Looking behind the social mask with the Hogan Development Survey (HDS)

“John? What’s he like? Oh, charming. Always pleasant, easy to talk to.”
“John? You must be kidding. You should try working for him!”

Most people take others as they find them, right? But, what about when the person they portray is a façade, not the real them at all?

Think of a time when someone you thought you knew well suddenly changed “personality” when under pressure. It happens, doesn’t it?

People display behaviours in the workplace which define them as individuals. However, what happens when someone becomes stressed and can no longer maintain these behaviours? When does someone stop being charming and start becoming manipulative? When does confidence lead to arrogance?
Bosses that alienate colleagues and subordinates undermine the commitment and effectiveness of the workforce with inevitable consequences for productivity, retention and the bottom line.

Based on research into management derailment, the HDS highlights eleven areas where a characteristic which is normally a strength can become a weakness under pressure. An understanding of these tendencies can help an individual’s ability to work in teams, to manage others and to cope with day-to-day duties in high-pressure situations. These ‘dark side’ tendencies erode trust, loyalty and enthusiasm and are of particular concern in relation to supervisory, managerial and leadership roles.

The Hogan Development Survey considers this“dark side” of a person’s personality or the negative characteristics that are likely to emerge under pressure. The you behind the mask. Such tendencies are hard to detect in interviews.
What is the Hogan Development Survey used for, specifically?

Management Development Programmes

Research indicates that for most people their line manager is a major source of stress. The HDS can help managers to improve their interpersonal effectiveness by reducing employee stress, improving staff morale, increasing job satisfaction and retention and optimising their constructive influence.

Coaching

The HDS is highly effective in highlighting the areas appropriate to a coaching agenda. While for some individuals, group or team situations may be a suitable context for personal development, in many cases face-to-face HDS based coaching is more appropriate.

Advanced Team Building

The HDS takes team building to another level by addressing dysfunctional behaviours that threaten working relationships. Within teams that work in a confined physical or psychological space ‘dark side’ characteristics will upset team dynamics, add to stress and adversely affect performance. An appreciation of the stress reactions of other team members will help to reduce the impact of disruptive ‘dark side’ tendencies.

Management Selection

High HDS scores pinpoint potential problem areas. From an actuarial point of view the total number of extreme HDS scores provides an indication of the possible risks associated with any appointment. At the later stages of the recruitment process HDS profiles help to focus on areas that can be fruitfully explored at interview and support more insightful interpretation of assessment centre observations.

What does the Hogan Development Survey measure?

• Characteristics
• Behaviours
• Enthusiastic – Volatile
• Moody and hard to please, being enthusiastic about new people or projects and then suddenly becoming disappointed in them
• Shrewd – Mistrustful
• Cynical, distrustful and doubting others’ true intentions
• Careful – Cautious
• Resisting change and reluctant to take risks or chances for fear of being negatively judged
• Independent – Detached
• Being aloof or uncommunicative and lacking awareness of the feelings of others
• Focused – Passive
• Aggressive
• Behaving independently, ignoring people’s requests and becoming irritable and stubborn if they persist
• Confident – Arrogant
• Appearing as unusually self-confident and unwilling to admit mistakes or listen to advice or feedback
• Charming – Manipulative
• Enjoying taking risks, testing the limits, becoming easily bored and needing excitement
• Vivacious – Dramatic
• Seeming expressive and dramatic and wanting to be noticed
• Imaginative – Eccentric
• Acting and thinking in unusual, creative, inappropriate or vague manner
• Diligent – Perfectionistic
• Being meticulous, precise and diligent, resulting in the inability to prioritise or delegate
• Dutiful – Dependent
• Eager to please and reluctant to take independent action.

What are the practicalities?

The Hogan Development Survey is administered over the Internet, via e-mail. It is untimed but should take around half an hour to complete. Upon completion, the results are verified with a qualified assessor and a tailored report can be produced.

How to handle the results

The HDS Interpretive Report details an individual’s scores against the behaviours being measured. It focuses particularly on high scores where certain behaviours might prevent the individual from realising their full potential.
Discussion points in the form of questions are given according to the area being considered. These questions have the effect of causing the individual to critically self-assess. They are invaluable in the verification feedback process which should always be carried out by a qualified Hogan practitioner.

How to feedback to others and enlist their help

Once an individual has received their HDS Interpretive and gone through the verification feedback process, they must decide what to do with the results.

Ideally, they should focus on a few areas where they particularly want to improve their behaviour and their relationships with others. They should be aware of negative conduct and seek to act differently. They can set targets for themselves to achieve, little by little. Behaviour cannot be expected to transform overnight.

Others around the individual will already be aware of behaviours which have a negative effect. It can be most beneficial if the individual shares aspects of their report with others with whom they interact. They can explain that they have undergone an analysis of their conduct at work, that they understand that some behaviours are having a negative consequence and that they wish to address these. By enlisting the help of others, the individual shows a commitment to self-improvement. Most others are more willing to assist if they are enrolled as part of the transformation process. They can point out where the individual’s behaviour helps and where it hinders. This is teamwork at its best!

Penny Sophocleous