Are You A Square Peg In A Square Hole?

Sometimes being good at what you do can be a curse.

In a larger organisation, the nature of many people’s work is very specific. The hiring process is geared towards filling certain roles with certain responsibilities, and recruitment is often seen as successful if you can find square pegs for the square holes and round pegs for the round holes. The scope of each role is becoming ever narrower as job descriptions become ever more prescriptive, and these same job descriptions often provide a convenient “label” for someone’s standing within a company.

However, just because someone is successful in a role that requires a certain skill set doesn’t mean that they don’t have other abilities, which might benefit the company even more. The inability to think laterally and give existing top performers an opportunity to broaden their impact on the organisation is one of the biggest missed opportunities for business today.

Companies work so hard at getting the right type of people. They work hard to ensure that they are the right personality fit for the culture and they come up with all sorts of innovative strategies about how to retain their top talent. Far too many companies see 100s of square pegs in 100s of square holes as a big tick in the people development box. Many would argue this is far from where a healthy organisation needs to be.

One of the most important metrics for any employee is to feel that they have an opportunity to grow within an organisation. This should not be limited to growth within their specific role or function. For example, there is only so much growth that a square peg Marketing Manager can experience in their role. Unless companies make an effort to explore their wider talents, their motivation will fall as they hit the limits of their square hole. No one wants to feel like they are standing still. It is when the tough times arrive that this inability to explore “hidden” talents can be brutally exposed.

You never know what someone can do until they have the opportunity to demonstrate their skills. Redundancies come, and because so many people are pigeon holed with their specific skill set, when decisions are made about which employees to keep (with increased scopes to their roles), their employers are in the dark as to the extent of their abilities. If people are not given the chance to branch out, their perception as a “one-trick pony” will stick. No one is a one-trick pony!

So, to end on a few snippets of advice:

Employees: You are not merely the sum of your current parts. You have potential, you have passions and you have ideas. Be ambitious and seek to take on projects, which stretch you. Don’t be scared to venture into new areas. You will learn as you go along and your confidence to push the boundaries of your abilities will grow. Once you have proved that you can deliver on something new, you will be trusted to do it again.

Employers: Don’t just look at the current skill set when you hire. Passion, potential and attitude are often far more important when you are looking for an individual to add true value to your business. Square pegs in square holes are fine, but people who can mould like plasticine into all sorts of holes are far more valuable.

Let’s stop thinking about “fit” as the ultimate people metric. Yes, they have to be able to do the basics, but actually “what else” they can do is a far more interesting question.