Having self-motivated employees is a crucial asset for any business. Why? Because for self-motivated employees, it’s not simply about showing up. They genuinely want to work harder than others.
Self-motivated employees are more likely to be punctual and understand the value of productivity. They are more likely to value their company’s growth because they see their own personal growth with it.
These individuals inspire other members of your team to work better. Such employees do not require as many incentives because their self-motivation is the biggest performance driver for them.
This intrinsic drive to achieve with minimal oversight is a quality any leader would like to see in most of their team.
A self-motivated team has the potential to speed up service delivery, ensure better service and, in turn, may be reflected in the company’s bottom line.
The fact is that most employers understand the importance of self-motivation in the workplace. The problem is that they find it difficult to assemble a team in possession of such a vital quality. The reason? Today’s Hiring Process.
Over 69% of companies report their interview process has the greatest impact on poor hiring decisions.
Using Interviews To Assess Self-Motivation – A Failed Strategy
“Are you a self-motivated individual?” This is a common question interviewers ask before hiring an employee. But is this the right question to ask? Think about the number of times you have asked this question only to hear a “NO”.
Probably never.
A simple Google search teaches the universal answer to this question.
That is what you want to hear and that is exactly what the candidate will give you. It is unlikely that anyone during the interview process will exclaim, “I am not self motivated.”
Even unmotivated candidates can easily make up a story about a situation where they exhibited the height of self-motivation. Therefore, trying to predict self-motivation based on an interview is a proven terrible tool for selection.
Whoever comes up with the most moving story will conveniently get through your interview process. In fact, over 74% of companies in the US have admitted hiring the wrong employee due to a poor assessment of an employee’s capabilities.
Whether you have experienced bad hiring decisions or not, avoiding costly hiring mistakes may be your missing link to achieving long-term success.
How Pre-employment Assessments Can Help Your Company
We provide critical information you need to make better hiring decisions. Our assessment program is an independent evaluation of a candidate’s strengths and capabilities. We help you hire tenacious, hard-working people, giving you the strongest competitive advantage.
Because this article is about measuring self-motivation, let’s dive deeper into the 4 ways we accurately predict self-motivation in your next employee.
1. Achievement / Effort
When we are looking to determine whether a candidate is self-motivated, we focus on four factors. The first factor we measure is Achievement / Effort.
Achievement / Effort is a powerful indicator of an individual’s desire to do a good job on every task they undertake. It indicates whether they have a sense of urgency about their work and achievements. Whether they want to achieve something of significance.
When the need for achievement/effort is high, individuals are more likely to assert themselves in accomplishing their tasks. They’re more likely to push themselves to continue striving for better results and greater success.
2. Persistence
The second factor we assess is a candidate’s level of persistence. Individuals with a high level of persistence have the determination to achieve a goal despite obstacles and delays.
This is a common trait found among many successful people in the world. Persistent people have the endurance to pursue their endeavors even when odds are stacked against them.
They don’t look for excuses. They never give up. They have a certain tenacity in their personality to get things done.
Many companies end up hiring employees who may have the talent but lack the persistence required to see efforts through.
These are the individuals who may give up too easily, who need a lot of oversight because they’re not following through. Such employees require a lot of managerial attention and thus drain the focus of management from other key tasks.
Managers often have to spend a lot of their time following up with them. They may even literally have to chase such individuals for work. This ends up in a lot of wasted time and effort and ultimately drains productivity.
3. Task Oriented
The third determinant in evaluating self-motivation is task orientation. A task-oriented individual exhibits an innate sense of accomplishing tasks in the most productive manner possible. Not only are they focused on driving the end-result, they also try to do it in the most efficient manner possible. They set daily goals and strive to achieve them.
This is why hiring task-oriented employees is essential for your company, startup or business. Frustratingly, this quality is very hard to unearth in a standard interview, yet can be measured by our pre-employment assessment.
4. Attention to Detail
Another vital component of self-motivation is a candidate’s ability to be detail oriented. It is the ability to achieve thoroughness and accuracy when tackling tasks. Those who pay attention to detail think through every detail without allowing distractions to derail their efforts.
For example, when drafting documents, employees with exceptional attention to detail will always do their best to avoid spelling errors and internal inconsistencies. They can attend to the important details of the document without mistakes.
Not only does this ensure that these employees work to a high standard, it also minimizes the amount of supervision they require. As a result, management gains confidence in their ability to avoid errors and delegation becomes easier.
A less detail-oriented employee may be more careless. They are more likely to submit flawed work which could be a vital mistake.
For instance, if an accounting firm handles lucrative investments for wealthy clients, one extra zero might have a significant impact. That’s why we measure detail orientation.
Additional Benefits of Pre-employment Assessments
Faster Ramp Up
We provide you with a clear understanding of how your new hire will perform and how they can be easily and quickly integrated into the team.
Clear Information On How to Lead and Develop the New Hire
With our insight into your employee’s strengths and areas for development, your organization can be better equipped to maximize those strengths and enhance the person’s growth, contributions, and success.
Faster Rebounding from Mistakes
With our guidance, your managers will understand the ways in which your new hire will likely make mistakes, so that developmental feedback/training can be more efficiently and effectively implemented.
It’s well known that interviews are not a great hiring tool. Our progressive pre-employment assessment program provides key insights that cannot be learned from a standard resume or interview.
At WrightOne Consulting, our goal is to help you make a better hiring decision. We can help you select the right candidate and highlight the areas managers will most likely have to work on with the new employee.
If you’re interested in learning more, contact us here. We’ll send you our brochure, ‘The Power of Pre-employment Assessments’ and a sample report.
We look forward to working with you to make your business more profitable and successful. Let’s work together to take your company to the next level.