By now, you likely have heard the term quiet quitting. Since the idea went viral on TikTok, quiet quitting has been debated, clarified, celebrated, and reviled. It seems to evoke strong, emotional reactions from individual contributors to corporate leaders and everyone in between.

Because the original TikTok video about quiet quitting was posted by a Gen Zer, some have suggested that it is a new and generationally specific phenomenon, serving as a point of validation for a scientifically unsupported belief that Gen Zers are slackers at heart. Although quiet quitting is a new term, it isn’t a new phenomenon. It is another manifestation of the cultural shift happening in the world of work since the beginning of the pandemic. As many employees are reconsidering their purpose in work and in life, some are quiet quitting as a result of that reexamination.

Nonetheless, some people always have shown limited engagement at work. That isn’t a generational phenomenon either. Depending on the underlying reason for quiet quitting, it may be beneficial or detrimental to a person’s performance.

Let’s look at each claim in turn.

Is Quiet Quitting New?

In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto observed a phenomenon in wealth distribution that would later become adapted to management and coined the Pareto principle by Joseph Juran in the 1950s. Simply put, the Pareto principle states that 80% of the outcomes will result from 20% of the causes. In workplace terms, 80% of work productivity will be created by 20% of the employees. At least since the Industrial Revolution, some workers have exerted a lot of effort, some have exerted a moderate amount, and many have exerted minimal or little effort. In other words, it seems likely that quiet quitting has been around for a while.

Similarly, in our study of personality, individual differences determine the degree to which people appear confident, competitive, challenge seeking, leader-like, and focused on achieving results—the opposite of quiet quitting. This is what we measure on the Hogan Personality Inventory’s Ambition scale. High scorers on Ambition are like the 20%; they drive most of the results in an organization. When we plot individual differences on the Ambition scale for thousands of people, the result is close to a bell curve. People who score in the high range are unlikely to be quiet quitters. This pattern of individual differences is not new and seems to be universal.

Is Quiet Quitting Mostly Limited to Gen Z?

Conducted across several countries with hundreds of thousands of working adults, Hogan’s research shows that there are some small differences among some personality characteristics and values by generation. Although those differences are statistically significant, they have little practical significance. That means it does not appear that one generation or another can, on average, be described as more or less Ambitious, hardworking, or prone to quiet quitting. Whether a person is a quiet quitter or routinely goes above and beyond expectations at work appears unrelated to their generational cohort.

Is Quiet Quitting Helpful or Harmful to the Quiet Quitter?

It depends. For example, the Hogan Development Survey (HDS) measures a characteristic we call Diligent. High scorers on Diligent are described as detail oriented, hardworking, and having high standards. But they may also try to make everything a high priority, seem perfectionistic, and find it difficult to delegate. As a result, they might be more prone to overworking and burnout than low scorers. A high Diligent scorer who decides to focus on meeting expectations, rather than always aiming for perfection, may benefit in improved mental and physical wellbeing. For this person, a decision to work less (or in a more focused way) may reflect strong self-awareness and lead to greater overall efficacy.

However, in some circumstances, quiet quitting also can be a form of passive aggression—particularly if an individual takes no action to correct a poor work situation other than to quietly work less, putting in minimal effort with the objective of remaining employed. For example, the HDS measures another characteristic we call Leisurely. A key descriptor of high scorers on the Leisurely scale is that they avoid overt conflict while quietly or passively ignoring commitments or agreements. Because of this, high Leisurely scorers may be more prone to quiet quitting.

This type of quiet quitting can be self-defeating in a couple of ways. First, if the individual fails to meet the organization’s expectations for the role, the strategy of working less but staying employed may backfire. At best, it would be difficult for a person to sustain a “just right” amount of work for very long, especially during an economic downturn in which performance is scrutinized closely.

Second, the person’s indirect approach to solving feelings about their work may be perceived as avoiding difficult conversations, playing the victim, or even as untrustworthy or unethical. Such perceptions can permanently damage relationships and lead to a reputation that is difficult to change.

What Is the Alternative to Quiet Quitting?

People have fundamental needs for connection with others, for status among peers, and to make sense out of the world or to find meaning. For talent management professionals and leaders, it can be productive to ask why people in your organization may be feeling unfulfilled or undervalued by your organization. By exploring the underlying reasons for those feelings you’ll likely find they are related to one or more of those three fundamental needs.

After you’ve identified the underlying need that isn’t being met, the critical question is why. Organizational reasons, individual reasons, or both may be at the root. For example, 65% of U.S. workers indicate they would rather fire their boss than receive a pay raise.¹ Bad bosses destroy engagement and create toxic relationships, and low engagement is related to quiet quitting.

It also could be that the individual is in a role that doesn’t fit their needs or skills, and the organization could help find a better role inside the organization. Fostering an open discussion about the role may be a good start.

In some cases, however, the individual simply may have made a self-defeating choice. In these cases, development activities or coaching may help raise self-awareness that could lead to a more productive choice for the individual and organization.

This blog post was authored by Scott Gregory, PhD, a world-renowned IO psychologist.

Reference

1. Anderson, A. R. (2014, October 28). How A Bad Boss Can Make You Sick. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyanderson/2014/10/28/a-bad-boss-can-make-you-sick-literally/?sh=6b60c4d68187

Earlier this month, Hogan shared the first part of a two-part blog series about the Great Resignation. If you recall, part 1 discussed how feelings of empowerment and burnout are the two primary drivers leading to the mass exodus of talent. In part 2 of this blog series, we will discuss the insight we have gained from our research on personality to respond to two important questions: What can organizations do to retain talent? And how can individuals find meaning in their work?

What Can Organizations Do to Retain Talent?

Good leadership can make the difference between those seeking other career opportunities and those who choose to remain engaged and a part of your organization. We know from our extensive research on this topic that good leadership creates engagement, which drives business unit performance, resulting in positive organizational performance. On the contrary, we’ve learned that low levels of engagement produce negative business results, and bad leaders destroy engagement. The truth is that bad leadership may be the reason your employees are leaving your organization!

This truth is evident in survey results where 65% of U.S. workers say the most stressful aspect of their lives is their boss, 70% of the U.S. workforce say they would take a pay cut if their boss were fired, and 20% of the Baltimore workforce say they fantasize daily about killing their boss.

Bad leadership impacts employees by causing undue stress. This stress, if not mitigated, can lead to lower job satisfaction, burnout, and turnover. Findings such as these are not new, yet organizations continue to be faced with the problem of bad leadership. But why? The source of this problem comes from the selection practices organizations rely on to hire leaders.

Integrating Hogan Assessments into the selection process may help you identify those who are most likely to be successful leaders and weed out those who will most likely fail. Specifically, the Hogan Development Survey (HDS), introduced by Drs. Robert and Joyce Hogan in the late 1990s, identifies 11 personality characteristics that cause leaders to fail time and time again. Equipped with this information and knowledge of the job and organizational context in which the leader will be operating, you and your organization can make sound hiring decisions. Once a leader is in a role and leading a team, the insights from the HDS can help the leader develop awareness of performance risks in order to develop strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of any counterproductive tendencies.

Good leadership creates engagement, and engagement is critical in retaining talent. Therefore, the employee-leader relationship is critical especially during the Great Resignation. In short, hire good, effective leaders, and your people may want to stay.

Editor’s note: Want to learn more about using personality tests for selection? Read this blog next.

What Can We Do as Individuals to Find Meaning in Our Work?

Have you heard the adage, “happy cows make more milk”? Apparently, this is true! I recently read an article that shared additional research on this topic and found that cows that have lived a happier life produce more nutritious milk. If we extend these findings to us, as humans, and apply it to our work lives, it suggests that we may be more engaged, satisfied, easy to work with, and productive if we can find meaning and happiness in the work we do. Since the beginning of the global pandemic and through the rise of the Great Resignation, I’ve heard many individuals say, in reference to their work lives and career decisions, “Life is too short to spend it doing something that makes you only marginally happy.” In the quest for happiness, many individuals are choosing to search for meaning outside their current job or organization. Before you jump ship, I would encourage you to reflect on your values — what drives and motivates you — and be intentional about how and where you get your values met. 

The values that drive our behaviors and decisions are a critical part of understanding personality. Values are the lens for our preferences — what we believe to be important, the environment we create for others, and what we find motivating. At Hogan, we measure values with the Motives, Values, and Preferences Inventory (MVPI), which describes 10 values that drive our behavior.

Understanding your values is key to your engagement and success. By identifying and exploring your values, you can better understand why you are likely to behave, react, or engage with others in a certain way. Additionally, you can identify the environment (job or organization context) that you will thrive in.

My belief is that organizations have a big part to play in retaining talent, but as individuals, we also have a responsibility to be intentional about our decisions and ensure they are aligned with what we value. In the first part of this blog series, I shared advice that I received early in my career, and I offer it to you again today: When you begin exploring other job or career opportunities, make certain that you are running toward the new opportunity and not away from your current situation.

If you found this blog series interesting and are curious to learn more, please register to join our webinar, titled “What’s Driving the Big Quit? A Look at Personality in the Workplace,” on April 7!

This blog post was authored by Erin Crane, PhD, international distributors principal consultant.

References

1. Hogan, R., & Sherman, R. (2021). Dark Leadership and the Fate of Organizations.
2. Do Personality Tests Fail at Selection? (2021). Hogan Assessment Systems. https://www.hoganassessments.com/blog/why-do-personality-tests-fail-at-selection/
3. The Dark Side of Leadership: 11 Reasons Leaders Fail. (2019). Hogan Assessment Systems. https://www.hoganassessments.com/blog/the-dark-side-of-leadership-11-reasons-leaders-fail/

Many paths lead up the mountain of career success, and each one comes with unique advantages and potential pitfalls. Professional development coaches know this terrain well. They routinely provide individualized support for the development of leaders who wish to ascend in their careers. They’ve also watched many self-made types who opt to forgo business coaching slip and fall on their career journeys because they miscalculate the quality of their own work performance. This miscalculation is common.While many may be vaguely aware of their strengths and challenges, they don’t always realize that their helpful behaviors can (depending on the context) become unhelpful, derailing them from their individual and organizational objectives. Therefore, we all could benefit from a professional development coach. 

Reputable business coaches use well-validated personality assessment as a map to identify their clients’ strengths and challenges to help them achieve strategic self-awareness. This concept is like a base camp that every professional must reach to begin the developmental journey. Reviewing personality data with the guidance of a professional coach allows leaders to understand the scenarios in which they overuse their strengths and develop strategies to self-manage. Business coach Brian Chitester says that when he has a high-potential client who appears to be in danger of derailing, he uses personality data to diagnose the situation, provide poignant feedback, and help a struggling employee go from good to great.

Without reputational feedback, many leaders may not understand what stands between them and their professional ambitions. Business coach Elaine Kamm collaborated with a client who was a successful manager on a sales and marketing team. He was well-known for being bright and charismatic, but his reputation had become an obstacle on his path to becoming a senior-level general manager, which was a surprise to him. Helping him become more aware of how others perceived him, his coach worked with him to figure out how to leverage his reputation strategically so it would align more with his career goals.

There’s no one-size-fits-all recipe for behavioral adjustment, so every coaching initiative must be tailored to a person’s specific personality and career context. For example, business coach Kristie Wright, PhD, recently worked with a client who was expanding her position as CIO to include the role of CTO as her company prepared to go public. Dr. Wright and her client worked together to determine which behaviors had made her successful in her infrastructure position and what development would be necessary to ensure her future success as her role evolved to include more of a focus on products to drive market differentiation.

Individualized coaching initiatives like these can enhance any organization’s talent development strategy. Encouraging employees to practice strategic self-awareness can reduce behavioral slips, help them lead more effectively to achieve professional highs, and amplify the success of the organization. Join us on October 21 for a webinar featuring three experts from the Hogan Coaching Network — Brian Chitester, Elaine Kamm, and Dr. Kristie Wright — and their compelling coaching case studies. Register here!

* The Hogan Coaching Network (HCN) is comprised of approximately 50 coaches worldwide who are experts in both the Hogan instruments and in coaching. Even prior to the pandemic, they did the vast majority of their feedback and coaching calls remotely, and their customer satisfaction ratings are routinely over 4.5 on a 5-point scale. So, who better than a member of the HCN to author a blog on effective remote coaching? In her article below, Cynthia Cuffie, an accomplished HCN coach, combines her own tips and advice with those from other HCN members to ensure a productive and effective remote session.    

In any coaching session, whether remote or in person, it is important for the coach to provide an environment that is comfortable, safe, thought provoking, and informative. This sounds simple, but because the coach and coachee often have only a short period of time to connect, it requires planning, attention to the conversation, and adaptability.

So what do you do when there are factors beyond your control, such as a global pandemic or increasing calls for social and racial justice? While coaching was done remotely before the start of the pandemic, the use of video conferencing has increased exponentially in the past year. Today with video conferencing, we find ourselves sharing our personal worlds. Our homes have become offices, and our families have become officemates. These situations have added an intensity to the remote coaching experience that even the most seasoned coaches find challenging.

The article leverages the collective expertise of the global Hogan Coaching Network to share best practices for coaching remotely (table 1). Many of the best practices featured will be helpful in a variety of coaching situations, from the simplest coaching conversation to the delivery of a Hogan Assessment feedback session.

Table 1: Best Practices for Remote Coaching During Times of Disruption and Uncertainty

Before the Session

1. Set the Tone and Expectation: The Invitation

2. Do Your Homework

3. Prepare Yourself

During the Session

4. Establish a Connection

5. Review Confidentiality Boundaries

6. Embrace Technology

7. Explain the Process

8. Set the Context

9. Review and Discuss Hogan Assessment Data (Hogan Feedback Session)

Wrap-up and After the Session

10. Summarize Key Findings and Discuss Future Actions

Let’s delve deeper into each of these best practices.

Set the Tone and Expectation: The Invitation

The invitation is an opportunity for the coach to set the tone and expectations for the coaching session. The invitation should be concise, warm, and informative. Provide a brief description of what will occur during the session and give instructions regarding what document(s) the coachee should have available for reference. Instruct the coachee to print required documents whenever possible or be prepared to take brief notes if printing is not possible or if digital is preferred. Share your expectations of document review before and after the session.

Let the coachee know you are looking forward to the session. While a video meeting may be your standard or preferred coaching communication method, always give the coachee an option to participate by phone only — no questions asked. Even if the coachee opts for a video conference session, have your phone ready during the session in case the coachee wants or needs to change their mind.

Do Your Homework

In the age of social media, it is often easy and helpful to find some information about the coachee before the session. Many times, LinkedIn or another site will have background and context information. This should be approached as a brief exercise based on strategic curiosity and not as a detailed research project.

Review any relevant information that may provide clues regarding the coachee’s motivators and willingness to accept feedback. Try to stick to objective information. If you are conducting a Hogan feedback session, look for validity, clues about the coachee’s receptiveness to feedback, and data patterns. For example, people with very high Adjustment scores on the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) may discount feedback. Conversely, people with low Adjustment scores on the HPI may be overly self-critical.

Prepare Yourself

Test technology (e.g., audio, video, computer readiness) at least 15 minutes before scheduled sessions. Give yourself a break for at least 30 minutes between contiguous sessions. This allows time for preparation, reflection, and technology testing. Additionally, an adequate break between sessions allows coaches to minimize any stressors that may have arisen during a prior session. Stay abreast of current events so that you can be prepared to address concerns effectively.

Being self-aware is important for coaches. Ideally, during a coaching session, coaches need to be fully present, perceptive, flexible, curious, active listeners, clear and diplomatic in communication, willing to accept some tension, and resistant to providing solutions without adequate exploration of ideas by the coachee.

Establish a Connection

If using video conferencing, make sure you and the coachee can clearly see and hear each other. Make eye contact. Make sure your background is calming and bright. Meet the coachee where they are emotionally. It may be helpful to start with a grounding exercise. For example, ask the coachee to give three words describing how they are doing. Acknowledge if they appear rushed, distracted, or anxious. Try to make the coachee comfortable by letting them know it is OK if they need a moment to wind down or take care of something first. Take note of the physical surroundings of the coachee. If it appears as if they may not be able to speak freely, ask if they are comfortable speaking at this time. If not, consider an alternative time. Acknowledge that there may be unexpected distractions in the virtual world, and that is OK. Share your brief background and acknowledge your limitations in the virtual world. Whenever possible, try to include some information about yourself that may help build rapport.

Review Confidentiality Boundaries

Confirm your understanding of the confidentiality boundaries of the coaching session. Generally, coaching discussions are completely confidential. However, if there are agreements with the coachee’s sponsor and/or employer that may require some sharing of information, be transparent with the coachee.

Embrace Technology

This section is intended to provide general guidance regarding how to enhance the remote coaching experience with the use of technology. Details regarding optimization of different platforms can be found on the websites of the platforms. Try to honor the coachee’s preferred video platform whenever possible. (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype). This is especially important in making international connections.

Use a hardwired connection for better connection stability if possible. Be prepared for the unexpected. Have simple backup solutions to commonly observed technical glitches. Explain to the coachee early in the session that you have a backup plan if needed. For example, share telephone numbers or agree to email each other regarding reconnecting if video or telephone connections fail. Let the coachee know that if all connections fail, a future connection will be established, and you will recontact them by email as soon as possible.

The view is important. As mentioned previously, make sure your view is bright, calming, and has minimal background distractions. Be aware that Zoom virtual backgrounds can sometimes compromise connection quality. Keep camera at eye level to maintain eye contact and avoid distortions. Play with different distances from the screen so that you can refer to your notes and materials without the coachee viewing these materials.

Be expressive. Don’t be afraid to move. Body language does come across even if there is a limited view. Remember to smile (again, be natural!). Ask the coachee if they are comfortable with screensharing. If you plan to use screensharing, have documents readily accessible on your desktop to avoid searching for files.

Explain the Process

Take time in the beginning of the coaching session to briefly explain the process and what to expect during the session. Make sure you ask the coachee to share their expectations. Assure them that you will address their expectations so that you don’t appear to have an inflexible, predetermined agenda. If you are providing Hogan feedback during the session, let the coachee know that their results will be explained in the context of their role. The goal is to try to remove as much of the unknown as possible to minimize stress.

Remind the coachee of the materials each of you will need to refer to during the session. Be prepared to explain where the materials can be located quickly if the coachee does not have the materials readily available. Be prepared to share data or send materials if the coachee does not have access to necessary materials.

To encourage active participation by the coachee, explain that the session is a dialogue. Using open-ended questions and encouraging sharing of examples applicable to situations will help encourage active participation. Also, let them know they should feel free to ask questions.

Set the Context

Regardless of the situation, putting the coaching discussion into the context of something grounds the discussion. If conducting a Hogan feedback session, putting their Hogan assessment results into the context of their role is important. To do this, ask the client to briefly explain their role, career path and aspirations, and strengths and challenges. Ask questions about their initial reaction to their data, such as “Is there any data that is surprising, confusing, or conflicting?” Not only will this information help focus the feedback conversation, but it will also quickly provide insight regarding their communication style and potential additional areas of interest.

If a coachee has not looked at their data before the coaching session, assure them they will have an effective session. Discourage coachees from reading reports during the session. Encourage taking brief notes but emphasize the importance of engaging in the conversation.

Review and Discuss Hogan Assessment Data (Hogan Feedback Sessions)

Use the Hogan Flash Report as an anchoring document. If you are screensharing, use annotation features to help focus the discussion. This will also allow you to provide the coachee with an annotated document after the session.

How you approach the feedback session should take into account the coachee’s Hogan profile. For example, a person who is low on the HPI Prudence scale and high on the HPI Inquisitive scale may be more interested in focusing on big picture concepts and exploring different possible behaviors, whereas a person who is high on the HPI Prudence scale and low on the HPI Inquisitive scale, may prefer to focus on details and offer very little in the way of exploring new behaviors.

Making data connections is important. Look and listen for signs of impatience, boredom, or distractions. When discussing concepts, be sure to rephrase to confirm your understanding and ask appropriate follow-up questions. Periodically during the discussion, ask questions to gauge the coachee’s reaction to results. For example, “Does that resonate with you?” or “Have you ever experienced reactions like that to your behavior before?” Coaching is about coachee discovery; however, suggestions should be provided by the coach. Make sure your suggestions are relevant to the coachee’s reality in this virtual world. Ask about the feasibility of suggestions. Meet them where they are.

Summarize Key Findings and Discuss of Future Actions

As the coaching session comes to a close, ask the coachee how they feel. This will provide an additional opportunity to identify and resolve potential outstanding issues or questions. This is also a good time to ask the coachee to summarize key takeaways for future actions. If they need help getting started, ask them to consider these questions:

• What will you continue doing? These are strengths to leverage.
• What will you stop doing? These are opportunities for growth.
• What will you start doing? These development opportunities.

Be clear about future contact sessions if applicable. Share additional resources if appropriate. Lastly, but importantly, thank the coachee for their willingness to share with you.

* The Hogan Coaching Network (HCN) is comprised of approximately 50 coaches worldwide who are experts in both the Hogan instruments and in coaching. Even prior to the pandemic, they did the vast majority of their feedback and coaching calls remotely, and their customer satisfaction ratings are routinely over 4.5 on a 5-point scale. So, who better than a member of the HCN to author a blog on effective remote coaching? In her article below, Cynthia Cuffie, an accomplished HCN coach, combines her own tips and advice with those from other HCN members to ensure a productive and effective remote session.    

On December 4, Hogan Managing Consultants Amber Burkhart, PhD, and Erin Laxson, PhD, were the featured speakers at the Rotary Club of Tulsa’s weekly meeting. One of the most notable speaking engagements in the Tulsa area, the event was attended by 200 business leaders, one of whom described Burkhart and Laxson as “world-class professionals.”

As featured speakers, Burkhart and Laxson joined the likes of prominent business magnates, such as oil and gas entrepreneur T. Boone Pickens and billionaire philanthropist George Kaiser. Notable elected representatives, such as Sen. Jim Inhofe, Sen. James Lankford, and Gov. Kevin Stitt, have also spoken at the Rotary Club of Tulsa.

Here are just a few of the highlights of Burkhart and Laxson’s presentation.

Using Personality Assessments to Identify Effective Leaders

Using personality assessments is key to targeting your leadership development investment for organizational success. But this doesn’t mean that you’ll end up with a homogenous organization or team. Effective leaders are those who are concerned with building high-performing teams that have the right mix of skills and characteristics. They recruit talented people. They put people in the appropriate positions. And they create employee engagement based on trust.

Effective leaders promote diversity and inclusion. In our research, we’ve discovered that effective leaders are more optimistic and diplomatic and less arrogant and critical. In the workplace, leaders who have these attributes will discourage discrimination and prejudice, show respect for others, value diverse perspectives, relate well to a variety of people, recognize each person’s unique potential, and treat employees fairly regardless of their differences.

Hogan recently collaborated with a global beverage company to improve the company’s practices for identifying and developing future leaders. We examined relationships between assessment results and performance data to create a selection profile with individual characteristics most predictive of future leader performance.

We then placed candidates into five leadership fit classifications based on the number of scales passed in the profile. The more scales a candidate passed, the greater the candidate’s potential as a future leader. Looking at the correlations between the profiles and specific key performance indicators, Hogan’s researchers were able to identify candidates who were three times more likely to have higher performance overall and three times more likely to have higher leadership potential.

The Bottom Line

The quality of your organization’s executive leadership has a major impact on the potential bottom line. Studying the ROI of leaders, economists have found that CEOs, for example, account for 14% to 29% in firm performance. When a company’s CEO changes, business performance does too.

Management quality drives business performance at every organizational level, and well-managed organizations are more profitable for everyone—including the employees. In fact, compared to average performers, high-performing executives can add $42 million to company profits over the course of their tenure. Knowing these facts, wouldn’t you want to know which leaders your organization should invest its time and money in before those investments are made?

The war for talent is more fierce than ever, and there is a growing belief that the people who have the highest potential are also your most agile learners. However, defining learning agility, and determining who has more of it, has remained a challenge until recently.

The new book, Learning Agility: The Key to Leader Potential, authored by David Hoff, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Leadership Development at EASI Consult, and W. Warner Burke, Professor of Psychology at Columbia University and developer of the Burke Learning Agility Inventory™ (Burke LAI), effectively defines learning agility, and explains how to measure and apply it in organizational settings.

“Learning agility is one of the hottest topics in talent management and leadership development today,” says Allan Church, PepsiCo Senior Vice President of Global Talent Assessment & Development. “Hoff and Burke’s book on the topic provides a new framework and way of thinking about the construct that is just what the good doctor ordered. Whatever your interest in learning agility, this is a must-have resource and represents a leap forward for the field.”

Learning agility is not a new concept, but it took years of research to prove that it really does exist, and can be quantified on an individual level. That research led to the development of the Burke LAI, which offered the first reliable, theoretically grounded way to measure learning agility. And, now that learning agility can be measured, individuals and organizations need to know how to develop it.

“I’d argue that learning agility is one of the most exciting, game-changing concepts in the field of talent management today,” says Hoff. “Those of us who want to stretch ourselves at work can examine our strengths and take concrete action to develop our weaker skills. By doing so, we can reach our untapped potential.”

Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, CEO of Hogan Assessments and Professor of Business Psychology at University College London and Columbia University, considers learning agility to be of the utmost importance for all leaders.

“Learning agility is critical for today’s leaders: if leaders can’t learn from experience and acknowledge past mistakes to avoid repeating them, they will become a liability,” says Chamorro-Premuzic. “This book, by true experts in the field, is an authoritative volume that will help both scholars and practitioners understand the importance of learning agility in the workplace and how we should assess and develop it.”

Learning Agility: The Key to Leader Potential is on sale now, and can be purchased on Amazon or at www.learningagilitybook.com.