| How many times have you heard or read, "Our | | | | categories: skills (capabilities that can be transferred, or |
| employees are our greatest asset"?What are the | | | | taught, from one person to another), knowledge (things |
| chances of any company surviving if it cannot find the | | | | a person is aware of, and can also be taught), and |
| right employees - or find enough of them? In 2003 | | | | talents (recurring patterns of thought, feeling or |
| Roger Herman, Tom Olivio, and Joyce Gioia wrote in | | | | behavior). This last category - talents - are |
| Impending Crisis that by the year 2010 the U.S. | | | | either gifts bestowed at birth or developed before we |
| economy will support 10 million more jobs than there | | | | reach adulthood, and can rarely be significantly |
| will be people in the work force to fill | | | | changed after a person matures- To best understand |
| them.This future scenario could make the late 1990's | | | | the talents that are most important in those occupying |
| volatile job market look like it was relatively stable | | | | specific roles in your company, you should start by |
| compared to what we may soon experience.Is your | | | | looking at the current top performers in those rolesJim |
| company currently at risk of finding enough good | | | | Collins wrote Good to Great in 2001, explaining through |
| people? Can you predict whether or not your top | | | | another extensive research project why some |
| employees are planning to leave? In this era of | | | | companies turned out to be truly great, while other |
| information on demand, drastically changing work | | | | companies who faced similar circumstances did not. |
| environments and workforces, and employees that | | | | One of his startling conclusions was that, "The old |
| bring a tremendous network of resources with them | | | | adage 'People are your most important asset' turns |
| to work every single day (and also take those same | | | | out to be wrong. People are not your most important |
| resources home with them at night), wouldn't it be | | | | asset. The right |
| good to know how you are really doing in the war for | | | | people are." His chapter 3, First Who, Then What, |
| talent?Peter Drucker states that, "66% of your new | | | | made many leaders stop and think about how they |
| hires will turn out to be mistakes within the first 12 | | | | build their teams around themselves.In 2002 Lou Adler |
| months", yet most companies continue business as | | | | released a revised version of his 1998 book Hire With |
| usual as it pertains to employee selection, development | | | | Your Head. In it, Adler reviews a plethora of hiring |
| and retention. Most companies are constantly looking | | | | practices and why some methods work better than |
| to hire more productive employees, but most don't | | | | others in building great companies. In his chapter about |
| know the best place to start, as evidenced below:- | | | | what to do after the first interview, Alder recommends |
| Most companies do not use any type of assessment | | | | using tools that have |
| tool prior to making an offer- Of the companies that | | | | the ability to measure not only personality, but also |
| use assessment instruments, most use tools that | | | | cognitive skills and interests, and concurred with |
| focus only on personality traits- Many of the | | | | Buckingham and Coffman in saying that these tools |
| personality style tools were not created for business | | | | should also be able to benchmark your company's top |
| use - they were intended to help identify deviant | | | | performers in a specific job function.Also in 2002, Rick |
| behaviors- Many of the most commonly used | | | | Warren wrote a best-seller called The Purpose Driven |
| personality assessments have reliability scores that | | | | Life, in which he describes why people are better at |
| are below the recommended minimums set by The | | | | some things compared to others. Warren was not |
| Association of Testing Professionals and some are | | | | attempting to explain success from a business |
| not intended for use as predictive tools- Research on | | | | perspective like the other authors listed above, and he |
| over 85 years of assessment history indicates that | | | | used slightly different terminology. But there are many |
| general mental ability (i.e., how a person processes | | | | obvious similarities in Warren's SHAPE framework for |
| information) has the highest validity in predicting future | | | | what |
| job success of any single characteristic measuredThe | | | | people should understand in choosing their vocations |
| Best Selling Authors Say the Same ThingsSeveral | | | | compared to frameworks suggested by the other |
| best-selling authors over the recent years have boldly | | | | authors.S = Spiritual Gifts, abilities for serving God given |
| suggested where companies and individuals should be | | | | only to believersH = Heart, your desires, hopes, |
| moving in terms of helping people find their right niche in | | | | interests, dreams and affectionsA = Abilities, natural |
| the world. It doesn't matter whether you are coming | | | | talents you were born withP = Personality, behavioral |
| from the individual's or the company's perspective, the | | | | characteristics that make us all uniqueE = Experience, |
| results and conclusions are all the same.All of the | | | | or what we have been exposed toCompanies look at |
| authors listed below agree that the best way to | | | | this information and usually think one of three things:- |
| maximize productivity is to match people's gifts, abilities | | | | We're doing O.K., we don't need to change our |
| and interests to the jobs you ask them to do. An | | | | selection or retention practices- We probably could do |
| employee who is a good match for his/her role will be | | | | better in these areas, but it would cost too much- We |
| more productive, make more money for themselves | | | | don't have the time to add this to our current |
| and the company, and stay longer than one who is not | | | | processesPeopleRight was founded in 2002 to help |
| a good match for their role. This sounds simple -- like | | | | companies make more intelligent decisions in selecting, |
| good old common sense, but we all know common | | | | developing and retaining great employees. We show |
| sense is not all that common.In 1999 Marcus | | | | companies how they can take advantage of the latest |
| Buckingham and Curt Coffman wrote First, Break All | | | | research and technology in the assessment industry |
| the Rules. The book was based on data collected by | | | | without breaking the bank or extending the selection |
| the Gallup Organization from over one million | | | | process.Our services normally cost less than the cost |
| employees and 80,000 managers. Some of the | | | | of one bad hire, and we are happy to measure our |
| conclusions drawn from this research included:- Great | | | | results to continue to earn your business. Over 95% of |
| managers do NOT believe that, with enough training, a | | | | our clients have asked us back to do additional work |
| person can achieve anything he sets his mind to- | | | | after our first project. |
| Human behavior can be divided into three distinct | | | | |