Categories
Hiring Performance

Budgeting for 2025: The Cost of Staying Stuck vs. Unlocking New Ways to Hire and Retain Talent

Budget season is upon us! It’s about this time of year that many business leaders are knee deep in reviewing their financial plans for the upcoming year. While they scrutinize operational costs and forecast revenue growth, one area often gets overlooked: the real cost of not having the right people in the right roles. 

Year after year, leaders face the same struggles—high turnover, missed revenue targets, and people in roles they’re simply not suited for. Yet, many stick to outdated methods, avoiding the new ideas and technologies that could actually solve these problems.

So let’s break down what that actually means, and the impact it’s having on their organizations. 

The High Cost of the Wrong People

The pain of having the wrong people in key positions is real—and it’s expensive. Whether it’s the salesperson who just can’t close deals, the manager who can’t lead effectively, or the employee who’s disengaged and uninspired, the wrong people drain resources. 

Remember, poor performers don’t just miss their own targets—they also drag down team morale, cause inefficiencies, and can cost you customers. And if other team members are relying on their outputs for their own, it’s a giant domino effect. The results can be catastrophic. 

Think about the missed revenue when a top performer leaves because they’re frustrated by a lack of team support or poor leadership. Depending on your industry, losing a top performer can impact your bottom line, client or vendor relations which can result in impact of millions of dollars in revenue for years. Not to mention the turnover cost, which is significant. Some estimates suggest replacement fees are 1.5 to 2 times an employee’s salary. And worse, the ripple effects can linger, leaving a trail of missed opportunities and lost revenue.

Yet, despite these glaring issues, many leaders continue to rely on the same old hiring practices and hope for different results. Why? Because trying something new can feel risky. But what if staying stuck in outdated methods is the real risk?

People Are the Key to Success—And You Can’t Afford to Get It Wrong

Your people are the lifeblood of your company. Despite what some would have you believe, strategy is all well and good but you need the right people in place to make it happen the way you’ve envisioned it. But getting the right people in place—those who will perform, stay engaged, and drive results—takes more than just intuition or good intentions. It takes the right tools, insights, and willingness to explore new approaches.

The reality is that traditional hiring practices have left many businesses stuck in a cycle of reactive hiring, costly turnover, and missed performance targets. But it doesn’t have to be this way. 

Imagine a future where you can predict with near certainty how much a new hire will contribute to your bottom line in the first three years or how long they’ll stay with your company. 

Would you believe me if I told you that the tools to achieve this already exist? Yet too many leaders are afraid to step outside their comfort zones and embrace them.

New Ideas, Proven Solutions—A Game-Changer for 2025

At PeopleBest, we’ve developed AI-driven solutions that do just that. With 88-90% accuracy, we can predict how much revenue a new hire will generate or how long they’ll stay in their role. We’ve helped clients double their revenue in a year by focusing on getting the right people into the right positions. These aren’t just theoretical outcomes—these are real results, driven by advanced technology that takes the guesswork out of hiring and retention.

But here’s the truth: every year, leaders grapple with these same challenges. They know the pain of poor performers, they see the cost of turnover, and they feel the strain of misaligned teams. Yet, many remain hesitant to explore the solutions that could finally break the cycle. Why? Because embracing new ideas can feel uncomfortable.

The Possibilities for 2025—If You’re Willing to Change

The good news? 2025 doesn’t have to be another year of frustration and missed targets. With the right planning, the right tools, and a willingness to embrace innovation, it can be the year your business achieves its people’s goals like never before. Imagine the possibilities—higher revenue, longer tenure, more engaged employees, and a thriving culture of performance. By budgeting for smarter hiring practices and proven AI technology, you’re investing in solutions that deliver results.

The choice is clear: stick with the same old methods and face the same challenges, or take bold steps toward new ideas that offer nearly guaranteed outcomes. PeopleBest’s predictive solutions can make this a reality. The question is, are you ready to open the door to new possibilities?If you want to discuss what those opportunities might look like for your organization, feel free to reach out!

Categories
Uncategorized

Is the Resume Dead (Part 2)

Young man in white dress shirt working tirelessly on his resume hoping it will land him his dream job.

Is the Résumé Dead (Part 2)

A couple weeks ago, I was really excited to share a blog called – Is the Résumé Dead.  The topic is fascinating to me because my team and I are constantly working with big clients that use the most advanced Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) in the world, especially in how they inbound and process resumes – and yet, they still need hiring help.  

Confession, I was also patting myself on the back for a blog well done. I thought I had covered all the most important topics and felt like the blog itself could be helpful to you readers. 

But then on September 4, 2023, just two days later, I came across a brilliant piece written by one Katherine Bindley entitled The New Recruitment Challenge: Filtering AI-Crafted Résumés. I started my day as I always do, with a coffee in and and popping online to the Wall Street Journal, only the best newspaper in the world, in my humble opinion, and there it was! I read through and I was blown away by the details and the perspective. 

My first instinct was to STOP the presses on the blog I just wrote. And then I thought, why not just expand on it? The information in her piece was just too good for me not to include. I’ll tell you why in just a minute. 

So fortunately, I have a great team that encouraged me by saying, “hey Jim, why not just publish the first one, and do a part two that is dedicated to this new information?” They convinced me that the first piece may provide my initial perspective and that this one could be dedicated to the nuances not covered in the first. 

And so, here we are. Now, let’s get into WHY this is such a great read – and why I think Katherine Bindley deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the origination of some amazing content. 

Bots Are Flooding Companies with AI-Generated Resumes
Katherine talks about how the use of generative AI to mass-produce résumés is overwhelming hiring systems, forcing companies to rethink their processes. Candidates are using AI tools to churn out résumés in rapid succession, sending out applications at a rate impossible without automation. What used to take hours or days is now done in minutes. Companies are receiving so many résumés that it’s clogging their hiring pipelines, leading recruiters to reinstate human review steps or even close job postings in less than 48 hours.

My Take: As I mentioned in my prior blog, with this surge of applications, most good candidates will be buried under a mountain of AI-generated résumés, never even making it to a hiring manager’s desk. It’s not just about finding the right person—it’s about whether you even get seen. If the first step in the hiring process is broken this badly, it doesn’t bode well for finding an authentic person, let alone one who is great for that role.

Fake Candidates Are Gaming the System—and Getting Hired
Katherine talks about the surge in fake candidates using AI to fake their way into roles is creating major hiring risks for companies. AI isn’t just making it easier to apply to jobs; it’s helping people fake experience, skills, and even entire identities. Candidates are lying on their résumés, using AI to inflate their experience or paying third parties to help them cheat their way through interviews. Some are even using software during Zoom calls to get real-time prompts or assistance, meaning companies are sometimes hiring candidates who can’t do the job they claim to be able to do.

My Take: This is a serious issue. Companies are wasting time and resources hiring people who aren’t qualified.  Let me say that again – “Companies are wasting time and resources hiring people who aren’t qualified.”  I can only imagine what kinds of massive liabilities this creates if they mismanage responsibilities, leading to costly mistakes, data breaches, or operational failures. This is where our clients use us to manage this challenge.  No one can game a PeopleBest behavioral profile – and if you try, it shows up on the scores if you try.You get to know they are both ‘real’ and a great ‘FIT’ or not for the role.  Sure, you can have someone else take a profile, but while you may get by this step, you’ll wash out when you get in the role.  And we have yet to see this in our 20 years in business either.

Automation Is Filtering Out Real Talent
In this section, Katherine talks about how automated hiring tools are causing good candidates to be rejected before a human even sees their résumés.  As she explains, for years, companies have used software to filter résumés, searching for specific keywords or qualifications to narrow down applicants. The problem? These systems are weeding out potentially great candidates who don’t use the right keywords or don’t tailor their résumés in a way that the software can detect. This creates a bottleneck, where real talent is bypassed for algorithmic efficiency.

My Take: Spot on.  Here’s a cut & paste from my prior blog:   “88% to 94% of recruiters believe ATS systems reject qualified candidates because their resumes lack the proper keywords or are not formatted correctly. Other sources cite that 75% of resumes are discarded due to readability issues.  So, it seems like ATS’s are sifting out, in a very efficient manner, most everyone you’d want to hire.”

Hiring Managers Are Fighting Back with More Human Touchpoints
The big idea here is to combat these AI-driven issues, companies are adding more personal filters to the hiring process. Recognizing the flaws of purely AI-driven hiring processes, companies are beginning to add more human elements back into the mix. Recruiters are now asking candidates to complete personal questions or video recordings before their applications are considered. In some cases, they’re even adding live coding tests or asking candidates to explain their thought processes in interviews to weed out those hiding behind AI.

My Take: Finally, a good approach – but there are still lots of holes.  The premise is that companies can’t rely solely on machines for something as human as hiring. Ok, fine. Technology may be great for scaling, but when it comes to finding the right talent, human judgment is also really flawed. If you’ve heard about the Halo effect, people are influenced immediately, either positively or negatively and this bias is all but etched into their perception of a candidate. We don’t seem to be talking about diversity anymore, but we were the best solution to looking at anyone in a completely unbiased way. We just looked at their behaviors as a match to the exact requirements in our clients jobs.  Can you do the job or not?  If yes, great.  If not, both the person and the company would probably be miserable in cutting short where that person could be more successful.

Fake Résumés Lead to Real Business Risks
Here’s a huge point that Katherine hits on, the rise of fake résumés and applicants using AI tools is leading to disastrous hiring decisions. Recruiters are discovering that many candidates are faking entire résumés, claiming experience they don’t have and even getting hired for roles they can’t perform. Some companies only realize the deception after weeks or months when the employee fails to meet expectations—or worse, when they cause damage through incompetence.

My Take: This is just scary.  We do see a LOT of resumes and will say there’s not a super high correlation of what they’ve done compared with whether or not they will be successful in a potential role.  Even WITH using our clients exact, customized job profile.  Why? Because each job is unique, because each company is unique.  Some of the basics, like organization or creativity can be easily matched, but I’m talking about achieving OKR’s, KPI’s, changing a dynamic such as a team that either needs to be motivated or replaced, in part or in whole.  Completely different challenges within a completely different culture.  We can absolutely answer any of these unique questions and that’s exactly why our clients love us…!

Candidates Are Relying on ChatGPT—But Not Fooling Anyone
Lastly, Katerine talks about candidates who use AI tools like ChatGPT for coding tests and interviews are facing increased scrutiny. She explains that while some companies allow applicants to use tools like ChatGPT to help with coding tasks, they’re not letting it go unnoticed. Candidates are required to explain the tools they used, show their work in real-time, and justify their thought process. Companies are making sure that candidates know how to do the work.

My Take:  I think this is a great idea.  AI is here.  Useful if managed.  The use of AI in applications and interviews is reaching a critical point. If companies put safeguards in place to ensure they hire people who can think for themselves, great!  I will say I see companies all day long that are or have filled roles with people who can talk the talk but can’t walk the walk, leading to poor performance, wasted time, and a hit to innovation, let alone a huge hit to the bottom line in the millions.

My final Take

I owe Katherine Bindley a huge ‘Thank You’ for her nailing her research, insights and professional insights in this article.  I’m driven by helping find success inside of people, teams and companies.  We can either use technology for good or harm.  History gives us many examples of this too often.  I believe we are up to these challenges, each one.  Tools are just that. The tools that were supposed to streamline hiring are now the same ones that are clogging the system with fake candidates, overwhelmed hiring funnels, and unqualified hires. We can figure this out and have been for the last decade.  

By focusing on authenticity, understanding the inside of the person with their strengths and corresponding weaknesses, thorough vetting, companies can fix their internal systems and add better AI-driven hiring solutions making sure they find the right person for the right job, not just the person who knows how to game the system.

I found there is a podcast from Katherine today:  How AI Is Helping ‘Fake Candidates’ Land Jobs which Katherine and her colleagues share even more insights.  Fantastic stuff – a MUST listen.  Thank you again, Ms. Bindley!

Write to Katherine Bindley at [email protected]

Write to Jim Hunter at [email protected]

Categories
Performance

Find Your Perfect Franchisee: Understanding Leadership Styles That Fit

Find Your Perfect Franchisee:
Understanding Leadership Styles That Fit

Let’s face it – whether you’re just starting out, growing your brand, or already established as a Franchisor – choosing the right Franchisee is critical for long-term success. It’s more than just finding someone with the money and passion to invest. It’s about finding a person whose leadership style matches the specific needs of your franchise. And here’s the kicker: understanding these leadership styles upfront can save you from a world of headaches down the road.

Let’s take a look at the six common leadership styles, Autocratic, Compassionate, Consensus, Mentor, Navigator, and Relentless and their impact on Franchisee selections.

1. Autocratic Style: The “Command and Control” Approach

Think of the autocratic leader as the one who gets things done, fast. It’s all about “do as I say” – great in a crisis or when you need rapid change. But here’s the downside: it can kill creativity, alienate team members, and crush collaboration. Not exactly ideal if your franchise thrives on teamwork and innovation.

Ron is an autocratic-style Franchisee who just launched his new location. Faced with the challenges of establishing his brand and managing an inexperienced team, he implements strict rules and takes control of every decision. His “follow my orders” approach quickly boosts sales and sets a strong foundation, but his team feels stifled and unappreciated, resulting in high turnover.

Best Fit: This style works when you need someone who can take charge in high-pressure, structured situations. Just be careful – it can stifle flexibility and lead to unhappy teams.

2. Compassionate Style: The People-First Leader

Compassionate leaders are all about creating emotional connections and a sense of belonging. They put people before processes, which can be great when your team needs a morale boost or is rebuilding trust. But watch out – too much nurturing can sometimes lead to a lack of accountability and mediocre performance.

Lisa is a compassionate-style Franchisee who leads with her heart, always checking in on her team’s well-being. During a tough period of staff shortages, her kindness kept morale up. Yet, her tendency to avoid tough conversations sometimes contributes to underperformance, causing the business to miss key sales goals and struggle with maintaining profitability.

Best Fit: Perfect for Franchisees who’ll be managing teams during stressful times or post-crisis. Just remember, results can’t always take a back seat to feelings.

3. Consensus Style: The Collaborator

This leader loves to get everyone’s opinion. The “What do you think?” approach fosters collaboration, builds buy-in, and encourages fresh ideas. It’s fantastic when you need to get everyone on the same page. But in emergencies or when decisions need to happen fast? Not so much.

Mark is a consensus-style Franchisee leading an experienced team and thrives on collaboration. He regularly holds meetings to gather input and build consensus before making decisions. His team appreciates the inclusivity, but if a crisis hits, these lengthy discussions delay the critical action needed to resolve urgent issues.

Best Fit: Great for Franchisees who thrive on team input and are managing seasoned teams. However, this isn’t your go-to style if the pace is fast or stakes are high.

4. Mentor Style: The Coach

Mentor leaders focus on developing people. They’re the coaches who guide, support, and align individual strengths with career goals. It’s a “let’s try this” approach that’s super effective for personal growth but does take time and commitment.

Emma is a mentor-style Franchisee dedicated to developing her team. She spends time coaching each employee, helping them align their strengths with career goals. While her team has grown stronger over time, this focus on long-term development slows down daily operations and delays quick decisions needed to meet short-term goals.

Best Fit: Perfect for Franchisees who are all about long-term team development. But if you’re looking for quick results or working with teams resistant to change, this might not be the best match.

5. Navigator Style: The Visionary

Navigator leaders are the dreamers, the “big picture” folks. They inspire and guide teams with a “join me” mentality, allowing flexibility in how goals are achieved. While this style is effective when new direction or motivation is needed, it could lead to power struggles and diminished team cohesion when managing seasoned professionals. Or, some may feel this guidance is too broad and are apt to struggle without more specific direction.

Alex is a navigator-style Franchisee who inspires his team with a clear, compelling vision for the future. He encourages creativity and independence, allowing his team to find their own paths to success. However, when overseeing experienced professionals who value autonomy, this approach creates conflict, leading to disconnects and challenges in aligning the team.

Best Fit: Perfect for Franchisees who can inspire and lead with vision. Just keep in mind, it might not work as well with teams that don’t need – or want – constant guidance.

6. Relentless Style: The High Standards Leader

Relentless leaders set the bar high and expect everyone to meet it. Their “do what I do” approach pushes teams to perform but can also overwhelm, leading to burnout and stifling creativity.

John sets the bar high in his franchise, constantly pushing his team to exceed targets. His drive leads to strong sales, but the intense pressure causes burnout among his staff, affecting overall morale and leading to higher turnover.

Best Fit: Ideal for Franchisees who are self-driven, set ambitious standards, and work well with motivated teams. But beware – overdoing it can turn a winning team into a burned-out mess.

Conclusion: Matching Leadership Styles with Your Franchise Needs

At the end of the day, knowing your Franchisee’s leadership style can give you a crystal-clear picture of how they’ll fit within your system. You want more than someone with the financial resources and drive – you want the right person with the right leadership match for your unique needs and culture. By understanding these styles, you can predict how a Franchisee will manage their teams, tackle challenges, and deliver outcomes. So, take the time to dig into leadership styles – you’ll be glad you did.

Categories
Hiring

Is the Resume Dead? (Part 1)

Young man in white dress shirt working tirelessly on his resume hoping it will land him his dream job.

It’s a complicated question. I would argue that there are two sides to consider here – the candidate themselves and the employer. 

From the candidate’s perspective, they are looking to put their best foot forward. The resume is essentially a highlight reel of their career. Sure, they look slick, packed with keywords to beat the algorithms, but are they trustworthy? When over 50% of employers admit they can’t tell if a résumé is accurate, we’ve got a problem. Your résumé might as well be a well-crafted fiction, designed to trick the system but ultimately failing to deliver the ‘source of truth’ about your capabilities.

From the employer’s perspective, they are getting a huge influx of resumes for every job rec provided. It’s almost impossible to read through them all, so the majority of resumes are ignored completely. I recently ran across the stat of: Approximately 95% of Fortune 500 companies use ATS to manage candidate applications.  For employers, ATS is revolutionary in its ability to automate screening.  But then I see another stat that says:  88% to 94% of recruiters believe ATS systems reject qualified candidates because their resumes lack the proper keywords or are not formatted correctly. Other sources cite that 75% of resumes are discarded due to readability issues.  So it seems like ATS’s are sifting out, in a very efficient manner, most everyone you’d want to hire. 

And, just to throw a wrench in it all , there’s a third dimension to consider: the current technological landscape – specifically the impact of AI. 

Let me preface this by saying, I am a huge fan of AI. It’s the perfect way to quickly compile and make sense of just about anything, including people. So let me ask you this – why, in this golden age of AI, are resumes the source of truth about a person?

It’s a question PeopleBest as an organization has spent a lot of time on to understand. We are DRIVEN to be a source of truth behind helping each person and their success – using AI! Our use of ChatGPT and other LLM help us power the most accurate insights into human behavior while offering the ultimate source of truth behind each person’s uniqueness and potential.

So now that you know all the factors I’ve got in mind, let’s dive deeper into the true question, I really think is:

How do you retain maximum efficiency without missing the chance to grab the best people for each specific job?

Well, I’ve got some ideas…

  1. Skills-Based Hiring – A Growing Trend

Skills-based hiring has emerged as a powerful alternative to traditional résumé-based recruitment. The argument is that résumés often emphasize past titles and affiliations over actual capabilities, leading to a mismatch between what a candidate can do and what a job requires. In this context, skills assessments can serve as a more objective measure of a candidate’s abilities. Interestingly, companies like Walmart and IBM are already leaning heavily on this approach, reducing the emphasis on college degrees and instead focusing on the specific skills needed for a role.

One thing to note, however, is that while skills assessments provide valuable insights, they are not the panacea for all hiring challenges. Skills alone do not paint the full picture of an individual’s capacity to thrive in a role or within a company’s culture. This is where behavioral data becomes indispensable.

  1. The Behavioral Data Approach – To be transparent, here’s where my interest really lies. 

While skills tell us what a person can do, behavioral data reveals how and why they do it. At PeopleBest our software dives deep into the traits that drive a person’s actions and decision-making processes. Matched to the ‘exact’ metrics of success, or even the unique job description, along with using a model of your best people where possible, we correlate a FIT score automatically. Scores can be automatically inserted into any ATS so there is zero time lost in review.  Candidates can even receive a complimentary summary of their Styles without revealing any sensitive data as a thank you.

By understanding these behaviors, companies can predict not just job performance but also cultural fit and long-term potential.  Screening candidates upfront is also extremely cost effective as we include this as part of our subscription, maximizing efficiencies at every turn.

  1. The Job Application – The ‘New’ Idea That Can

We discovered this idea, in an interesting way, working with a couple of clients.  With one client we asked a series of questions to a slew of their most productive employees and found an extremely high correlation of this one question to overall success. 

Ready?  Here it is:  “Do you devote time or volunteer with groups outside of work such as social, sports, or faith-based organizations?”

This data has shown a strong correlation between this behavior and overall job success. A candidate who consistently engages in these activities is often someone with a strong drive to help others—a trait that translates into effective teamwork, leadership, and a positive influence on company culture. These are insights that a résumé or even a skills test might overlook but are critical to making the right hire.

  1. Performance-Based Interviewing – Out with the ‘Old’ and in with the ‘New’

Why are there constant rounds of interviews with dozens of people involved that slow down (not to mention complicate) the process?

This interview technique focuses on evaluating candidates through a detailed examination of their past achievements and behaviors to ensure they have a proven track record of success, aligning them with the specific demands and culture of your organization.

A performance-based question might be: “Can you walk me through a time when you were faced with a major challenge at work and how you overcame it? What specific actions did you take, and what was the outcome?”

This question digs into the candidate’s past behavior and decision-making process, revealing how they handle real-world situations and whether they have a history of effectively solving problems and delivering results. It’s not just about what they say they can do; it’s about what they’ve actually done.

With all this in mind, I hope you’re asking yourself, ““Why am I looking at their resume so much?”

Gone are the days where companies should be relying on schools, past companies, gut feelings or vague impressions. The methods listed above give you hard data and real insights to make smarter hiring decisions. You end up with a team of proven performers, reducing turnover, boosting productivity, and creating a workplace where everyone knows they’re surrounded by the best. It’s about making sure you hire winners, not just people who look good on paper. 

Now, go be amazing!!  (…and let me know how it goes or holler for any help!?)

Categories
Uncategorized

Don’t Blink! The Difference Between 1st and 5th Place in Business

Guest Post by Tim Barry –

I am a speed freak.  A professionally trained driver, I’ve had an Audi R8 up to 161mph on a closed track.  Let’s put it this way, when you are moving at 150mph, the car is going about two-thirds of a football field per second. 

We blink our eyes in about 100 milliseconds represented numerically as 0.1 seconds. 

In 1971, the Italian Grand Prix Formula 1 race featured the winning car beating the #2 finisher by 1000 milliseconds.  Think about that for a second.  The difference between the winner and the second place finisher was 10 times closer than the time it takes a human to blink their eyes! 

The business world is a brutal landscape.  It’s very much dog eat dog and if you don’t believe it, consider how many times your competition has cut their price on a project just to steal it away from you. 

The challenges business leaders face include global competition, high inflation, high cost of capital, a tight labor market with rising costs and new entrants to the game. 

The challenges business leaders face include global competition, high inflation, high cost of capital, a tight labor market with rising costs and new entrants to the game. 

In sports, science has developed cutting edge technology and science to help the athlete get that extra edge.  The 1990s are widely dubbed the “Steroid Era” because so many Major League superstars were juicing or using human growth hormone to recover from injury more quickly.  It has soiled the record books.

So what if there was a business ‘performance enhancement’ that could help you get a leg up on your competition?  How would you use it?

At PeopleBest, we leverage cutting edge, AI technology and behavioral science to provide our clients with that performance enhancement. 

Our clients come to us looking for the most effective ways to measure the potential their employees have.  This allows the client to onboard, train and develop the right people with the right traits and skills to execute their jobs for results.

The difference between the winner of the race and the #2 finisher in that Italian Grand Prix was one one-thousandth of a second.  The winner got all the glory, fame, money and accolades.  Most will never know the rest of the field.

Let’s have a conversation about how to help you gain that competitive edge over your competitors.  The business environment will remain brutal and even get more challenging as technology develops. 

Last point:

Sales is a ‘game of inches.’  The difference between 1st place and 5th can be a blink of an eye.  In that 1971 F1 race, the time difference between first place and fifth place was .06 seconds. 

You don’t have to win by much.  Just do a little extra each day and the results can be huge. 

Cool Math Numbers:

(1.00)365 = 1

(1.01)365 = 37.7834

(0.99)365 = .03

About Tim

Tim is an award winning Sandler trainer and advocate of the PeopleBest solution. Tim is the trusted advisor of C-level executives not only because Tim finds true joy in helping people make their vision into a reality, but also because Tim has built up successful companies of his own.

Over the last decade, Tim has built upon the traditional Sandler Training curriculum to provide a unique training experience for his clients. He focuses on a personalized, data-centric approach and helps clients apply Sandler best practices to both achieve business success and enrich their personal lives.

Tim specialized in helping executives cut through the noise of the day-to-day and get clear on their true goals and vision so they can create an actionable plan for success.

Categories
Uncategorized

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