Author: Jim Hunter

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The Art Of Resilience

When you get bad news at work, what do you do? Your response to a tabled project or canceled event may illuminate more than you think. In fact, our ability to process surprises and disappointments predicts other indicators of success. 

Workplace psychologists have a name for this ability: Resilience. Resilience has become somewhat of a sensation among employers in the last several years. Between a global health crisis, an economic shakeup, and a mass exodus of workers, employers have depended on their employees to weather extreme change, and weather it well.

How do we change this? What are the best practices around resilience? I’ve pulled together several business leaders’ thoughts on the topic — thoughts that illuminate what resilience is, how it serves workplaces, and how employers can foster it.

Before resilience had its name

Back before employers used the word resilience as a people management term, one individual knew all about it. His name was Henry Ford. Of course, we all know Mr. Ford for the famous Model T and everything that came after it. But the man knew a thing or two about how work gets done, too. Consider these lasting words:

“Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.”

 Henry Ford

Modern research backs Ford’s observation. As it turns out, workers who are resilient are more likely to be engaged. A can-do attitude facilitates success on the job, which fosters greater productivity and innovation.

Actions, not circumstances, define resilience

“Resilience is fundamentally underpinned by the concept that it is not so much the hard times we face that determine our success or failure as the way in which we respond to those hard times.”

Rachel Jackson and Chris Watkin

As organizational psychologists Rachel Jackson and Chris Watkin point out in their 2004 paper, resilience is more about action than circumstances. This reality may challenge employers — we can’t control how employees react to challenges.

This is a weighty challenge for many employers, including those with client- and customer-facing workers. The folks on the frontlines of our organizations deeply benefit from robust resilience. And our businesses flourish in turn. But how do we foster such an intangible skill?

Bolster resilience through behavior

“Resilience is more available to people curious about their own line of thinking and behaving.”

Brené Brown

Researcher and academic Brené Brown is known for her work on leadership and vulnerability. Shortly after her book “Rising Strong” published in 2015, the author explained her take on resilience in an interview with Business Insider. People are more resilient, Brown said, when they’ve tapped into their line or thinking and behaving.

Brown’s point is essential for employers to understand. If employers want resilient workforces, they need to equip their staff with insights into their own thinking and behaving. At PeopleBest, we see this all the time when we look assess how users process what’s happening to them. If your people have the tools needed to be resilient, that’s what they’ll be.  If not, then the need to help, support and develop them is essential.

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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Millennials Moving Into Leadership, What You Need to Know

In workplaces across the globe, the next generation of leaders is arriving.  It is estimated that 75% of the workforce will be millennials by 2025. By that date, millennials will also out represent boomers in leadership roles. Do these up-and-coming leaders have the skills to lead? PeopleBest is measuring critical intelligence to help organizations ensure they do.

As millennials move into management, they bring a new brand of leadership. What are the characteristics that set them apart?  Based on several studies, millennials as a whole are more purpose driven. They care about culture and social responsibility. They have a participative leadership style, exhibited by collaboration, two-way communication and friendliness.

These qualities can unite employees. But they can also create tension with success factors such as efficiency ratings, regulatory requirements and creating laser focus to meet stretch goals.

Great leaders walk those tensions skillfully.  When leaders understand  their natural style and its inherent weaknesses,  they grow  more effective over time.

How can the next generation of leaders learn about their teams, what they need, who they are and how to unite them?  The People dashboard offers a holistic view of how one leads.  Through it, individuals will see their predominant leadership style, learn how they engage with others, discover their mindset leanings and uncover their self-awareness level.

Through insights provided on the People dashboard, before long millennial managers will have workable strategies that help teams unite, compromise, stretch and at times let them soar in their independence.  Investing in this type of leader will help your organization retain employees and will attract top talent.

Tech Specs:

Leaders respond to a series of online behavioral preference statements.  Results measure participants’ strength in competency areas essential to leading strategy, goals, and team members. The People dashboard will display several specific competency sets that will help leaders fine tune their approach in multiple areas such as DE&I, Mindset, Self-Awareness and Leadership Styles

Content Summary:

Millennials are eager to learn and rise to the challenge of leading their organizations. How can employers prepare them to leverage their strengths and foster a thriving culture?

PeopleBest has the capability of customizing a roadmap to prepare your next generation of leaders. We measure core leadership capabilities and explore multiple factors that are essential for well-rounded and adaptable leaders of multi-generational teams including insights on derailers and accelerators to job success.  Let us help you provide insights on leadership readiness.

Reach out to PeopleBest today and get started, [email protected].

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How To Finish The Year Strong: Motivate Your People

We’re officially into the third quarter now, and the end of the year will arrive sooner than any of us will believe. How are those beginning-of-the-year goals doing? Are they starting to feel out of reach? Do you have a ways to go before counting them accomplished?

If you’re like me, you answered yes to those last two questions. I start to sweat come Q3, when we’ve passed the half-way mark and are barrelling through the summer. Maybe it’s my self consciousness speaking, but I’d like to think a lot of people feel this way. As time starts speeding by, those goals seem less lofty and more imposing.

As I face these challenges, I think a lot about motivation — both mine and my workers’. How do we maintain motivation throughout Q3 and into the end of the year? I’d like to offer three of my go-to strategies.

Offer Personalized Support

The first and best way to keep workers motivated is to offer personalized support: to identify and respond to the issues your workers struggle with. This effort entails some amount of research on the employer end — namely in some kind of listening. Many employers are beginning to recognize both the importance and payoff of listening. Sixty percent say they survey their entire organization at least quarterly, and many survey subsets of their workforce even more frequently.

Employee listening, whether it’s accomplished through pulse surveys, one-on-ones, or town halls, can help employers deliver targeted support to the workers who need it most. And when workers feel supported, they’re much more likely to be more productive and engaged.

Create Opportunities for Upskilling

Now that the year end is closing in on us, how can we help our people develop and use some new skills?  When workers feel stagnant, they quit. According to a LinkedIn report, 94% of respondents said they would stay in their jobs if their employer invested in their learning.

While upskilling certainly offers a boon for retention, it also serves as a mechanism for motivation. Workers who have opportunities to grow are shown to have greater motivation — especially when those opportunities align with their goals and ambitions.

Pair Passion and Purpose

Burnout is rampant in the workforce today. A lot of that can be attributed to overwork and stress; we are still living through a pandemic, after all. Coupled with the end of the year coming around the corner, this is even more of an issue.  When my team members are feeling burned out, I like to just make things simpler.  Instead of a lot of things to do or accomplish, I help them slow down and focus on the BIGGEST things we need to do. Less is more.

Workers who feel that their job and tasks relate to their interests and strengths are happier and more productive. A positive employee experience can double innovation, improve customer satisfaction and drive profits. In other words, an employee’s happiness at work has a lot to do with their ability to perform.  Remember, ‘work hard, play hard’.

Make the rest of 2022 amazing for yourself and your team!

The PeopleBest platform allows leaders to know their people and offer personalized support, identify opportunities for upskilling, and unite passion with purpose. To see how the platform could boost motivation on 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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The Skills Gap Is Growing — What Will You Do To Prepare?

Today’s hiring is about filling open positions based on available candidates who fit the job requirements.  But do you also have an effective plan to build their skills?

Let me explain. In our increasingly digital world, it’s essential leaders take the time to hone a tech-savvy workforce. A global skills shortage will cause an estimated 85 million jobs to go unfilled by 2030. The knowledge gap comes with a hefty pricetag: some $8.5 trillion in unrealized annual revenues.

With warning signs like these, you’d think organizations would see skill-building for the high-priority necessity it is. But that’s not the case. Three in four workers lack the digital skills needed by businesses, and only 28% are working on building those skills today. For business leaders who want to see their success last beyond 2030, stats like these should read like a wakeup call.

Think beyond recruiting

Organizations may feel tempted to focus their skills gap efforts on recruiting. But building a tech-savvy workforce requires a broader strategy, one that’s based in upskilling. Upskilling allows employers to focus on the workers they already have, to invest in their people and equip them for the opportunities to come.

Here’s the best news: Workers love upskilling. In fact, 77% of workers say they want to learn new skills or completely retrain. And 37% say they’d leave their current jobs if they were not offered training to gain such skills.

When employers make good on these expectations, workers and business benefits. Ninety-three percent of CEOs who introduce upskilling programs reap rewards like increased productivity, improved talent acquisition and retention, and bolstered resilience.

To mind the gap, mine the gap 

The skills gap may seem intimidating — how could $8.5 trillion in lost revenue not make you start to sweat? But some of the very technology contributing to the gap can help businesses identify and eliminate skills gaps within their companies.

PeopleBest’s AI-powered platform allows you to see gaps inside your new hires and existing employees, allowing businesses to find candidates and develop existing employees who are ripe with opportunity for upskilling. 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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3 Benefits Of Examining Behaviour At Work

Bring your whole self to work — that’s the commandment every employee-friendly company wants workers to live by. Bring your cat to team meetings. Post photos of your trip to Barbados on Slack. Host a brown bag on how to create the perfect cheese board.

I’m in favor of all these things. Who wouldn’t want to learn more about cheese pairings? But the “bring yourself to work” movement misses a fundamental element of the human psyche: behavior. We can encourage workers to show off their quirks and display their passions, but until we include behavior in our definition of “whole self,” the strategy does little for business.

That would be a huge lost opportunity: By accounting for behavior, employers can encourage openness at work and harness that freedom by aligning employees’ passions and opportunities. There are a million ways this strategy will boost your business, but today we’re going to talk about three areas where behavior spawns benefits.

#1: Revved up recruiting

Imagine recruiting without the resume and cover letter. There’s less work for recruiters and candidates alike. There’s fewer formalities, headaches and papers. But what’s left?

A behavior-enabled recruiting process should eliminate the frustrations once caused by the recruiting tactics of old. Instead, it provides data-driven insights into a candidate’s skill, potential, and passion. It helps you see where job seekers belong in your organization, streamlining and fireproofing the talent decisions that were once messy and haphazard.

#2 Spurred employee growth

Employers that invest in upskilling wield a powerful tool capable of both stalling resignation rates and bolstering engagement.

Upskilling works best when you know something about the workers you’re offering it to. A training on public speaking may terrify someone who excels at independent, numbers-based work. But it could offer incredible motivation to the worker who’s keen on scoring a leadership position in the next couple of years. You just have to know the difference.

#3: Synchronized teams

Organizations can enable teams by respecting individuals, and I’m convinced that the best way to do that is through knowledge. When we understand how and why workers thrive, we can match them to the right teams and the right assignments, respecting their natural inclinations and passions better than we ever did before. With AI-driven insights into how workers operate, employers can study their teams in seconds to determine who excels where and why.

To find out how you can revitalize your people approach with behavior insights, book a demo with PeopleBest 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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The Two Sides of Work Arrangements

There’s a great debate going on right now among employers around the globe. To work remotely or not to work remotely — that’s the question. 

The stakes are high on either side. On the one hand, employers have expensive real estate that’s going totally unused. And they know collaboration could use a boost from in-person work.

But there’s another side: The employees who adapted to at-home work almost over night two very long years ago demonstrated real resilience. To resume the commute, the business casual wardrobe, and the office drama would cost something — maybe their employment.

I can’t know the exact costs you’re weighing on either side of the work arrangement debate. So I’m not going to tell you I’m all for remote work or ready to get back to the office for good. Instead, I’m going to tell you what I think is missing from this conversation: The “what’s next.”

Moving forward, no matter where you land

Whether you decide to pull workers back to the office or let them continue working remotely, you need to have a plan to support them.

Workers returning to the office will deal with a fresh spate of problems. They’ll have to plan their commutes around their kids’ schedules, while factoring in that dentist appointment and those workout classes. And what happens when someone gets sick? Will remote days be back on the table?

Consider now the workers cleared to continue their pandemic arrangement. They may be thrilled to keep working from the comfort of their home and the coffee shop down the street. Despite the perks, many workers are feeling lonely. They’re estranged from their colleagues, disconnected from their managers and looking for ways to get involved, even from afar.

In either situation — or in some hybrid world in between — we must support these workers. At PeopleBest, we’ve developed the technology that allows employers to predict whether workers will thrive in a remote environment. The tech is based in knowledge: You have to get to know your workers to find out how they’ll perform and why.

Similar logic applies to supporting workers in any type of work arrangement. Determine how workers tick, respond accordingly, and watch them start having fun in their job. To find out how PeopleBest can help your team reach its potential, 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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PeopleBest Offers JobMatch for Insights On Upskilling Readiness to Retain The Best

Jobs have shifted across the board and at an even faster pace than pre-pandemic. There have been losses due to closures and automation. Most jobs today require some level of technical skill to perform duties. Learning & Development professionals have upskilling resources among their top goals. How do organizations keep abreast of skills they need to train on and be able to individualize development plans to engage their talent and build strength in the workforce? Reskilling and Upskilling is critical to deliver to customers and to retain talent.

Employees are taking a hard look at career options and deliberate lifestyle adjustments such as desiring less stress, fewer hours and desire to cut back on travel requirements are affecting their career planning. A Plusle Survey (2021) by The Motley Fool lays out the shift by demographic and what employees are looking for such as work-life balance, better pay, work culture and concerns about career growth. If their current organization is not allowing flexibility and growth opportunities, they are eager to look elsewhere.

We know that retaining talent through reskilling & upskilling is essential to bring value to customers and shareholders and prepare the workforce for changes over the next 10+ years. How do you proactively measure capability for future roles? PeopleBest offers a simple way to match your assessment scores with different jobs in our system. Are you considering a level change to manager or leader or move to a different function such as from operations to HR? JobMatch can apply your original responses to other jobs that an employee wants to consider. The result will reveal strengths and opportunities that individuals can begin to hone for the next move.

Organizations are eager to match people with changing job requirements. In addition some employees need a new seat on the bus to unlock their potential and learn to thrive. JobMatch gives you a data-driven way to assess how you can build skill sets within your company. Another use for this tool is selection of cross-functional or project teams. Discover who are natural leaders, can hold self or others accountable and can manage time well.

Tech Specs:

An individual’s assessment results can be matched to other JobFit competency sets such as a manager,  leadership or other roles of interest. Competency scores are ranked high to low for a quick glance of strengths and opportunities for the role being considered. Details within the report will nuance the need for training, experiences or mindset adjustments to help professionals prepare for the next move.

Content Summary:

Discover what upskilling or reskilling needs may be hindering employee advancement in your organization. JobMatch is a talent planning tool for new roles, new levels, promotions or lateral moves as well as succession. The results give insight into readiness and priority areas that should be leveraged or strengthened.  For the individual, it is helpful in weighing job and career options. Competency areas can be strengthened through courses, mentoring programs and work assignments. Attract and retain the best by offering personalized development to keep them engaged and growing. Reach out to PeopleBest today to get started, [email protected].

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Taking Pride In What Makes Us Thrive

June is Pride month here in the U.S., and many employers are celebrating by re-casting their logos in rainbow. Don’t get me wrong — a striking change to an emblem as steady as a logo can  signal support. But the move rings hollow if it’s not matched by an underlying framework of inclusion and care.

Lots of businesses have realized the importance of making good on their public-facing promises, including those made during Pride month. After all, developing a strong diversity, equity and inclusion program isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s good for people, it’s good for business. Inclusive employers have been shown to earn higher revenue and grow faster. Such organizations are also much more likely to capture new markets and outperform competitors.

I probably don’t need to convince you of the benefits you can reap by doing DEI right. Most business leaders want to nail it. But the problem isn’t the wanting — it’s the doing. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

Don’t let fairness be the enemy of individuality

Why do employers fret over their plans to support their LGBTQ+ employees? One reason, perhaps, is that employers received clarity regarding LGBTQ-related workplace discrimination only two years ago. Up until then, agencies, courts and employers were split on whether our nation’s foremost anti-discrimination law banned workplace bias in regard to sexual orientation and gender identity, like it did with other characteristics such as race and religion.

The Supreme Court justices have now made it perfectly clear that employers may not discriminate against workers because of their sexual preference or gender identity. The edict leaves organizations to act in accordance with the standard set by Title VII, which generally states that employers treat workers the same and without regard to their protected characteristics.

This rule is a good one. But in the age of “bring your whole self to work,” it can feel a little stiff, especially during months like this one. Can we treat everyone the same while celebrating what makes us unique?

I believe that we can and should chase after fairness and individuality, all at the same time. In fact, that’s what PeopleBest is all about. We’ve created a tool that allows employers to uncover the precious and unique talents of their team members. Our technology generates information that informs business leaders where their workers thrive, allowing them to equip individuals with the right opportunities, training and challenges. Our platform allows organizations to go deep with their DEI initiatives, seeking to support and further everyone, all the time.

To find out how PeopleBest brings real solutions to understanding your people, 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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The 5 Generations

The office is a complicated place for managers right now. First of all, that word “office” — what does it even signify today? It’s more than the space between four walls cement walls. It now encompasses corporate-owned locations, coworking spaces, and people’s home offices, living rooms, and dining room tables.

If that weren’t enough, the office is also home to a wide expanse of people. Five generations now occupy the business world, and managers need to have a plan to navigate each group or risk a number of consequences, from frustration to failure.

The 5 Generations

Five groups inhabit the office:

  1. The traditionalists: Those who are between 76 and 99 years old.

  2. The baby boomers: Workers ranging from 57 to 75.

  3. The Gen Xers: Anyone from 41 to 56 years of age.

  4. The Millennials: The 26-year-olds to 40-year-olds.

  5. And Gen Zers: The youngest of the crop — ages 25 years and below.

Manage people, not age groups

We could spend our time today discussing the common behaviors of these groups. But that so often devolves into age-based stereotyping, even when it’s meant to be positive.

Instead, I’d like to discuss a people-based approach to managing the multigenerational workforce. When managers are mystified by generational differences, they’re actually confronting differences in humans. Sure, these differences may be informed by life experiences related to the year of their birth. But they could just as easily be related to the place where they grew up or the style with which their parents raised them.

My point is that generational gaps may create challenges in the workplace, but the origin of the challenge is less important than the way managers surmount the challenge. In an article for Harvard Business Review, Megan Gerhardt, the director of leadership development at Miami University’s Farmer School of Business, put it this way:

“Just as we wouldn’t expect our actions to be accurately understood or universally agreed with when we travel to other places,” Gerhardt said, “we shouldn’t expect our reasons for approaching our work in particular ways to be clear to people who have grown up and started their professional lives at different points in time.”

Communication is key. So is empathy and understanding. So don’t focus on generational gaps or any other cause of differences in the workplace. Instead, get to know the people you’re working for — unlock their strengths and weaknesses, and connect them with opportunities that will make them soar.

PeopleBest can help can help find the unique opportunities inside each of your people and unlock the potential inside all generations operating on your team. To find out how, 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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PeopleBest Offers Team Comparison Report

PeopleBest Offers Team Comparison Report

Today’s teams are more diverse, dispersed, digital and dynamic. This creates a growing imperative to move information and energy through the organization and reduce friction that slows progress. How do leaders build trust and attentiveness in their teams on what matters? How can the team stay ‘on point’ during strategic shifts?

These questions and more are on the minds of organization leaders. We take the challenge of equipping leaders seriously. In times of rapid change and dispersed work, real-time insights are imperative. The PeopleBest Team Comparison report addresses these questions and more by bringing behavior intelligence so that managers can plan and decide their best moves. This simple yet in depth view can even help the leader assign reps to the type of clients they are best suited to serve.

Take a recent sales organization client who was tasked with increasing the number of signed contracts from small to large-scale accounts.  Management wanted to understand how to optimize productivity and personalize their approach to coach and mentor individuals. We reviewed diverse styles of team members in areas such as engagement, workstyle and interpersonal.  The engagement quadrant view showed the ‘ideal range’ in light blue and plotted individuals on the graph.  We discovered that some team members worked best with structure and defined processes. Others were highly responsive and their effort were “all-in”. There are advantages and disadvantages to both groups but now the managers were able to personalize training, coaching and feedback to optimize future performance.

We also looked at a comparative view of key sales competency strengths which showed who needed training on areas such as presentations skills, negotiating and closing the sales process.  It also identified team members that excel in those areas so they could provide real-time mentoring of peers.

Every business leader wants skilled and capable team members — that goal is a given. But managers must be able to unify the diversity of talent around common goals by providing clarity on responsibilities and expectations. The Team Comparative reveals differences in motivators and workstyles and can facilitate assigning small teams to solve problems, with individuals that complement one another and collectively will build a better solution.

Tech Specs:

Individuals take the PeopleBest assessment. The results are aggregated and the output creates a comparison in several key areas such as styles, competencies, traits and mindset. All of these elements create the story on how to grow and leverage your team’s performance. This output is reviewed with all team members who engage in ideas that will increase their effectiveness.

Content Summary:

Whatever your business challenges are, the ability to see your team’s strengths and opportunities side by side will bring clarity and give you the ability to leverage people’s capabilities and diversity to achieve new levels of success.  Managers learn how to have more effective one-on-one sessions which will lift performance of the entire team. Contact PeopleBest today and schedule a team comparison assessment.