As a boss, would you rather have an employee who was super talented or an employee that has less talent but has these traits?

CW4 Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 09:51:58 -0400

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 4 at 2016 10:04 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 10:04:18 -0400

All depends on what the actual objective is...in some cases you may want the super talent...as is often in Information Technology....in a service industry like IT, I would much rather have an Average Technician that knows how to do a little research and keeps their customers informed, than having a super talent that can't talk to people..i have had both under my supervision and each have their place to be successful.

Response by Capt Tom Brown made Sep 4 at 2016 10:31 AM

Capt Tom Brown — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 10:31:42 -0400

I would rather have an employee who has fewer of the traits and was more talented and experienced (but not super talented or experienced).

Response by CPT Joseph K Murdock made Sep 4 at 2016 10:53 AM

CPT Joseph K Murdock — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 10:53:57 -0400

Super talented as long as he can swing like monkey or hang himself with the rope I give him.

Response by SGT Christopher Churilla made Sep 4 at 2016 11:10 AM

SGT Christopher Churilla — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 11:10:53 -0400

I'll take the employee with the traits. Talent is meaningless unless there is drive behind it.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 4 at 2016 3:40 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 15:40:56 -0400

In my eyes you can work on developing skills in certain tasks however these are traits which cannot be taught.

Response by Capt Chris McVeigh made Sep 4 at 2016 4:53 PM

Capt Chris McVeigh — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 16:53:33 -0400

A super talented employee who doesn't show up on time, has no work ethic and puts in minimal effort sounds like they would be worse than an untalented employee, let alone an average or moderately talented one. Lacking those traits makes you a bad employee and bad employees cause more damage to the culture/performance of the rest of the workforce than they could ever make up for.

Response by SFC Pete Kain made Sep 4 at 2016 4:57 PM

SFC Pete Kain — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 16:57:58 -0400

I would settle for competent.

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 6 at 2016 1:10 AM

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 01:10:47 -0400

Obviously, I'll take the grease board guy.

Response by SMSgt Matthew Hoyer made Sep 8 at 2016 11:35 PM

SMSgt Matthew Hoyer — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 23:35:58 -0400

I can always up someone's proficiency game; those non-cognitive skills are really hard to develop. I'll take the employee with those traits over the supertalented person 100 times out of 100.