Prune the Performance Appraisal, Perpetuate the Performance

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Stephanie Murphy

Is there anyone in today’s workforce that has experienced a traditional-style performance review and walked away satisfied with the exchange?

A couple of recent posts describe the problem well and offer excellent alternatives: Appraising the Performance of Performance Appraisals and Replacing the Performance Appraisal by the VeraSage Institute’s Ron Baker.

Several of Ron’s points really hit home with me. The unfortunate truth is that in today’s break -neck business world, many managers take a tactical and often defensive approach to employee evaluation. Early on in a previous role I held as a VP of operations, I remember looking at the daunting challenge of doing 26 employee reviews on top of the everyday “real work” that needed to get done. I would get the flag from HR; fill out the cookie-cutter sheet – because that’s what I was forced asked to do; tell the employee to do the same; and then meet to compare answers. The process was underdeveloped, incomplete and typically biased toward negativity. It went against the way I managed and always felt unnatural. In this limited scope the question was always “What do we need to fix?” as opposed to “How do we get more of the stuff that makes us great?”

In Replacing the Performance Appraisal, Ron describes strategies that are much more effective bringing out the best in people. One of these is the Key Predictive Indicator. More than just results-based measure of success (as in: “Did we hit X number in sales?”), the Key Predictive Indicator looks at the predictable behaviors that drive sustained success.

Ron echoes a reality that we can easily forget: “Human capital determines the performance capacity of any organization.” Yet we use traditional-style reviews as a “one-size-fits-all approach that impedes relevant, authentic feedback to different individuals.” Organizational change and innovation is carried out by the people thinking and working in different ways to achieve a common goal. A good leader leverages these talents. Ron makes another great point about this aspect: “Good leaders—like good coaches—design performance processes and tasks around a person’s strengths, and ignore—or make irrelevant—their weaknesses.”

I would further argue that a reliable, science-based personality assessment (such as Predictive Index®) is essential to helping build authentic baselines for identifying and understanding the measures that map directly to positive work results. By identifying the behavioral requirements of each job – requirements such as work style, pace and risk-taking – managers can more effectively pinpoint proper expectations, giving even the most novice manager an automatic baseline for performance appraisals, and a clear road map for both praise and essential conversations that will lead to performance improvement.

When strong managerial skills are paired with a reliable analytical tool, managers can be very strategic and deliberate about giving employees real, actionable feedback that will help them happily grow and positively impact the company.

How satisfied are you with your current performance appraisals? Reach out to me if you would like to continue the conversation or hear more about the role Predictive Index can play. If you are thinking to yourself, “Hmmm…not sure we have ‘good managerial judgment…’” ADVISA can help with that too. Email me or go here to learn more about our impact areas.

How to Enjoy More Good Luck in 2013

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Paul Dumouchelle

May the luck o’ the Irish be with you this St. Paddy’s Day!

While I’ve been known to rely on luck now and then (especially when it comes to weather and traveling), I prefer the maxim that you make your own luck.

Some say good luck comes from hard work and preparation – this is probably the better management principle, whether you’re Irish or not!

Many management decisions occur in situations where we don’t enjoy a lot of certainty. This is often the case with decisions about people. Predictive Index^® can help tilt the odds of luck in your direction by improving the probability that you’re going to make the right call on that new hire, promotion or coaching strategy.

ADVISA’s founder, Bob Wilson, has said that Predictive Index is all about probabilities. The probability that a person is going to act a certain way can be gleaned from their Predictive Index pattern. And our ability to predict their behavior is even greater the wider their pattern (or for those of you who paid special attention during the Predictive Index Management Workshop™ – the larger the sigma.)

If a vast majority of successful incumbents in a job have a particular high or low drive, as measured by Predictive Index, how lucky do you have to be to find a successful employee in that same role with a different pattern?

Any time you make a decision about people without a thorough consideration of the insights Predictive Index provides, you are basically counting on your judgment and luck outweighing rigorous analysis and planning.

If the old saying “it is better to be lucky than good” holds true for you, perhaps you’ll still find that pot o’ gold the leprechauns hold so dear – but I wouldn’t bet on it!

Caging Your Personal Bias

Posted on June 18, 2012 by BJ McKay

It’s 2:30 PM in a small office within a larger office building. Sharon has arrived for her interview with GPX software. She is greeted by Kathryn and Rick who will be interviewing her for the next couple of hours. The conversation is focused 100% on Sharon, her work experience, her successes and failures, and her personal outlook on the future. Then, she is permitted to ask a few questions about the firm, which she does. All parties leave the interview feeling like they accomplished something, and Sharon is to expect a call within the next few days to determine what next steps would be should she be selected for the position.

The above scenario sounds standard right? There is a big missing piece to the interview story above. Read it again. Did you see it this time? It’s the fact that GPX software is not interviewing Sharon at all; Kathryn and Rick are. Kathryn and Rick are not the company; they are human beings with their own stories, parents, siblings, friends, families, and successes and failures. Sharon is being interviewed through the personal bias of Kathryn and Rick, like it or not.

Bias is defined as: Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair. This is a part of all of us. It cannot be separated from who we are, as we have built it up over the course of our lives. It is a byproduct of the thin-slicing that we do to make sense of the world and operate in it efficiently. Bias comes from our family, our neighborhood growing up, our school, and our successes and failures. It is meant to keep us safe from potential threats in our environment.

Sharon, in this case, is not a threat in Kathryn or Rick’s environment. Or is she? Did Sharon work with or know a former colleague of Kathryn? Did she attend a rival college of Rick’s and achieve more material success than he? Is Sharon the daughter of Kathryn’s favorite teacher and mentor from college? These and many other bias’ are a major factor in the interview process, and in the social circles within a workplace. Regardless of your intelligence and experience, bias is tattooed in each of us.

How can we objectively measure and judge someone else with this type of handicap for the job?

The answer rests in proven, reliable, and valid data that is tested against these biases. A tool that can dive deeper into the invisible drives, motivations, and sources of confidence for each individual. Each of us is motivated to move toward activities, relationships, communities, and endeavors that feed our self-confidence. This can be accurately measured in minutes via proven behavioral assessment tools. The purpose of these assessments is NOT to stereotype people and let us know what they cannot do. Quite the contrary. Behavioral assessments provide us the insight to ask more relevant questions, free from our own bias. They provide us deep insight into the invisible drives that motivate us to do what we do everyday. Ultimately, when applied appropriately, they provide each of us an opportunity to do what we do best, they way we are hardwired to want to do it.

How does that sound? The next time you line up an interview, see if the company cares enough about avoiding personal bias in the hiring process by offering a behavioral assessment. If they do, pay attention to the relevance of the questions you are asked during the interview. Odds are you will walk away feeling like the process was warm and respectful of who you actually are, rather than an uncomfortable grill session or a soft chat that doesn’t bear any relevance to the job.

If you are currently using behavioral assessments to remove bias in the hiring process THANK YOU. You are ahead of the curve and should be commended for adopting best practices in the hiring process. If you have not considered behavioral assessments in your hiring process consider reaching out to me today for a complimentary assessment and professional feedback on the results.

Time to go; your job candidate, Sharon, has arrived at the front desk and she is ready for her interview.

Personality Counts: Tips to Avoid Miscommunication

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Beth Claflin

How much impact can miscommunication have on work satisfaction and employee engagement?

People tend to hear things from their own perspective. You can say the same thing to two groups of people and have one group hear what you want them to and another grumbling that you’re out to get them – while you may not have a clue that this is going on or why. After all, your communication seemed perfectly clear to you (and to those who communicate like you).

When it comes to communication in the workplace, personality counts. Understanding your employees’ communication styles and needs can help defuse impending explosions.

A personality assessment tool (like Predictive Index®) can give you this data. Knowing the personality profiles of who you are about to communicate with before doing so can allow you to craft your words to be heard in the way you intended. When you’ve had a communication problem with a specific person or group, you can look at their profile(s) prior to your next communication. The data will allow you to understand what went right and wrong. You’ll be able to communicate differently the next time to assure your words work more effectively.

If your message is going to a large group containing several job segments in your company, it likely contains all the major personality categories. To communicate with such a broad spectrum, follow these tips:

Give the facts and the plan. Detail-oriented personalities will benefit from knowing who, where, what, when and why.
Give your opinion. All personality types benefit from transparency and candor builds trust. In addition, loyal team players who seek harmony will want to follow your lead.
Take questions. Competitive, assertive, problem-solver types will benefit from the opportunity to offer their own ideas (which they may secretly believe are better).

To learn more about how personality assessments can provide better focus and outcomes for your communication efforts, contact us for a demonstration.

Doing More with Less – Fast, Good and Cheap

Posted on December 22, 2009 by Paul Dumouchelle

The weak economy is squeezing just about everybody and if you, like so many others, have to find a way to do more with less then here’s one approach to increased employee productivity that works.

During the go-go internet craze of the mid-1990’s I was involved in a software design project and that’s when I first encountered the product-design cliché: “Fast, Good or Cheap – Pick Two.” This old saying makes a lot of sense in many cases but when it comes to staff motivation your people, personality assessments can give you the ability to be all three – fast, good AND cheap.

You can do this by RECOGNIZING YOUR PEOPLE’S CONTRIBUTION in a way that best matches their personality.

Recognition is fast – you can start immediately and do it any day at any time.

Recognition is good – when done right, people respond extremely positively to recognition, it energizes them and brings out their best efforts.

Recognition is cheap – once you have access to a personality assessment its use within your organization doesn’t cost an extra dime. It does take some time and effort to do it well, but, with practice, the effort will decrease and the impact will grow.

A personality assessment can give you the ability to know which of the following approaches will work best for engaging employees:

Team Recognition
Recognition for selfless team approach to work
Recognition for their own ideas
Recognition for winning in any form of competition
Private, one-on-one recognition
Recognition for technical or intellectual achievements
Personal, public praise
Social acceptance (about appearance, personality)
Recognition involving symbols of prestige or status
Recognition for seniority and/or loyalty
Recognition as “belonging” to a group or team
Recognition for depth of knowledge
Recognition for error-free work

Please contact me to learn more about how this could work for you.

You did not hear what I said

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Todd Gross

Communication: A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system symbols, signs, or behavior.

- Merriam-Webster

In my position I help clients work through communication issues on what seems to be a daily basis. It might be the most frequent issue I help clients get their arms around. It is usually not that people fail to talk to each other. The issue is generally that somewhere between my lips and your ears the message changed. You did not hear what I said!

At ADVISA we use a personality assessment, Predictive Index®, in employee development programs to teach more effective communication skills. People do have preferred methods of communications based upon personality preferences. What personality assessments can allow you to understand is the differing communications styles. Once you understand the differences and the preferred method of your audience, you can alter your style to more effectively connect with your audience. A subtle change can be the difference between talking and effectively communicating. Communication does not happen until your audience has heard you in a way aligned with your intent. Otherwise you are just talking.

Work Satisfaction and Personality – My Favorite Things about Consulting

Posted on December 4, 2009 by Paul Dumouchelle

If only I could sing – I’d set this to the music from “The Sound of Music” song, “My Favorite Things.” I cannot sing, however, and consulting has little to do with “raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.”

My confidence in recommending how to motivate employees and implement employee retention ideas comes from my personal experience of how my personality meshes with characteristics of my job.

What I like best about being a management consultant is the variety involved with the job. The challenges vary from supporting roles with middle managers in large global corporations to being a trusted advisor to CEO’s in smaller businesses. The location of the work varies continuously; I am never in the same place for more than a few days. The industries in which I work include services and manufacturing, health care and chemicals, banks and scientific research.

This preference for variety is consistent with my personality and this kind of career pathing alignment is a core part of my recommendations with clients.

More than anything, though, the thrill of the job is in the people I meet. I’m constantly meeting new people as well as re-connecting with old acquaintances.

On occasion, the travel involved in my work is a joy, but it can also be the worst part of it, depending on the destination, mode of travel, season and the weather. The travel is, in reality, a mixed bag, at best.

Driving to Better Sales Team Training & Matching People to Work

Posted on November 25, 2009 by Paul Dumouchelle

A key element of our approach to sales training coaching involves using a personality assessment test and career pathing.

The Matching People to Work process includes:

Establishing a behavioral target for the “ideal” performer in the sales job.
Validating our behavioral target with actual individual performance results.
Identifying individuals’ behavior patterns with a personality assessment.
Comparing the individual to the target.

A personality assessment test and system can provide a proven process for matching people to work.

We typically begin with a theoretical behavioral target of an “ideal” performer for the sales job based on the Job Description and management judgment.

This target is summarized in a variety of ways, including key behavior characteristics such as:

Selling Communication Style
Attention to Detail
Risk Orientation
Drive for Goal Attainment
Self Confidence Level

I use individuals’ personality assessment results to match the person to the job target and to build a sales team and the proper direction for sales team training and subsequent coaching efforts.

When developing coaching plans, keep in mind both the target and an individual’s personality pattern to fully leverage the insights gained.

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