According to Sandy Kulkin, CEO and Founder of PeopleKeys, “People are different, but they’re predictably different.” We are different in the ways we carry ourselves, the ways we are motivated, how we interact with others, how we deal with stress, and even how we "seal the deal." On the other end of the spectrum, various personality types have been prewired in our biological systems from the time we were born through our years of adulthood. The experiences we encountered in childhood can dictate how we deal with stress, and our trust in others might come from adversity we've faced over our lifetime.
We can attribute our actions and reactions to our environment and the situations we face. Most people will adapt to the situation and take on a new persona in light of challenge or opportunity. It’s a performance mechanism, a defense mechanism, and can simply be our way of taking charge, communicating, and handling things in the way we feel most comfortable.
Through awareness and strategy, we can identify the traits of ourselves and others while directing such change towards our benefit and the benefit of our organization. While no two people are exactly the same, using DISC we can scout out similar personality types, arm them with the right tools and circumstances, and position them for results in whichever capacity we desire. It is also to be noted that while certain personalities may seem similar, they may actually not be similar at all. With the right motivators and values set into place, you might never know the difference.
Here are five ways you can replicate your top talent from start to finish:
You can find key personality types that will be best to add to the team by using DISC assessment tools in the initial hiring process. With the PeopleKeys 4D Report, you can further understand candidates' motivators, work values, core strengths and limitations, and how to position them where they will excel within your organization. Two salespeople may have very similar DISC personality traits, but they may also have different natural-born, unobservable behavioral tendencies and techniques that get in the way of a sale. One may do well, while the other may struggle to meet the quota.
Without utilizing tools for predictive hiring, you might not know this for months down the road. Your organization may lose out on expanding its portfolio and miss out on opportunities to drive sales that might have otherwise been won. Through these tools, you would know upfront that Person A doesn’t need a team and works better alone, while Person B definitely needs one and would outperform Person A if you provide them with the right people to get the job done.
You may have a ton of diamonds, but many may still need to be polished. You need to identify your ideal performer, whether it’s someone already on the team or someone you'd like to clone. This will allow you to create strategies and formulas for replicating top talent. Inherently, you know the type of person your organization needs in each position, but how you optimize your workforce will depend exclusively on what you are willing to put into the end-game.
One way of retaining top talent is to show your appreciation. By showing them how irreplaceable they are to the team and asking them to train others, they will feel valued. If you ask them to develop programs, training materials, or strategies for professional development, you might generally find that they will gladly accept your offer and model all deliverables after their own techniques and personality traits. This will benefit the team, open doors of understanding, and enable others to take on some of the traits of their trainers through time and development.
As mentioned earlier, sometimes it’s the environment we’re in that dictates our actions. If you know someone performs at the top of their game while in a more forward-moving environment with flexibility and energy surrounding them, then place them in that type of environment If you know they prefer structure, quiet spaces, and limited communication with other members of the team, then make amends for this too.
Some people need to be surrounded by experts, analysts, and leaders to do their job to the best of their capacity. Others need less interaction, but more motivation by outside influencers for the spark to ignite. By recognizing what makes a person tick, you can duplicate the outcome over and over again. By advancing strategies through the placement of top talent, you can inspire others through a more competitive spirit, motivating them to take on such tendencies and drive a similar impact through their own contributions to the team.
Depending on what needs to be done and how quickly you need it, you can pair personalities to act as a unit. In some cases, you might not want to replicate top performers but instead emulate top teams and capabilities. Pairing like-minded people will help you quickly identify realities and decide what needs to be done. While pairing opposite personalities will promise thorough execution of what you wish to change with various personalities playing their role in achieving the success of immediate projects and strategies.
When dealing with difficult clients, when selling to opposite personality types, and when negotiating hard contracts, it’s best to pair personality types for the most significant outcome. If you know your top performer has a hard time relating to a specific personality type, you can pair your client to someone else on the team, thereby replicating the same outcome as you would if your client was more outgoing or receptive to change.
Because the second team member was able to get through to them and your otherwise top performer wasn’t, this begins to balance out the playing field, and both can reign as top performers. Your top performers might have different personality types or opposite traits but can produce the same outcomes for the team. In a nutshell, you can replicate top performers and they can still have different personality traits.
See for yourself the value of the 4D Report for developing your organization's talent.