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adobestock.com/FotoAndalucia

Topics:
Employee Management
August 24, 2023


HIRING BASED ON PERSONALITY


Words by: Anthony Desousa
adobestock.com/FotoAndalucia

Topics:  
Employee Management
August 24, 2023


HIRING BASED ON PERSONALITY

Words by: Anthony Desousa

So many of us are guilty of falling into the same trap: over time, we develop
great faith in our people, so we continually provide what we think are
opportunities for their advancement. After all, they are punctual, responsible,
caring, excellent at __________ (fill in the blank). What many of us fail to ask
is: “do you actually want this opportunity?” And, further, do they have the
necessary personality traits to succeed? Instead, we believe that continual
promotion is the end-goal of most employees. We believe in these people and are
astounded when we promote them to a position they struggle in despite our
teachings and their proficiency. It’s not that they cannot learn, it’s that
their personality is not suited for the proverbial shoes!



How did this revelation come about? I had an employee who was extremely
competent at making pizza — one way. The same exact way, over and over. He could
make pizza continuously for the entire day and they were beautiful and
identical. Didn’t matter if the dough was cold, warm, over-proofed, tight or
yielding. He approached it in exactly the same manner. In time, he asked: “what
can I take off your plate to make your life easier?” Since I both respected his
abilities and believed in him, this is where our relationship began its descent.
I put the wrong shoes on him. After handing over tasks and responsibilities that
caused him to reach his level of incompetence, the frustration set in. What I
later learned in discussing this paradigm with John Arena was that there is
something called the “Peter Principle”. It states: “members of a hierarchy are
promoted until they reach the level at which they are no longer competent.” BAM!

At this point, I realized that all of our top management should take a
personality profile so that this idea of “putting the wrong shoes on an
employee” would cease. It was mind-blowing. The reports came back and made me
rethink the position each person was in, because their personality did not align
with either the responsibility or the attributes necessary to master the task.
Reading the employee above’s summary was an eye-opening moment. It essentially
said, “You tend to master a single task and dislike anyone who tries to make you
more well-rounded”. BINGO. And here’s the moment I began considering taking the
wrong shoes off of people. However, just like a psychological mobile, moving any
one piece shifts the entire group. It caused disdain, frustration, contempt and,
in the end, an exodus. This was a painful lesson and I’m responsible for part of
the pain. Why? I let it go on for far too long. Since this time, I have
carefully introduced employees to positions based on their answers to questions
about what they see themselves as proficient doing combined with my observations
and those of management along with co-workers. Some employees believe they are
meant to be servers but are overwhelmed by a full dining room and hide behind
the pass-bar wall. Others are single-task oriented and enjoy doing the same
thing over and over. Now, I no longer try to push people into a role they don’t
necessarily want despite them being good, loyal, strong, etc. And I will never
promote anyone to manager again without the testing that confirms my
observations and beliefs.

There is a young man in the store now struggling with multi-tasking after
attending chef school. While observing his struggles, I’ve given many pointers
and asked the right questions. Recently, he jumped on dishes and proclaimed: “I
love doing dishes, there is only one task to perform”. I heard him loud and
clear. Shortly, I will ask: “if I offered you a position with only one task,
would you prefer it over a position that forces you to multitask?” If he says
yes, I will offer the dish position to him because it’s something he may excel
at. Personally, I feel that being a dishwasher is a great escape from the
difficulties of management for the very same reason: no one bothers you and you
have only one task.

The personality testing I mentioned above is worth every penny. It’s
administered by the Gallup organization and is titled CliftonStrengths.

Personality testing is not the solution to all your woes. It must be combined
with a different approach to management. If an employee displays the abilities
and personality traits you believe are necessary for the position, administer a
test to confirm. Beforehand, ask if they actually want the position while having
a discussion about where they believe their strengths lie. My favorite question
is: “Where in this restaurant are you best suited?” Follow that up with: “What
would you like to learn if you could have any position here?” The resulting
discussions will give you a better idea of their thought patterns and what
they’re looking for.

If you help people achieve their goals and put them in the most appropriate
positions (not merely the position that’s open because someone quit) your odds
are far higher that the retention and attention of this employee will be long
term.

Anthony DeSousa owns Antonio’s Real NY Pizza in Estes Park, Colorado.



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Topics Industry News

PIZZA & PASTA NORTHEAST DAY 2: PIZZA CHAMPIONS CROWNED

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PIZZA & PASTA NORTHEAST DAY 1: TOGETHER AGAIN!

Pizza and Pasta Northeast at the Atlantic City Convention Center kicked off
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BUILDING BLOCKS: POS SYSTEM, CHANGE IS CONSTANT

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Topics Menu Development

MAN ON THE STREET: SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM EXPLOSION

Pizza is clearly my number one food, but my second favorite is ice cream.
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MIKE’S MONTHLY TIP: SCIENCE OVER PERFECTION

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Topics People & Pizzerias

LEVELING UP YOUR BUSINESS

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Topics Brand & Marketing

MAKE LIMITED TIME OFFERS WORK FOR YOU

The Limited Time Offer Limited time offers or LTOs can be a great way to test
the viability of new menu items, move inventory that may be close to its
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Topics Menu Development

CALZONE CRUSH! 3 KILLER CALZONE RECIPES

For years I wasn’t really on the calzone train. Sure, I enjoyed them. But, to be
honest, I always thought: “Why not just eat pizza? Same ingredients and I don’t
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Topics Menu Development

HAM ON PIZZA: 3 DELICIOUS HAM PIZZA RECIPES

When it comes to pizza sales, ham is a top pizza topping contender Ham doesn’t
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