Welcome to the December 19, 2007 issue of The Total View
Published by Success Performance Solutions, Written by Ira S. Wolfe
Visit our Human Resources Blog and Perfect Labor Storm Blog where we can post daily (and more often) human resource updates, news, and Perfect Labor Storm facts.
What's Inside this issue of The TotalView:
1. A Diligent Aproach for Detecting Detail Orientation
2. Perfect Labor Storm Warnings
3. Assess Expert System for Management and Leadership
4. Workplace ethics in crisis: SPS offers 3 solutions
5. Speaking Schedule
6. Quotes from the Hire Authorities
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Happy Holidays and Happy New Year
This Total View issue is my 50th and final one for the year. I hope you've enjoyed reading it each week. The next issue will arrive in your mailbox on January 2, 2008. On behalf of everyone at Success Performance Solutions, we wish you, your employees, and your families a very happy holiday season and prosperous, healthy New Year. We look forward to working with you in 2008. |
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| 1. A Diligent Approach for Detecting Detail Orientation
One of the most common attributes we are asked to assess is detail orientation. Managers describe this in many ways. Some feel it is a behavior. Others point to attention-to-detail as a skill.
Many publishers purport to predict how well a candidate or employee pays attention to details - dotting the I's and crossing the T's. But as important as this trait is for certain jobs, it is much too simplistic to think that a single scale on any assessment can predict such an encompassing outcome. What managers really want to know is: will the end product or service be delivered free-of-errors and on-time. For some employees, this means no more or no less than a letter or email is grammatically correct with no spelling or formatting errors. For customer service, this might mean that a customer's complaint is addressed according to procedures and the customer is called back when you say you are going to call. For operations, it might mean that products are produced with a minimum of waste, to specification, and delivered to the right location on-time.
Many managers as well as consultants believe the C (Compliance or Conscientious) scale of the DISC behavioral style assessments is a good predictor of detail orientation. This is only partially true - and that's not good enough when it comes to hiring compliance managers, auditors, researchers, crime investigators, engineers, accountants, surgeons and so on. DISC as I've reported before is an excellent predictor of observable behavior. But just because an employee appears to be going through the motions does not mean he or she has the skill, motivation or resilience to produce a product or deliver a service error-free.
That deficit led me to pursue another means of assessing attributes like attention to detail. I discovered the ASSESS system a few years ago. As managers and hiring professionals like you demanded more predictive evaluations for hiring and promotion, I added it to our portfolio. One of the key reasons I selected ASSESS was the "attention to details" scale. While highly accurate and reliable, a candidate's results often conflicted with the DISC results. Occasionally ASSESS reported the candidate had a propensity for details but the behavioral style indicated otherwise - and vice verse. On the surface this difference appears contradictory. In reality, both assessments are correct. An individual can have a propensity for details but be a non-conformist - the results might be correct but the means he used to get them may be non-conventional. In some organizations and industries, creative approaches are acceptable; in others, deviation from established procedures is heresy. The "perfect" match then requires an understanding of an individual's propensity for details as well as the behavioral approach. Relying on one assessment alone will not provide the most predictive result.
What I also discovered in ASSESS is that several other traits impact how "detailed" an employee might be. A lack of abilities - knowledge and cognitive skills - can cause a hard-working, committed, and highly motivated employee to make mistakes. A lack of motivation could lead a very smart and capable individual to avoid proofing an important document or double-checking the work of an associate. And what about the employee who loves the analysis and numbers crunching but has a tendency to overload his plate and fails to complete tasks and projects.
The information he prepares may be accurate - but incomplete or late. I mentioned earlier that patience may impact attention to details. The individual with a short fuse and low frustration tolerance may give up too quickly when confronted by a complex or ambiguous situation.
Hopefully you'll agree: defining attributes like attention to detail is more complex than some people admit but very manageable and predictable when you use the right assessments.
Every one of the traits mentioned above is measurable through a combination of assessments: ASSESS, Business Values and Motivators, and CriteriaOne DISC. We differentiate and pride ourselves on our unique ability to blend and integrate multiple assessments in helping our clients predict core competencies and key attributes. We call this the Whole Person Approach. Please call us at 800.803.4303 to learn more or reply to this email. |
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2. Perfect Labor Storm Warnings 
Every day I receive dozens of stories highlighting
another shortage of workers. Each week I'll post
one or two of the more interesting ones. This week's
post is:
"Only 14 percent of respondents believe their workforces are very capable of adapting to change."
"75 percent of respondents cite their inability to develop future leaders as a critical issue."
Source: Unlocking the DNA of the Adaptable Workforce: The Global Human Capital Study 2008 (IBM)
Read more about other causes of skilled worker shortages in the NEW Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions)
Now on Sale! Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions)
Order today and save 25%.
NEW Chapters! Generational Conflicts in the Workplace, Managing the Future Workforce, Attracting Young Employees in a Seller's Job Market plus hundreds of new facts, trends and stats.
View Table of Contents
Save 25% off retail by ordering now.
Hard Cover: $29.99 Soft Cover: $19.99
Your Price: $22.49 Your Price: $14.99
To order Perfect Labor Storm 2.0, call 800.803.4303. Discounts for orders of 10 or more. Specify hard or soft cover.
3.
Assess Expert System for Management and Leadership
Assess Expert System is a premier psychometic employee evaluation tool that will take the guesswork out of hiring and promoting key employees. A state of the art web-based system, ASSESS produces job specific reports linking key personality traits to managerial and executives competencies. Every selection report comes with a customized behavioral interview guide and every development report
includes performance improvements tools and tips customized to the employee, based on his/her responses.
ASSESS Expert System assists management in the selection of outside candidates and in the promotion, placement or development of internal managers, supervisors and professionals. The assessments provided are industry-standard, and each item has been carefully validated and documented.
Click here for more information about ASSESS.
4. Workplace ethics in crisis: SPS offers 3 solutions.
Candid Clues™ is the perfect hiring tool for hourly and entry-level positions when positive work attitude, integrity, frustration tolerance or dependability are mission critical. Behavioral interview questions included with every report.
E-Net Hire enables any hiring authority, from any location, to administer an overt integrity assessment that has been custom-tailored for that particular position, and to receive the results instantly. Through the use of these assessments in position profiling, the likelihood of matching candidates to the position and creating an effective development strategy is enhanced.
SELECT® Associate System is a pre-employment screening tool to identify work-related behaviors such as Positive Service Attitude, Accountability, Frustration Tolerance, Acceptance of Diversity, Multi-tasking and more, plus a Validity Check and Integrity Index.
5. Speaking Schedule: Ira S Wolfe
2008:
January 21 - Institute of Management Consultants (Dallas, TX) - Workforce
Trends That Change The Way You Will Do Business
January 22 - Optimance (Dallas, TX) - Workforce Trends That Change The Way
You Will Do Business
March 4 - Hiring Right is Not Kid's Play: Fitting the Right Pegs in the Right Holes
Business Solutions "On the Road" Harrisburg Regional Chamber.
Location TBA
October 2008 - American Staffing Association Annual Meeting - Workforce
Trends That Change The Way You Will Do Business
Call 717.291.4640 to schedule Ira for your next meeting or conference.
6. Quotes from Hire Authorities
"When the world is flat, you can innovate without having to emigrate. This is going to be interesting."
Thomas Friedman, NY Times Magazine, April 3, 2005.
Permission is granted to consultants, managers, business owners and
HR professionals to reproduce content from this newsletter for your
internal publications, or to distribute copies to your workforce, on
the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information
as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Ira S Wolfe and Success
Performance Solutions. Copyright 2007 Ira S Wolfe." We also hope you
will forward the newsletter in its entirety and recommend to others
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Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2007 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission |
