Gordon Housworth <ghidra@modulor.com> in
Replying to LO8272 in which Keith wrote:
>In an engagement with a psychological testing organization (for career
>placement), I encountered their set of attributes for people who were
>actually successful as change agents. Out of 98 attributes, the following
>23 attributes were the key differentiators..
Then asks
>For my part, this attribute list describes a desirable colleague, partner,
>employee, manager or change agent. But I write because I'm retaining the
>list and wish to ask if their is any more documentation on the firm,
>date(s), and the measurements used to flag success (i.e., was <<actual
>experience>> things such as repeatedly running successful events?)
Gordon, I think you would find all 98 traits desirable. The scoring is
based on "percentile" as in a bell curve of ACTUAL results from testing,
and the conclusions are drawn from performance. That is, these attributes
are shared among SUCCESSFUL change agents and are seen to distinguish
their performance from others.
Naturally, the measure of success is necessarily judgemental (by their
employers). Similarly, the attributes of successful presidents is based on
company performance and perceptions. It is also historical so may not
reflect what is needed by presidents in the future, for example
The greatest value IMHO is in letting the change agent see themselves in
this mirror and helping them to understand which attributes will cause
them potential difficulty. Anyone scoring in the 80 percentile will likely
have difficulty communicating with another who scores in the 20
percentile. This generates more tolerance and open-minded behaviour which
is highly desirable in my value system.
People who score straight 50 percentiles, while not particularly good at
anything, get bruised less in business because their gaps with everyone
else are less. Hope this helps. (The testing is for internal use to
support their career placement business.) ...Keith
--Keith Cowan <72212.51@CompuServe.COM>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>