Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2019 - 25

CEO: I won't hire someone into a sales

hunter role unless persistence is part of
their personality.

IO PSYCHOLOGIST: I wouldn't be so

quick to call persistence a personality trait.

CEO: I disagree. It is absolutely a

personality trait. I have seen it exhibited
in many situations.

IO PSYCHOLOGIST: Research shows that

you don't know if the persistence you are
seeing is a sustainable personality trait
or if it is a situational behavior caused by
some external motivation, such as fear
of failure or promise of reward.
Why is this disagreement important?
Einstein believed the quality of
the solution you generate is in direct
proportion to your ability to identify the
problem accurately. Quickly and wrongly
labeling something as a personality trait
predetermines management and training
decisions that often miss the mark.
Behavior must be examined more closely
to determine if it is a personality issue or
a gap in skills or knowledge before we
decide how to address the behavior.

Which is Personality and
Which is Skill?
A former NHL hockey player, now in the
business world, is intensely quiet and
focused. He always chooses a seat in
an empty row in a classroom. He rarely
smiles or looks around. When his turn
to present comes, he shocks the room
with a charming sense of humor and
animated smile. He engages each person
with high energy and eye contact. And
when he is done, the moment passes
and the quiet intensity returns.
So which part was personality? Which
was skill?
You likely guessed it. Two well-known
personality
tests
confirmed
his
personality was thoughtful introversion.
When asked about his presentation

success, he said he was motivated
by another personality trait: drive to
achieve. He did what he had to do to
achieve the results he wanted. If that
meant he had to master the skill of
presenting, he would master that skill.

Will People Overrule Their
Personality Preferences to Get
a Different Outcome?
Only if they want to. This is called selfmanagement. Yet, self-management
comes at a personal cost. Acting in
opposition to your personality is paid
in emotional labor, the energy it takes
to regulate feelings and expressions
to fulfill the requirements of the job
despite your natural approach. It might
sound like, "Does acting this way come
naturally to you?" or "Would you be
willing to act outside of your comfort
zone to achieve a different result?"
So yes, people can regulate their
personality to exhibit the behavior they
need, but they need to be motivated to
expend the emotional labor to do so.
Training can teach skills, but, without
the specific personality traits present
to fuel the interest and energy, it may
never transfer to the job.

What Can Be Done When
Traits Best Suited for a Desired
Behavior are Not There?
Trainers fall in love with the people who
have the personality type that naturally
fuels the skills being taught. Those
are the participants you see quickly
excelling in the program and are excited
to put the training to work.
Then there are participants who feel out
of their comfort zone and require more
emotional labor to practice the behavior
in class. They may exhibit frustration,
impatience or negativity. They may need
a substitute fuel to drive their interest
and behavior.

Training must serve those with and
without desired personality traits. This
can be tackled through the training
program design.

Behavior must be
examined more closely
to determine if it is a
personality issue or
a skills gap before
deciding how to address
the behavior.
Design Training to Include
the Fuel Needed to Drive
Behavior Change
Intentionally designing elements into
training programs for those without the
personality traits to fuel the behavior
change is a new opportunity. Yes,
training is in the business of personality.
Consider these factors when designing
a training program that promotes
behavior change:
* Use personality assessments when
benchmarking star performer's behavior
to identify the personality traits most
correlated to the desired behavior.
* Show participants that their personalitybased preferences don't necessarily
control their destiny. Share success
stories that demonstrate they can
perform the new behavior with or
without the personality trait.
* Consider personality traits that predict
the degree of emotional labor needed
to execute the desired behavior. Design
training to provide the fuel for those
without the driving personality traits.
You achieve better training outcomes
by including and engaging this group
of learners.

T RAIN IN G I N DU STR Y M AGAZ INE - UNDERSTANDING YOUR LEARNERS 20 1 9 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2019

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