Download pdf - Assessment by Korn Ferry Herminio Mello

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Korn/Ferry’s ProSpective Assessment is an online assessment tool created by Korn/Ferry International to assist LinkedIn users with their career

development. Leadership characteristics are based on research by Lominger International, a Korn/Ferry company.

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Herminio Mello's Assessment Results

These are your Top 5 Leadership Characteristics:

Understanding the Business

You have earned a seat at the table. You have regular interaction with senior executives, and

they see you as a credible partner. You speak the language of business. With your high level

of acumen, you are able to analyze and speak intelligently about customers, competitors, and

business strategy. You have a clear point of view. The payoff is that many leaders seek you

out to ask your opinion about the potential impact of business decisions.

Acting with Honor and Character

You know what you stand for. Your actions are rooted in a stable set of values. You can be

counted on to act consistently and stay true to your word. Others trust you because your

beliefs and actions match. People see you walking your talk. They sense your authenticity and

your character.

Creating the New and Different

You are able to envision a future that no one else sees and invent things that haven’t been

imagined. You focus a lot of your time on gathering information and asking good questions.

Because you value all points of view and look broadly for information, you are able to make

connections across many fields and use analogies that help you think differently about a

problem. During brainstorming, you value the outlandish and the absurd—which can spark

new thinking. You don’t judge. You don’t hem people in. You believe that many people with

different ways of looking at the world will always outperform any one individual’s ideas. You

are not afraid of failure. Fail early, fail often is almost a mantra for you. You expect a result that

will wow clients and strive to make it a reality.

Inspiring Others

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Herminio Mello's Assessment ResultsInspiring Others: Top 5 Characteristics (Cont'd)

You have a compelling vision, and you are able to paint a picture of the future that ignites

enthusiasm. You are able to translate your vision in a way that others begin to share the

vision. You help individuals see how they fit into the bigger picture, and this leads to better

engagement and stronger performance. You infuse others with a sense of optimism and

possibility. You build effective teams and rally team members around a common purpose and

get everyone working toward a common set of goals.

Managing Work Processes

You understand and manage processes well. You know that the best processes are dynamic

and require constant evaluation and tweaking. You see how all the pieces fit together and how

one affects the other. You build in feedback loops and monitor key metrics. Optimizing for

efficiency is something you focus on—you are always looking for continuous improvement.

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Potential Blind SpotsBlind spots are characteristics that you overestimate. You are likely to see yourself as stronger in these skills thanothers see you. A self assessment can give you insight on potential areas for self improvement, however, askingothers for their input by doing a network assessment will give you far greater insight on your blind spots. Here areyour potential blind spots and some ideas for next steps:

Getting Work Done Through Others

One of the most difficult transitions people face as they move up the ladder is transforming

their approach to managing others. Direct step-by-step instruction and discipline gives way to

relationship building, empowerment, advocacy, and coaching.

Empower – Taking a command-and-control approach to leadership has its advantages,

but it also involves a lot of extra stress and expended energy. Delegating work is one of the

best ways to develop and empower others. Add some coaching and support to the mix,

and you have a recipe for bringing out the best in people.

•

Eliminate barriers – Part of your job as a leader is to make sure your team has what it

needs (resources, time, support, information) to get their jobs done efficiently. Listen to

feedback from your team about where the system bogs down and use your influence and

advocacy to clear their path.

•

Spend your time wisely – It is tempting to continue to do the work that you love—the work

that got you promoted. But once you manage other people, your job responsibilities shift.

Spend less time on tasks you have mastered and more time on tasks that only you can do.

•

Making Tough People Calls

Being skilled at reading people will get you only so far in the ongoing and challenging task of

identifying, attracting, and retaining the best people for your team. Much more than instinct

and good intentions are needed to pull off one of the most difficult aspects of effective

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Herminio Mello's Assessment ResultsMaking Tough People Calls: Blind Spots (Cont'd)

management.

Focus on the Big Four – Resist the temptation to load up on data when evaluating

someone. Narrowing your focus around four key aspects—skills, training, attitude, and

work ethic—will help you make objective, fair, and reliable personnel decisions.

•

Diversify – Relying on referrals, instinct, or personality similarities limits your talent pool

and can result in a homogenous, static team. Reaching across generational or cultural

barriers to find the most skilled people will keep teams dynamic and balanced.

•

Systematize – Use job descriptions, skills assessments, and consistent hiring procedures.

Clearly communicate standards for promotion, bonus, and performance expectations.

Keeping poor performers around sends the wrong message and might cause your best

people to disengage. Keep the team lean and strong, and be consistent in your standards.

•

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Potential Hidden StrengthsHidden strengths are characteristics that you underestimate. You are likely to see yourself as weaker in theseskills than others see you. A self assessment can give you insight on potential areas for self improvement,however, asking others for their input by doing a network assessment will give you far greater insight on yourhidden strengths. Here are your potential hidden strengths:

Making Complex Decisions

When you mull over a problem, you can fill pages with plus and minus columns, mind map

sketches, lists of options, and various other notations. You gather enough data, but you don’t

get too bogged down in it. You find the essence of a problem. You take into account all of the

moving parts. When you look for patterns, you assess whether it’s something you’ve seen in

your past experience. But you don’t get caught up with surface similarities. Subtle differences

will lead you to take a new course of action—one that you haven’t tried in the past. Once you

land on a decision, you are aware of the risk but confident that your approach has the best

chance for success.

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Problem AreasProblem areas can be hard to talk about. However, we want to arm you with as much information as possibleabout the roots of success as well as known causes of derailment. Through studying the career trajectories ofthousands of individual contributors, managers, and executives, we’ve identified the five most common barriersto career success. If you suspect one or more of these areas is a problem for you, the section below will provideinitial steps toward improvement.

Doesn't Relate Well to Others

Everyone knows someone who has enjoyed unbridled career success, despite their less-than-

winning interpersonal skills. Those exceptional people are out there, but they are exceptions

indeed. Far more often than not, people who lack openness, flexibility, graciousness, and

social sensitivity tend not to advance as quickly in their careers as people who do possess

those skills. If you find yourself cutting people off in mid-sentence, reacting defensively when

your ideas are challenged, pulling rank instead of negotiating, or losing patience with people

who differ from you, there’s a good chance that you’re not relating to others as effectively as

you could be. Improving in this area will be essential to your success, and not doing so is likely

to slow or stall your career progress.

Open up to feedback – Negative feedback, upsetting as it may be, is also incredibly

valuable information. And the person who gave you that honest feedback has done you a

favor. Practice active listening, thanking the source for his or her thoughts, and

summarizing what you heard. This will increase the likelihood that that person will come to

you with similar concerns in the future.

•

Demonstrate humility – Ironically, as people become more self-assured, they also tend to

let go of their need to be “right” and allow for more healthy debate and flexibility in their

thinking. If you catch yourself digging in your heels or shutting down people who disagree

•

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Herminio Mello's Assessment ResultsDoesn't Relate Well to Others: Problem Areas (Cont'd)

with you, challenge yourself to slow down, take a breath, and really consider other ways of

looking at the issue.

Foster collegiality – The people who work with you may not be your friends, and you may

not even like them very much. But they most certainly are your colleagues, and because

they also serve your organization, you have a very important goal in common. Try to foster

professional respect for your colleagues, even if true admiration or friendship is unlikely.

•

Too Narrow

It was probably your deep level of expertise that got you noticed in school and later at work.

People relied on your insights and technical prowess, your patience with complex ideas, and

your ability to get to the root of a problem or see a hidden solution. These skills won you so

much admiration and respect that they eventually got you promoted. Congratulations! Now for

the hard part: in this new role, you’re expected to do things that make little or no use of your

specialized skills—managing people and projects, collaborating with other departments,

hustling for resources, making strategic decisions, and solving operational problems. Now

what? Challenge yourself to break away from your comfort zone and focus on broadening your

skill set. Finding ways to continuously learn about things outside your field will give you fresh

insights and augment your contribution at work. Holding on too tightly to what you know can

make you seem narrow and rigid and will likely slow or stall your career progress.

Deploy yourself – One of the most marketable experiences you can put on your resume is

having worked in another country. What this communicates is your ability to function

effectively in an entirely novel context. If moving out of the country isn’t on your list of

things to do, reaching across departments or cross-teaming with experts from other

functional areas can also stretch and grow you in ways that will pay off across the board.

•

Trust your instincts – If analysis is your game, you may not be making the most of your

instincts. One of the rewards for developing true expertise in a particular area is that you’ve

•

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Herminio Mello's Assessment ResultsToo Narrow: Problem Areas (Cont'd)

likely developed a sixth sense for when things feel right, wrong, or where an interesting

solution might be hiding just out of sight. Don’t be afraid to break from the data occasionally

and let your intuition be your guide.

Broaden your horizons – Being a good forecaster and strategic thinker requires keeping

an eye out for patterns and trends across multiple fronts—science, business, and the arts.

Challenge yourself to read journals from outside your area of expertise and watch for

interconnections across systems (culture, demographics, economics, etc.). This will lead to

unexpected insights in your own field and help you anticipate what’s coming around the

corner.

•

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Korn/Ferry InsightsHere’s how you compare to others:

Understanding the Business

Understanding the Business is moderately important at all levels of leadership and is linked to

success early in your career. The skill level for most people in Understanding the Business is

very high, so you will need to combine it with other skills to pull ahead of the pack. One of the

reasons most people have this skill is that it’s easier to learn, compared to other skills. Your

knowledge of how businesses operate and your expertise in your functional area are likely to

be considered price-of-admission qualities.

Acting with Honor and Character

Acting with Honor and Character is ranked highest in importance compared to all other

leadership skills. It is the foundation upon which all other leadership skills are built. Most

people are highly skilled in Acting with Honor and Character. It is moderately difficult to

develop. Being trustworthy, consistent, and ethical are viewed by most employers as price-of-

admission leadership qualities.

Creating the New and Different

Creating the New and Different is correlated with strong performance at the manager and

executive levels. Most people’s skill level in Creating the New and Different is low, and it is

harder to develop than most leadership skills. For these reasons, it is a good idea to focus on

developing this skill as early as possible in your career. Your ability to generate breakthroughs

will be noticed, appreciated, and sought after because it is the source of competitive

advantage that companies seek.

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Herminio Mello's Assessment ResultsKorn/Ferry Insights (Cont'd)

Inspiring Others

Inspiring Others is very important at the manager and executive levels. It is highly correlated

with strong performance at the executive level. However, very few people are skilled in this

area. One of the reasons few people have this skill is that it’s difficult to learn. Rallying people

around a common vision and motivating them to embrace change and give their best will

differentiate you and your organization. Begin honing your ability to inspire others at the

manager level because it can be a critical asset for you as you move up the leadership ladder.

Managing Work Processes

Managing Work Processes is highly correlated with strong performance at the manager level.

Managers are often responsible for seeing the big picture and understanding how the pieces

interrelate. Most people are low in this skill, and it is moderately difficult to develop. The ability

to see a process as a dynamic system and to understand how tweaks create ripple effects is a

vital contribution to a business and will differentiate you from other leaders.

Making Complex Decisions

Making Complex Decisions is highly correlated with strong performance across all leadership

levels and is associated with further promotion at the manager level. It is moderately difficult to

develop. While the skill level for most people in Making Complex Decisions is high, individual

contributors and managers frequently underestimate their ability in this area. Having both the

skill and confidence to solve tough problems and deftly handle new situations will be mission

critical at all stages of your career.

Getting Work Done Through Others

Getting Work Done Through Others is important, particularly at the manager and executive

levels. However, it is an extremely rare skill. For most leaders, this is their lowest-ranked

leadership skill, and it is one of the most common blind spots at the executive level. Getting

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Herminio Mello's Assessment ResultsGetting Work Done Through Others: Korn/Ferry Insights (Cont'd)

Work Done Through Others is easier to develop, in part, because organizations provide

courses, coaching, and other resources to help leaders improve. It is difficult to give up doing

the work yourself, but your ability to direct, coach, delegate, and develop can mean the

difference between lackluster and stellar results.

Making Tough People Calls

Making Tough People Calls is important at the manager and executive levels, but few people

have this skill, regardless of leadership level. This is one of the most common blind spots

across all levels of leadership. Making Tough People Calls requires keen observational skills,

the ability to assess accurately, and the courage to make the decision to hire, fire, or promote.

For these reasons, Making Tough People Calls is moderately difficult to develop.

Doesn't Relate Well to Others

Doesn’t Relate Well to Others is a staller that can slow your career progress. Doesn’t Relate

Well to Others is somewhat likely to be a problem across all levels of leadership; however, it is

somewhat more common at the executive level. While it is less harmful than other stallers, it is

a factor that can lead to flame-out at the manager and executive levels. Many leaders

underestimate this problem to some degree. Defensiveness, inflexibility, being too private or

self-reliant can derail your career or cause it to prematurely plateau.

Too Narrow

Too Narrow is a staller that can slow your career progress. Compared to other stallers, Too

Narrow is more likely to be a problem but tends to be least harmful to success. Many leaders,

particularly at the individual contributor and executive levels, underestimate this problem to

some degree. This area is a known derailer, especially at the executive level. Over-reliance on

a single skill set or area of expertise can brand you as someone who lacks perspective or is

stuck in the past.

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