Category Archive: Blog

  1. The many ways prospective employers blow it!

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    I’ve just read an article entitled ‘The five ways job applicants blow it!’…  Great stuff and all points that prospective employees should take into account.  It’s also important for employers to be aware of the ways they can blow it too. I have called this article ‘The many ways prospective employers blow it!’ because I am convinced there are more than 5.  So here goes….

    The competition for top talent is fierce – keeping top talent and making sure engagement levels are high is a key factor to success and bottom line impact. So what can employers do to make sure they attract and retain the top talent – or rather, what should they not do?  Here are some major booboos!

    • Failing to recognize that talent acquisition is a two way process. Too many organisations approach talent acquisition as if it is a privilege to work for them.  Whilst there may be some anomalies in the job market many organisations find it difficult to attract talent – this can be to senior positions as well as to their apprenticeship schemes.
    • Making the job out to be something it’s not in the advert! We often hear of people leaving a role fairly quickly because the advertisement has asked for something the role can’t deliver.  A classic example is ‘creativity and innovation’ when every decision has to be referred to the host company and takes months to be acted upon.  Entrepreneurship is another – let’s be honest true entrepreneurs do not work for large organisations.  What the role probably requires is the ability to take initiative, to work autonomously if necessary and maybe a level of optimism about the future.
    • Not saying ‘thanks but no thanks’ to unsuccessful applicants of the first sift. Such a simple step that can do wonders for the company brand.
    • Interviewing on the basis of eligibility factors alone – experience and qualifications are of course an essential part of the criteria. They definitely determine whether a person is capable of performing the role but do they measure their suitability for the role?  By measuring suitability factors accuracy can increase from 40-45% to nearer 90-95%
    • Resorting to subjectivity at the interview stage. Eligibility factors are easy to measure and check.  Interviews are often conducted on a subjective scoring system with the results being calculated and discussions taking place following the interview.  Behavioural questioning can give some indication of a person’s willingness and ability to perform in a variety of scenarios but it can’t measure working preferences which are the real indicators of success.
    • Trying to fit to role by personality testing. Personality testing has little to do with job success.
    • Failing to fit with manager/leader. All too often employers fail to match their new recruits to the style of the manager causing friction and mismanagement and often resulting in the newly found talent moving on to pastures new.
    • Failing to check engagement and retention factors. What actually motivates new talent is not always the same.  It is important to find out what the engagement factors are and be honest if the organisation cannot satisfy them.  What are the employees expectations in relation to development, appreciation, remuneration, communication, authority, social, personal needs and work life balance?
    • Failing to satisfy the GRT of expectations. According to Kevin Kruse the best talent is generally looking for 3 things – growth, recognition of input and ideas and trust – trust in them and the ability to trust in the organization.

    These are just a few of the blunders organisations can make in the pursuit of talent. To find out more about what you CAN do to acquire, develop and retain talent, contact us here or give us a call on 44 (0)7768 922244

  2. How re-aligning culture can put you at the front of the queue in 2018

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    As we begin 2018 and the uncertainty over Brexit continues companies and organisations will be positioning themselves to be at the front of the queue in markets new and/or old.   The productivity equation is a simple one –

    Happy, talented people create great working environments where people want to be productive!

    Achieve this and you –

    • Promote a productive culture
    • Reduce absenteeism
    • Reduce employee attrition rates
    • Promote innovation and creativity

    So what are the factors that make people want to work for your organisation?  Here are 8 to start with –

    They may have expectations for –

    • Development and self-improvement, challenges
    • Appreciation and Recognition for work achieved
    • Remuneration – may not be top of the pole
    • Communication style
    • Authority – autonomy, initiative, leadership
    • Personal expectations – being informed, wants help
    • Social – outgoing people often like to mix work with pleasure (or not)
    • Work life balance – flexible working time, stress management

    If people have wants and desires in these areas and you are not providing them then they are unlikely to be fulfilled in the role and will cost you money when they leave, often after only a few short months.  So what’s the answer – easy – measure them! You can do this quickly and effectively for individuals, groups and/or organisations through one simple objective on line questionnaire.

    OK, so now you have measured your cultural expectations – what if they don’t fit your productivity needs?  What if people aren’t happy, have no authority expectations or development expectations that are crucial to your culture? So now we look to the future to implement the changes necessary.  First we need to know what they are.

    Most organisations have a set of values which they display on websites and on walls around the organisation.  In my experience when I ask people what they mean or even what they are, despite being displayed on the wall, they have little or no idea how to interpret them into behaviours.  This is because they are written in vague language that is open to interpretation. Let me show you what I mean by the use of a simple model of alignment –

    Robert Dilts’ Alignment Model based on the work of Gregory Bateson

    The above Alignment Model is particularly useful when creating a change. Each level of the model impacts on the levels below it. In order to create change you would need to focus on each level and ensure each is in place in order to impact any lasting change on the levels below, which will then result in alignment.

    Most organisations have a fairly clear idea of their purpose and the roles that people play within that.  They also have some words to represent the values of the organisation and that’s where it stops.  Those values never get translated into behaviours and therefore people are unsure of how to act them out.  So what’s the answer?  Again it’s simple – decide which behaviours demonstrate each value and measure them! You can use the same answer sets as for the Engagement and Retention survey – the data will just be arranged differently to align with the values.  You then have the information you need to –

    • Add to existing recruitment processes or  create new ones using Harrison Assessments
    • Design development programmes based on real data
    • Measure your cultural expectations annually quickly, cost effectively and accurately

    If you would like to know about how to accurately assess Engagement and Retention factors and align cultural values please call Pat on 07768 922244 or email pat@quadrant1.com.

    Find out more about the Alignment Model in ‘Brilliant NLP’, co-authored by Pat Hutchinson and David Molden available here

  3. The Missing Key!

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    Have you got the right sales people in place and is your reward scheme set up properly?

    A colleague of mine bought a new car through a well-known and, to all intents and purposes, reputable dealership in Liverpool.  On completing the deal the sales person agreed to supply the missing spare key saying that it would take about a week…  6 weeks and endless calls later, my colleague still hasn’t received the key.  Excuses have ranged from ‘getting caught up in a heavy sales period’ to the ‘key supplier being on holiday’!

    So imagine her surprise when she received a call from the sales person asking her why she hadn’t completed the customer feedback form because it affected his ‘scores’.

    My colleague has vowed never to buy a car from this dealer again and has told just about everyone she meets what terrible service she has received and all because of a key!


    So what’s going on here? 

    Two things strike me.  Firstly we have a sales person who is more interested in his own personal success represented by the scoring system than he is in fulfilling his promises to the customer.  He seems to think that people will give him good marks regardless of poor service.  Admittedly his scores may reflect his pay packet at the end of the month but surely points have to be earned?

    Selecting sales people who are interested in customer satisfaction first and their own scores afterwards will satisfy both needs.  Note to management – make sure your talent acquisition strategy includes something like Harrison Assessments to engage sales people with an approach that will result in customer satisfaction, repeat sales and ultimately high scores – win/win for all!

    Secondly, is your reward system for sales people set up correctly?  Is it rewarding successful, productive behaviour with the types of rewards the sales people want?  The only way to find out is to ask them with an objective (not subjective) retention and engagement survey.  Here again Harrison Assessments can help with a highly cost effective, easy to complete, objective survey measuring 8 employee engagement factors, ensuring your reward system is aligned not only to the business’ expectations, but also to your employees expectations.

    If you would like to know more about how we can help you, select, engage and retain your sales people do get in touch:

    pat@quadrant1.com  – 07768 922244.

  4. Harrison Assessments – Perfect Partner for NLP!

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    The aspect of NLP I love most is its ethos of treating everyone as an individual – no boxes, no labels no norms!   Such freedom to develop excellence!

    As the owner of Quadrant 1 International I have integrated NLP into my leadership and management trainings and executive coaching in large national and international organisations for the past 17 years working with companies such as Network Rail, Specsavers, B & Q, Dunelm, Farmcare Ltd, The co-operative Society, XPO Logistics, Wincanton, as well as running open NLP Practitioner and Master Practitioner programmes.  I am also the author of ‘How to Sell with NLP’ and co-author of Brilliant NLP, The Brilliant NLP Workbook and How to Be Confident with NLP all published by Pearson Education.

    I first came across Harrison Assessment as a coaching tool about 11 years ago having been introduced to it by a highly respected colleague. To my surprise I found that, unlike some other assessments, it fits well into the NLP ethos of individuality working with behavioural preferences rather than personality. Harrison is an assessment that is easy to understand, highly accurate and based on 30 years of research by Dr Dan Harrison, into what makes people successful in their work.  He discovered two basic principles –

    1. People who enjoy 75% of what they do are more likely to be successful and attract other successful people to them – hence enjoyment theory.
    2. That two seemingly paradoxical traits can work together to create success and flexibility – hence paradox theory.

    Dr Harrison realised that that these two principles had much more relevance to working success than personality alone.   Imagine a workplace of happy, engaged people, attracting other happy engaged people and creating a creative, productive culture.

    I’m delighted to have been asked to speak about this at the 2018 NLP International Conference on 18-20th May 2018 in London… In an interactive, upbeat workshop on the Saturday afternoon I will explain –

    • Why Harrison differs from other assessments and why it fits so well with NLP
    • How to use Harrison Assessments alongside NLP with your coaching clients and team/group events to maximise results
    • How Harrison Assessments Talent Solutions can form the basis of a complete talent solution for individuals, teams and organisations for your business clients – including benchmarking excellence in a role, measuring 8 engagement and retention factors, objectively rather than subjectively, for teams/groups and individuals and measuring standard behavioural competencies as well as 10 Leadership BCs.

    I will be speaking at 4:30pm on the Saturday. Please visit www.nlpconference.com to find out more about the conference and how to book your place.

    If you would like to try the Assessment for yourself before attending do send your email address to pat@quadrant1.com and I will forward the link. I will then bring along the results to the session.  This is an offer made free of charge.  Please also feel free to call me on 07768 922244 in the meantime if you would like to know more

     

  5. Would you like to be able to clone your best performers?

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    Sounds reasonable!  Belinda’s doing a great job, let’s see if we can find more Belindas (or Bobs!).  But how?

    Yes, of course we can put together a job spec including some experience and qualification requirements and maybe some personal qualities but how do we really know whether applicants will –

    • Fit the culture
    • Get on with their manager
    • Perform as well here as they did in their last role
    • Behave in a manner conducive to success in the organisation

    What is it about Belinda or Bob that really makes them successful not only at their roles but also in this particular organisational environment?

    Suitability for a role can be equally and sometimes more important to a role than eligibility (experience and qualifications).  Unfortunately, until now, such suitability factors (behavioural preferences not personality) have been difficult to measure.

    Enter Harrison Assessments!  Harrison Assessments are based on 30 years of research into what makes people successful in the workplace.  Dr Harrison identified 175 behavioural preferences that can be used to measure the ideal fit for a specific role in a specific organisation.

    Option 1 – we can customise a Job Success Formula specifically for your requirements.

    Option 2 – if you have 30 people performing the same role, eg customer service, sales, IT support we can benchmark excellence for you quickly and cost effectively using our non-subjective highly accurate on line SmartQuestionnaire™.

    To find out more call 07768 922244 for an informal chat with Pat!

Quadrant 1 International