultural shift, it's
giving me an image of the individual, but then
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a collective picture. Yeah. And some more, I
mean, I always offer up areas where more reassurance
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is required. And in fact, probably about 90
% of the time, the reality is that I don't
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do the interviewing. So I do with the pilots
and in other scenarios. But a lot of the time,
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what I am left with is the fact that I have
to give the recruiting managers the questions
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I would have asked if I'd been locked in a room
with these people. I wouldn't have let them
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out until they'd given me evidence on these
issues. So I put the onus on the recruiting
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manager to corroborate what's come out of their
responses. So if we looked at somebody wants
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to make an executive hire, they want to bring
somebody into the C suite. It's a really important
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recruitment process for them. If they get it
wrong, it causes them a lot of problems. So
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that process fits that very nicely. Do the profile.
here are the questions that will help you have
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the conversation with the individual. It could
be that you do it, it could be that they do
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it, but then that information is gathered and
then that allows you then to do a summary report
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on the individual that will either go into maybe
a second interview or a decision making process.
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Would that be right? In those situations you
probably also want to add to that mix a cognitive
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test. you know, a critical reasoning test.
So some objective evidence about people's ability
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to make judgments about other people's judgments,
and particularly where those judgments are
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clouded by emotion and where they sort of start
tapping into their own values and beliefs that
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are designed to cloud their judgment. So you
want to know whether people can cut through
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all that and make clear logical, critical judgments.
I'm particularly interested when it comes to
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senior hire around or working with senior teams
when it's developing those teams around individual,
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the willingness of the individual to connect
and work with others and the underlying for
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the want of a better word, grit of an individual.
I've come to a bit of a conclusion that there
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are a hundred ingredients that might make a
cake, but actually if I'm in a team, I have
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to be willing to contribute outside of my own
need, but also then I need the grit to work
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through the context of the problems that we've
got. within... Can I just say... Yeah, of
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course. Grit was a concept that got people
in the psychrometric world quite excited a
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few years ago. And there were measures of grit.
But in fact, what grit seems to be... is a
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combination of conscientiousness and resilience.
So it's quite possible to measure grit with
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the tools that we were historically using.
So I'm fascinated by that. I think that's the
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bit that for me, that level of that depth within
a profile, even though it isn't giving you
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a definitive statement on the individual. I
think you're, I do appreciate and that's why
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I think what you do is valuable in the work
is very much indicating and actually it's not
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so much about a justification but if this is
true what that might mean. And I think that's
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interesting. That's context. Exactly. And that's
where it becomes more interesting writing a
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report and where you have to know the business
to get an understanding of what. how is this
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likely to play itself out? Given the politics
of political acceptability, public acceptability,
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organization, acceptability of stakeholders.
And that's where it gets more interesting.
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That's where I enjoy writing reports because
I like to put myself in the seat of the decision
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maker and think. In fact, with psychologists,
I always put a sheet in front of their desk
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saying, what? And getting them to focus on
what does this actually mean in the context
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of this business? Getting them to actually
project that set of scores into this organizational
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culture and this set of job demands. Yes. And
that's where people actually begin to realize
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they're actually getting their money's worth.
Yes. So I always start with the job demands.
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I always start with a briefing, a chat with
the CEO or one of the directors to really get
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behind the job description. Yes. Because often
the JD doesn't give you the whole picture.
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I love that and I think that's where it gets
exciting, which is look, the questionnaire
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is the questionnaire, but that's almost like
doing a training program. Look, the training
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program is a training program. The reality is
what's your context and what are these people
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actually dealing with? What is the truth of
not the aspiration, not the brochure, but
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what's the truth of the internal dynamic, the
human beings that are in play here? the stresses
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of the role, et cetera. And actually this isn't
about is this a good human? Let's presume
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every, you know, within reason, most people
are good humans. It's whether or not in the
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context they're going to be operating in that
actually they're going to be the right jigsaw
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piece. It's about understanding their business.
Yes. Do you understand our business? Yes. Can
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you help us? Do we like it? Yeah. And if I
did a tool some years ago, I did a tool. of
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all of the MSc's courses in the country and
it was entitled A Plea for a Connected Psychology
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because I thought at that level the MSc in Occupational
Psychology was going off down the wrong road.
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was all telling people that what was crucial
was learning nine times the validity. You
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know, whatever, it's probably 11 now. and the
reality had been lost sight of. It's actually
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about understanding these people's businesses.
So I started this talk of writing down all
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of the white papers, the names of the white
papers that generated most of our business
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that year and saying to people, does anyone
know what any of these are? And of course,
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a few people did. And the response to that
lecture tour I got was quite extraordinary.
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People said, we're not told this. we're not
told this, that it's crucial to understand
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the client's business. And I got letters saying,
you all we get told is how important it to
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get chartered. Well, it is, you know, I've
never been asked where I'm chartered. I get
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asked, know, do you understand our business?
Can you help? That's it. And not, are you chartered?
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Well, I think there's something there. I should
say I am chartered. Well, of course, of course,
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because without saying a man of your caliber.
But also it's like if you're... Picking a
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photographer, I don't really care what the qualifications
are. I want to see the photos. So there is
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something about, I think you're right, the
fact that somebody has the qualification.
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Don't get me wrong, I think there's a huge value
to that. But in truth, there'll be unqualified
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people and qualified people that are good or
bad. There's a reputation, there's a history.
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And I know that you've been doing this now for,
are you in your fourth decade? 30 probably.
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A third decade. Maybe. I don't know. it's
some time. there is a... 35, okay. So there
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is something, there? Because I know I'm 57.
I've been doing leadership development for
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some time. And my knowledge has... Okay, my
knowledge has increased. But not exponentially.
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But my ability to operate in context has shifted.
Yeah. You know, I... Yes, of course, every
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day is a school day and I learn a little something
here and I'm constantly upskilling. Fine. But
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in truth, the bulk of my knowledge exists.
What deepens is, think, which I really relate
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to with you, is context and being able to apply
the knowledge and have the insight to translate
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that either into questions. in this business?
Business at schools, here's your job demands.
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How do they relate? That's right. And the profile
is saying, we're running a program that is
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challenging you to, with what you've said and
the context you're operating in, in reality,
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how much of this, a particular assessment,
how much of this is performative and how much
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of this is you offering yourself in a manner
that once tested in truth, you run the risk
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of failure. because actually it feels as if
there's a disingenuous connection between what
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you've either said and then what you're offering
in relation to the context that you're going
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to be operating in. And I think that's interesting
when you can see those gaps, imagine. So
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when you do work with pilots, for example, what
is it that you're looking for there? Because
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that's a key role. That's quite an easy question
to answer because there are some sets. Actually,
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it's legal requirements as well. There are
some set things that the Civil Aviation Authority
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and the American equivalent look for. Obvious
things like resilience. Resilience, the leadership,
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team working, decision making, and working
in structured and regulated environment. So
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ability to follow rules. Ability to make effective
decisions on the load. Ability to work effectively
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with others. Demonstrate some leadership. the
ability to maintain a sense of perspective
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and not get frightened. mean, some of stories
I hear when I'm interviewing these people,
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mean, just think if that had been me. Which
is why we're not pilots. I would have avoided
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my bowels and... Exactly. So what is it on
a profile for a pilot that you're looking for,
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just out of sheer interest? What tells you this
person's in the right space? Obviously resilience.
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And I mean, is obviously the problem with that.
That's one of the most fakeable scales. So
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if it's too high, you do get a bit worried about
it. So you push them on that and try and get
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samples of where they've had to deal with. So
you've got to back that up with some more concrete
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forms of evidence. But obviously self-belief,
the ability to, you know, full back on your
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own judgment or have faith in your own judgment,
but not to the point where you kind of rule
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out other people's analyses and thinking. One
of the key things that I look at is how people
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handle their anxieties because I'm crudely speaking
in the literature, we can either externalize
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our anxieties, take them out on others. So you
see fault in everyone else and you see you
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become much more suspicious and wary of others.
or you internalise it, you beat yourself up.
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And so one thing I'm interested in is how do
people externalise? one thing, in fact, in
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the management literature, the literature of
the derailed manager is essentially the literature
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of people who externalise their anxieties. So
take it out on others. Everything's always
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on the people's fault. I'm super interested
in that. think that's what I look at. And it's
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the same with pilots. If you're just assuming
you're surrounded by idiots. who can't make
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effective judgments at speed, you're in trouble
probably, because you're not going to respect
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other people's judgment. So if you externalize
an attack, that's not good. If you internalize
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and hold it in, that's not good. Yeah, if you
externalize too much, then you're bad to be
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around. You're to be difficult to have So if
you emote in a negative way. And if you beat
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yourself up all the time and sit there sobbing,
that's no use either. But externalizing, I
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think, is one of real problems, because you
become a nasty piece of work, and you're not
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good to help around. So being able to be forthright,
but not aggressive. Yeah. Being able to...
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So different between yourself, Sorry, I shouldn't
point. No, no. The difference between assertion
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and dominance. Yes. And persuasiveness, dominance.
Yeah. That there's a kind of underlying unpleasant
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edge when you get the kind of the externalizing
that... that comes with the self-assertion.
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And I'm very interested in that kind of capacity
to verbalize the context that you're observing
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or the emotion that you're feeling in a manner
that explains to the other person where you
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are. You can make demands of them, but actually
getting that balance between motivating the
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individual, engaging them in conversation.
then having that maintenance of, I call it
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preservation of the personality, that being
able to preserve your personality when you
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are under stress. And I think that's a, can
imagine for an airplane pilot, it's not a
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problem until it's a problem. And you can do
all the virtual training that you like, but
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it might be a never in a career or a once in
a career, rather like that sully gentleman
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that, landed the plane in the Hudson. It might
never happen in his life. there was another
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one where it was a British pilot, worked for
Air New Zealand, went through the volcanic
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cloud and all four of his engines packed up.
he sat there reading the manuals and they
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sat there for 28 minutes, going through the
checklist, going through the manuals, there
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was nothing in the manuals that enabled them
to figure out how they would start this thing
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up. So he put it into it, took a judgment, put
it into a dive and it cleared the engines of
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the Volcanic Ash and he restarted and extraordinary.
28 minutes sitting there figuring out what
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to do. So that's the ability to hold your own
council to not have an emotional overload.
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Exactly. The capacity to... Extraordinary.
It's partly trained, know, initially comes
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from having a stable personality. Yes. But then
it's overlaid with training. Yeah. So I noticed
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that in the fire brigade, which is somebody
said to me, competence outweighs fear. You
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know, we train out the fear. fall back on it.
Yeah, because it's trained to an almost autonomic
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response. Yeah. Which I find very interesting.
But then there is something about trusting
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your own counsel. I think I'm very interested
in people that internally validate versus externally
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validate. Either look to others to understand
if they are performing well. And for me, I
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want leaders to internally validate but externally
calibrate, not the other way around. If they
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do it the other way around, they normally have
a very negative self-talk. You be too smug,
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I think. You can be too smug, think. Yes. Because
that means you... you have no real interest
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in other people's points of view or judgement.
Or you rely too heavily on other people's judgement
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and perspective to tell you that you're doing
a good job. So I'm very interested in that
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balance between I need to have that internal
motivation and personal clarity, but I also
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need to take counsel and calibrate myself because
otherwise, you know, I could just be a maniac.
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So we're back to the value of completing the
questionnaire is that it raises these questions.
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Yes. You know, these questions come out of the
way people describe themselves in the, in context
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they're, they're hoping to operate in or currently
operating in. So in terms of when we're doing
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profiles, there's something about somebody's
actual performance capability and their potential.
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And I'm just kind of interested in within profiling.
Is it really the conversation after the fact
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that picks up on whether or not this is telling
us about somebody's potential rather than just
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their capability now? Because for a lot of roles,
we have a role now, but we want it to grow
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and develop. is this person able to? So what
would I be looking for in a profile that OK,
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well, the classic psychological response to
that would be what's called factor G. which
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is the general intelligence of somebody. In
other words, do they have any kind of more
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headroom intellectually to, you know, to cope
with novel learning, novel processes, and
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respond to more complexity in their jobs. There
is also another G in personality, which is
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conscientiousness. On the 16PF, the Cattell
profile. which is about how much graft and
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hard work they're prepared to put in. But one
things I found in my years doing the assessments
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is I found that the level of self-assertion,
which is quite a complex thing, because it
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actually includes things like ambitiousness,
and you're concerned to kind of get on and...
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increase your profile and increase your sphere
of influence. That I think is really central
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to that discussion. The motivational driver?
Yes, yeah. Whether it's motivational or
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whether it's a trait, dispositional trait,
I don't think terribly matters, but I found
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just discussing with senior managers who don't
want to go... I I did one building society,
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just one below board level. And that's when
it really came home to me that there was a
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bunch of 32 people under board level and quite
a lot of them were not desperately ambitious
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and they weren't terribly bothered about whether
they got up to being on the board. And that
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seemed to be the main kind of discriminator
between people who were still pushing to get
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on and increase their profile, rightly or wrongly.
And people were quite happy where they were.
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So there's a marriage here, isn't there, that
if that ambition element is high but my conscientiousness
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is low, I might be an absolute nightmare. Yes,
rule breaker. Yeah, that's right. So wanting
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to get on is one thing, but wanting to get on
with no conscientiousness or low consciousness
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would indicate that actually you could be very
self-focused and it's about your journey. And
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that's when the skill of the report writer is
important because looking to those connections.
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Yeah. mean, one of the, the, the only tests
that we use from a machine, uh, from a bit
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of software is one that looks for those patterns.
So it will, and it will make up to five connections
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before it makes a statement. So it simulates
what a psychologist would do. So you have
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to, you have to be conscious that, you know,
okay, self assertion is over there, but where
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is conscientiousness and also where is something
like sensitivity. you know, are they going
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to try and influence others without any kind
of appreciation of other people's perspectives
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or other people's opinions or values or feelings
or whether that's going to be too important
355
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to them. They're almost, you know, unwilling
to tread on other people's sensitivities. You
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see, I find that very interesting where I think
there are a lot of people who, depending on
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where you're going, up the food chain, so to
speak. or into different sized organizations
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where, for example, I notice a lot of mid-level
organizations who are on a fast trajectory
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often go after senior individuals from much
larger organizations. But when those individuals
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join that company, they're used to pulling a
lever and 10 other people go and do it for
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them. And then they intellectually know that
it's not gonna be like that. But then they
362
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get in there, they pull that lever, and that
lever doesn't go anywhere because it's not
363
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large. But they may be being paid even more
because actually we need that skill set in.
364
00:41:05,660 --> 00:41:10,890
And then they join and when they pull that lever,
they realize that it's connected to them.
365
00:41:10,890 --> 00:41:16,830
And it might be because it might be two decades
since they've really been doing the graft.
366
00:41:16,830 --> 00:41:24,170
And so I'm really interested in. The ability
to assess somebody's, and I do like what you
367
00:41:24,170 --> 00:41:31,250
said there, their mental capacity to take on
new growth, their conscientiousness around,
368
00:41:31,250 --> 00:41:40,250
actually this sits with me, their, what is
it that would get somebody through that recalibration
369
00:41:40,250 --> 00:41:47,470
of, oh, I'm not in Kansas anymore, you know,
and recognizing that they intellectually knew
370
00:41:47,470 --> 00:41:51,814
what they were getting into. But in truth, they
didn't know what they were getting into. And
371
00:41:51,814 --> 00:41:56,094
now they've got to adapt. They've got to take
on that ownership. They cannot rely on others.
372
00:41:56,154 --> 00:42:01,794
They're going to have to engage others. Whereas
before, they were very senior and everybody
373
00:42:01,794 --> 00:42:08,574
engaged with them. I think that's where the,
back to your, the knowing the context, the
374
00:42:08,574 --> 00:42:17,618
profile might tell us, but your context is shifting.
And I think that's quite interesting. One
375
00:42:17,618 --> 00:42:25,538
of the things that can be very important there
is the appreciation of stakeholders, other
376
00:42:25,538 --> 00:42:33,338
people's and being able to anticipate stakeholder
reactions, and being aware that there are other...
377
00:42:33,338 --> 00:42:41,138
I mean, one of the things I find in, say, the
police force is you get to a point where you're
378
00:42:41,138 --> 00:42:47,826
a hard-nosed, practical, realistic, task-focused
deliverer of results. And that gets you to
379
00:42:47,826 --> 00:42:55,246
a certain point. then beyond that point, it's
a whole different set of schools. It's actually,
380
00:42:55,586 --> 00:43:00,766
you your ability to work with social services
and the probation services and the local authority
381
00:43:00,766 --> 00:43:05,406
and the health service and being aware of all
these different perspectives and how they might
382
00:43:05,406 --> 00:43:11,366
actually feed in and constrain your own decision
making. And that's where things like the measurement
383
00:43:11,366 --> 00:43:17,682
of sensitivity becomes really, really important.
And then picking up on that and having a discussion.
384
00:43:17,682 --> 00:43:23,582
And that doesn't mean being sensitive, which
would be a different thing. it's being aware
385
00:43:23,582 --> 00:43:27,902
of being willing to appreciate other people's
perspectives. And I find that quite interesting
386
00:43:27,902 --> 00:43:34,732
that some people I think, particularly people
that may have been over-trained, go, well,
387
00:43:34,732 --> 00:43:40,632
you you've got to have an emotional intelligence,
which I think they think means being emotional,
388
00:43:40,632 --> 00:43:45,982
but actually it means, no, I have to have a
radar. that can read the room and pick up on
389
00:43:45,982 --> 00:43:49,982
how I might be feeling and how others might
be feeling. It doesn't mean that I inherently
390
00:43:49,982 --> 00:43:56,342
care about people, but it means that I can see
it, act on it, and engage you in a way where
391
00:43:56,342 --> 00:44:02,622
you feel that I've heard you listen to you.
That doesn't mean that I necessarily care about
392
00:44:02,622 --> 00:44:08,262
you. And I'm quite interested in that difference.
Yeah, I mean, that's the difference between...
393
00:44:08,262 --> 00:44:14,438
I mean, these things you can differentiate and
discriminate. with on something like the PF,
394
00:44:14,438 --> 00:44:19,858
because you have one factor that is very specifically
about your willingness to be involved with
395
00:44:19,858 --> 00:44:25,998
others. the extent to which you actually understand
other people's perspectives. So it's that kind
396
00:44:25,998 --> 00:44:30,558
of wanting to be socially involved or personally
involved, and also wanting to be emotionally
397
00:44:30,558 --> 00:44:35,778
involved. And that doesn't mean like, does it?
In fact, one of the problems I found with
398
00:44:35,778 --> 00:44:45,142
the PF is that it... It marries up two quite
different things. It's sociability and affiliativeness.
399
00:44:45,142 --> 00:44:52,162
So one of the tests we use actually splits
that up. So I had a manager, for example, who
400
00:44:52,162 --> 00:44:59,682
was a classic. He was very high on the sociability
one. Really, really good working with others,
401
00:44:59,682 --> 00:45:08,502
but actually quite detached. Yes. I had no genuine
interest in others. But he was sociable.
402
00:45:08,502 --> 00:45:14,746
Well, I think that's okay. It is okay, particularly,
and he was the chief exec, so it was quite
403
00:45:14,746 --> 00:45:20,326
important for him to maintain a detachment,
but he was actually, observably, quite a friendly
404
00:45:20,326 --> 00:45:27,666
guy. Well, I look at somebody who I know works
in ANA, or somebody I know who works for the
405
00:45:27,666 --> 00:45:34,146
fire brigade, and if they intrinsically cared
about every single person they came into contact
406
00:45:34,146 --> 00:45:38,366
with, they'd lose their marbles, they You don't
know if it's breakdown, yeah. You couldn't
407
00:45:38,366 --> 00:45:43,666
do it. So they have a duty of care. I mean,
occasionally they may take a particular care
408
00:45:43,666 --> 00:45:48,686
with somebody, but in truth, it's not about,
oh, you've got to care for people. No, you've
409
00:45:48,686 --> 00:45:53,086
got to have a care for people. You've got to,
and so I'm not really looking for people that
410
00:45:53,086 --> 00:45:58,966
are emotional. I'm looking for people that have
an understanding of emotions. And actually
411
00:45:58,966 --> 00:46:03,726
that means very often, particularly at a senior
level, that means that I can meet people that
412
00:46:03,726 --> 00:46:10,050
affiliative wise may be incredibly low scoring.
However, the people are really engaged by them
413
00:46:10,050 --> 00:46:14,430
because their social ability is high. They're
very good at reading what's going on. They're
414
00:46:14,430 --> 00:46:19,110
very good at giving you the experience you need
to engage with them. And that's okay. And I
415
00:46:19,110 --> 00:46:24,350
think that does away with the stereotype of
what necessarily sometimes. And that combination
416
00:46:24,350 --> 00:46:29,390
comes out quite a lot in the, that you get people
who are actually in effect quite detached,
417
00:46:29,390 --> 00:46:34,560
but actually quite sensitive. So you've got
no desire to get involved with this person,
418
00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:38,442
but actually you can put yourself into their
shoes. and understand the world from their
419
00:46:38,442 --> 00:46:44,762
perspective. And you might argue from an emotional
robustness perspective, that's a much more
420
00:46:44,762 --> 00:46:49,722
survivable way of being. If you're going to
be at a senior level for a decade, two decades
421
00:46:49,722 --> 00:46:56,202
or whatever it is, dealing with a host of emotions
in truth, how do you safeguard yourself? Well,
422
00:46:56,202 --> 00:47:03,222
it's not by being detached, but it's about having
a care without necessarily over caring. And
423
00:47:03,222 --> 00:47:07,874
I think that's the stuff that comes out in conversation
and in interview. So I find that fascinating.
424
00:47:09,902 --> 00:47:16,542
So Peter, you know, with a good meal and a bottle
of wine, there's a conversation I could have
425
00:47:16,542 --> 00:47:24,622
with you all weekend. It did once happen to
me actually. I had a guy, he was applying
426
00:47:24,622 --> 00:47:31,042
to be a chief exec. And this is not the way
I normally work, I should say. I caveat this
427
00:47:31,042 --> 00:47:38,118
story with. This is not the way I normally
work. However. Big American. corporation
428
00:47:38,118 --> 00:47:45,038
with multiple different products. So we just
can't get to the point where he seems to do
429
00:47:45,038 --> 00:47:50,998
really well and then leave places. And I said,
can you get to the bottom of this? And then
430
00:47:50,998 --> 00:47:57,978
when I assessed him, he kind of maxed out on
the scale that is about projecting your anxieties
431
00:47:57,978 --> 00:48:07,666
and being rude and critical. the derailed manager.
And so I said to him, I said, the way you
432
00:48:07,666 --> 00:48:12,186
describe yourself seems to say you can be quite
critical of those around you. And he said,
433
00:48:12,186 --> 00:48:18,586
no, no, it's not me, not me. He I'm never critical
of anyone. so I said, all right, so we're
434
00:48:18,586 --> 00:48:22,486
carrying on chatting about other bits of the
way he described himself. Then came back to
435
00:48:22,486 --> 00:48:28,266
about sort of half an hour later. And I said,
let's just talk about this. I said, I'm still
436
00:48:28,266 --> 00:48:35,254
confused. He says, yeah, I'm surrounded by idiots.
I rest my case, my lord. And then it was just
437
00:48:35,254 --> 00:48:42,234
this kind of avalanche of bile and venom about
all the team that he worked with. And of course
438
00:48:42,234 --> 00:48:47,593
it all became clear that he got to, and then
he was just so unpleasant that he had to be
439
00:48:47,593 --> 00:48:55,314
removed, you know. And his relationships just
broke down. But the only way I got at that,
440
00:48:55,314 --> 00:49:03,086
which is why I brought this up, I got a bottle
of claret. opened it up and said, have a glass.
441
00:49:03,086 --> 00:49:07,626
And I was stressed, I would never normally
do that. I thought- Not standard operating
442
00:49:07,626 --> 00:49:13,126
practice. understand. I've got to get behind
this school. So he loosened up hugely. And
443
00:49:13,126 --> 00:49:16,746
I think that's, I mean, that's a very particular
context. But with executives, you're often
444
00:49:16,746 --> 00:49:21,446
having dinner or you are in a social context
and it's not always, you know, in an assessment
445
00:49:21,446 --> 00:49:25,186
center. But whether or not we're having a cup
of coffee and you're relaxed or you know, put
446
00:49:25,186 --> 00:49:33,306
you, you know, the skill of being able to work
with people. I've seen the lab. who are probably
447
00:49:33,306 --> 00:49:39,766
very good at managing conversations and to find
the mechanism to have an honest conversation
448
00:49:39,766 --> 00:49:45,286
without them trying to manage the conversation.
Or without filling them up with claret. Which
449
00:49:45,286 --> 00:49:51,506
may not be the process that I necessarily put
in the invoice plus a bottle of claret. they
450
00:49:51,506 --> 00:49:57,266
are, yes, we know what that is. But in truth,
there is a skill. There is the skill of the
451
00:49:57,266 --> 00:50:02,606
testing, there's the skill of the writing the
report. There's the skill of the interview
452
00:50:02,606 --> 00:50:08,565
questions and the conversation. And there is
the skill of putting somebody at ease to have
453
00:50:08,565 --> 00:50:14,326
an honest conversation that comes down to the
dynamic of the person doing it. And that's
454
00:50:14,326 --> 00:50:21,626
not in the test. That's in the gravitas, the
weight, the trust they have in the person that's
455
00:50:21,626 --> 00:50:26,406
doing it. And I have that with executive coaching,
with executive development, with teams. The
456
00:50:26,406 --> 00:50:32,534
knowledge is the knowledge. And I think I can
put a tick in the box there. But it's the ability
457
00:50:32,534 --> 00:50:38,933
to do the work and to create an environment
where you can have those conversations. there
458
00:50:38,933 --> 00:50:43,994
is jest in the port, but also it's no small
thing when it comes to working with somebody
459
00:50:43,994 --> 00:50:50,514
like you, that it's not just what you're doing,
they're also investing in who's doing it, which
460
00:50:50,514 --> 00:50:56,354
is somebody that can hold space with senior
people and have conversations that you will
461
00:50:56,354 --> 00:51:04,916
get to the nub of the situation. And I think
that's important. Good. Well, on that note,
462
00:51:04,916 --> 00:51:14,026
I noticed two minutes that we have on the clock.
So not wishing to overrun. It's not so much
463
00:51:14,026 --> 00:51:20,466
a time, it's more a people's attention span
clock, I think I have. Here's one little thing
464
00:51:20,466 --> 00:51:28,614
for me. If somebody said, ooh, I've got to fill
out a psychometric profile as part of... my
465
00:51:28,614 --> 00:51:34,634
interview or this program, leadership development
program that I'm on with Guy Bloom or whatever
466
00:51:34,634 --> 00:51:42,234
it is, how would you say, what's the mindset
to go into it with so they can actually give
467
00:51:42,234 --> 00:51:46,434
a version of themselves that won't catch them
out, that will be on, what's the advice that
468
00:51:46,434 --> 00:51:51,994
you give? Does people get quite intimidated
sometimes by the idea of it? That is a tough
469
00:51:51,994 --> 00:51:57,570
one because it depends on whether you're going
to do what I do, which is try and corroborate.
470
00:51:58,126 --> 00:52:04,866
you know, treat that data as problematic and
inferential and in dire need of corroboration.
471
00:52:04,986 --> 00:52:10,146
Because if that's the case, then it kind of
doesn't really matter. You know, can fake to
472
00:52:10,146 --> 00:52:15,326
your heart's content, but you're gonna get found
out. So actually don't bother. So don't bother.
473
00:52:15,406 --> 00:52:22,986
However, if it's just part of a screening process,
you know, the joke is always, you know,
474
00:52:22,986 --> 00:52:30,982
you always have to remember at the back of your
mind, then. I love my mother, I love my father,
475
00:52:30,982 --> 00:52:39,122
I love my father slightly more than I love
my mother. I like reading. I never get upset.
476
00:52:39,122 --> 00:52:49,442
those things are the ones that get faked a
lot, know, neuroticism. well, yeah, largely
477
00:52:49,442 --> 00:52:53,842
neuroticism, actually. I always think other
bits of the profile tend to be more resistant.
478
00:52:53,882 --> 00:53:01,454
So in truth, enter into it with a... an understanding
that in reality, if you're going to be part
479
00:53:01,454 --> 00:53:06,574
of a process, then all you can do is dig yourself
a hole that you can't get out of. So just answer
480
00:53:06,574 --> 00:53:11,454
it with an open. Just try to be. a genuine
self. Well, listen, Peter, I'm going to draw
481
00:53:11,454 --> 00:53:19,314
us to an end. You've been an absolute rock
star. I've enjoyed this conversation. I appreciate
482
00:53:19,314 --> 00:53:25,258
you. And when I'm talking to clients and I want
you to work with me, with senior teams. and
483
00:53:25,258 --> 00:53:30,998
we do that work, I hope that this goes some
way to people having a line of sight on you.
484
00:53:30,998 --> 00:53:36,378
Thank you very And we'll wrap it up from there.
So thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you very,
485
00:53:36,378 --> 00:53:41,398
much. OK, that's it. I hope you have enjoyed
listening or watching the podcast. If you have,
486
00:53:41,398 --> 00:53:45,178
please subscribe and tell people you spreading
the word makes a massive difference. And if
487
00:53:45,178 --> 00:53:51,960
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