Profiling Solutions Blog

What the bleep has enjoyment theory got to do with Recruitment Profiling?

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 03:51:00 GMT

Why will it help me with my people issues?

As Crows Coach Neil Craig said in a recent newspaper story “you don’t loose your knowledge and wisdom but you can lose your energy and enthusiasm.”

How many people do you have working for or with you that may fall into that category? Could they be better suited to another role within your organisation? A chemist who profiled his key employees swapped two of his employees into different positions with immediate positive improvement in enthusiasm and performance. So what is enjoyment theory?

Enjoyment-Performance™ Methodology

Very few behavioural assessments or personality assessments measure work satisfaction even though it is critically important to do so. As a result, assessments are limited in their ability to determine motivation or forecast whether an individual will prosper and stay with the company.

Profiling Solutions utilizes Harrison Assessments’ 20 years of research that has proven that employees who enjoy at least 75% or more of their job are 3 times more likely to succeed than employees who enjoy less than 75% of their job. That makes understanding factors related to work satisfaction vitally important for making the right hiring decisions, motivating employees and retaining top talent.

The Harrison Assessments methodology considers three key issues related to work satisfaction and retention: They are: 1) The degree to which a person’s preferred tasks fit the job, 2) The degree to which a person’s interests fit the job and 3) The degree to which a person’s work environment preferences fit the job.

Enjoyment and Performance are linked because the level of enjoyment that an employee has while performing a particular activity is directly related to the level of their performance relative to that activity. When people enjoy a task, they tend to do it more and get better at it. Good performance creates acknowledgement and/or positive self regard which then causes people to enjoy the task even more.

Profiling Solutions Harrison Assessment predicts performance, work satisfaction and retention. It also enables companies to motivate people and increase their performance by assigning the roles and responsibilities that give them the highest degree of work satisfaction.

Profiling Solutions utilization of Harrison Assessments also enables companies to show their employees that they care about their work satisfaction. This genuine concern will surely evoke a positive response.

However if your employee is not enjoying their role or environment you may have a ticking time bomb that can explode in areas that can catch you off guard. I discussed the following circumstances with a group of business owners the other day and most had never considered this happening to them and the ease with which it could happen.One Business Owner reminded us all that employees do not need access to a computer these days because they have access to the internet on their phones. That business has introduced a mobile phones into lockers while at work policy. To learn how this could happen to you please continue reading below.

We have all had a circumstance where two or more staff members have had “words” in the workplace? Yes? Or had an employee being unhappy about something that has happened in the workplace? And as owners and managers we have addressed the circumstances and calmed the situation? Yes? Then the employee goes home and vents to the spouse what has happened and explains their version of what action has taken place. Normal process to here, right? Here is what happened next.

The spouse then went on facebook and expressed their feelings of unfairness in the way their partner had been treated in the workplace by both the offending staff member and how poorly management in their opinion had handled the situation. This encouraged multiple terse pointed responses from their facebook “friends”.

All of a sudden Management had clients asking them what was going on in their workplace. Why they asked? "We have read on facebook about the incident last week in your workplace and there has been some very un-polite correspondence about it that you may need to address sooner than later! This page isn’t doing your business any good at all."

The business with the mobile phone policy above has 40 + employees and discovered that employees were posting facebook entries during work time via their mobile phones while taking frequent toilet breaks.

What would you do in these circumstances? Do you have policies and procedures in place to cover these circumstances?

Would employee profiling be of value to your enterprise?

Until next time,

Cheers

Mark Bell

Do you know your own bias when interpreting a situation or behaviour?

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 22:29:00 GMT

When interviewing your next prospective employee are you at risk of falling into the trap of confirming what you have already learnt from your applicants resume?

Let me introduce you to Confirmation Bias though a story that has been around for a long time in various adaptations and a puzzle for those that way inclined. The story………..

Judging the cover by the book

A man is in the final stages of getting things ready for his wedding. Everything’s going well except for the one small matter of his bride-to-be’s extremely hot younger sister. One afternoon, a week before the big day, he finds himself alone with her in the house. She sidles up to him and suggests they go upstairs – before he finally settles down to a life of wedded bliss. The man begins to panic. Running through his options, he charges out of the house – only there, in the front garden, to discover the rest of the girl’s family all waiting for him. As soon as he emerges, they give him a big round of applause.

‘Congratulations,’ says the future father-in-law. ‘You’ve passed the test. You have proved yourself a man of honour and integrity, and I’m delighted to give you my daughter’s hand in marriage’.

The fiancé can’t believe it, and breathes a huge sigh of relief. His wife-to-be gives him a big kiss on the cheek.

Moral of the story? Always leave your condoms in the car or good blokes always do the right thing?

Relative to the above story the later moral is called confirmation bias from the future father-in-law's point of view. This is a tendency we all have to seek out evidence that confirms rather than disproves our beliefs about a person or situation regardless of whether the information is true.

Are you at risk of confirmation bias when interpreting workplace behaviour when you do not know the beliefs and behavioural preferences of the individuals concerned?

The puzzle.........

Here is another example of confirmation bias – the Wason four card selection puzzle.

Each card has a number on one side and a colour on the other. The diagram above represents the VISIBLE card face. Imagine being able to turn these cards over.

QUESTION: Which card(s) would you turn over to test the truth of the proposition that
“If a card shows an even number on one side then the opposite face shows red”?

Which card(s) would you pick? …………………………………Think about if before viewing the answer below.

If like most people you went for the three and/or the red, you have tried to confirm what we already know.

By choosing the eight and/or the brown and endeavouring to prove the statement false you are looking for options that don’t comply with the question and you achieve a satisfactory result.

(For further explanation on this subject please click this link Wason four card selection task.)

I would love to hear about your employment challenges and whether you perceive that profiling may have been of some benefit in those circumstances. I invite you to either comment on the blog or email me at mark@profilingsolutions.com.au

Until next time,

Cheers

Mark Bell

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Employment Profiling - What's in it for me?

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 23:15:00 GMT

Employment Profiling is now available from Profiling Solutions –

So as a Business Owner or Manager - What's in it for me?

THE ANSWERS:

• The right people for your business in their best suited job role.

• Improved employment outcomes through employees that are better suited to your job role and business culture resulting in reduced people management issues, increased staff stability and morale.

• Understanding the potential risk v’s reward of employing an individual for a specific job role or where to start with an employee who is causing you and/or your fellow team members’ grief.

• The profiling process also challenges you as the Business Owner or Manager to stop and seriously consider what you really want from a specific job role rather than just fill a void in your existing structure.

Before we begin it is interesting to note that our profiling solution is job and workplace culture related rather than the traditional personality profile that categorizes individuals into boxes with common characteristics that you are left to interpret. The profiling covers personality, interests, task preferences, environmental preferences in the workplace and interpersonal preferences.

Have you ever had another Business Owner or Manager ring you to be a referee for one of your ex employees? What do you tell them? Are you worried about your reference doing the full circle and coming back to haunt you? Well you are not alone so when you get a reference its not what they do tell you - it’s what they don’t that’s important. When you read resume after resume they all become a blur and everyone sounds good but when you have to separate them out profiling helps and provides meaning and validates referee comments.

Here are some examples – have you experienced any of these traits in your workplace?

• Your applicant is identified by the referee as a non finisher of work and profiling supports the referee’s comment showing that they have a high score for experimenting and a low score for persistence.

• Does the applicant know everything already or is their receives correction score high enough that they will accept your guidance to improve their performance?

• A person that overestimates their contribution to your workplace and wants to be paid more than the value contributed will probably have a high wants high pay score combined with a low self motivation score. This trait when combined with others such as frankness will show behaviours like being unrealistically demanding.

• An individual with a high wants recognition score combined with a low self acceptance score is a nightmare to manage as they are very self critical and rely on others for praise. The twist is they are unlikely to believe the praise or accept recognition so it creates a painful personal pattern that the individual is never happy or fulfilled.

• Would it be useful to know if an individual avoids communication or decision making?

• Would it be useful to know if someone was fast but imprecise- ie being productive although paying insufficient attention to detail before you experience it first hand?

• Most job ads list these traits, takes initiative, wants challenge, enthusiastic, relaxed, manages stress well, optimistic, self accepting & keen on self improvement. How do you really get to quantify those things at interview other than a feeling for the individual based on the time you have just spent with them?

Now that you have finished taking in some of our examples if you have answered yes, yes, yes I can relate to these examples above then we may have a solution for you.

The answers to these dilemmas and much more are available using our profiling solutions. Solutions are available from as little as $154.00 per person for a personality profile based on 12 workplace areas such as interpersonal skills, leadership and achievement.

Or once you have established a Job Success Formula (JSF) for your specific job role at a one off cost of $297.00 (which can be used at no further cost on an ongoing basis), individuals can be screened (job matched for suitability) against this JSF for $88.00 per person.

Like to hear more from our existing clients? Check out our testimonials at the link below;

http://www.profilingsolutions.com.au/testimonials

I would love to hear about your employment challenges and whether you perceive that profiling may have been of some benefit in those circumstances. I invite you to either comment on the blog or email me at mark@profilingsolutions.com.au

Until next time,

Cheers

Mark Bell

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Is staff communication a challenge at times?

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 04:27:00 GMT

Do you FEEL like you are going around in circles trying to communicate your message to certain staff members? You know you have SPOKEN to them on more than one occasion but they just haven’t gotten the PICTURE?

In order to get the response you’re LOOKING for, you may CHOOSE to adapt your communication style to suit the individual. One of the greatest challenges for employers and managers is to understand - and to accept – that your staff will not change their style of communication for you.

Your pain is in the resistance of this!

Therefore the meaning of your communication with your staff member is the response you get (or don’t get).

If you are not getting the response you are LISTENING for from a particular employee, then the problem is YOURS not your employee’s. A perceptive manager will GET A HANDLE on the situation before dealing with such an individual by adjusting their own behaviour and tactics in order to minimise friction, increase rapport and achieve the desired response.

Here’s an example of what I am on about…..Teacher v’s student

Student: I just don’t FEEL excited about learning to spell

Teacher: Well, I think if we just take a closer LOOK at your work sheet, you will SEE that it’s not so difficult to learn these words

Student: It’s not something that I can really get in TOUCH with.

Teacher: You’re not trying hard enough. Just LOOK at them a little more carefully.

Student: I can’t seem to get a FEEL for it

Teacher: Pay attention to what I’m trying to SHOW you. Just FOCUS on your work. With a little effort, it will all become CLEARER.

Student: Ah, well …. I guess it FEELS like another boring day at school.

These two may as well be talking a foreign language to each other because neither has understood the other.

This is an example of the teacher’s communication style primarily being visual while the student’s is kinaesthetic (touching, doing and feeling).

The person with the most flexibility of behaviour will have control over the situation.

In this case the teacher could have adapted the communication style to that of the student to enable a meaningful interaction.

So how will this information help me? Most businesses employ a number of staff, each with their own unique idiosyncrasies and communication style.

If you can SPEAK the same language as your employee, the chance of getting the response you are LOOKING for is much higher. For some employers, this will FEEL completely out of their comfort zone but doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different response is foolish.

Remember that everything you desire is outside your comfort zone.

So to get a different response from your staff …………………….

1. Learn your own natural preferred communication style
2. Learn your staff members natural preferred communication style
3. Practice communicating in the staff members’ communication style. Maybe you could try it at home or with friends?
4. Have a go at communicating with your staff member in their communication style and see what happens.

Would you like a FREE Tool Kit to establish you and your staff member’s communication style to improve your communication flexibility? If so, please click on this email link mark@profilingsolutions.com.au with tool kit in the subject line.

Utilising a staff profile from Profiling Solutions with these new found communication skills will greatly enhance you’re staff communications.

Until next time,

Cheers

Mark Bell

Staff issues? Correct, don't protect - or nobody wins

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:03:00 GMT

The sporting arena and the workplace often draw some similar parallels. The draw between the two top AFL teams, Collingwood and St Kilda, at the weekend left followers and players with a lack of closure. Not only did nobody win, but the two teams are left frustrated and with an unresolved agenda which will be front of mind for the remainder of this week.

One of my favourite terms is to “correct, don’t protect”. Like we saw on the field on Saturday, the workplace can pose a similar frustrating situation. If there is an underlying staff behavioural issue in your business which is causing further problems, be upfront and address them rather than ignore them and let them go on for another week (or month / year / decade!)

Do you suffer from the “too nice” factor which is protecting and not correcting?

Are you experiencing any of these individual behaviours in your workplace but are ignoring them because that staff member is good at their job?

An unwillingness to work as part of a team
Continual bad moods or grumpy behaviour that you are having to accommodate and work around
A lack of flexibility
The use of mobile phones or the internet for personal reasons during working hours

Here are some suggested actions you could take to tackle some of these issues:

1.) Clearly state to the individual what the issue is, for example, “You are doing what I have asked you to do however, you are doing it at the expense of not helping your fellow team members”.

2.) Clearly state what needs to happen for their behaviour to change and if not, what the consequences will be, for example, “If you choose to continue with this behaviour, I will have no choice but to provide you with an official warning. I cannot continue to justify your actions to the rest of the staff just because you are good at your job”.

3.) The challenge is to put yourself out of your comfort zone and do what is right for everyone in your business to uphold its culture. Remember, it’s the behaviour you’re dealing with, not the individual. Sit down with them and map out what your expectations are from this point forward. (The focus must be from now onwards because what has happened in the past can not be changed.)

Decisions should be made for the long term benefit of the business and not to protect your staff or yourself from the discomfort of the correction process.

A common excuse for not being open and honest about what is really happening in your business is the fear that by addressing one issue, a whole heap of other issues will arise. If these issues remain unresolved, both you and your employees will continue to have to manage, constantly finding excuses, which in turn affects productivity and effectiveness.

Don’t let your staff issues go on for another week. Take control and resolve any issues today, it’s in the best interests of all your staff and the growth of your business.

Like the game on the weekend, if you choose to ignore the problem, nobody wins, and you will constantly be going back to square one and never be able to move forward.

You may find that these tactics can also be used in your home environment with your spouse and/or children!

Until next time,

Cheers

Mark Bell

What does employee turnover REALLY cost your business?

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 01:41:00 GMT

This is actually a very serious question but one which often gets ignored- how much does it really cost for you to employ a new or replace an existing staff member? Not only that, but how much is it going to cost you if you get it wrong? Making the right decision on who to employ is not an easy task, especially when you have received a plethora of applications, all presenting similar qualifications and experience. However, choosing the wrong candidate who for one reason or another hasn’t fitted in well to the role can be devastating when the reality sets in that you have to do it all again!

I run a business coaching group consisting of local businesses from a broad range of industries. Time and time again, one of my group members will have a painful story about losing an employee who had only just started with them not long before. At interview, they had presented well and their resume was impressive. They had high hopes for this employee but unfortunately, for one reason or another, things didn’t quite work out.

The costs to one business owner, let’s call him Basil, were enormous. The employee who had resigned was on a $50,000 a year salary (base salary of $45,000 plus cost of super, work cover, annual leave and sick leave).

Basil knew it was going to take him six months for the incoming person to truly learn their job completely. During the learning curve, Basil did not expect full productivity. Usually during this time there would have been an average of 75% productivity. If the ideal level is 100% productivity then the cost of introducing the new person into his workforce was the 25% productivity loss on average over the first six months salary of $25,000; i.e. $6,250.

The recruitment costs of advertising, staff time involved in short-listing, interviewing, reference checking etc. was also going to cost upwards of $2,500. Not to mention the cost of uniforms, medicals, any training, loss of productivity of other workers supporting the new employee with in-house training or through external courses and any mistakes made during the learning process and their associated costs –possibly another $3,250.

So far, Basil was facing $12,000 (this is a very conservative estimate and will vary between industries)- just to recruit and replace his staff member. Double that if he gets it wrong?

So if you do the maths, the moral of the story is, if you turnover just four employees a year it equates to $48,000/annum.

And this is non recoverable - never to be seen again.

Whilst it is impossible to avoid employee turnover altogether and some employee turnover is healthy and desirable unwanted turnover costs your business a lot of money.

How much of your staff turnover could be reduced simply by understanding the employee needs, how they would like to be treated/rewarded, what motivates them, their preferred work tasks and environment and interpersonal issues.

Behavioural profiling can help you to achieve a motivated workforce through identification of individual motivators.

If you, the owner or manager of your small to medium business, are going to effectively manage your operation, you may like to consider profiling your staff. After all, the money saved far outweighs the money invested.

Until next time,

Mark Bell

Are you wasting time and money trying to find the right person for the job? We can help.

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 01:50:00 GMT

Welcome to Profiling Solutions. Are you an employer looking to take on new staff or having difficulties in retaining your current staff? Or perhaps your employees are underperforming and not meeting your expectations. If this sounds like you, we can help. Profiling Solutions is here to enable you make the right decision the first time when employing new staff and can also assist with ongoing training, staff development and business coaching.

How can we help your business?

Wouldn't it be useful to know just a little bit more about your applicants other than what is written in their application before the interview? Get your top applicants profiled by us to see what their character traits and natural preferences might be, even before you have met them in person.

Additionally, we can also put all of your staff through the assessment phase for as little as $22.00 per person. All participants will then have been treated equally and you can then generate the appropriate reports at review time, or when a situation arises that needs to be managed.

Job suitability matching

It’s easy to reduce the risks associated with employing by following these steps:

Register your business details with us, under ‘Employers’.
Once logged in, click on the “Recruitment Profiling” box.
Select from the options the number of Screening Assessments you need and the types of reports you are interested in. Profiling Solutions will then contact you to work with you to create a Job Success Formula- a vital step in this process.
Send us the details of the applicants whom you wish to have profiled.
Profiling Solutions will contact your selected applicants on your behalf via email and request them to sit an online assessment questionnaire.
On completion of the assessment, we will generate a Job Success Analysis Report for each candidate, using the job specific traits you identified in the Job Success Formula.
Use the reports to assist with your hiring decisions based on your applicants’ job suitability, job potential, company culture fit and natural tendencies.
Conduct your interviews with a much more informed insight in to each individuals’ talents and natural preferences for better recruitment decisions!

We believe in the accuracy of our assessments and trust they will provide you with an accurate depiction of any individual's personality and natural tendencies. We would love to be able to show this to you ourselves by inviting you to register on our website to receive a FREE trail assessment.

You may have some questions regarding our services and we would love to talk to you! Simply contact us.

Until next time,

The Profiling Solutions Team