Far too many people end up in a job for which they are either not technically qualified for, or which they simply do not have the right behaviors, temperament or attitude. If you have ever been in a job that was wrong for you, then you precisely know the issue. I have had that situation, and I am certain that it had a huge impact on my job performance and ultimately my own psychological well being.
So, the answer to the question is quite clear…Yes! But, if it is so clear, how is it that so many people end up in the wrong job for them. Ironically, many times it is the employee who is responsible for the mistake, but, it is ultimately our responsibility as the leader to assure that the right assignment is made. Further, it is not just the individual who suffers when there is a misfit, the team, the larger organization, and ultimately the leader pay a huge price. This price is paid, because it is almost inevitable that a misfit will create a performance failure.
Often the individual will aspire to a job for which he is not suited, and it is always difficult to redirect that person from the aspiration, but redirect the leader must do. That causes the leader to make a judgment about the core competencies of the individual, and to determine if those are a match to the requirements of the job. This can often cause serious tension in the boss-subordinate relationship if the decision is not understood and accepted by the individual. On more than one occasion, I have had the painful responsibility to tell a person that they were not qualified for a specific job, and candidly, that conversation always ended up with a serious fracture in my relationship with that associate.
This is when the leader often makes the fatal mistake, and gives in to the passion of the individual. I have done it; and you may have as well. I will admit, there have been those rare situations where my initial judgment proved to be wrong and the individual actually succeeded at a job I thought they would fail in. Unfortunately those are rare, and my general experience is that my judgment was correct, and the person proved to be in the wrong job, and eventually needed to be moved; or worse still, quit or was fired because of the misfit situation.
My advice, if you doubt your own judgment, get a second opinion from somebody else who knows the associate, perhaps your Human Resources Department; or just bite the bullet, and avoid the mistake by relying on your first judgment. It may be rough with that associate, but, in the long run, you are likely to be more right than wrong.
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