Is Will more Valuable than Skill?

Alfonse Kyeyune has had a remarkable journey to get to where he is now. We credit his success to his sheer determination and will to continually improve. You can watch Aflonse’s inspirational story below.

Alfonse’s story has sparked a discussion amongst us on the relative value of Skill vs Will. Many employers are looking for that perfect combination of both, but is it achievable? And is one more important than the other?

This blog takes a look into Involvement’s take on the value of Skill versus Will.

Do you value colleagues’ behaviours and attitudes, more than their experience and previous skills?

Nearly all job adverts state a minimum number of years of experience required for a role. And why shouldn’t they? If you’re employing someone they need the basic skills to do the job at a minimum.

One thing we have learned is that yes, colleagues need a level of skills and competence to perform a role, but those with the right set of behaviours and attitudes or Will are those who will outperform others.

When it comes to defining what separates the best high performers from the rest, we value Will as highly as Skill. This is one of the reasons we wanted to share Alfonse’s story.

Initially, his skills were average, there were people in the business with a lot more experience and knowledge than him. But his values, behaviours and determination are what have allowed him to progress to a higher level within the business and develop his skills.

One of our Values is Performance and we talk about this a lot. Performance and the ability to ‘get things done’ is highly valued by employers. Without a doubt. For example, did you complete your tasks for the day? Did you hit your target? Are you reliable? But this focus on skills and the ability to get the job done is only one-half of the high performance equation.

No one can be a high performer based on Skill alone, there has to be a large slice of Will and motivation too.

Will means; your attitude, your character and your behaviour. No matter how good you are at getting things done, if you are a low performer when it comes to your attitude or your character, this will eventually become a big problem for you and your colleagues.

How do you assess Will?

When someone is an employee in your business, this is easy to see. Consider how they deal with setbacks, their attitude to feedback and learning, and their general motivation and engagement levels.

We have listed some questions you can ask around Will to start a discussion. You could also use these in conversations with your colleagues.

Am I willing to learn?
How can I be coached?
What else do I bring to the table above getting the job done?
What have I done differently as a result of a setback?
What would I do if this was my business?
Who, around me, could I help?

At the interview stage, this is more difficult to assess because the person has a high level of motivation to impress. They want the job. However, you can ask questions linked to the above and monitor their responses. This will give you a pretty good insight.

How to asses Skill vs Will: The Skill vs Will Matrix

To help us, we use the Skill vs Will Matrix to highlight the most helpful approach to tackle each situation: Guide, Delegate, Direct or Excite. We use these approaches and various coaching tools to help colleagues improve performance within their roles.

We realised that this can be applied in all types of real-life situations and that an individual’s Will is rarely fixed. Whilst some colleagues have a higher level of Will than others, it’s not one of those black-and-white things where you have it or you don’t. Attitudes and behaviours can be developed, enhanced or changed. In fact, it’s never been easier for you and your colleagues to work on these things, if you choose to of course.