AGILEdge-OPTIMIZEpeople Hiring & Talent Perspectives and
Fall Harrison Assessment Update
Using Behavioral
Data Effectively to Make Better Talent Decisions
Updates on Agiledge and The Harrison Assessment System
Our goal is to provide the most valuable decision support capabilities to improve choices throughout the talent management cycle. As the leading assessment in providing truly job specific behavioral suitability data, we continue development of tools and processes to ideally support selection decisions, effective onboarding and management effectiveness especially during the new employee’s first six months. As the leading data analytics provider of truly job-specific behavioral suitability data, we continue our development of tools to ideally support selection decisions, development plans, coaching and management effectiveness, engagement and fulfillment and with our newest module, talent and succession planning. We provide added capability to existing HRIS systems and to Talent Acquisition organizations in supporting key management and talent decisions.
In 2019, we introduced a fully upgraded talent planning module - this can be set up to be administered centrally or as a career portal for employees which essentially becomes a talent planning module for management. We also added fulfillment metrics along with our engagement and retention metrics which assesses, for each specific person, for what's important to them, how fulfilled they are. And now that our systems are built out to support the full talent management cycle, we've introduced new pricing programs to allow virtually unlimited use. More on these things below.
We've been the leading solution for nearly a decade now on providing job specific benchmarks and behavioral interview questions to improve hiring and overall talent acquisition processes. Because of the data we provide, our fastest growing area though is talent development with over 2000 organizations adopting the HA for learning and talent development decision support in the last 4 years. These organizations include MasterCard, Travelers, Costco, Kroger's and Qualcomm and a considerable number of fast growing Inc5000 firms. One common and growing use case, that was pioneered by Microsoft more than a decade ago, is to use the Harrison to provide the "explanation" for the perceptions and input given to managers through a 360 review process and then as the key input for an individual development plan.
Better Data, Better Talent Management
One of the challenges we continually face is being compared with personality type information or to what our essentially normed surveys. Neither of these two approaches can result in anything that is particularly predictive and often they don't result in much that's insightful either. Google: Why Behavioral Suitability Data is better? Our key advantage in the marketplace is the data that results from the assessment based on the technology used to gather it and the behavioral science it is based on. We clarified this in a video here that has received some media attention. Better data to support talent management: A concise Overview
The Importance of an Informational Baseline to Validate when Making Hiring Decisions
When organizations make people decisions, it is most common to see a process full of bias, assumptions, expediency and rather ineffective results. It does not need to be nor should it be that way.
The main decision often ends up often coming from impressions and assumptions rather than through a process of validating information and making an effective group decision. This is why a comprehensive baseline is needed to support these decisions. In this video discussion, we overview and generalize a bit on how a people decision process (hiring, promotion, team, project, development program choice…) might work when you have a comprehensive informational baseline to validate and update as the process moves forward. Companies often have parts of this (or think they do because some of it is in their IT system or the capability is there OR they believe their recruiters do this - think again!) but the key elements that especially answer the question, will they do the job as a high performer? are missing. Click here for a video overview.
Now Over a Million Talent Decisions Supported Each Year
The HA System is now used by over 4000 organizations to support over a million talent decisions. Ranging from the world's leading organizations including Microsoft, MasterCard, Travelers, Toyota, Costco as well as some of the world's fastest growing companies and most successful start-ups. Some of the top recruiters and executive coaches in the US and globally now also use HA.
Update on Awards Recently Earned
Quantitative & Critical Thinking Assessment
In 2018, we introduced the QCT- Quantitative/Critical Thinking Assessment. Over the last year, we've further developed the norms for hundreds of different finance, scientific, technical sales, engineering, accounting and other types of relevant jobs. It is designed to be used as a screening and decisions support tool for selection and for internal talent planning and bench strength analysis. It is specifically designed for jobs where problem solving, and analytical thinking is very important. This includes software design, accounting/finance, technical sales, engineering, tech support and other similar positions. It also has been used in a lot of workforce planning programs to determine training needs and bench strength. Learn more here…
Performance Benchmarking your Jobs - Overview
If you really want to make sure you hire high performers and that you develop your people into high performers, you really need to Performance Benchmark your jobs. This enables you to more cost effectively create development plans and to screen and benchmark against a validated set of criteria. Learn more about Performance Benchmarking your jobs
New Report Formats
This year we upgraded the report formats for clarity and design - here are some of the decision support packets available:
SAMPLE DECISION SUPPORT PACKAGE FOR: Selection/Talent Acquisition Decision Packet Example
SAMPLE DECISION SUPPORT PACKAGE FOR: Talent/Leadership Development Individual Packet Example
SAMPLE DECISION SUPPORT PACKAGE FOR: Onboarding Individual Packet for Hiring Manager and HR/Learning organization
SAMPLE DECISION SUPPORT PACKAGE FOR: Emerging Leadership Competencies Benchmark Packet
Improve Your Talent / Leadership Development with Better Data and HA
Many of the world's leading organizations use HA for both selection and development – often as a core component of their leadership and talent development programs. It is used to provide job and competency specific information to enable managers/employees to focus on their leverage points- the strengths they should use in place of their weaknesses and their key leverage points for improvement. It is used to provide meaning to 360's, to show the reasons why the perceptions and make it real.
To learn more, please watch this short video...
Jobflix- the industry leading suitability + eligibility screening tool
Early this year, we introduced Jobflix, a tool that takes advantage of the thousands of job-specific studies on both eligibility and suitability in the HA system. Over 1000 organizations have adopted it this year. In Asia and most of Europe, it’s been to screen large numbers of applicants down to the few who are predicted to be the high performers. In the US, there is some of that but mainly in situations where there are continuous hiring needs- recruiting branch managers at staffing companies, caregivers at skilled nursing facilities…. Learn more about it here
Annual Agreements
Besides pay as you go, in 2019, we've added Annual plans. There are plans for use for all of talent management, talent acquisition plan and a talent development plan. The process for investigating whether this would benefit your organization involves a form to map out your use cases. Based on discussions, we will make recommendations on what would work best for you.
Engagement Factors and Fulfillment - Unique Capabilities for Talent Management
On Valentine's day this year, we added new questions to our assessment to pick up on fulfillment on the top engagement and retention factors important to the person. Pulse surveys and other similar apps now popular create a whole bunch of information but because they don't look at what's important to the individual, it tends to be a lot of noise. By looking at the level of fulfillment for the engagement factors key to each specific individual, you can better understand your people and make better management decisions. This data was put in place for employees mainly, but our clients have found great value in using it for better understanding candidates’ motivations.
The unique data provided by HA includes a full spectrum of engagement data so you can determine not only what the person desires and wants but also what (if anything) will trigger them to pursue them. Just remember, a lot of people want riches, want stardom, want success, want leadership but in each case, many don’t or won’t do what it takes. Understanding their motivations and natural tendencies helps you better lead, manage, motivate and develop. To learn more, please watch this short video...
USE CASE: BEHAVIORAL COMPETENCIES - Are you Selecting for and Developing the Growth Mindset in Your Organization?
In 2018, the global consultancy, McKinsey and Company determined HA to be the only assessment that can effectively measure behavioral competencies. One of those competencies, GROWTH MINDSET, has proven very useful for several leading organizations. In this case, two competing theoretical constructs are being validated. If you want the ability to screen for this mindset and to determine development needs to make it part of your organization’s culture, please let us know.
Some of the other competencies include: perseverance, strategic thinker, communicator, drive for results, people energizer, impact and influence, collaborative & team openness, self-accountability, self-awareness & awareness of others, negotiating and problem-solving, knowing oneself, relationship leadership, self-motivation & self-management, social awareness & service orientation, growth mindset, coaching, doesn't need structure, effective enforcing, handles autonomy, handles conflict, innovativeness, interpersonal skill, judgement (strategic), negotiating, organizational compatibility, people oriented, provides direction, coachability, self-employed and tolerance of evasiveness.
Certification Process Improved
- SHRM and ICF credits are now awarded for Harrison certification - let us know if you would like details!
- Harrison certification is now available through 6 week/6 hour per week online program
Succession and Talent Planning Module has been Revamped
For a couple years, HA users who used the Harrison to do talent/success planning, bench strength analysis and to provide a career portal to their employees had to use our old system to continue to do this. Recently we upgraded our system with a new revamped talent planning module. If you want a highly effective means for talent/success planning with job-specific insightful and predictive information, we should arrange a demo.
For more information on optimizing your talent decision support, please consult our blog at optimizepeople.com or contact us directly at 858-705-1482
One of the most difficult challenges managers face is choosing the right people and understanding how to get them to perform at their best. During the last 12 years of our experience, we have found no other tool except the Harrison Assessment that enables this kind of capability with incredible accuracy and insight.
