Would you like to be successful at work? And also on a personal level? Then, according to a new, extensive study, this is the quality you need…
If someone told you that there was a specific quality that would increase your chances of becoming successful professionally and which could really boost your career, would you like to know what it is? And how you could develop this quality?
Researchers at The University of Arkansas and The University of Minnesota claim to have found this quality, or rather: this personality trait.
The researchers have studied a very large quantity of prior research in the field, around 3,900 different studies involving almost two million subjects. They looked at the five big personality traits described in The Big Five personality traits theory – openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism (for a brief explanation of these traits, click here).
Since all humans are composed of different degrees of all of these five personalities, the researchers looked at 275 different combinations of the five. They then compared these combinations with the degree to which the subjects were successful in their jobs (their leadership, among other things), what their careers looked like and also the state of their mental and physical health. In addition, they looked at how well the subjects handled their relationships with other people, both at work and their personal friends.
What seemed to matter the most for a good professional life, and life in general, was: agreeableness. The researchers pointed to a 93-per cent correlation between a good professional life and strong results on particularly agreeableness in the personality tests.
If you look at what agreeableness means according to the Big Five theory, among other things you will find: empathic, cooperative, considerate, kind, generous, trustworthy, helpful and optimistic. This might make you wonder what being an agreeable person in the workplace really means, whether you are a manager or an employee. In brief, the researchers describe such an individual as someone who:
• Shows concern for others.
• Accepts life as it is and is able to adapt to new contexts.
• Is able to nurture and sustain positive relationships with others.
• Is empathic, able to coordinate goals and cooperate with others.
• Wants to always do their best.
• Is able to consider and make allowances for other people’s (sometimes poor) efforts.
• Respects social norms and avoids breaking the rules.
What do you think? Does this not sound like the very definition of a team player, successful teamwork and a great, healthy workplace?
Perhaps it is time we all nurtured our agreeableness trait even more… WOULD YOU LIKE TO IMPROVE YOUR ABILITY TO COOPERATE WITH OTHERS? Then this is the training for you.
