The Employee Factor

 The use of personality assessments continues to grow in popularity. Why? Because they yield insights into people’s individual drives, temperaments and motivations.

The best companies are increasingly leveraging predictive tools to help them better understand their employees. And we all know it is employees that are our greatest assets!

The nature of work is changing. Companies are increasingly trying to position themselves in hyper-competitive industries. They are looking for customer-focused, sales-oriented, team-oriented individuals who can provide them with a key competitive advantage over their competition. Many companies are discovering that their personality make-up can be a key competitive differentiator. How? Think about it – how many times have you not returned to a particular restaurant or bank branch because of a surly waitperson or customer service agent? Similar stories relating to the “human-side” of business are everywhere.

Personality traits have a direct and substantial impact on job performance. Research indicates that between 20 – 25% of an individual employee’s effectiveness on the job is attributable to his or her personality.

PI Consulting found that retail sales managers with higher degrees of assertiveness achieved an average of 35% more year-over-year sales growth than did their less assertive counterparts.

PI Consulting also found that more effective leaders generally have more ambition, likeability and openness to new experiences than their less effective counterparts.

Personality assessments are being used in a variety of new and innovative ways to create a competitive advantage.

• Recruiting – personality assessments are being used to define some of the key characteristics for a job and to craft targeted recruiting strategies. Imagine if you were able to pinpoint – non-customer oriented individuals before they joined your company.

That is exactly what Mandarin Oriental, Miami did. They leveraged Predictive Index. What is Predictive Index? It is a Behavioral assessment that has been developed specifically and exclusively for use in industrial and business settings. Why does the hotel use this tool – “the right fit for the position means lower turnover for the hotel overall.” Watch the video to see how leveraging the Predictive Index tool has helped Mandarin Oriental succeed.

• On-boarding – with the insights of personality assessments, new employees can be brought up to speed more effectively. How? A company can more easily identify who needs more targeted training and support up-front versus those that are more comfortable learning on their own.
• Culture change – more and more companies are being forced to adapt to changing market conditions. Many companies are shifting to becoming more customer-centric, relationship based sales and service cultures. Personality assessments can be leveraged to find and develop talent that will thrive in the new environment.
• Coaching – with the benefit of the personality assessment, Managers can coach to the individual. They can create performance improvement strategies for those who desire it, and they can allow others to learn skills autonomously.
• Leadership Development – personality assessments are increasingly being used in leadership development programs at all organizational levels. These assessments can give leaders valuable data on where their natural behavioral strengths lie and how to leverage them to drive business results.
  
  Does your company understand your organizational personality? If not, you may want to look at leveraging the Predictive Index tool as a way to increase your competitive advantage.