Duplicating success may seem like a good idea, but the reasons people succeed are often not clear from just observing or measuring the characteristics of top performers, although many managers find this hard to believe.
Much more important are the differences between top performers and low achievers. For example a comprehensive study of more than 1 000 sales superstars from 70 companies showed that the top three characteristics shared by high achievers were (1) the belief that salesmanship required strong objection-answering skills, (2) good grooming habits, and (3) conservative dress - especially black shoes.
However, a study of the weakest performers at these companies revealed that the same three characteristics were their most common traits as well.
In another recent study on real estate agents, a panel of senior real estate executives brainstormed what they considered to be the key attributes associated with highly successful agents.
The attributes they finally agreed on were, (1) Good interpersonal skills, (2) strong work ethic, (3) persistence, (4) a systematic approach and (5) good attention to detail.
However, when a formal validation study was completed, these traits were found to be present in equal measure in both sales superstars and abysmal failures. Thus these attributes were "nice-to-haves" and perhaps even necessary, but not predictors of future success.
Finally, in a third study across a sample of 1 500 top performing salespeople from over 60 different companies, a wide variety of factors were amassed including: biographical information, education, experience, assessment results, interview information, reference data, peer evaluations, and even customer feedback.
The results "profiled" 16 factors that most consistently described the total group. Unfortunately, expanding the study one year later to include a similar sized sample of the poorest performing salespeople, found that 13 factors on 'poor performing' profile were identical to the 'star' sales profile.
The critical learning is that "most common sense traits, personality factors, skills, etc are, in fact, predictive of people who seek a given job, not of how successful they will be."
The lesson: You must "validate" critical success skills by comparing large enough samples of top performers and weak performers to find the factors that consistently distinguish the winners from the 'also rans'.
Otherwise, you may select well-spoken, energetic candidates who fail quickly but with style. Or, alternatively, you may waste time and effort training on skills that are irrelevant.
