In 2000, Mel Gibson starred in the famed chick flick, ‘What Women Want’. He played a chauvinis male executive who, after a freak accident, gains the ability to hear what women are really thinking. This telepathic understanding allowed him to SCORE lots of romantic points and ultimately changed his life for the better.

An employee’s life is often similarly consumed with trying to telepathically, or otherwise, discern what their managers, leaders and company owners really think about them, and what is expected of them. Very rarely do we get the blunt truth about our performance from the honest bowels of our leaders. In fact, far too often ‘ROW Day’ has to come to hear how they really feel about you and what they expect of you.

This Mel Gibson movie prompted a basic survey of Bahamian corporate executives, sharing their expectations of employees and the bare minimum competencies that are required if they are to be recognised and honoured. For the purpose of this exercise, we have narrowed their responses to a mere seven competencies of the STAR employee.

Integrity: Are you an employee who consistently gives an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay? Honesty and integrity are fleeting values in today’s workplace, according to our representative sample of leaders. The workplace needs more individuals who will do the right thing and demonstrate good workplace ethics, even when no one is watching.

Passion: Do you have a love and excitement for what you do? Do you wake up each morning thrilled with the thought of going to work? Lethargy lives, and has almost become rampant, in many work environments. The truth is, passion breeds results. In the reverse, then, when passion and genuine enthusiasm for work are mission, a spirit of inefficiency resides and thrives.

Communication: Constant and effective communication is crucial in today’s marketplace. When people feel excluded and are not fed the right information, they do not perform at their maximum.

The leader expects persons to come to the workplace with a certain degree of proficiency in language usage. Shy and introverted, or crude or blunt, speaking individuals are not welcome or celebrated in most environments.

Initiative: If you are the type of person who sits and waits to be told what to do, chances are you may not last long in today’s fast-paced corporate jungle. Employers want to know that you are a quick enough study to make ‘IT’ happen without directives.

Teamwork: Everyone walks into the job interview, and on the job, raving about their interpersonal skills and ability to gel with everyone. Truth is though that teamwork remains one of the greatest areas of concern for leaders in the Bahamas.

People very often allow personalities, ego, issues from the past and other challenges to obscure the need to work cohesively and get the common goals accomplished.

Technically astute: In the midst of all of the soft skills focused on up to this point, leaders still expect employees to know their jobs and cross functional skills, and do them well. Frequent errors in doing what you have been hired and trained for do not sit well with today’s leaders.

Positive attitude: What was consistent in the conversation among the executives was the need to hire individuals who have the right outlook. Leaders confirm that an employee’s attitude determines their altitude in the workplace.

• NB: Ian R. Ferguson is a talent management and organisational development consultant, having completed graduate studies with regional and international universities. He has served organsations, both locally and globally, providing relevant solutions to their business growth and development issues. He may be contacted at tcconsultants@coralwave.com.