Tag Archive for: pre-hire assessment

The Weak Link in Predicting Private Equity Investment Success

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Talent decision analytics pay off across every business metric!

weaklinkbusinessclimberNo industry is more disciplined in analyzing data relevant to investments than are Private Equity firms. Their financial, operational and market analyses are comprehensive and rigorous to ensure the best investment decisions for their investors and portfolio companies.

On the other hand, evaluation of leadership, organization and culture is subjective at best. While many case studies demonstrate that the health of an organization’s culture and quality of leadership are top predictors of success, measuring those critical factors has been more an art than a science. In fact, recent McKinsey research found that investors have attributed 65% of portfolio company failures to people and organizational issues. 1 Having a sound succession plan and the right team in place for ongoing success has been a top priority for global organizations for many years. This advice is equally vital for PE firms. Yet, measuring leadership fit and cultural health has been the weak link in predicting success for Private Equity investments!
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Disney

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Talent Management Matters!

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Remember the Sorcerer’s Apprentice in the award-winning 1940 Disney film Fantasia that has captivated audiences ever since?  Mickey Mouse played the role of the apprentice whose task was to keep a water reservoir filled by carrying buckets of water from a fountain up an arduous stairway.  While watching the Sorcerer perform his magic, Mickey got the brilliant idea of creating his own sorcery.  When the Sorcerer left for a rest, Mickey donned the Sorcerer’s hat and cast a spell over a broom that sprouted arms and at Mickey’s instruction began to carry water to the reservoir.  The scheme was working so well that Mickey took a nap while the broom continued its labor.
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Disney

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Talent Management Matters!

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Remember the Sorcerer’s Apprentice in the award-winning 1940 Disney film Fantasia that has captivated audiences ever since?  Mickey Mouse played the role of the apprentice whose task was to keep a water reservoir filled by carrying buckets of water from a fountain up an arduous stairway.  While watching the Sorcerer perform his magic, Mickey got the brilliant idea of creating his own sorcery.  When the Sorcerer left for a rest, Mickey donned the Sorcerer’s hat and cast a spell over a broom that sprouted arms and at Mickey’s instruction began to carry water to the reservoir.  The scheme was working so well that Mickey took a nap while the broom continued its labor.
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The Weak Link in Predicting Private Equity Investment Success

/in , , , , , , , /by

Talent decision analytics pay off across every business metric!

weaklinkbusinessclimberNo industry is more disciplined in analyzing data relevant to investments than are Private Equity firms. Their financial, operational and market analyses are comprehensive and rigorous to ensure the best investment decisions for their investors and portfolio companies.

On the other hand, evaluation of leadership, organization and culture is subjective at best. While many case studies demonstrate that the health of an organization’s culture and quality of leadership are top predictors of success, measuring those critical factors has been more an art than a science. Korn Ferry’s July, 2016 Briefings includes the article, Why Boards Make Bad Decisions, which emphasizes the importance of having a sound succession plan and the right team in place for ongoing success. This advice is equally vital for PE firms. Yet, measuring leadership fit and cultural health has been the weak link in predicting success for Private Equity investments!
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The Weak Link in Predicting Business Success

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Talent decision analytics pay off across every business metric!

weaklinkbusinessclimberBy Sheryl Dawson, CEO Dawson Consulting Group

No function is more disciplined in analyzing data relevant to business success than business development. Their financial, operational and market analyses are comprehensive and rigorous to ensure the best investment decisions for their investors. On the other hand, evaluation of leadership, organization and culture is subjective at best.

While many case studies demonstrate that the health of an organization’s culture and quality of leadership are top predictors of success, measuring those critical factors has been more an art than a science. Korn Ferry’s July, 2016 Briefings includes the article, Why Boards Make Bad Decisions, which emphasizes the importance of having a sound succession plan and the right team in place for ongoing success. Yet, measuring leadership fit and cultural health has been the weak link in predicting success for businesses across industries!
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New Tech to Manage Hiring

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They say data is king. He who gathers and uses the data the best wins, no matter what the goal. So if your goal is to hire the best suited person for the job, are you optimizing your data?

For the last twenty years, the HR solutions for hiring used slow, inefficient processes to choose the right job candidates. Other departments, such as bookkeeping, sales and customer service evolved from using static, standalone contact systems to more sophisticated automatic systems. These new systems cut down on tedious entry work and added efficiencies and greater performance. They free up labor to perform more personal and human tasks allowing for better customer and prospect engagement and tighter financial performance.

Yet, HR talent acquisition remained limited to software filled with old data that required manual updating and was difficult to use. Time and space were being taken up with paper application or slow digital storing and sorting processes. With these systems, 80 percent of a recruiter’s time was typically spent performing low-level mindless tasks.

However, hiring and development of good talent is getting a boost from more sophisticated data management. Forward thinking companies are now utilizing more sophisticated software systems that use data science and predictive analytics to alleviate the menial work.

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Do You Have a Drama King/Queen ?

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Drama Queen

Do you have a Drama King or Queen? You know the type….

Characteristics: Wants the whole world to know what’s happening in their lives and ever ready to share openly the ups and downs of their all too public soap operas.

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You are not a Style, YOU are Unique!

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Who does not enjoy taking behavioral personality assessments to better understand themselves? We are infinitely interested in who we are, how we interact with others and just what makes us tick! The problem is, most assessments measure a very narrow set of traits. Many common psychological and behavioral assessments look primarily at personality traits. For instance, Myers Briggs and DISC are widely used to measure personality styles. Imagine of the 6+ billion people in the world, you are one of 16 Myers Briggs styles! So what exactly does that make you — 1 in 375,000,000? No, YOU are unique! To appreciate just how unique you are, view this powerful video and be encouraged: You are Unique
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Incessant Complainers

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incessant complainer

Incessant Complainers. Do you have this type of employee in your organization?

Characteristics: Non-stop complaining about the company, the working environment, colleagues and customers; does not see problems as opportunities to improve a situation. Complains about things but walks away when called to take up the challenge to change things for better.

Traits to look out for: Low willingness to take up challenges. Has a very strong mindset of what things “ought to be”. Low or moderate technical competencies to perform the job and has a weak desire to improve oneself by taking the necessary actions to learn new skills and adopt a mindset shift to address issues constructively.
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Just DO it!

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just do it

“I HATE my work!” How successful do you think someone will be at a job who says this? “I don’t care if you hate it, just do it”. How long will this company be operating if this is the most often said comment from the team leader?

The Harrison Assessment’s Paradox Theory predicates that performance and enjoyment are closely linked, because when one enjoys doing something in particular, one tends to do it more willingly and often. This in turn makes one very competent in that task and thereby makes one an effective exponent of that particular job. Workers who have a great time doing whatever it is that captivates them, will be effective performers and ultimately add to the company’s success rate!

The key is to find what turns on a particular worker and provide an environment where this is readily found and you’ll have a recipe for employee success for sure!

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The Verbal Caustic

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verbal caustic

The Verbal Caustic- another Toxic Employee

Almost every organization has experienced some form or another of a Toxic Employee; someone who, whether consciously or subconsciously, disrupts or hinders the advancement of productivity in the workplace.

Also known as “walking liabilities”, they say things and they do things that make them a huge liability. Just because you haven’t been sued for it doesn’t mean they aren’t walking around creating liability for you.

One of those types is the VERBAL CAUSTIC.

Characteristics: Steps on others without even realizing it; blunt and caustic; laser-tongued. Thinks he/she is just being honest, does not know when he/she hurts others’ feelings or doesn’t sufficiently consider others needs while pushing for his/her own (this is certainly not always the case and is less likely).

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Mini Napoleon

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Napoleon Cartoon

Do you have a Mini Napoleon employee in your midst?

Almost every organization has experienced some form or another of a Toxic Employee; someone who, whether consciously or subconsciously, disrupts or hinders the advancement of productivity in the workplace.

Also known as “walking liabilities”, they say things and they do things that make them a huge liability. Just because you haven’t been sued for it doesn’t mean they aren’t walking around creating liability for you. One type of toxic employee is the “Mini Napoleon”.

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Suitability and Eligibility- The Win Win Candidate

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Winning CandidateSuitability AND Eligibility.. The winning combination in HR that can help you find the win/win candidate.

Choosing the best candidate to recruit and hire is not an easy task. However, hiring right the first time can save you a lot of time and your company a lot of money. Today forward thinking companies are using HSM’s and new tools to choose the best candidates. A successful HR manager will use tools that focus on both “suitability AND eligibility” to attract and retain good candidates.

Some recruiters make the mistake of hiring people only for their qualifications, resulting in bad hires related to behavioral weaknesses.

Other recruiters make the mistake of over-emphasizing behavioral factors by eliminating people only on the basis of their behavioral assessments. Sometimes they even unfairly eliminate candidates based on a single behavioral factor. Behavioral assessments should be part of the overall assessment that includes qualifications such as experience, education, and skills. That’s why the Harrison system provides a unique eligibility assessment that complements the suitability assessment, providing an overall score for better hiring and succession planning.

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Emotional Moody

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emotional moody

Do you have an “Emotionally Moody” type person working for you?

Almost every organization today has experienced a “Bad Apple” employee; someone who, whether consciously or subconsciously, disrupts or hinders the advancement of productivity in the workplace. One type of bad apple is the “Emotionally Moody”.

Characteristics: Temperamental and goes through mood swings; difficult to predict the best time to communicate with such employees. Appears distant and can be rather cold towards others; unable to control emotions and finds it diffcult to maintain self-composure.

Traits to look out for: Introverted, low self-esteem, easily tensed and poor stress management techniques, intolerant to bluntness, pessimistic, weak in interpersonal skills and display low comfort with conflict.

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Zealous Extremist

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zealous extremist

Do you have a Zealous Extremist working for you?

Characteristics: Strong personal values and life principles; completely passionate and committed to his own belief system. Can be overzealous in preaching or influencing others towards one’s belief system.

Traits to look out for: High influencing power, highly cause-motivated, highly certain and enjoys teaching and/or making presentations.

Negative side: Can either work with the organization or against the organization, depending on whether their values are aligned or different.

How to assess when you hire: If the interviewer finds the above tendencies through profiling, it is critical to takes the time to fully explore the individual’s values as well as the alignment with the organization’s value and direction.

You may even have a “Zealous Extremist” as an employee.
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Robo Advising HR

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Robo Advising HRCylon Centurion
Robo Advising HR

Algorithms seem to be the hot topic and “Robo Advising” is one of the newest fads. Algorithms are used for predicting everything from the weather, sports, economic indicators, and financial data to who is the best person to date? Trying to predict behavior is nothing new, people in ancient times used oracles, fortune tellers and crystal balls. Today’s technology uses algorithms and the new age of “robo advising” has begun.

According to dictionary.com an Algorithm is: a set of rules for solving a problem in a finite number of steps, as for finding the greatest common divisor.

Even though Algorithm’s are sometimes used in place of a human being, hence the term “robo advisor”, they are ultimately just a very powerful tool that needs to be used with care by human beings in order to accurately predict successful outcomes.

So is there a Robo Advising HR that can choose the right person to hire?

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Missing a Step in the Hiring Process

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missing a step in hiring process

Missing a Step in the Hiring Process

You place an opening on a job board to find the professional employee. This is considered time and money well spent since the position you are filling takes skill and requires a substantial amount of training and investment.

But what do you do with the applicants? How do you know from the resume and their references that they are the right fit for your job? Many past employers are afraid of the legal ramifications of indicating that a person did not work out in the job. Or, they may have an incentive to have you take this bad hire off their hands so they may stretch the truth in order to push the exit.

One of the next steps is typically to choose the top 5-10 and then interview. However, you are “missing a step” in the process.
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A Good Weapon to Use in the War for Talent

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War for Talent

A Good Weapon to Use in the War for Talent

Companies today are constantly in a war for talent. Identifying the right targets and having the ability to capture them is essential to winning. We are looking for the innovative leaders of tomorrow and the competition is stiff.

Gone are the days of high unemployment and applicants banging down your door just to get an application. Job boards and matching sites are furiously searching for qualified candidates to post their resumes. Companies are competing against each other to find and attract good candidates.

It is imperative for hiring managers and recruiters to fully understand what truly appeals to the candidates in order to attract and retain the best people.
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The Best Kept Secret in Talent Management!

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bestKeptSecret

Harrison Assessments

Is improving engagement and retention a top priority in your organization? An analytics system that facilitates better hiring and promotion decisions at every level and enables leaders to more effectively onboard, coach and mentor their employees can dramatically impact your results. At the same time, preparing your talent to advance requires effective behavioral assessment. The best kept secret in talent management is that now one system can meet each of these crucial needs!
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Suitability and Hiring Selection Success

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suitability and hiring selection success

Suitability and Hiring Selection Success

For most jobs, suitability/behavioral factors are about 50% of the reason people succeed or fail at a job. Therefore, effectively measuring suitability should be an essential part of any job fit or hiring assessment. The importance of assessing behavior during recruitment is evidenced by the fact that most organizations hire people for their eligibility and then try to develop their suitability. And in many cases, they fire them for their lack of suitability. Since behavior is fundamentally more difficult to change than eligibility, it is better to hire people who already have the right suitability for the job.

Suitability/behavioral factors are more difficult to assess because, unlike eligibility factors, there is no objective and verifiable information that is readily available. In addition, suitability factors are much more interrelated, and subtle balances between factors have significant implications for behavior. To make it even more challenging, applicants have a significant incentive to withhold or distort information that might hinder their job opportunity. This is highlighted by a recent study that determined that 80% of resumes contained lies.

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