DIAGNOSE
First, we objectively measure your critical people data.
WHERE ARE WE?
We begin with the first step in Talent Optimization -- Diagnose.
We establish "exactly" where we are in order to understand where we need to go.
Consider how a medical doctor uses reliable lab results to measure a person’s overall health,
they evaluate the data in the context of any problems and act to correct any issues.
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As talent optimizers, we employ a similar methodology. Best practice for a business is to identify existing and potential problems proactively by diagnosing preventatively; this is what smart organizations do.
DECIDE WHAT MATTERS
We begin by deciding what people data you want to measure. Examples of people data include behavioral profiles, cognitive abilities, employee engagement, job performance, organizational culture, team culture, and employee sentiment.
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We can understand people best suited for a job. Who has the ability to adapt and change? Who is struggling with their job or role? What are your values? Are your people in line with your values and how do your people feel after they leave your organization.
We also collect people data for everyone in the organization. This way you’ll already have the data you need should a problem arise. Having behavioral data about each employee on hand will accelerate your ability to diagnose and remedy any friction between them.
Oun next step is deciding what tools we use to collect the people data you’ve chosen. There are a wide variety of tools available, some are lightweight and inexpensive.
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Exit interviews are an important way to collect employee sentiment data from those employees who have chosen to leave your organization. Other tools are more sophisticated. Such as assessments for behavioral profiles, cognitive abilities, or employee engagement. These tools support more advanced activities of talent optimization, like predicting new team dynamics and developing your leaders.
Using various tools is the easiest, fastest, and most cost-effective way to collect that data.
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How frequently you need to measure your people data depends on what you’re measuring and how dynamic your business environment is.
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Behavioral profiles tend to be stable over time. Whereas employee engagement is far more dynamic and is something that varies based on factors including job fit, manager fit, team fit, and culture fit. This may be something you’ll want to measure more often.
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In a stable environment, you’ll measure less often than you would in an environment where people change jobs all the time; constant change means engagement and performance will fluctuate.
ANALYZE
We then analyze the people data we’ve collected to generate a hypothesis based on our findings and our expertise.
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As always, analyze your data within your business context. For example, we may conduct a leadership gap analysis that evaluates your leadership team’s execution-style and abilities relative to your business strategy. Or we may need to work backward from a poor business result such as a slip in production quality.
Remember that in business, nearly every problem is a people problem. Analyzing people data objectively uncovers issues that aren’t obvious, which allows you to quickly and effectively take action.
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What data should we analyze first? We use a decision tree.
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Our analysis might result in a pile of corrective actions you need to take. We know you can't try to solve everything all at once. We help you to prioritize. When deciding which problem to solve, we take the following steps:
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Examine the magnitude.
Determine the relevance.
Consider the breadth.
Look for repetition.
PRESCRIBE
Companies that excel at talent optimization aren’t afraid to make needed organizational changes -- even if doing so requires a great amount of effort and is met with resistance. It’s the only way of righting the ship and getting the results you want.
As a talent optimizer, we set a goal then determine the best course of action. There will be several paths we could take. We always ask, “What are three strategies we could use to reach our goal?” Look at all our options and choose the most feasible tactic. Once we’ve picked a path, we ask, “What are five things we could do in the next 24 hours to get where we need to be?”
We then decide how to take action with our list of action items, and make a rollout plan. Decide who should work on what. And determine whether you can fit any of these items into your existing processes; that’s the easiest route.
When we aren't able to fit the remediation into your existing processes, we help you discuss any changes you seek to make with your entire company or team
We anticipate resistance. When you need to make a change that will impact the people in your organization, communicating the “why” as early as possible is powerful. Change is hard, and people have emotions, so transparency is critical. Why are you making these changes? What results do you expect to see? What happens if you maintain the status quo?
