The tough question is: What is your assessment of Mr. X? Do you think you can work with him?
I have always answered it from the “gut”. However, there were always few fundamental principals behind them. With time, I have been able to identify them better and hence this small post.
I call it the 3-way test. Does the person in question have:
- Integrity
- Commitment
- Capabilities
Everything else comes after these fundamental characteristics. A little bit more about them.
1) Integrity is paramount. It goes without saying that there is no value in working with anyone who does not have integrity. It can be defined as (as per wikipedia) “Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulnessor accuracy of one’s actions.” So, in brief, someone who believes in “Do to others as you would have them do to you”.
If someone does not have integrity, I cannot work with him/her. This is the first and foremost test.
2) Second comes commitment or responsibility. It is important to be responsible and committed towards a given task / job. If someone is not responsible, there is no assurance that the job will be done. It is great to work with someone on whom you can rely and be rest assured that the job will be done.
If someone does not have commitment, he can be mentored. It needs a lot of effort to adapt to this change as it is a behavioral change where the person believes “the job must be done” instead of “i have tried my best”.
3) Capabilities are highly over-rated. If someone has self-belief, intelligence, commitment and is hard working, he / she can develop any capability. It is actually the easiest thing to acquire. And, in the current world, people need to cross-skill, up-skill and unlearn all the time. However, as we are starved for time and every minute costs us a lot, it is increasingly important to work with people who have the right skill set for the given job.
If someone lacks in skill, he can be trained. And therefore, I will surely try to make the relationship work.
Therefore, the simple formula is: 0-1-2. Integrity issue – the relationship deserves 0 chance; Responsibility issue – the relationship deserves 1 chance; Capability issue – the relationship deserves 2 chances. It is not that I am able to follow this rule religiously. But, the closely I have followed it, the more I have benefited. After all everyone (including me) deserves to have good company.
Whats your thoughts on this?
Hi,
I know this is a really old post and my comments may be irrelevant by now unless you haven’t changed your mind about this test!
In my experience, in the long run, you need to hire people with capabilities. They may be a little dishonest, irresponsible, but if they are incapable then their honesty and commitment is of no use. Imagine hiring someone to drive your car. He may give fake bills for gas and may be late for duty everyday. If he doesn’t know how to drive, you wouldn’t / shouldn’t hire him!
I guess one can bear with an irresponsible and dishonest person but it is impossible to get what you want with incompetent people around.
Great article. Well done.