Windridge - Identify. Develop. Retain.

It's a jungle out there

May 20th 2008
From Economist.com

What the downturn means for managing talent: a headhunter's point of view

In the face of a downturn, is the question now facing business—particularly financial services—how to get rid of talent, rather than how best to retain it? And what of the talent itself? After years of calling the tune, does it now find itself in a buyer's market?

We interviewed Brian Sullivan, the New York-based boss of CTPartners, an executive-search firm, named by Business Week as one of the world's most influential headhunters, in London recently. That times are getting hard is beyond dispute, he agrees, which would seem to work against the talent. However, it is also a good time for CEOs to rethink their approach to human capital—these days, their primary area of responsibility—so they can devote energies to knowing who can be dispensed with and who it is best to retain.
Listen to the audio (17:13 mins | 7.8MB)

Remember, it's always a wise strategy to know your workforce....

Supervisor and Above Assessment

I always recommend using the Winslow Behavioral Assessment (24 trait) for any Supervisor or above position being filled. This recommendation applies to both external candidate(s) or internal employee(s) who are moving up.

The level of feedback in this performance based behavioral assessment  provides key insights and the ability to better identify whether the candidate will be able to perform under the scope of responsibility required for success in these upper level positions.

I was pleased to see this important assessment concept discussed by Charles Handler and Mark C. Healy on the ERExchange today.

"There are some key differences between successful assessment for managerial and executive-level positions (versus the assessing that is done for hourly workers):

* Managerial jobs require a slate of skills that are not often required for success at simpler jobs. These include things like leadership, business acumen, managing performance, strategic decision-making, conflict resolution, etc.

* A mistake at this level of hiring can be much more costly than for an hourly hire, mostly because managers are responsible for potentially hundreds of people and millions in both costs and revenue acquisition.

* Managerial hiring has a tighter integration with ongoing developmental strategy and activities as organizations look to maximize their investment in an individual by understanding and developing potential from within.

* There is a broad range of job complexity once you hit supervisory levels. The selection process for a front-line leader can differ vastly from that used for executive roles. Executives often complete day-long assessment centers while first-level supervisors are more likely to be presented with a simple in-basket or situational judgment exercise, which is scored automatically.

* Feedback becomes a more integral part of the assessment process. Pre-employment assessment for hourly jobs almost never provides candidates with any feedback at all.

* When making promotional or hiring decisions about managers, assessment requires a "whole is greater than the sum of its parts" approach. Trained assessors (often both external and internal members of the organization) make ratings based on a variety of data."

Your Onboarding Program Needs a Pair of Fresh Eyes

Six action items for better onboarding
Thursday, May 15, 2008 | by David Lee

Do you know the impact your onboarding program has on your new employees, moment-of-truth by moment-of-truth?

Do you know what it's like to experience your company as an employee on the first day of work? The first week? What about the week prior to that first day?

What about when your new employees meet their supervisor and their teammates? Are you managing that experience in a way that produces an excited, engaged employee? Or for new employees at your company, is it more like buyer's remorse?

Read Full Article

Manufacturing’s “Make or Break” Moment

This is an interesting article by Kaj Grichnik and Conrad Winkler

5/08/08
Reshaping global manufacturing.

Manufacturing is at a crossroads. In one sense, there have never been better prospects for the makers of products than there are right now. Innovation is rampant; capital is available; technological changes have enabled new materials and manufacturing processes; and the global standard of living is steadily improving, enabling billions of consumers to buy new and existing products.

Full Report

Speed of Trust, Stephen M.R. Covey Phone Call

Free CoveyLink Conference Call
with Stephen M. R. Covey on
Tuesday, May 13th at 11 a.m. MDT
(10a PDT/ 12p CDT/ 1p EDT/ 5p GMT)

When the going gets tough, projects, money, and jobs gravitate to the high, "go to" performers that are trusted. As Christ Anderson, author of The Long Tail and Editor-in-Chief of WIRED magazine, stated in his interview with Stephen M. R. Covey: "Money was the currency of the old economy; Trust is the currency of the new, global economy."

Ask Covey how high trust can recession-proof your team and
organizational execution.

To sign up click here: http://www.coveylink.com/events-and-resources/freeconference_call.php

Thought for the day.....

Hire the best people, trust them, and then get out of their way and let them do what you brought them onboard to do!

Candidate Selecton and Assessment Usage

Here's a very brief summary of the results from the 5th Annual Rocket-Hire Online Screening and Assessment Usage Survey - Article and research by Charles Handler and Mark C. Healy

Effectiveness of Screening and Assessment Tools
This year, 65% of prescreen users and 77% of assessment users felt their tools added value to their organization. In contrast, a full 21% of prescreen users and 10% of assessment users felt these tools did not add value. Users of metrics to evaluate their assessment results tend to report success with prescreening and assessment use.

This year's results let us know what's really going on, and it confirmed what most of our previous surveys have found:

• Having an ATS installed is now nothing particularly innovative, especially if you work in a medium or large organization. For some, it's hard to even imagine the old stacks of resumes and bulging file folders of applicant information.
• Prescreening and assessment are continuing their gradual penetration into the mainstream of recruitment and hiring.
• Qualifications screening, personality inventories, and skill and technical certifications continue to be the most popular online assessment tools. Assessments of cognitive abilities as well as fit with the company culture have expanded their footprint as well.
• Respondents report a lack of understanding, weak budgets, or a general lack of support for online tools as their primary obstacles to adoption or greater use of modern prescreening and assessment technology.
• Those organizations that formally evaluate their hiring practices tend to support the use of prescreening and assessment, but a large number of organizations are still failing to evaluate the effectiveness of their screening and assessment tools.

There clearly is a growing interest in scientifically derived hiring tools. This trend is encouraging but not particularly surprising; these numbers will continue to grow as more organizations understand the value in properly evaluating the impact of screening and assessment tools, seeing for themselves how quality hiring tools can improve a workforce.

*** As in all things communication is of the utmost importance. Make sure you communicate with your assessment provider specific organizational needs and that you receive adequate feedback on assessment results. This will enable you to more effectively use the information you are gathering.

For more information on Rocket-Hire's online screening and assessment usage survey, read the entire report at  http://www.ere.net/articles/db/150E39E8923D40A2948D5C88522DB068.asp

Trust is an Economic Driver

A great conference call this morning with Stephen M.R. Covey on the Speed of Trust ....

This is a powerful concept: Trust = Speed = Results. In other words trust is directly tied to the economics of an organization’s performance and desired outcomes. It is not simply a soft concept of personal development but a very real and validated fact that when trust is present in an organization, costs go down....it’s that simple.

Two key enablers/behaviors for building trust
(dependent on your personal strengths and/or weaknesses and the circumstances)

1) Create transparency – openness, honesty, letting people see, truth that can be validated

2) Keep commitments – number 1 builder of trust
(Example)
• This is what we talked about
• Here’s what I commit to do
• and following up with, Here’s what I have done

To find out about these calls put on by Covey Link and held randomly at no cost, send me an e-mail and I’ll notify you when and where to register....

The High Cost of Low Trust

1. Redundancy
2. Bureaucracy
3. Office Politics
4. Disengagement
5. Turnover
6. Customer churn
7. Fraud

Any of the above seem uncomfortably familiar?

To begin the process for change:
* consider the impact that trust has on your workforce
* learn to speak to and about others in a way that increases trust
* and always try to behave in ways that inspire trust

Are You Hiring Future Champions or Future Saboteurs? by Jon Kaupla

This article provides great food for thought around our interview practices .... Thanks Jon!

Six effective practices

3/25/2008 | by Jon Kaupla

about the author

Jon Kaupla

Director - BrandConnect

Core Creative, Inc.

email | bio

Each time we interview a prospective employee, we not only question the recruit, we question ourselves. Am I talking to a candidate who would become an asset to the company? This candidate looks good on paper and is in a best-behavior mode, but will he or she be a good match to support our organization's goals? Or is this a potential company saboteur?

As recruiters, we have the daunting job of selecting employees who can deliver what an organization defines as its on-brand activity. We want to avoid an employee who doesn't fit in, who will be unproductive, criticize management, provide substandard service, or undermine a company's internal culture and its promise to its clients. These are traits we've identified as workplace "sabotage."

If you think the word "saboteur" overstates the situation, consider the potential damage a saboteur can inflict on your organization: squandered recruitment costs, decrease in productivity, harm to company reputation, inadequate customer service, and negative workplace morale. Ultimately, these behaviors also chip away at your bottom line.

Distinguish Champions from Saboteurs During the Interview Process

Employees play a critical role in the success of the company by carrying out its values and establishing a culture of engagement and success. So we need to communicate to recruits what will be expected of them and, most critical, identify the characteristics we're looking for and weed out potential saboteurs.

Each organization calls for a different set of behaviors and personality traits. Identifying these behaviors (and recognizing the absence of these traits) in the recruits we interview is a weighty challenge, but I've found the following practices to be effective:

Read Jon's Six Effective Practices at http://www.ere.net/articles/db/1C084E18DF8F496DA512ABA8A3E8D81D.asp