ATTRIBUTES – a common Assessment terminology used in organisations

Excerpts from the book Attributes by Rich Diviney

We talk about Attributes when we assess individuals, leaders, during interviews, promotions.

So, what are Attributes?

Attributes are neutral traits wired into us by both nature and nurture; they are neither moral failings
nor superior accomplishments.

It is important not to confuse Attributes with Personality traits. A personality is built from patterns
of behaviour that emerge over an extended period of time. It’s an outward expression of all the
things that make you you—your skills, habits, emotions, perspectives, and, yes, attributes, all
blended together. A multitude of factors influence your personality, from genetics to upbringing to
environment. Attributes are just one of those elemental ingredients. But it’s important to remember
that attributes are always running in the background. Highly challenging situations, especially ones
rife with uncertainty that force you to operate on instinct, will bring them to the forefront.

While attributes are part of everyone’s circuitry, they’re not immutable. They can be tweaked and
modified. With effort and practice, you can shift levels up or down, increase this trait and dampen
that one, as you think is necessary. You can’t manipulate the attributes in other people. But you
can learn to recognise them, which is extremely useful. If you want to understand human
performance—yours and others’—the first step is to understand attributes.

Untangling Attributes from Skills:

1. Attributes are elemental. We’re born with them. Even infants can show varying levels of
perseverance or adaptability. Some we have in abundance, and some we’re a little short on. While
attributes can be developed over time and with experience, they’re not learned from other people
in the same way as a skill. We can recognize certain traits in other people and try to emulate them,
but often that requires overriding our defaults.

2. Attributes inform, rather than direct, behaviour. While a skill might tell us what to do in a
situation, attributes determine how we approach and handle that situation.

3. Attributes are difficult to assess, measure, and test. Given the implicit nature of attributes,
they’re hard to see. They are teased out in different environments and situations; because people
are unique, the same situation likely will reveal different attributes in different people. Moreover,
because attributes merely inform behaviour, they’re usually in the background, easy to overlook
and to conflate with visible skills.

In fact, sometimes certain attributes are overlooked because we don’t even know we have them –
“dormant attributes.” Typically, they emerge in environments that involve deep challenge, extreme
stress, or both.

Some of the professional attributes are : Disciplined, Diligent, Decisive, Empathetic, Focused
Accountable, Original, Practical, Creative, Proactive, Enthusiastic, Dependent, Consistent, etc

I always do a BELBIN behavioural assessment when I handle individual coaching for
Leaders which opens up their strong Attributes, and makes it a base during the coaching
session/handling behaviour change, etc. I also conduct BELBIN workshops for teams in
organisations to manage workplace relationships.

About Me

JALAJA HARIPRASAD, Coaching CXOs and Senior leaders in organisations. Check me on my website www.influxhr.com and turn on my Testimonial page.

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