Your Behavioral Style Matters in Job Selection Satisfaction and Performance



Each year millions of people start new careers and jobs; or change them, especially during times of economic turbulence. Making the right choice can be both exciting and worrisome. Maybe it will be a good fit, maybe not.

Roger E. Wenschlag, author of the new book, We Hug in the Hallways Here, says, Of all the factors to consider in considering a job fit - skills, abilities, values, and financial needs - one of the most important is one'ss behavioral style. Wenschlag defines behavioral style as, how we prefer to interact with our environment and the people around us. Our style shows up in our external behavior -- body language, voice tone and messages and priorities.

For the most part, style is a reflection of emotionally-based goals and fears. According to Wenschlag, there are four distinct behavioral style tendencies:

-- Dominance. People driven by a strong need to achieve results. They display a high degree of control, assertiveness and action orientation. Their greatest fear is losing control.

-- Influence. Those who are driven by a high need for recognition, and relationships. They are persuasive and enthusiastic. They are demotivated when others disapprove of them or ignore them.

-- Steadiness. People with a strong need for stability. They are warm, calm, and agreeable. They achieve that through cooperation, planning, and consistency. Their greatest fear is change and conflict.

-- Conscientiousness. Those driven by strong need for accuracy and thoroughness. They are detail-oriented, deliberate, and follow high standards. They show a high degree of deliberateness, dependability, and logical thinking. They fear being wrong, and especially dislike personal criticism.

Most people possess a blend of at least two of these tendencies, while about 25 percent of people are off the chart in only one tendency.

The two central themes of We Hug in the Hallways Here are that one should be a good fit for a given job; and that, no matter what the job; one must be also behaviorally flexible. This is because we must perform many different roles within a job. For example, the roles of a new sales territory account manager'ss job includes sales planning, account development, customer solutions builder, sales closer, customer relations, and sales administrator.

Perhaps the ideal candidate for this type of job would be a person with a high dominance and influence tendency because of the challenge, uncertainty and excitement of opening a new territory. By contrast, someone with high steadiness tendency would likely feel completely out of place cold calling, negotiating and charting a new path.

However, to be totally effective, the ideal hard-charging candidate would also have to slow down and be much more detail oriented to adapt to the roles of customer relations and sales administrator. They would need to apply higher amounts of steadiness and conscientiousness behavior, both unnatural for him or her, and potentially troublesome. If our job roles take us out of our behavioral comfort zone, too far, too often, says Wenschlag, it can be quite stressful. The potential result of continued high stress is dissatisfaction and sub-par performance. According to Wenschlag most organizations recognize this and capitalize on the strengths of their people by putting them in jobs that fit, while compensating for their weaknesses by automating or reassigning roles to others.

In these days of economic uncertainty and employment instability We Hug in the Hallways can be a helpful tool in finding the fight fit. It is ideal for those in college, early career, or mid-career.

The book is available on www.bookhousefulfillement.com. For more information, you may contact Roger Wenschlag, the author, directly at 1-888-721-2610.





Your Behavioral Style Matters in Job Selection Satisfaction and Performance