TM - January 2008 - (Page 48)

application by Amy Ferris Shaffer Title Uses MyersBriggs to Develop Common Corporate Language, Jump-Start Growth Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Chesapeake, Va., Shaffer Title and Escrow Inc. provides title insurance and real estate settlement services to home buyers and real estate professionals. Like many family-owned businesses, the company was created when its owners recognized a need in the community — one they shared — to provide a more cost-effective and efficient closing process. Currently Shaffer has six branch offices and 35 employees, and with more growth expected, the company has found great value in using assessments such as Myers-Briggs to facilitate communication. When the company was founded, Jarett Shaffer was at sea with Operation Desert Shield. He wrote the company business plan while deployed, and wife Susan launched the company back home in Virginia. “In this area of the country, only attorneys were serving real estate transactions, and they were charging a lot — up to 1 percent of the sale price for closing fees,” said Susan Shaffer, president of Shaffer Title. “This meant many people were priced out of the market. We were a small family dependent on a military income, and we knew there had to be an alternative so more families like us could buy homes and be empowered to do so.” The Shaffers set out to offer an alternative for real estate closings and to fill a niche they knew needed filling by creating a closing experience that was more comfortable and respectful, and less threatening and expensive. Agents deserved to be treated as professionals, and buyers deserved to be treated with integrity and respect. With that in mind, the Shaffers built their company around three core values: dependability, old-fashioned manners and professionalism. Once the company had its customer service and technology platform perfected, it was time to grow the business and open new branch offices. To do that effectively, Shaffer Title knew it would need a common language to help its people talk to one another and to its diverse customer base, as well as to improve teamwork and leadership. “Based on my research, I found that companies can fall apart quickly if they don’t have that ‘glue of communication’ to hold them together,” Shaffer said. “Without a common language, core values and promises go by the wayside.” Communication Glue The company turned to the Myers-Briggs assessment — a personality inventory designed to give people information about their psychological preferences. Originally developed in the early 1940s by Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Cook Briggs, the MyersBriggs assessment was created to make Carl Jung’s theory of human personality understandable and useful in everyday life. As Shaffer Title began its fast-track growth in 2004, it incorporated the assessment with the assistance of CPP Professional Services consultant Shanna Teel, Ph.D., focusing on executive coaching, team building and organizational development. Teel and Susan Shaffer collaborated to develop team-building seminars, to be held twice a year, and introduced the entire Shaffer Title team to the MBTI assessment. Employees completed the assessment through SkillsOne.com, CPP’s online assessment delivery system. Then, at the company’s off-site training center, Teel led employees 48 January 2008 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com http://www.skillsone.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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