TM - January 2008 - (Page 46)

Figure 4: Part of One Fortune 100 Company’s Global Leadership Profile • S e n s e o f U r g e n c y : Proactively recognizes and responds to problems and opportunities; takes clear and direct action when needed; works to reduce “cycle time” across the enterprise. • S t r a t e g i c T h i n k i n g : Is thoroughly dissatisfied with the status quo and is future-oriented; is a change agent driven to use personal influence to make all aspects of work better. • I n t e l l e c t u a l C u r i o s i t y : Willing to be creative, to innovate and experiment; sees possibilities where other people see obstacles; comfortable with ambiguity, uncertainty and incomplete data. • O p e r a t i o n a l E x c e l l e n c e : Knows the business inside and out; is widely viewed as a content-area expert within his or her function; establishes clear priorities and drives for business results. Companies are leveraging personality to identify and grow their next generation of effective leaders in a variety of ways. They include: • “Mining” personality data to see what traits distinguish the most effective leaders within an organization. High-potential and highperformance leaders should be moved into a new role relatively quickly and targeted with additional developmental opportunities. They can often be differentiated from others based on personality traits. For example, as part of its annual succession planning process, a multinational shipping company uses a personality assessment that measures core personality traits such as dominance, extraversion, patience and formality, to differentiate among managers on the Performance–Potential Matrix included in Figure 2. The company discovered high-performing, highpotential managers consistently display higher levels of attributes such as independence, assertiveness and competitiveness. The company also has discovered these managers tend to be proactive, work at a relatively fast pace and are comfortable with risk. The company views the identification and development of these traits as imperative to its current strategic mandate, as what historically was a risk-averse, slow and stable industry is increasingly characterized by tough competition, more dynamic markets and challenges such as enterprisewide technology implementation and merger and acquisition integration. • Using personality data to help coach leaders to higher levels of performance. (See Figure 3.) Personality assessments can yield important clues about a leader’s behavioral style and provide critical insights ahead of time about what mistakes he or she is likely to make. Targeted development strategies can then be put in place before a leader develops a reputation within the organization that hinders his or her effectiveness. • Reducing turnover in key talent pools. A company in the senior-housing sector, an industry in which turnover levels often exceed 80 percent, used their personality assessment to develop a pool of approximately 100 employees critical to the company’s transition from startup to rapid Figure 5: Key Questions to Ask When Considering a Personality Assessment 1. What is the assessment designed to measure and accomplish, and how will that benefit the organization? 2. Does the assessment have an accompanying job analysis tool that allows for the thorough identification of a job’s requirements? 3. Is the assessment free of bias with respect to the respondent’s age, gender or racial group? 4. Is the assessment reliable? Are people’s scores on it consistent and repeatable over time? 5. Is the assessment valid? Does it effectively predict important workplace behaviors that drive metrics such as sales, customer satisfaction and turnover? 6. Is documentation supporting questions 3, 4 and 5 available in the form of a technical manual or equivalent document, and is research on these areas ongoing? 7. How does the assessment project across different countries and cultures? 8. What are the key “implementation issues,” such as cost, time to complete the assessment, data security, scalability across the organization (note that some personality assessments are only appropriate to use with specific jobs or at certain hierarchical levels), ongoing support from the vendor (especially the degree to which the vendor understands your business challenges) and degree of client self-sufficiency and knowledge transfer? January 2008 46 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com http://www.TalentMgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - January 2008

TM - January 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Learning Connections: Working With Those People Leading Edge: Hub Caps for a Buggy Human Performance: Hawthorne Effect Revisited Beyond Affirmative Action: The Changing Face of Recruitment Assessment Centers in Talent Management: Strategies, Use and Value Nontraditional Benefits- How to Hook the Best Talent Intersection of Web 2.0 and Talent Management Cross-Training for Workforce Agility Mapping Talent Among Younger Workers Dashboard: Using Personality Data to Identify and Develop High-Potential Leaders Application: Shaffer Title Uses Myers-Briggs to Develop Common Corporate Language, Jump-Start Growth Insight: Dreier, Stein & Kahan LLP: Using Strategy to Bring Back the Law Profession Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources Full Potential: Stop in the Name of Leadership

TM - January 2008

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