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Trevor Manning Consultancy
Achieving  Business results 
through Real-World Training 
and Leadership Development

Does open-plan work?

10/15/2014

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In my first management job, I had an office with a door. In the 90’s, any attempt to use that door was frowned upon and the so-called open door policy became the norm. A decade later, the office walls came down too and everyone was moved to an open plan environment. The idea was to improve communication and thus productivity.

Recently, a delegate on one of my courses told me that his team had been moved into a windowless, open plan area to allow all the engineers, sales people and project managers to sit together, in a huddle. The sales teams loved it - the engineers hated it.

One reason goes back to Carl Jung’s theory, written in the 1920’s, who postulated that people have different inherent preferences. Some people are energized by interaction with other people, whereas for others, they are drained by it. The so-called extrovert-introvert dichotomy, along with a few other preference traits, is the basis of many personality model profiling systems in the workplace today. While an extroverted preference is more common, it still leaves almost one third of the population who are introverted. Recent brain studies show that neurologically people at these two extremes can have completely different reactions to the same event. People who are more strongly extroverted need higher stimulation to produce the hormone dopamine, that results in feelings of pleasure. Introverts can often have feelings of fear to the same stimulation that excites an extrovert.

But if 2/3rds of the workplace is more extroverted, does that mean open plan is better? Lydia Dishman in a recent blog, highlighted a survey done of 39,000 North American workers, where 95% reported the need for quiet spaces in the office. Maybe the answer is more flexible working conditions where an open plan environment is created for times that collaboration is needed and some quiet areas or even home working is provided when people need peace and quiet to work at their best.

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Can I really hire on attitude?

10/1/2014

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While working with a management team this week, and discussing staff engagement, the importance of attitude was raised. One manager commented that recruiting people with a good attitude was difficult, as it wasn’t possible to evaluate their attitude in an interview. I believe, not only is it possible, but that the majority of the interview should be to determine precisely that!

“What exactly is attitude?” The Oxford dictionary defines attitude as “A settled way of thinking or feeling about something”. Psychologists talk about framing a situation whereby someone has a positive or negative cognitive bias. To me, it’s all about mind-set!

Your mind-set is your frame of reference that includes any biases created by your beliefs and world-view. Someone with a so-called “can-do” attitude has a mind-set bias whereby they will do whatever it takes to get the desired outcome. Another person with a “slack” attitude will try to get away with the minimum effort possible and justify poor results by blaming others or coming up with excuses as to why things didn’t work out.

So back to the question of whether you can find out someone’s attitude in an interview. Taking into account the obvious limitations of the interview process itself, it is absolutely possible to determine someone’s attitude in an interview. Start by asking open ended questions that get to the heart of the person’s mind-set. Ask them why they believe they achieved or failed. Very quickly you can see if their attitude is can-do, or whether they tend to blame and make excuses. Listen carefully to how they frame the scenarios listed and to what words are used. Being realistic is sensible and admirable in the right context, but it can also be a red flag that the person’s mindset is pessimistic and that they want to set safe, easily achieved goals. To get a winning team, make sure when interviewing that you do not only verify their skills and validate their successes on the resume, but that you also ask the right questions to reveal the mindset that sits behind the skills and achievements, or even failures.

Lastly, I have observed in practise that a great attitude on its own, does not always guarantee great behaviour, or great results. I support the view that says,  “you can hire on attitude and train for skills, but you can’t hire on skills and train for attitude”, but I do think you need both.

A truly valuable team member is someone who has a great attitude but also delivers great results.

 

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    Author

    TMC Global has been established to provide real-world training and consultancy in wireless technology and technical management. 

    Its founder, Trevor Manning is passionate about people development and has developed training courses and business offerings that combine theory and practice to make a real difference in the workplace. 


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