Eligibility vs. Suitability

by Gary Reinecke | Jul 9, 2019 | Church Growth, Leader Development, Personal Development | 0 comments

The two terms ask distinct questions that can help organizations determine if a candidate, or existing employee, is a good fit for a particular role:

1. Eligibility – CAN the person perform (the job)?
2. Suitability – WILL the person perform (the job)?

The second question is based on Enjoyment Performance Theory (based on the Harrison Assessment) and suggests that:

… when we enjoy a task – we tend to do it more often.  When we do something over and over, we have a tendency to get better at it through both learning and repetition.  When a person gets better at something, the feedback he or she receives – both from others and internally – is normally positive.  And positive feedback increases the enjoyment of the behavior.  The cycle keeps repeating itself – increasing the strength of enjoyment and tendency for the behavior – and often results in behavior habits that we don’t realize are behavior choices.*

Conversely, the theory holds true for those things we don’t enjoy and procrastinate or avoid doing.

Furthermore, Harrison research shows that employees who enjoy at least 75% of their work, are three times more likely to succeed.  That’s correct, 3 times more effective.

Let me get more practical.

For the last thirty years I’ve found a common challenge among churches, networks and organizations.  Fact is,

As much as 80% of employee turnover is due to bad hiring decisions  …according the The Harvard Business Review.

How much does it cost you and your organization for a bad hire?  Probably more than you realize.

It is estimated that it could cost you up to five times a bad hire’s annual salary  (SHRM Study).

This has to do with the “fit” between the leader and the role they are being asked to serve in, or the degree to which they are a “good fit” in their current role.  Here are some of the places that organizations can benefit from a reliable and valid assessment, to determine the “best fit” for a leader:

HIRING and DEVELOPMENT

• assessing prospective church planters, lead pastors and denominational executives
• assessing existing staff members at all levels in an organization
• assessing future and current teams (paid and volunteer)

Many tools have come and gone over the last three decades, some better than others.  Each has certain elements of leadership that are assessed.  Several I use to this day e.g. the behavioral interview, DiSC, Leadership Effectiveness Profile, etc.

For a season I conducted behavioral interviews for church planters and coaches of church planters.  The behavioral interview process is extremely effective when conducted by a trained and skilled assessor.  The challenge is that they are time consuming.

Until recently, the behavioral interview was the “go-to” process to pre-qualify church planters and develop coaches for church planters, lead pastors and missionaries.  But now I have been trained to use a tool that does the job of a behavioral interview, at a fraction of the time normally required.  At the recommendation of my coach, I went through the Harrison Assessment training.  The breadth and depth of the assessment immediately captured my attention.  It is impossible to give an adequate explanation of the tool; but you may CLICK HERE for a 2-minute video explaining The Harrison Assessment.

I’m not wanting to sell you on a new tool as much as to alert you to the idea that there is a resource you might want to consider, to see if this could help you in your next hire OR to assess your current staff members and board members.  I’ve always found that the price paid to prevent a bad hire is money well spent.  In the short time I have been using the Harrison Assessment I have discovered that the insights the client receives have been well worth their investment.

If you would like to learn more, CLICK HERE to schedule an appointment with Gary and discuss how The Harrison Assessment might further your mission to pre-qualify, assess and develop your leaders.

*(c) 2019.  Harrison Assessment Int’l.  All Rights Reserved_v2019.1  www.harrisonassessments.com