If I were the business owner in the shoes of having to hire either Avery or Jamie, I would pick Jamie. I think of the differentiation between the factors of ‘skill’ and ‘will’. The skill can be taught, while the will to work cannot, if someone comes in with consistent efforts every day, they can be taught to harness these efforts to more efficient avenues that can create better or more frequent positive results. Avery on the other hand, would be much more challenging to do this with, where I could get him excited and performing high at one point, a week later when he is bored there could be missed deadlines or key metrics.
I think it would be better to hire Jamie for most jobs, but if I could not change their behavior, I would hire Avery for jobs that require excellence at certain points, and less than average consistency. I think of enterprise sales for Avery, where when the big whale is coming he needs to be on his A game, ready to win the deal. When business is slower and sales cycles are lengthened, he can put in less effort with automated workflows. Avery would be more successful than Jamie in this scenario, because of the levels Avery could get to are stronger to ensure deals are won.
Jamie would be a better fit for roles with more consistency, and less need for high performance. Things that come to mind for me would be a administrative assistant, something with day to day consistency of tasks, that require deadlines to be hit so that things are reported and handles in timely manners. This role won’t ask you to go above and beyond to crush a sales number, but it will require you to reconcile deals and problems efficiently and consistently to maintain excellent customer service. This is a place where Jamie would fit best.
One reply on “Week 5 – Blog Post: Typical vs. Maximal Performance”
I completely agree Grant, sales is a perfect example of where a person like Avery would excel. Most sales positions are commission based, so when her work has a direct impact on her own finances, she will reach that ceiling of maximal performance during crunch time and make sales when necessary, with down time when sales are complete. Day-to-day work, as you mentioned, needs to be a more consistent and efficient type of personality.