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Are You The Perfect Fit For Your Role?

Written by: Jeanna Gabellini

Article Overview: Last week I arrived home from a conference to an email inbox that was very full. I spotted an email with a subject line reading: Behavioral Test. Never mind that they’re not called tests. It’s a survey that spits out an assessment of a person's natural behavioral style. There are no wrong or right assessments.

Are You The Perfect Fit For Your Role?

Last week I arrived home from a conference to an email inbox that was very full. I spotted an email with a subject line reading: Behavioral Test. Never mind that they’re not called tests. It’s a survey that spits out an assessment of a person's natural behavioral style. There are no wrong or right assessments. Different behavioral styles combine to make a fabulous team. If everyone were the same, businesses would have a hard time being successful. I balance myself out with a team who is more detailed oriented than me . . . thank goodness!

The request inside the email was from an HR person wanting to use my services to screen job applicants for her company. She had seen an assessment I had given to her colleague in a prior team-building event that I had facilitated. After several emails back and forth and a phone call, she decided to use my behavioral assessments that are specifically geared toward the interviewing process.

In my conversation with her, I was very adamant that she had truly defined both the roles of the positions being filled and what type of person would be a perfect fit for each of them. She replied that she had. This is a critical process whether you are looking for a business partner, life partner, tutor for your child, housekeeper, coach or employee. I encourage all of you to write this down in detail. It’s not enough to just give it airtime in your head.

Many years ago Eva and I interviewed Jan Brogniez and Stacey Hall the authors of Attracting Perfect Customers. I had an aha moment about being clear on specific people you want to attract into your life. One of the authors said she had been irritated with her husband. Her co-author asked if she had done an Attraction Plan for her perfect husband. The answer had been “no.” She was already married so it didn’t occur to her to write down all the perfect qualities of her ideal mate. I now get very specific about what is a perfect person for all people who partner with me.

Now here is a big takeaway for me from the assessments conference: Get very specific about what the role will be for positions in a company. Sometimes we assume that defining that we need a coach, administrative assistant or housekeeper will be enough. In fact, have you ever looked at the roles you play in life? I know I have found myself in some roles that I did not deliberately sign up for but I played anyway. Many were in my own household and others within my business.

Here are some roles I played or I’ve seen others play that they just fell into:

• Babysitter
• Caretaker
• Housecleaner
• Pulling the neighbors trash cans off the curb back to their house
• Secretary
• Bookkeeper
• Cook
• Martyr
• Victim
• Volunteer for all projects nobody else will say yes to
• Contributor
• Taxi driver

These roles are not usually something you delight in nor do you get paid for them. Are you capable? Sure. But are you playing the roles you really want? Does it really suit your natural behavior style and is it aligned with your values and vision?

I’m relationship oriented and like to move fast. Some people think I should be in sales but sales is not something I enjoy. Could I do it? Sure. Do I want to? No. Now, if we further defined sales I could say yes. I do indeed promote things in both my eZine and in the interviews I do. These types of sales are softer and you all show up to the interviews by choice or read what I promoted out of choice. That is a great fit for me and feels good. If I sat down and further defined benchmarks for what an amazing promoter I’d like to be, I’d perform even better in that role.

If you’re a parent, did you sit down with your partner and decide what your specific roles would be for your child? Sometimes we need to redefine roles as we move along through life. It’s never too late to define your role or someone else’s.

As you move through your professional and personal life this week, check out the roles you and others play. See if they need further refining. Then notice if you or other people are the right fit for that role. You’d be amazed what a few tweaks in either will create.

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Article Tags: airtime, behavioral assessments, behavioral style, business partner, co author, email inbox, fabulous team, hard time, housekeeper, hr person, jan brogniez, life partner, partner life, perfect fit, perfect husband, perfect person, spits, stacey hall, takeaway, team building



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