Back in the day I developed a test for pre-employment test for optimism that involved assessing the level of someone’s spontaneous response to an unexpected handshake. It was given to more than 2 million applicants: those who passed and got hired were subsequently observed and found to be optimistic, flexible and open to change. Years later I became and still am a partner in a consulting firm with a psychologist and one of his specialties was a more formal test for general optimism: it too has been validated in workplace studies. I mention this again now because in these difficult times people need enough pessimism to anticipate and recognize difficulties and enough optimism to keep moving forward. Companies need employees who are open to change, optimistic about the future, and realistic enough to deal with the present – and Covid-19 presents all those challenges in today’s workplace. That’s why I continue to preach hiring for attitude and training for skills – those practices are especially important today. Most of my clients are trying to right-size their companies to adjust to their new-normal business levels and they want to keep their most optimistic and flexible employees: getting businesses through this pandemic is in many ways as simple as that. Anticipate and assess your difficulties and keep moving forward today.
Dan Rockwell: Leadership consultant and author of Leadership Freak
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