Grit: Is it a measure of success?
We all know the story of a spider in a cave. King lost the battle, he hid in a cave, he saw a spider climb and fall again and again, the spider was successful around the 9th time, King was inspired, he fought the battle again, he won this time. Perseverance won the day with little variables like luck, swordsmanship, etc.
Let’s start with a query first: How can companies predict an employee’s ability to perform on the job, based on their answer to a simple question? Fast Company published an article in their March 2011 issue attempting to answer the above question. A little story about ‘Grit’ (or perseverance) in action taken from the article:
“In 1990, Sally Herndon became North Carolina program director for Project ASSIST, an anti-smoking initiative. Her mandate was to improve public health by reducing smoking. But how could she prevail against one of the lobbyists? most powerful in the world, in their homeland of North Carolina? A knockout blow seemed highly unlikely. Rather, Herndon knew that to succeed he would have to undermine the problem.
Herndon and his team spent two years planning, but just as it was about to launch, they suffered a terrible setback. In 1993, the tobacco industry persuaded the state legislature to pass a law mandating that 20% of space in government buildings be set aside for smoking. Diabolically, the law limited local governments to pass stricter regulation. Herndon called it the “law of dirty air.”
So the team had to undermine where they could. He started out by picking a fight he thought he could win: making schools smoke-free. “Even tobacco growers didn’t want their kids to smoke,” says Herndon. His team had to go from one school board to another, one at a time, scoring tough victories at the local level. By the year 2000, he had persuaded 10% of districts in the state to quit smoking. In 2004 he reached 50%. In 2007, he reached 100%, thanks to the state ban on smoking in schools.
Meanwhile, more fronts were opened: private hospitals, where sick patients often had to wade through plumes of secondhand smoke at the point of entry. Progressive hospitals declared their facilities smoke-free. Then the prisons, the State General Assembly and, finally, in 2009, the restaurants and bars. Chip, chip, chip.
During Herndon’s 20-year relentless campaign in North Carolina, the adult smoking rate was reduced by nearly 25% and millions of people were saved from the effects of secondhand smoke. Herndon’s willingness to withstand such an effort in a challenging environment is an undeniable display of “courage.”
(adapted from Fast Company article)
What the lady above showed was Grit. Grit is not hard work. It is determination. Now, according to the study cited in the article, if a candidate replies “I finish what I start,” he is most likely our candidate for the performance. It looks good on paper at least since research has been done on it. The research in the article says that the presence of high Grit predicted the presence of high performance for those test subjects. Further validation of Grit was performed by further investigations in which Grit’s indicative questions were validated and the prediction factor stabilized. (I have attached research links at the bottom to read more).
Now, if we HR ‘pipul’ are going to try to get this study off the ground, we deserve to be chewed on. Why?
1) The limitation of the research was that there were unmeasured variables that could actually be the originators of the Grit. The second limitation was that the sample size was too small and narrow. The second study expanded the sample size, which is still limited, but at least the sample population became more varied.
2) I believe that any test measures a single response only at the time of the test. Test takers do not understand the scope of the choices they will have to live with. I mean, it’s easier to say ‘I’ll do anything’ in 5 seconds than to live it out for 2 years at your job.
3) The biggest limitation is that in both studies it is still a ‘self-assessment questionnaire’, where things generally represent ‘should do/should do’ things like ‘I always do that’. I wish it were that easy to be rationally objective with yourself.
The above conclusion that Grit is a predictor of success based on a self-questionnaire test is almost similar to a school approach that IQ is the only intelligence. Of so many models of intelligence, Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligence tests have surely made an impression as one of the first steps where intelligence was considered more than IQ. Also, the model that makes sense to me is Dr. Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence. He classifies intelligence into three parts, which are central to his theory, the triarchic theory of intelligence:
- analytical Intelligence,the ability to complete problem-solving academic tasks, such as those used in traditional intelligence tests. These types of tasks usually present well-defined problems that have a single correct answer.
- creative or synthetic intelligence, the ability to successfully deal with new and unusual situations by building on existing knowledge and skills. People with high creative intelligence may give “wrong” answers because they see things from a different perspective.
- practical intelligence, the ability to adapt to everyday life by taking advantage of existing knowledge and skills. Practical intelligence enables an individual to understand what needs to be done in a specific environment and then do it.
As you can see, it is this very aspect of practical intelligence that tells you what goals to set, once achieved, then pursue them, once pursued, whether to persevere to achieve them, and more importantly, know when to give up. The difference between perseverance and stubbornness is almost blurred.
Conclusion:
1) Psychological tests are good for evaluation. May indicate, but rarely indicates, especially en masse.
2) There is good research (Grit) and bad research (MBTI: umm…! Was there even a research for it?). Even good research can be portrayed in a bad light when viewed through colored lenses.
3) Undermining the problem is also a very effective strategic tool. For example: we can test it against introspective tendencies or possible disciplinary problems.
4) Courage/perseverance is a good trait to look for and rely on, but it is more important to choose your goals wisely, which usually come from the aspect of experience and practical intelligence.
The above reading was also inspired by
http://hrtests.blogspot.com/2011/02/grit-example-of-will-do.html
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~duckwort/research.htm
Duckworth, AL, Peterson, C., Matthews, MD, and Kelly, DR (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087-1101
Duckworth, A.L. and Quinn, P.D. (2009). Development and validation of the Short Grain Scale (Grit-S). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91, 166-174