Category Archive: Blog

  1. TRUST – the reality of this Company/Personal ‘Value’

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    When was the last time someone betrayed your trust?  I bet you remember it clearly.  You will have experienced a series of emotions – first of all hurt then maybe anger, shock, frustration, annoyance at having trusted in the first place or maybe even pity that the person/organization was put in that position in the first place due to unforeseen circumstances. Whatever the emotional reaction there will have been some change in behaviour, however minute.  As a result you may have decided –

    • Never to trust that person/organization again
    • Seek revenge or retaliate in some way
    • Carry on but tread carefully
    • Tell everyone you know this person/organization can’t be trusted in an attempt to protect your circle of employees, friends etc.

    Outcome vs Value

    So what happened?  In his excellent article of 23rd March 2023 Payton Shand advocates that Trust should be an outcome not a value.  He argues that everything the company/person does should be geared towards building trust.  Trusting without first testing the water would appear to be rather foolish and can catch us out.

    It’s probably true to say that we formulate our approach to trust based on our own perception of it – “I wouldn’t do it so don’t expect anyone else to” which can be open to mis-interpretation and mis-understanding.

    Often trust is broken when a more important value comes into play.  We see this in governments all the time in the form of broken manifestos and in companies when profit is threatened.

    Organisational values

    Companies often pride themselves in including ‘Trust’ or ‘Trustworthiness’ in their company values but what does it actually mean?  The question to ask is ‘if I was to walk round your organization and see everyone behaving in a trustworthy manner, what would that look like?’  Trust me to do what exactly?

    • Get to work on time?
    • Meet deadlines and targets?
    • Not to overspend on budget?
    • Be kind and considerate to my colleagues?
    • Always own up when something goes wrong?
    • Keep my word?
    • Keep the office surroundings tidy?
    • Call out inappropriate behaviour?

    Trustworthiness will very definitely mean different things to different people and will almost certainly be called out when another value takes over.  Define it clearly and make it an outcome not a value!

     

    Pat Hutchinson, Quadrant 1 International Ltd  pat@quadrant1.com

  2. Harrison Assessments wins Silver award

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    The Brandon Hall Group Excellence in Technology Awards

    Harrison Assessments wins Brandon Hall Group Silver award for excellence in the Best Advance in Technology for the Remote Workforce

    Harrison Assessments wins Silver

    Harrison Assessments are proud to have been acknowledged with a coveted Brandon Hall Silver Award for excellence in the Best Advance in Technology for the Remote Workforce category.

    We are honored to be recognized for our Remote Work Behavioral Competencies which reveal key behaviors needed for remote workers and leaders who manage remote workers to be successful. This advanced functionality provides real-time data that enables targeted development on both a group and individual level for a personalized approach to development.

    Dr Dan Harrison, CEO.

    Proud to be associated

    As Managing Partner for Harrison Assessments UK, I am again proud to be associated with the winning of this prestigious award.  Harrison Assessment Talent Solutions offers a one stop, highly accurate approach to talent solutions based on what makes people successful in the workplace and this recognition is so valuable.

    Previous accolades

    In 2022 Brandon Hall Group, the leader in Empowering, Recognizing, and Certifying Excellence in HCM, announced that Harrison Assessments was certified as a Smartchoice® Preferred Solution Provider, confirming that Harrison Assessments delivers the most accurate and effective assessment tools in the industry.

    In 2014, Harrison Assessments achieved the Silver Award in the category for Best Advance in Succession Management Technology and Tools in the Future of Work Awards for it’s work on Assessment Based Recruiting Campaign Management.

    Know more

    You can read the full recent Silver Award press release here and you can read our previous post on Remote Working Analytics here.

    If you would like to know more about how this unique approach to talent solutions can support your organisation do get in touch.

     

    Pat Hutchinson, Quadrant 1 International Ltd  pat@quadrant1.com

  3. Is that meeting really necessary?

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    Making Your Meetings Matter - CareerPlug

    Several years ago I worked with an organisation who called their UK sales reps into a meeting every Monday morning to report on the previous week.  There were at least 30 and each one had to contribute.  They were allowed to take their laptops into the meeting so the practice was for each rep to continue working whilst waiting for their turn to speak.  Effectively no-one except the Sales Director was actually listening to each presentation.  Add up the cost of all these salaries, the travel costs and the cost of lost time potentially speaking with customers and this was an extremely expensive exercise.

    Of course, things have changed now – the pandemic has probably been responsible for the explosion in on-line meetings which of course are less time consuming and require less travel.  Commendable for all sorts of reasons.  So why is it I still hear of people switching off the camera, carrying on with emails, eating their breakfast and, in one case, going to take a bath while the meeting is in progress?

    Regular meetings usually lose their flavour after a while and become a chore.  I’ve even heard people say ‘Crikey we’ve got XYZ meeting coming up – what are we going to talk about?’  What a complete waste of everyone’s time!

    Making Meetings Valuable

    The best way to evaluate your proposed meeting is to use the Alignment model as follows –

    Purpose

    What is this meeting for? What do you want people to DO as a result?  If it is just information dumping then send them a report, a spec, product release notes or something else – don’t waste their time in a meeting with all the associated costs.

    Identity/Role

    Who needs to be there and what role are they playing – facilitator, action taker, expert, learner, explorer.  If people don’t have a role to play don’t invite them – they will thank you for it!  Equally if you get invited to a meeting where you have no perceived role then have the courage to ask if its necessary for you to be there and what role you will be expected to play.

    Values/Beliefs

    Is this meeting important and, if so, what is important about it and to whom?  What do you believe about the outcomes?  Are they positive beliefs or negative?  If negative can you reframe them into something positive and look for the possibilities so that you don’t arrive at the meeting as a ‘naysayer’?

    Capability

    If the stated outcomes for the meeting are agreed upon do you and the organisation have the capability to carry them through?  If not what’s missing and how are you going to fill the gap?  Do you have the resources to do so?

    Behaviour

    If you achieve this outcome what behavioural changes would you expect to see in the organisation or team?  Are these acceptable and do they add value to the organisation?

    Environment

    How would achieving this outcome impacted not only your immediate environment,  but that of the team, the organisation and even possibly the community?

    Taking these few simple steps before setting up a meeting will help you to –

    • Stay focused
    • Maintain employee engagement
    • Cut costs
    • Achieve outcomes
    • Free up time

    Happy meeting!

    > > DOWNLOAD A FREE PDF OF THE Q1 MEETINGS ALIGNMENT MODEL < <

    Pat Hutchinson, Quadrant 1 International Ltd  pat@quadrant1.com

    PS – When you try this approach, please do write to me and let me know of your successes!  I look forward to hearing from you.

  4. Is there a difference between ‘well done’ and ‘thank you’?

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    Appreciation Expectations

    This article on employee expectations looks at ‘appreciation expectations’ at work and how they impact on employee engagement.

    Most employees have appreciation expectations and want their contributions to be valued and recognised. However, some employees may not need external appreciation, relying more on their own assessment of their work, but definitely want recognition from their peers. So how does a manager discover each person’s expectations and meet them in the right way?

    8 Areas of Employee Expectations

    The organisational view

    Your organisation may well be able to attract top talent with a competitive salary but if their real retention and engagement factors are not met – they may soon be leaving for an environment where they can be met.

    Research by Monster.co.uk found that many of us don’t feel appreciated at work and employees even have put a value to it – they think compensation of £134 a month would cover the amount for not being thanked properly for their work.

     

    The individual’s expectations

    Asking the right questions, analysing each individual employee’s real engagement factors, and measuring the person’s level of fulfilment of each expectation ensures managers and the wider organisation provide an environment that retains the best talent.

    Appreciation Expectations

    Employees who don’t feel appreciated, recognised or listened to are more likely to be unhappy at work than those that get a thank you and notice taken of their efforts once in a while.

    Here we look at the different elements that make up an individual’s expectations around appreciation, based on the research of Dr Dan Harrison.

    Wants Appreciation

    • The desire to have an employer who expresses appreciation for one’s work
    • We all want to get some appreciation at work and those that receive it feel better and more secure. The trouble is that many employers and management staff don’t do it enough. Taking time to thank a member of staff for their great work can raise morale and put a smile on people’s faces.
    • An employee who isn’t appreciated is going to care a little less about their job each day and bosses need to make sure that this basic social nicety is given more focus. If employee expectations in this area don’t match what the company provides then something will need to change.

    Wants Recognition

    • The desire for positive acknowledgement (from others) related to one’s abilities and strengths
    • If an employee does a good job they want some kind of recognition even if it’s just sending them an email to thank them for all their hard work. Of course, there are some tireless employees who don’t want to be thanked and get embarrassed at being singled out for praise but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be shown some form of appreciation.
    • It’s not just a simple thank you that employees may want. Recognition could mean the prospect of promotion or a wage increase, the chance to undertake some valuable training or not having those low grade jobs pushed onto them all the time.

    Wants Warmth/Empathy

    • The tendency to express positive feelings and affinity toward others
    • However busy the office is, there’s always time for some warmth, particularly as it helps create a better, kinder environment that improves productivity. During stressful times understanding and empathy can often go out the window but if your employee values this kind of interaction and expects it then there needs to be more effort made on these occasions.

    Wants Opinions Valued

    • The desire to have an employer who listens and gives importance to one’s views
    • Most career minded employees will expect to have their opinions valued. There may be those who don’t put it high up on their list of priorities but most of us like to think we have something important to say from time to time. A low score for expectations in this area could also be a sign that the person in charge is not someone who likes to listen to other opinions.

    Is Collaborative

    • The tendency to collaborate with others when making decisions
    • It’s all very well expecting to be appreciated but if you prefer to work alone and have less focus on effective collaboration then this could point to an imbalance between what is expected and what is actually the case.
    • Creating opportunities for better collaboration in an office environment can improve social cohesion and also allow everyone to work more effectively as a team.

     

    Using Harrison Assessments Talent Solutions to understand appreciation expectations

    Using the individual Harrison Assessments Engagement and Employment Expectations report (click here to access a sample report) and data provided by Organisational Analytics, managers can measure an number of key employee expectations, the intrinsic behaviours that drive individual and group engagement. This helps to understand any differences between an employee as well as being able to look at the overall group or team’s expectations. These insights facilitate the essential dialogue between employee and manager, fostering a shared responsibility for engagement to build a culture of employee engagement.

    Employee Engagement White Paper

    • This employee engagement white paper will outline why this is the case and what is needed to achieve a greater impact on organisational performance.
    • It includes some key areas relating to engagement in the workplace and a crucial 3-step guide to assist with the application of engagement analytics.
    • Written by Dan Harrison, Ph.D. – Organisational Psychology, developer and CEO of Harrison Assessments, this white paper is a must read for anyone involved in employee engagement.  Request your copy here –

       

      If you would like to know more please contact me at pat@quadrant1.com

    • What Makes HR Look Good in the Board Room – if indeed they even get there!

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      Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash

      What Makes HR Look Good in the Board Room – if indeed they even get there!

      Its easy to see the results of the Sales Director, the Operations Director and to review the numbers of the Finance Director.  These things are tangible and measurable and tend to receive the majority of the Board Room focus because of this very nature.

      Most organisations will tell you that their people are the most important resource they have and that looking after them and developing them is paramount.  So why is it that the person who is Head of HR is often not represented on the Board and if they are, they often have to shout loudly to be heard?

      The answer may be contained in just one word: ‘evidence’.  People are not machines; they cannot be counted as a stock number and additionally, unlike stock, they have a thing called choice!

      There are no norms – all people are exceptions to a rule that doesn’t exist

      Fernando Pessoa – Late 19th Century Portuguese Poet

      Hence HR people are often left with unquantifiable results.  Being experts in their own field they can see what strategic decisions have to be made in relation to developing a productive, engaged workforce but with no statistical evidence this can be hard to justify.

      Dan Harrison’s 30+ years of research into what makes people successful in the workplace, in particular roles and working in particular teams now gives us the very analytics needed to:

      • Identify the success behaviours required to perform in a particular role
      • Produce profiles against which to recruit successful candidates
      • Assess for leadership, BCs, values-based behaviours, remote working EI and much more
      • Conduct progressive engagement surveys upon which to make strategic engagement decisions as well as individual ones

      Armed with such analytics, the HR professional stands a much better chance of making effective business cases in the Board Room!

      If you would like to know more click here, or please contact me at pat@quadrant1.com

      www.quadrant1.com

       

       

       

       

       

    Quadrant 1 International