Interpersonal Failure

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Interpersonal Failure

According to a new study by Leadership IQ, a leadership training and research company in Washington,D.C., 46 percent of newly hired employees will fail within 18 months, and only 19 percent will achieve unequivocal success. But it isn't technical skills that these new hires lack – it's interpersonal skills.

The study, conducted over three years, surveyed 5,247 hiring managers from 312 public, private, business and health-care organizations about their failed hires, defined as anyone who was terminated, departed under pressure, or received disciplinary action or significantly negative performance reviews. Collectively these managers hired more than 20,000 employees during the study period.

The results showed that the top reason given for 26 percent of new hires who failed was that they couldn't accept feedback. For another 23 percent, the main problem was that they were unable to understand and manage their own emotions, or assess those of others. A lack of necessary technical skills was the primary reason for failure for just 11 percent of failed hires.

The survey data revealed another troubling finding: Eighty-two percent of respondents reported that in hindsight, their interview process with these employees elicited subtle clues that the hire could be a bad one. But during the interviews, managers were too focused on other issues, too pressed for time, or lacked confidence in their interviewing abilities to heed warning signs.

"The typical interview process fixates on ensuring that new hires are technically competent," explains Mark Murphy, CEO of Leadership IQ. "Technical competence remains the most popular subject of interviews because it's easy to assess. But while technical competence is easy to assess, it's a lousy predictor of whether a newly hired employee will succeed or fail."

Blogged on 6:25 AM by Upay

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