What will a Cultivator bring to your team?

As part of our series of exploring bad hires and how to get it right, we continue round the Contribution Compass with a Cultivator profile. Here is what you will get if you recruit a Cultivator onto your team.

A Cultivator is a person who guides and shapes the growth of a team, project or enterprise through a subtle influence that seeks to adjust, refine and develop. Just as a plant grows and strengthens through a flexible response to its environment, so too does a Cultivator make incremental adjustments in their environment to achieve long-term, sustainable growth. They excel in their ability to manage complex projects and deliverables, while making sure that resources are carefully managed and risk is mitigated in a timely manner.

Buzz words for a job description:

A realist, Calm, efficient, data driven, incremental progress, mitigating risk, expert planning and organising, routine, focused refinements applied with consistency, steady pace.

What will “land” at interview?

• Control of final outcome
• Being able to set a planned pace and adjust the plan to get there along the way
• Assurances that they won’t be rushed
• The importance of consistency and evidence
• A portrayal of calm and efficiency
• Milestones along the way
• Slow and steady wins the race

What will switch them off at interview?

• Asking them to be too creative
• Not paying attention to the data
• Not giving them confidence that they have the resources to achieve their objectives

Rewarding a Cultivator

They respond well when their reward has a long-term element, and they are able to demonstrate the delivery of clearly-defined outcomes at a pace and in a manner that is subtle and harmonious.

Link bonuses to reaching project milestones or transforming the potential cost of a risk into a return for the company.

If you have a role coming up in the next few months and you want to talk it through, please get in touch.