What does your Learnability Quotient say about you?

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Lyndy van den Barselaar, managing director of workforce solutions provider Manpower South Africa, explains, “As technological innovation accelerates the pace of change, there is growing awareness that individuals who seek learning opportunities will be better positioned for career growth. Today, professional success is determined both by an individual's ability to adapt to change and their willingness to own the progression of their career.”

“It's time to take a fresh look at how we motivate, develop and retain employees. In this environment, learnability is the hot ticket to success for employers and individuals alike,” says Mara Swan, executive vice president, Global Strategy and Talent, ManpowerGroup.

In partnership with Hogan X - the new analytics division of personality assessment provider, Hogan Assessments - ManpowerGroup has developed a web-based visual assessment to identify each individual's LQ, providing insight into their motivation and style of learning. The Learnability Assessment empowers organisations and individuals to succeed. The results are expressed through three dimensions: first is adventurous, the intrinsic desire to explore; secondly, intellectual, the motivation to learn; and thirdly, unconventional, questioning the status quo.

In the business environment, learnability embraces a holistic understanding of varying personalities. While individual rational, emotional and spiritual intelligences are necessary for an individual, their true power lies in maintaining a balance among all their personality traits. The LQ can be a helpful snapshot of ones learning style, but it's hardly set in stone. There is always room to improve on approaches to new challenges. The different personality types according to the LQ are:

Doer

These individuals are intellectually practical, and typically rely on their own experience and common sense to solve problems. They also prefer learning new things only when there’s a clear purpose for it, which makes them a reliable, grounded thinker.

Traditionalist

These individuals are careful to follow etiquette and protocol and are happiest blending in with other people. They may often find new fashion trends to be irrelevant and superficial and prefer an honest, direct approach when working with others; this makes them a strong team player.

Planner

These individuals are most at ease around close friends and familiar settings and may not care much for meeting new people. They prefer the known to the unknown and like to plan in advance. “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it” nicely sums up their approach to life. It’s a solid strategy, although it may limit their opportunities.

Free Spirit

These individuals tend to question authority and have a strong independent streak coupled with an original style. They might find themselves interested in new trends, but only so they can build and improve upon them — or defy them altogether.

Thrill Seeker

These individuals love trying new experiences and meeting new people. They thrive on the unusual and are quickly bored by the predictable and familiar. For them, plans are limiting — they’d rather jump right in and figure things out along the way.

Scholar

These individuals are intellectually hungry, constantly gathering knowledge regardless of practicality or usefulness. They enjoy a wide range of subjects and gravitate towards cultural hobbies. This is an excellent approach to learning — however they ought to be careful they don’t neglect their practical skills.

Thinker

These individuals loathe contradictions and irrationality; with their sharp intellect, they quickly grasp patterns, principles and structures. They are open for and interested in new information. They are not particularly suited for dealing with others, working as a part of a team and be in the position of “continuous exchange“, they would much rather work alone, and dwell on their thoughts undisturbed. They usually put a critical distance between themselves and others, which enables them to be the keen and incorrupt observers of life.

Innovator

These individuals are aware of new ideas and trends, they often leave “early adopting” to others. They explore change and novelty in a measured fashion. This keeps them moving forward, but maybe not as quickly as they'd like.

Explorer

These individuals enjoy meeting new people and trying new things — just not all the time. While they might get bored with too much routine, a completely unstructured workplace likely frustrates them. They approach new experiences with cautious optimism. This balance likely serves them well, while staying vigilant.

“The LQ test assists individuals in understanding their learnability profile and provides them with insights and resources to improve their learnability. For organisations, the LQ test enables decision making around development, gives insights into employee agility and gauges motivation for self development,” explains van den Barselaar.

“As organisations seek to invest in and develop their employees, having insight into these metrics will provide guidance on how to best enable performance and make better decisions on how to motivate their workforce. It is important that employers recognise, reward and nurture learnability.”

Modern business leaders are striving to instill LQ qualities in individuals so that they can improve motivation and workforce productivity. In the business environment, the most effective employees are willing to learn, have a strong sense of self and understand the qualities that make other people want to follow them. “An assessment on the ability to learn new skills enables individuals to capitalise on their natural strengths and work to improve those they find more challenging,” says van den Barselaar. LQ instills in employees the value and authority to play a key role in the success of the organisation because of who they are as human beings.

Creating a strong culture of collaboration and respect within an organisations laments a positive, equality based connection between employees and their employers. “Organisations that build business LQ ethics into their corporate culture also create a framework to keep the dialogue open and responsive to considerations, as the business evolves and takes on new challenges,” says van der Barselaar.

Take the Manpower LQ test here.