In this months edition of Consultants Corner our Associate Executive Researcher, Julia Landstedt explains how we can use psychological theory in our business.
Bringing psychology into executive search
While many of us might question the relevance of psychological theory in executive search, there is an astonishing amount of advantage that social theory can bring to improving candidate and client interaction. In fact, psychology plays an inherent role in all of the processes that are carried out in executive search. Almost everything that we do in executive search is based on social interaction. Even if one social interaction does not go smoothly then we could risk the successes of an entire search project. Therefore, we can look to theories behind social interaction for guidance on how to ensure that both parties in a conversation leave the interaction with the sense that things went well. The basis for this is quite simple.
It has been proven that the human brain actually views social pain as similar to physical pain, which would explain why human beings can become very upset when a social interaction goes badly. A bad social interaction tends to trigger the same threat and reward responses that physical pain does (Eisenberger, 2016). This fact in itself emphasizes the importance of managing social interactions in the right way. The question, of course, is how can we do that?
In order to mitigate social pain, it is useful to understand the aspects of social interaction that human beings value the most. One model which outlines these aspects well is Rock’s SCARF Model (2008) which explains five key domains which impact the way in which we perceive social interactions. These five elements are based on the same threat and reward responses that are experienced by the human brain as mentioned earlier.
- Status
- Certainty
- Autonomy
- Relatedness
- Fairness
Status can be defined as our perceived relativity of importance to others, meaning that when we talk to a client/candidate it is important to ensure that they are made to feel valuable to our process.
Certainty is fairly straightforward. All of us want some kind of sense of what the future looks like. This could be achieved by providing clarity to candidates about the steps of an interview process and giving a time frame for when to expect the next steps. Equally, certainty can be provided to clients by guaranteeing the placement of a shortlist by a specific date.
Similar to certainty, autonomy can be defined as the need for a sense of control over processes. While autonomy is an obvious element for clients, this can be a tricky element for candidates. In order to instil a sense of autonomy for a candidate during the search process, we can coach our candidates on what the perfect CV looks like. For example, providing key tangible results as opposed to merely a list of responsibilities is an easy change that a candidate can change in order to have more control over how they are being presented to a client.
Relatedness is important in ensuring a sense of comfort with others. Both clients and candidates should feel safe in our hands throughout the search process. An example of how we can achieve this on a base level is to focus on building a strong relationship of trust with every individual we interact with. Any candidate can become a contact and every client should want to continue being a contact with us.
Fairness is the comparable weight of opportunity between different individuals in a situation. In a search, it is important that candidates feel they are getting equal treatment in comparison to other applicants. It should be standard practice that every individual is treated in the exact same way when it comes to a role.
This is one of many examples as to why psychology is hugely valuable to consider when conducting executive search. Keeping these five SCARF domains in mind when interacting with clients and candidates will aid a more positive experience for all individuals involved in a process. Furthermore, this model could even be applied outside of the workplace in order to ensure that all human beings that we interact with feel valued and respected.
Get in touch with @julialandstedt to find out more!
