Author: Jim Hunter

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Soft skills are down. Here’s how to build them back up.

Did you know that a whopping 83% of organizations face a skills gap in their workforce? That’s according to a recent survey from the Association for Talent Development, which also reported that 78% of employers said they expect to face skills-related issues in the future.

You may be wondering what kind of skills these employers are missing. It’s widely reported that the U.S. workforce is lacking in tech skills, so I wondered if that’s what had the surveyed employers worried. As it turns out, the data revealed another concern entirely. According to ATD, employers are concerned about skills gaps in areas like leadership, critical thinking, problem solving and communication.

These capacities all belong to a family of abilities that employers like to refer to as soft skills. As the ATD report highlighted, employers are quite concerned about their workers’ abilities — or lack thereof — in this area. But there’s good reason to hope: Where soft skills are down, they can be built up. Below, I’ll answer three frequently asked questions concerning soft skills, including how organizations can upgrade their soft skills until they’re downright confident.

1. What are soft skills and why do they matter?

The Society for Human Resource Management defines soft skills this way: “They are behaviors, personality traits and work habits, such as collaboration, critical thinking, perseverance and communication, that help people prosper at work.”

It doesn’t take a ton of mental effort to see why soft skills matter. Like SHRM said, soft skills “help people prosper at work.” When workers lack soft skills, then, they languish. They suffer. And the business suffers.

Let me illustrate it like this. A worker may excel at certain hard skills: Let’s say she designs electrifying graphics for a company that sells leather boots. This worker, however, lacks certain soft skills. She struggles with creative feedback. She hesitates to ask important questions. And she hates working with her team.

Without these key abilities, this worker will be a nightmare to collaborate with, at best. At worst, she’ll hold up production, frustrate collaborators, and thwart sales.

What’s the lesson here? Soft skills matter. Big time.

2. How do I hire for soft skills?

There are two ways to hire for soft skills. The first is to ask candidates — and their job references — about their abilities. The second is to use a tool to assess their soft skills in real time. I’ll let you guess which is easier and more effective.

If you’re going with the first method, let me make a quick recommendation. Once you’ve pinpointed two or three skills that matter to you most, construct questions that prompt interviewees to illustrate their skill in action.

Here’s what I mean by that: Don’t ask an applicant if he’s a good communicator. Ask him to tell you how he handled an awkward situation at work. Prompt him to recall how he approached a lazy coworker. Listen for the details — they’ll let you know if the applicant is telling it like it is.

If you choose the second route — using a tool to assess applicants’ soft skills — I recommend selecting a tool that not only measures candidates’ confidence, flexibility and problem solving, but also selecting a solution that dives deep into workers’ behaviors. Such a tool will tell you where people will thrive in your organization, and why.

3. How do I improve my workers’ soft skills?

The only way to improve your workers’ soft skills is to benchmark where they are now. It’s no use trying to make progress if you can’t measure it.

Using tools like I described earlier, pinpoint the skills your organization struggles with as a whole. Then devise a plan: Brainstorm training, challenges and resources that will spur progress among your ranks.

If you’re looking for a tool that will identify the soft skills your employees need most, you can find it in PeopleBest. Our technology combines technology and psychology to drive organizations’ success through the most important asset they have: their people. To find out how PeopleBest can serve your team, book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies

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How To Retain All Your Leaders

We all heard about the “Great Resignation” — workers’ mass exodus from their pre-pandemic jobs in 2022. But did you know that this evacuation included leaders? These prized employees are still a flight risk today.

Let’s look at some of the specifics of this reality. Did you know that more women leaders than their male counterparts are leaving their jobs? According to the 2022 Women in the Workplace report from LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Company, women leaders are departing for new jobs at the highest rate in years.

“We really think this could spell disaster for companies,” Rachel Thomas, CEO of LeanIn.Org, told NPR in an interview. “We already know women are underrepresented in leadership, and now companies are starting to lose the precious few women leaders they do have.”

So here’s the big question: How do we stop this trend?

Give the people what they want: Opportunity

McKinsey’s report highlighted the fact that women and men in leadership wanted to be promoted. In fact, among those who switched jobs in the past two years 48% of women said they did so because they wanted to advance. This trend held true among more junior workers, too: 58% of women under 30 said advancement has become more important to them in the past two years.

The women who are departing for greater opportunities are sending a clear message to those they left behind. “Women leaders are saying effectively, ‘We’ve had enough,'” Thomas told NPR. “‘We’re ambitious. We want successful careers. But we’re going to go look for organizations that are delivering the work culture that we also want.'”

What does that work culture look like? To attract, retain and advance women, workplaces must deliver a couple of key things:

  • Flexibility: According to McKinsey’s report, only 1 in 10 women want to mostly work on site.

  • Inclusivity: While child care and commuting time likely factor into the widespread desire to work from home, sexism plays a role, too. Women at the office are 1.5 times as likely to face demeaning behavior compared to those who telecommute.

  • Manager mentorship: Less than half of women say their manager displays interest in their career and assists them in managing their workload.

Providing a road to leadership

Employers that want to keep their leaders — and especially the women in their managerial ranks — know their mission: They must provide ample opportunity, and the training to go with it.

Leaders who are interested in honing their skill can start with PeopleBest. With our forthcoming resource, the Leadership Brief, leaders can identify their natural leadership style and the upsides and downsides that come with it. The Leadership Brief equips leaders with the information they need to grow in agility and adapt their strengths to whatever situation should arise.

To find out how PeopleBest can help you retain and sharpen the leaders at your organization, Book your reservation now and we’ll send you a link.  Send us your name and email address to:  [email protected] and look for a link soon!

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies

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Leading with Style and Substance

Picture a rockstar draped with leather who can’t carry a tune. A quarterback decked out in shoulder pads who can’t throw a spiral. A chef wearing a tall white hat who doesn’t know a soufflé from muffin. What do all these phonies have in common? They’ve put style over substance. 

That saying — “style over substance” — makes an important point. Sure, a rocker’s getup is part of the package, but no one wins a Grammy on an outfit alone.

When it comes to Leadership Styles, the same lesson applies. Leaders can’t succeed on swagger. But I believe style does have something to do with their success. In fact, when leaders discover their style, they unlock greater “substance” and lead with improved agility and heightened confidence.

Leading with your Best Styles

PeopleBest research has revealed six natural leadership styles: Autocratic, Consensus, Compassion, Mentor, Navigator, and Relentless. Many leaders use their predominant style almost exclusively, resulting in mixed degrees of success. The most effective emerging leaders in today’s rapidly changing business environment find and use a blend of their unique strengths.

Here’s a quick run-down on the six leadership styles.

  • Autocratic: Demands immediate change and compliance in a very directed style.

  • Consensus: Builds agreement and harmony through participation.

  • Compassion: Works to create emotional bonds that bring a feeling of bonding and belonging to the organization.

  • Mentor: Identifies people’s unique strengths and weaknesses and ties them to personal and career aspirations.

  • Navigator: Mobilizes a team toward a common vision and focuses on end goals, leaving the means up to each individual.

  • Relentless: Expects extremely high-performance standards, as found in oneself.

The dark side of substance

Each of these leaders is naturally gifted in a specific type of management. In other words, each style is accompanied by “substance.” But these have a potential downside if not used well. Each type of leader has several strengths where managers excel. Each type also has a couple of areas where leaders naturally struggle.

Take leaders who fall in the “compassionate” category. These leaders shine as they create loyalty through the strong emotional bonds they’ve built with their reports. Their teams are marked by flexibility and trust. And they’re willing to give employees plenty of autonomy to accomplish their best work.

But these leaders are often swamped in process — they’re the type to hold those should-have-been-an-email meetings. They may also give workers a little too much trust, inspiring mediocrity rather than excellence. And they can sometimes excuse poor performance when they’re reluctant to correct sloppiness quickly and directly.

Discover your style — and its substance

Here’s the good news about the two sides of substance: When leaders understand their natural style and the “substance” that comes with it, they’re equipped to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. This self-awareness will allow leaders to pick and choose when they put their natural styles to use, and when they deliberately employ another style — even if it’s not their go-to method of management. With increased agility, they’ll see success in no time.

To learn more about your leadership styles, get in touch with PeopleBest: [email protected]. We can equip you, your leaders and your teams with style and substance, book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies.

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3 trends — and 3 tips — for 2023

We’re well into the first quarter of 2023, and that means we have a good idea of the trends that will shape the year unfolding before us.

I like to think about the trends marking the job market for two reasons. As an employer, I want to stay on top of the evolutions we’re seeing from big employers — and the economy. As a leader in the human capital space, my focus is to assess trends in how people are impacting the performance of companies.

As we mull these trends, I want to keep our discussion actionable. Here are three trends and three tips for you to consider all that’s to come in the rest of 2023.

Trend #1: Focus to shift from recruiting to retention

We’ve all seen the headlines: Layoffs are happening in droves. Some companies are still hiring, of course. U.S. job growth picked up at the start of the year, according to the latest jobs report.

Even so, talent operations are turning inward. As employer news outpost HR Dive put it, employers will recommit to employees’ growth, taking care to spur individual career trajectories.

Talent professionals displayed immense creativity last year as they battled for top talent. They’ll do well to apply a similar mindset to keep and grow their current employees, especially if they must pause their recruiting efforts.

Tip: Invest in your current talent through upskilling and growth initiatives.

Trend #2: Top employers to finesse flexibility 

The debate over work arrangements is largely finished. Some companies have decided one way or the other. But many employers have opted for the inbetween. For those with hybrid workers, a blend of fully remote and fully in-person team members, or any other combination of work arrangements, it’s essential to finesse your flexibility policy, or risk your organization’s success.

Strong expectations surrounding flexibility sets up your workers, managers, and leaders for success. Your policy should answer all the common questions: Can I step out for a doctor’s appointment without notifying my supervisors? Is it OK if my two year old is babbling in the background of a call? Does it matter if I dress in sweatpants for my client calls? Without answering these questions, your organization will certainly encounter problems with productivity and communication. One big question remains, and that’s what does success look like in these roles?  Flexibility is one thing, but are you really tracking performance, metrics or other quantifiable factors for these roles?

Tip: Pay attention to where workers thrive
and manage them accordingly.

Trend #3: Workers to demand pay transparency

After new laws requiring employers to post salary ranges on job listings went into effect in California and Washington Jan. 1, national news website Axios declared 2023 the year of salary transparency. Employers should take note, Axios wrote, as these locales tend to set the standards for employers across the country. “Expect to see this catch on widely in the new year.”

As pay transparency legislation spreads, so will employees’ expectations for fair, transparent compensation. This trend goes hand in hand with the widespread expectations for fair, equitable practices in pay and throughout the workplace.

Tip: Leaders working on pay transparency need to question how well their organization understands the goals, strengths and gaps among all of their workers.

PeopleBest specializes in combining data analytics and behavioral psychology to give companies solutions that use the hidden insights about their people. To find out how we can help your team navigate the trends of 2023, give us a call.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies.

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Set Goals That Really Matter

A new year is upon us – Happy 2023! Now is the time to set new goals, find new challenges and take new opportunities. But how do we discern what we want to achieve? How do we wade through the tempting and the flashy and set our sights on progress that really matters?

Ok, so I’ve got a challenge for you. Today, I’ve gathered 12 of our most powerful, thought-provoking blogs from the past year. In these entries, I’ve asked readers to challenge the status quo, to ask themselves to look past the established to see how they and their teams can grow.

I invite you to scroll through the blogs we’ve listed below. Pick out one that you didn’t read — come on, I know you didn’t read them all — that touches on an area that scares you. Maybe it’s recruiting. Maybe it’s company culture. Maybe it’s management. Whatever it is, give it a read, and give it a good, long think. And let it guide your goal setting in this fresh, new year.

PeopleBest’s Most Powerful, Thought-Provoking Blogs
Of 2022:

How behavior data can boost HR’s people analytics

The Disappearing Sick Day And Your Organization’s Health

Do you get me? Why it’s essential to understand your team

#InvestInOurPlanet, invest in your people

Challenge the Recruiting Status Quo

It’s Time To Grow The People You Have

The Art Of Resilience

What Makes A Good Manager?

3 Behaviors To Pay Attention To For Remote And Hybrid Work

Why do employees quit?

Three Steps To Better Hiring

Let Us Show You What You Can’t See

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What’s Your Leadership Style?

Bring your whole self to work – that’s what many companies are asking their employees to do in a push for greater authenticity in the workplace. Employers ask this in hopes of creating a more welcoming company culture, one in which employees feel free to be themselves. Love cats? Post photos of your feline friends in the company chatroom. Run marathons? Wear your latest running swag to the office. Dig Black Sabbath? Start a club for fellow metalheads.

The push for authenticity is about more than hobbies, of course. It encourages diversity and signals acceptance. The trend is not exclusive to rank and file staff — authenticity is taking off among company leaders, too. But it’s tricky to get right at the top level. As leaders balance candor with strategy and tough decisions, what does it mean to be authentic? 

Self-awareness is the key

The bring-your-whole-self-to-work movement may be somewhat recent, but the concept of authentic leadership isn’t new, as researchers at the University of Nebraska’s Management Department pointed out in a 2009 paper. The authors referenced earlier academic work that defined authentic leadership as a process resulting in “greater self-awareness and self-regulated positive behaviors on the part of leaders and associates, fostering positive self-development.”

Self-awareness is a key part of authentic leadership, the paper explained. A leader with robust self-awareness understands his or her strengths, weaknesses, and “the way one makes sense of the world.” This mindfulness — along with balanced processing, moral behavior, and transparency — allows managers to lead their reports with greater authenticity. 

Six styles of leadership

Most people aren’t born with a natural capacity for self awareness. Leaders are therefore greatly helped by tools that help them build a knowledge of the self. Part of this acuteness is becoming aware of one’s natural leadership styles.

PeopleBest research has revealed six natural leadership styles: autocratic, consensus, compassion, mentor, navigator, and relentless. Each of these styles has its upsides and downsides. But most leaders have no idea that they have a style, let alone how it impacts their management efficacy. 

For instance, one of the more common leadership styles is the autocratic style. Autocratic leaders shine under deadlines and during crises. They can save a failing business and handle problem employees with little sweat. But they can wreak havoc on morale if they don’t keep their practices in check. Employees under autocratic leaders may experience diminished clarity on their role and value. 

Leaders who are unaware of their autocratic tendencies may cause companies serious problems. But leaders who understand their weaknesses alongside their strengths can use their style to the business’ advantage, without the nasty side effects.

The most effective leaders in today’s workplaces are able to use qualities embedded in their leadership style to match the various situations they face. At times, a crisis necessitates a decisive and bold stance. But other situations call for a little time to build consensus.

What’s YOUR leadership style?

To learn about your leadership styles, take the PeopleBest Leadership Styles Brief. It’s no cost, and we’ll send you your results immediately. The brief will help you discover the six distinct Leadership Styles, giving you the advantage when used in the right situation. To find out how PeopleBest can equip you and your team with self-knowledge, book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists.

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies.

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Let Us Show You What You Can’t See

As employers, we’re always trying to make decisions based on evidence. We want to hire the candidate who hands in the best resume. We want to promote the worker who offers the best track record.

Companies have long operated this way. We base our decisions on what we can see — after all, that’s what we know. At PeopleBest, our mission is to show you what you can’t see. We want to help you revolutionize your people decisions by giving you access to information you’ve never had before using AI-powered behavior assessments that analyze psychology with technology.

Below, I’ll walk you through three instances where PeopleBest can show you what you can’t see.

Area #1: Hiring

Most employers require candidates to submit resumes when they apply for jobs. In my humble opinion, this practice makes no sense. Resumes aren’t reliable sources of information. In a 2020 report from ResumeLab, 36% of Americans admitted to lying on their resumes. Accuracy aside, recruiters don’t spend much time looking at resumes; research shows they give each one only a glance.

My point? The resume is somewhat useless, and not just because it can be fabricated by candidates and ignored by recruiters. The resume is useless because it doesn’t show you what you need to know. It may sum up what a candidate has done in the past, but it doesn’t show you what a candidate can do right now. It doesn’t showcase a candidate’s skills, inclinations, or personality. And it doesn’t reliably predict who will rock a job.

Ok, so I’m sure you can tell my views on resumes, but I will extend one olive branch of peace. If you can use a resume to accurately determine the value of a person’s background and accomplishments related to what you need, then it’s worthy information. But I’m ready to die on this hill: Quality behavior assessments will give you more information than a piece of paper ever will.

Area #2: Growth

Employees are hungry for professional growth. They desire a path forward so intensely that many are willing to quit jobs that don’t offer one. And yet, we rely on the age-old yearly review to drive workers’ progress.

The standard performance review fails workers and employers. It’s taxing. It’s subjective. And it’s vague. Thankfully, there’s another way. 

Behavior data allows managers to speak in specifics with their workers to propel progress all year long. Using scientific tools to unveil the patterns in your employees’ actions, thinking, preferences, and passions, you’ll see how they work and why. You use these tools like you use Google Maps. When you reveal a person’s innerworkings, you understand their starting point. This starting point helps you to set a destination — the place you want to be. Behavior data fills in the dots. It maps out the journey from starting location to desired destination.

Area #3: Performance

Most personality assessments can help employers decode behavior to help them hire better and grow people faster. But PeopleBest uses AI technology to determine the exact combination of behaviors and competencies needed to move the needle on performance.

I’ll return to my Google Maps analogy. PeopleBest not only provides the location, destination, and route. It provides multiple route options and an ETA, all while flagging cops, accidents and gas stations along the way. How? Because we customize our assessments to each job and company we work with.

Each of our clients define success in their jobs and companies differently. Using our analytics, PeopleBest unlocks the code between people and performance. The result is immediate and applicable to each of our client’s unique goals.

In these three areas and more, let us show you what you can’t see. PeopleBest can optimize your people decisions, making them simpler and more effective. Our software is fast, accurate, and cost-effective. Curious to see how it could revolutionize your workplace? Book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists. 

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies

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3 Steps To Boost Employee Happiness In 2023

This year started with the Great Resignation. The “quiet quitting” trend arrived this summer.

And now 2022 is ending with a probable recession. In other words? It’s been a tough 12 months.

Many of this year’s employment trends have focused on workers’ unfulfilled needs. Employees felt unheard, underpaid and underdeveloped, so they sought out new opportunities. They felt frustrated over high expectations and low recognition, so they decided to give a little less. We’ve seen the trend of dissatisfaction play out in research, too. Workers report that they are lonely and face massive burnout.

Many leaders — myself included — are troubled by the dwindling emotional health of their employees and how the decline is impacting team members. We root for our workers. We want them to thrive. We also root for our businesses, and we know that when worker engagement falls, so does productivity, innovation, and other vital signs.

So how do we make sure our workers are happy?

Step 1: Get to know your workers

The first step to improving employee happiness is to get to know your workers. I’m sure you know your workers’ names and titles. And I know you’ve got a general idea of who’s a superstar and who’s a problem child. But that’s not what I’m getting at — I want to know if you actually know the people on your payroll.

Picture this team. Amy is from Michigan and got a communications degree from a small school somewhere out West. Oscar hails from California and started his career overseas, though you can’t remember where. Before moving over to the private sector, Donna worked for the federal government — but what did she do, again?

Knowing the basics of your employees’ stories shows that you didn’t daydream through their job interview or newcomer lunch. This knowledge also provides a sense of kinship. A familiarity between you and your workers makes them feel seen.

Step 2: Know the WHY Inside

While these kinds of details are important, they may not give you all the information you need to help your workers succeed. Employees’ stories will help you discover what makes them tick. Insights about their behavior will help chart a path to professional success.

For example: Do you know how much or little they like or feel comfortable with feedback on how they’re doing? It’s important to understand your employees’ backgrounds. But it’s just as essential to know WHO they are inside — how they think, how they work, and how they grow.

Take Oscar, for instance: He started his professional life in London after studying abroad there during his undergrad. He moved back to the States to care for his parents, but he longs for opportunities that will satisfy his thirst for learning and adventure.

Behavior data will help decode Oscar’s story and reveal who he is and what works best in connecting with him.  Knowing the behavioral WHY inside can help Oscar’s mentors understand how to help him succeed.

Step 3: Lead workers to greatness

Workers are hungry for new opportunities. This desire is so great that a lack of opportunities for growth motivates some to quit. The Sitel Group, a customer experience management company, released a research in 2019 that concluded 37% of employees would leave their current job if they were not offered training to gain new skills.

Behavior data tells employers who needs what kind of opportunity and why. It aligns employees with available opportunities based on their strengths, interests and behaviors. The best part about this? It keeps workers happy, and it strengthens your business.

I’ve just walked through three steps to help you understand your people and boost their happiness in 2023.  As I conclude, I want to leave you with a question: When will YOU start to know your team?

I’ll make it easy for you. Give us a call, and we’ll run a free team study on each of your people and provide you with a free analysis of each person and how you can achieve each of these steps.  All you have to do is call (714) 685-1020 or email us at [email protected] with the code HAPPINESS23.

PeopleBest is in the business of creating happiness and productivity, so we can’t wait to help you.

Happy New Year!

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Hiring Remote & Hybrid Employees

Leveraging Diversity of Individuals and Where They Work

PeopleBest offers an efficient and clear way to measure capabilities by providing insights into individuals’ competency strengths, style preferences and vulnerabilities. It contrasts the individual view to that of other team members. It also provides a ‘coaching map’ for team leaders to unify efforts and challenge individuals to become the best versions of themselves.

People determine the performance capacity of an organization. Securing and retaining top talent comes with a set of trade-offs, like hiring someone in a different time zone who will need to work remotely or offering a flexible schedule to a highly qualified professional who needs work-life balance accommodations. Leaders are making adjustments to traditional workplace realities to prioritize the best “people decisions.”

In-person and remote employees require more flexibility, and these days, they can find it, making the war for talent formidable.  How does an organization face this changing reality?  This weighty matter falls on the shoulders of leadership.  Business leaders must build their teams, find ways to encourage collaboration and engagement, and build trusting relationships among team members. And all the while, they must manage a staff who may seldom step foot in the office.

PeopleBest understands this tension. We’ve brought the best of psychology and technology to help you navigate tough people decisions like these ones. We provide a FIT score related to someone’s “Work from Home” ability, but we also take it one step further in providing a blueprint to assess or help them.  Our STYLES profile provides the simplicity to understand each person in an easy-access profile.

We understand that priority #1 is to make sure we truly and accurately understand what makes a person exactly who they are. This takes the guesswork out of reviewing a potential new hire or existing employee, aiding leaders in making critical “people decisions.”

PeopleBest not only measures the fundamentals of the best FIT for the job or remote work ability but provides insight into how easily they can adapt to being productive when geographically dispersed from other team members.

We employ a proprietary methodology that helps leaders identify FIT for the job by revealing how closely matched they are to critical role-based competencies. The results also weigh other components such as individual workstyle, preferences in working with others and engagement and passion.

The most frequent question we get is, “how can I know the things I can’t learn from a resume or an interview”? Such as, will they work hard, meet deadlines with quality work, will they be a positive influence on the team and will they feel a part of the team being two time zones away? If you are leading geographically dispersed teams and need answers to these questions in building the absolute best results in your people and performance, then our solutions are for you!

Tech Specs:

Individuals respond to a series of online behavioral preference statements.  Results measure participants’ strengths in competency areas essential to the job.  The methodology measures workstyle, interpersonal, engagement and self concept.  These elements create important insights on how to improve productivity by revealing strengths and potential landmines.  Beyond that, the STYLES profile reveals how well individuals work with others and the energy, fire and passion they have for work.

Content Summary:

Do you lead a team that is never in the same place at the same time? The gaps in performance, collaboration or motivation might seem obvious to you. Understanding the “why” behind the observable behavior will streamline your abilities to move the needle. PeobleBest’s STYLES profile provides a “coaching map,” providing insights needed to optimize effort, relationships and output of each team member no matter where they work. Successfully managing a remote, hybrid or in-office team is made easier with a dynamic intelligence that minimizes guesswork and increases productivity and engagement. Reach out to PeopleBest today and get started, [email protected].

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Three Steps To Better Hiring

Many organizations are pushing to make hiring more speedy. The craze has led employers to rethink their hiring processes — what a great opportunity for improvement. 

I believe that the standard candidate experience is not just stale, but broken. We ask candidates to sum up their experience on a piece of paper, sit through a nerve-wracking interview, and then wait weeks as we deliberate on a yes or no. This sequence of events is tedious for the applicant and unproductive for the employer.

There’s a better way. Consider these three steps to rethink your hiring process.

#1: Reconsider the resume

Here is a hot take more and more business leaders share: Resumes are worthless.

I know this idea challenges the recruiting status quo, but hear me out. Resumes aren’t the most reliable sources of information. In a 2020 report from ResumeLab, 36% of Americans admitted to lying on their resumes. The fibbing stemmed from insecurity; most of those who fessed up said they lied because they lacked the required experience.

Despite this, the vast majority of employers require resumes, posing them as the first step in selecting a new worker. Even so, research shows that recruiters look at a resume for only a few seconds. A quick glance isn’t enough time for talent professionals to understand whether an applicant can do the job they’re looking to fill.

This information should cause us to question the current process. Instead of relying on a resume to kick off your recruiting process, consider identifying the most important aspects of the role you’re looking to fill and screening candidates based on how their strengths match up.

#2: Think beyond the interview

I’m frustrated with our reliance on the resume. But I’m simply over our insistence on the interview. Job interviews aren’t inherently bad, of course. But when waste time, money, and energy with a process that requires weeks of scheduling, slotting, and conferencing.

As one lecturer wrote in the Harvard Business Review, interviews cause many employers to pass over great candidates. And not because the candidates underperform, but because employers ask the wrong questions. “If you are working on innovation, you need someone who can think with you,” Nilofer Merchant wrote in the article. “And by focusing on capability over experience, you increase the chances you find that person.”

I believe the problem with interviews runs even deeper bad questions: Interviews can’t produce completely unbiased assessments of a candidate’s strengths. So what can?

Standardize your process with assessments

Companies can measure the strengths and opportunities each candidate presents with standardized assessments. Equipped with that information, they can select the person who best fits the needs of the job — not the person with the nicest resume or the sharpest interviewing skills.

PeopleBest “Profiles” are customized to the exact job you need done. They find the unique ‘code of success’ inside of people, offering insights and identifying missing areas that may frustrate an employer — or drive an employee to quit. By discovering how workers score in the skills most important to an opportunity, companies can better understand what workers want, how they stay motivated, and where they can grow to better contribute to their teams.

We go beyond having killer Profiles — we use analytics to uncover why certain people outperform others, adding to an even faster, impartial, and unbiased way of learning through every person inside your company.

To find out how PeopleBest can serve your team, book a demo and set up a time to chat with one of our specialists. PeopleBest will provide you a no-cost opportunity to hire your next person to experience a better way to hire!

PeopleBest is a revolutionary, simple and powerful way to capture the exact ‘DNA of success’ inside people, teams and companies.