The Big Picture: Richard Boyatzis, on Competencies and Values

Richard Boyatzis is a professor in the Department of Organizational Behavior and Psychology at Case Western Reserve University and a Visiting Professor in Human Resources at ESADE in Barcelona. He is the author of more than 125 articles on behavior change, leadership, competencies and emotional intelligence.

Here is one question that was asked in this webinar from HR.com:

Interviewer: . . . obviously technology has had a big impact on that ability. Do you have any thoughts on the best ways to use technology as a tool to utilize competencies?

Boyatzis: Well, my view of it right now is a little bit of render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is God's, which means there are some things that computer programs and software systems are good for doing, like keeping track of things, posting jobs, giving a lot more access across a company to people being able to consider different job openings and career paths. When it comes to something like a person getting feedback, I think a computer is pretty cold, because it is alexithymic. It has no emotion. It takes the emotion out of communication. And, that is one of the criticisms about email versus telephone or face-to-face conversations. That is okay if you just want the facts, however, seldom when it involves us do we just want the facts. We want a little bit of image; well, is that good or is that bad? Are you saying I just did well or I didn’t do so well?

I think that computers can be marvelous for helping keep track of things, when it comes to feedback, when it comes to development; nothing will replace human-to-human contact because you can’t. Now, you can use technology to have to spend less hours sitting together. So, if you include in technology other things, like the telephone, I think that I have seen people take coaching, for example, to a new height, by being able to use a telephone in between times they are face to face, being able to use online video conferencing in between times you are face to face. I have seen people do that with one on one as well as team coaching quite successfully. I think that holds a lot of promise. Knowing the exact ratio of how much is face to face versus how much you let part of it be imparted through electrons, I do not know. But, I do know that the push to get all the assessments filled out and then go through this computer program to help them figure out what it is, is kind of like looking up your horoscope in a newspaper with about the same constructive impact. I think there are an awful lot of people chasing a magic pill that is right now wasting a bit of time. (italics mine)

To access the full article (available only for the next week or so) you will have to open a free account at HR.com I reccomend this site as a great resource for anyone interested in a broader more systemic view of coaching.