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HELPING YOU MEET THE CHALLENGES IN YOUR BUSINESS – RIGHT NOW VOL.9, NO.2

THE BEGINNER'S
GUIDE TO HR
ANALYTICS
manage the wave of
retiring workers

identify who is
about to quit
 simply put:
the better the fit,
the better the hire
87% of all job failures are a result of poor fit
between an individual’s personality and the job.

Leadership and
operating styles Role within
a team

Reasoning
skills
Occupational
preferences

Drake P3® is a powerful

Conflict-
handling psychometric assessment
styles tool that clarifies
personality profiles and
individual capabilities

Personality
traits

Behavioural
competencies

Find out how you can use Drake P3®

to attract and hire the most talented
individuals—people who are
the right fit for your organization,
not just the job.

contact the nearest drake office or visit drakeintl.com

28 THE 24 manage the wave of
BEGINNER'S retiring workers
GUIDE TO HR Reliable Plant [Bruce Wesner]

ANALYTICS 20 identify who is

about to quit
Martin Luenendonk Dr. John Sullivan

Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2 | drakeintl.com 3

 chairman’s
M E S S A G E
Leadership
in the Age of
Disruption
I
n its 2017 fifth annual Global Human
Capital Trends report and survey, Deloitte,
a multinational professional services firm,
reported, “Organizations face a radically
shifting context for the workforce, the work-
place, and the world of work. These shifts
have changed the rules for nearly every or-
ganizational people practice, from learning,
to management, to the definition of work
itself.” The survey was conducted with more
than 10,000 HR and business leaders from
across 140 countries.
4 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
Deloitte went on to add, “In an age of dis-
ruption, business and HR leaders are being
pressed to rewrite the rules for how they or-
ganize, recruit, develop, manage, and engage
the 21st-century workforce.”
Rewriting the rules is today’s reality, and
the HR function must rise to the chal-
lenge. Dealing with such issues as manag-
ing virtual workforces, workforce analytics,
talent retention, retiring workers, succes-
sion planning, and in general, preparing
| drakeintl.com
HR for organizations of the future is not
an easy task.
Each issue of the Drake Business Review
magazine is full of articles from thought
leaders, business leaders, and authors around
the globe to help you strategically manage
your human resources business challenges
now, and into the future.
An article in this issue from Reliable Plant,
written by Bruce Wesner, discusses manag-
ing the wave of retiring workers. Wesner

states that in the US alone, about 10,000
baby boomers are retiring every day. In fact,
at many companies, more than 50% of the
workforce will be retiring in the next three
to five years. The article is a fascinating look
at what leaders must think about — right
now. Wesner also writes about an unusually
complex operational facility that actually
turns over its entire workforce, including the
president and senior management team,
every three years! Intrigued? Check out the
article on page 24.
When you think about retiring workers, you
must also consider succession planning to
replace the vast knowledge and experience
that will be walking out your door. Key knowl-
edge exists at all levels within an organiza-
tion, and knowledge is complex. The article
on succession planning starting on page 16
focuses on the fact that “Planning for the
exit of knowledgeable employees is critical
to the long-term success and competitive-
ness of businesses.”
Many companies do not have a plan to
manage and transfer knowledge, and yet
knowledge transfer is an important part of
the succession planning process. Knowledge
transfer and succession planning are both
critical elements of an organization’s overall
talent management strategy.
I referenced workforce analytics earlier as
a key element for the HR function, and we
have included many articles on HR analytics
in previous issues. HR data are everywhere
within an organization. The challenge is ana-
lyzing them. Deloitte referred to “rewriting
the rules”, and a good example of this is the
importance organizations are placing on
analytics. If you attend any HR conference,
you will now find data and workforce analyt-
ics high on the agenda. On page 28, Martin
Luenendonk provides “The Beginner's Guide
to HR Analytics” — what it is, and why your
organization should focus on it, and five
steps to implementing analytics.
It is always interesting to read statistics on
HR issues. The Recruitment and Employment
Confederation (REC) in the UK is a not-for-
profit organization and the professional body
for UK recruitment businesses. They recently
researched the cost to businesses of making
a bad hire. In their report Making the Right
chairman’s message
Hire and the Cost of Getting It Wrong, they
stated that employers clearly don’t under-
stand the costs of a bad hire, its damaging
impact, and how to avoid it. They go on to
say, “This behaviour is putting the success
of UK businesses at risk.”
The same can be said for any business world-
wide. From their interviews and research,
REC found that 85% of HR decision makers
admit their business made a bad hire. They
calculated that a poor hire at a middle man-
agement level of £42,000 (about US$54,000)
could end up costing a business £132,015
(about US$170,000). Can your business afford
a bad hire?
As costly as it is to hire the wrong person,
it is also expensive to hang onto the wrong
person, in the wrong job, for too long. In his
article on page 34 on this very subject, Lee
Froschheiser says that one of the reasons
many managers don’t oust a poor performer
is because they don’t have a back-up plan. He
also writes about the importance of having
a good performance management system
in place.
I’ve spoken about the cost of a bad hire, and
hanging onto the wrong person too long. Dr.
John Sullivan’s article on page 20 offers an
intriguing and informative guide to identify
who is about to quit. No one wants to hear
that their top performers are preparing to
bolt. Sullivan says that he has found that
nearly 95% of managers make no formal
attempt to periodically sit down and system-
atically identify key team members who are
likely to leave. And what is his number one
cause for employee turnover? It could be you.
In this age of “disruption” as Deloitte refer-
enced earlier, it will take visionary, strate-
gic, and capable leadership to achieve and
sustain outstanding results. And yet, as
reported by The Center for Organizational
Design in their article “How to Develop Your
Leaders” on page 36, “80% of CEOs partici-
pating in a recent study rated their efforts to
develop leaders throughout their organiza-
tions as less than adequate.”
This statistic should be a wake-up call. The
essence of your business is your people. For
an organization to run efficiently and effec-
R. W. Pollock, Chairman & CEO
tively, good leadership must exist at all levels.
5
 MANAGEMENT
T I P S
PART 1:
10
Reasons
to Encourage
Employee Input
Your business success depends entirely on
the support and performance of your em-
ployees. With staff playing such a signifi-
cant role, it’s undeniable that they’ll have
opinions about their work, the organization,
policies and procedures, and more.
However, in many workplaces, encouraging
and implementing employee suggestions
fall by the wayside; and during tough eco-
nomic times, when fresh ideas can be more
crucial than ever, staff may be hesitant to
speak up. Encouraging feedback boosts em-
ployee morale and can ultimately work to
your team’s and organization’s advantage.
While it may seem easier at times to go
along with the status quo, encouraging the
free flow of ideas and embracing meaning-
ful change can help transform a good work-
place into a great one. Making your employ-
ees feel that their thoughts and opinions
are valued by you and your company will
bring benefits for the rest of your business.
Welcoming employee input can:
1 satisfaction
Improve job
Staff members who sense their ideas make
a difference will not only feel valued, but
will also be more loyal to the organization.
2 Create a better
work environment
6 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
employee communication:
INPUT AND FEEDBACK
6 Foster trust
Managers and senior staff members may
not completely understand the challenges
Staff will be more open to sharing
front-line or junior staff face. Employee input
can help generate more relevant and re-
thoughts and ideas with a co-worker whom
sponsive policies and procedures to address
they can rely on and trust, especially with
sensitive issues.
specific staff needs.
3 Foster service
excellence
7 Show stability
Being able to react rationally to crisis
situations will make your co-workers hold
Staff who work on the front line of your you in a higher regard. Exhibiting stability
organization interact directly with clients encourages staff to approach you with feed-
and are the “face” of your organization. back, even if it’s about a negative matter.
They, better than anyone, understand the
value of great customer service. Practical
suggestions, therefore, can empower your
team with the tools to deliver better value
8 Exhibit leadership
Hiring effective employees will help
ensure your credibility as a "people leader",
and service to your clients and elevate your and can generate a cohesive team. A team
organization’s reputation. that can work well together will be more
willing to share ideas and insights with fellow
4 Create a sense
of fairnes
team members.
By collectively developing the strategies and
work processes staff use every day — rather
9 Be open
Foster communication with staff by
keeping them well informed. If you keep co-
than just implementing those directed to workers in the dark or hide information from
them from management and senior staff — them, they’ll be less inclined to approach you
you’ll promote a more level playing field and with an important issue or concern.
avoid creating an “us and them” atmosphere.
5 Inspire industry
improvements
10 Maintain visibility
Managers who hide behind
closed doors create a barrier to colleagues
and signal that they’re not open to commu-
A staff that’s encouraged to innovate can be
nication. If you often shut your office door
the force that helps build your organization’s
reputation as a trail-blazer in the industry. or work at a location that is far from your
colleagues, make the effort to visit and chat
with them regularly throughout the day.
Encouraging the free flow of ideas and embracing
meaningful change can help transform a good
workplace into a great one.
| drakeintl.com

PART 2:
9
Steps
to Turn Feedback
into Action
In the old days, hanging a suggestion box in
the lunch room was how companies often
gathered employee input. And while an idea
box can still be an effective tool, it may not
always generate the type of detailed infor-
mation you need. It may also prevent you
from focusing the conversation on a certain
issue or item of interest.
Ease the flow of information around your
team, and turn the ideas of your employees
into action by:
1 Meeting regularly
Use regular staff meetings (e.g.,
weekly or monthly) to gather input on spe-
cific topics or issues.
2 Going out
Staff outings can encourage conver-
sation in a less-restrictive setting. Whether
it’s a team lunch or a quick coffee, removing
the team from the confines of work can be
a good way to keep your ear to the ground.
3 Surveying staff
Create a survey, either on your own or
with your organization’s HR department, to
poll employees on ideas related to a specific
item or issue. Consider offering incentives
or prizes to encourage staff contribution.
4 Informing employees
If your organization does not have
an internal newsletter, consider creating
one to keep employees informed on news
and events.
"As the driving force behind any organization,
employees are more than just the fuel that
makes an engine run; they’re individuals with
ideas, opinions, and beliefs that matter."
ma n ag e m e n t t i p s : e m p l oy e e c o m mu n i c at i o n : i n p ut a n d f e e d bac k
5
Making conversation
If an employee approaches you with
feedback, don’t just accept it at face value.
Generate dialogue from staff input by
asking further questions like: “Why do you
feel this way?” or “What changes would you
like to see following this?”
6 Organizing
As you gather ideas from staff,
record them in one central location, rather
than scribbling them down here and there.
Create an “idea file” with various categories
you can refer to.
7
Pacing yourself
Deal with one idea at a time, and
break each down into manageable tasks.
This will ensure you include all aspects
required for completion. If it helps you to
plan better, consider creating a timeline
for each task required to implement
the idea.
8 Recruiting
champions
Give your co-workers a chance to take action
in implementing their ideas; don’t just
accept their feedback at face value. Involving
your employees shows that you value eve-
ryone’s ideas. Try not to follow a “top-down”
regime of dictating and delegating.
9 Assessing
Be sure to evaluate and follow up on
the implementation of staff ideas to gauge
their effectiveness, and offer encouraging
advice. If your employees see that their sug-
gestions fall upon deaf ears, they may be
inclined to stop contributing. Make them
feel valued by acknowledging the issues or
ideas they raise.
By addressing the issue of employee input,
you’ll help establish yourself as a leader who
values the insights and opinions of your col-
leagues. More importantly, implementing
employee suggestions can improve service,
increase productivity, and make a positive
impact on the bottom line. As the driving
force behind any organization, employees
are more than just the fuel that makes an
engine run; they’re individuals with ideas,
opinions, and beliefs that matter.
DBR
Reprinted with the permission of Morneau Shepell, a
leading global provider of employee assistance program
(EAP) services. This content is meant for informational
purposes and may not represent the views of individual
organizations. Please call your EAP or consult with a
professional for further guidance. For more information,
visit morneaushepell.com.
Place your finger on the pulse of em-
ployee engagement in your organiza-
tion with a Drake Employee Engagement
Survey. Find out what is on your em-
ployees’ minds, what is driving morale,
and if the culture is still on track. It’s an
easy way to get quantitative data on
employee attitudes and prevent turn-
over before it happens.
To learn more, visit us online at drakeintl.
com or contact the Talent Management
Solutions Team at:
Africa: 27 21 425 3300
africa@drake.co.za
Australia: 613 9245 0245
hrsolutions@au.drakeintl.com
Canada: 416 216-1074
solutions@na.drakeintl.com
Hong Kong: 852 2848 9288
Drake@drake.com.hk
New Zealand: 0800 840 940
solutions@nz.drakeintl.com
Singapore: 65 6225 5809
drake@sg.drakeintl.com
South Africa: 011 883 6800
Solutions@drake.co.za
United Kingdom: 0800 111 4558
solutions@drakeintl.co.uk
7
 FOCUS ON:
Making the
Right Hire
Assessing a Candidate's Fit
with Your Organization
Finding the candidate who is the
best cultural fit for your organiza-
tion can be very challenging, but
following some practices can help
you make a successful hire.
Say your organization is looking to
fill a senior management position.
You have carefully determined the
skills and work experience nec-
essary for a person to succeed in
that position, and have written a
detailed job description. Your re-
cruiting efforts have turned up a
strong candidate whose skills and
background seem to be a perfect
fit for the job; however, you’re not
sure how the candidate will fit in
with your organization’s culture.
How can you assess a candidate’s
cultural fit?
8 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
We have seen this scenario and
heard this question many times,
especially when organizations have
created new positions or when they
are considering non-traditional
candidates for a position, such as
someone with for-profit experience
who is looking to bridge to the non-
profit sector.
Through our talent-matching work
over the years and a set of in-depth
interviews with senior managers,
we have identified some practices
that consistently seem to increase
the chances of getting the right can-
didate for an organization’s culture
and work style By following these
practices, your organization will
be in a good position to assess this
sometimes elusive issue of fit.
| drakeintl.com

Determining whether a
candidate is the right fit for
your organization’s culture
and work style can be
challenging.
The process of ensuring that a job candidate
will be a good cultural fit for your organiza-
tion can be roughly divided into three steps
— the first two completed before you even
start reviewing résumés and the third once
you have identified some strong candidates.
1 Assess your organization’s culture
Define what you are looking for in a
2 senior manager beyond just the job
description
Learn about a potential candidate’s
3 work style and approach to communica-
personality and work style
STEP 1:
assess your
organization's culture
To find the right people for your organiza-
tion, you need to first understand its culture
and work style. The many ways to assess its
culture range from conducting an extensive
organizational assessment and audit to
simply sitting down and thinking through
what types of people have succeeded there.
One organization hired consultants to in-
terview all 60 or so employees about what
made people successful at the organiza-
tion and distilled the answers down to the
six most commonly cited characteristics. A
smaller organization had its management
team develop a list of their core values.
“Thinking about your organization’s values
can be a good starting point,” suggests
Kieran McGrath, associate director, talent
and recruiting, at the Bridgespan Group.
To find the right people
for your organization,
you need to first
understand its culture and
work style.
At a bare minimum, asking these questions
about your organizational culture can help
clarify what type of work environment your
organization offers to potential candidates:
Work style
•• How do we get our work done?
Collaboratively? Independently? A
combination?
•• How do we make decisions? By consensus?
Authoritatively?
•• How do we communicate? Verbally or
in written form? Directly or indirectly?
Voicemail, email, or in person?
•• What are our meetings like? Serious?
Lighthearted? Tightly or loosely structured?
Professional opportunities and
advancement
•• What types of people tend to do well here?
Individual contributors? Team players? People
who are proactive or more responsive?
•• How are we structured? Hierarchical or
flat? Centralized or decentralized authority?
Clear reporting structures or matrix?
•• How do we reward people who do well?
•• What happens when people don’t perform
well?
Work hours and commitment to work
•• How many hours a week on average do we
expect senior management to work? How
does this expectation match up with the
hours that senior managers work?
•• Do we provide flexible work schedules or
allow for telecommuting, or do we prefer
people to work set hours?
•• How much travel do we expect of senior
management?
•• Do we expect senior management to be
available and accessible after work hours?
•• Are we looking for someone who will be
here for a certain number of years or as part
of a succession plan for senior management?
focus on: making the right hire
Architecture, aesthetics, and atmosphere
•• How are our offices set up? Open environ-
ment? Closed-door offices?
•• How do we dress? More formally? Less
formally?
•• How do we have fun?
Once you’ve assessed your organizational
culture and work style, you can think about
whether you want the new senior leader to
contribute to the existing culture or to be a
part of changing the culture going forward.
STEP 2:
define what you
are looking for in
a senior manager
Even the most carefully crafted job descrip-
tion cannot capture every aspect of what the
real job will entail. Further, an individual’s
tions can significantly influence how a job
is executed. As a hiring manager, you need a
clear understanding of what you are looking
for in a candidate, beyond the skills listed
in the job description. Kathleen Yazbak, a
former Bridgespan partner, emphasizes that
“personal style and fit with organizational
culture must be carefully evaluated in the
job search process.”
Even the most carefully
crafted job description cannot
capture every aspect of what
the real job will entail in
an organization.
Though your goal may be to find a candidate
who fits well within the current culture of
your organization, that does not necessar-
ily mean you should look for someone who
is a cookie-cutter image of the rest of your
management team. It is critical to balance
your search for fit with your goal of building
a team with a diverse set of backgrounds,
experiences, ideas, and work styles.
For example, one executive director ac-
knowledged that his work style was more vi-
sionary and less focused on implementation
9
and that he was a fiery communicator who
sometimes ruffled a lot of feathers in the
process. When he looked to hire an associate
director, he recognized he needed someone
who was gifted in implementation, more
of a calming presence, and a patient, clear
communicator. In short, he wanted to
ensure that the culture of the organization
remained balanced.
Some questions to consider in developing
your list of fit criteria are:
•• What kinds of senior management per-
sonalities and work styles currently exist in
our organization?
•• What adjectives would we use to describe
the people who have been successful in our
organization?
•• What kind of decision-making style do
we want this new senior leader to have? Are
we looking for an approach that is similar
to the executive director’s or for a different,
complementary style?
•• Are we looking for someone to create
more teamwork within the organization or
to establish more authority and hierarchy?
•• What kind of leadership style are we
looking for in this position? Someone
who will promote the status quo or
someone who will shake things up within
the organization?
•• Are we looking for a senior leader with
more gravitas or someone who will lighten
up the existing team?
•• What types of personalities work well
with our various stakeholders, and what
characteristics will this person need to be
successful in these interactions?
10 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
Creating a complete and specific inventory
of what you are looking for in an ideal senior
leader can be immensely helpful. In addition,
if your goal is to change your organization’s
culture, consider these questions:
•• What types of culture change are we
looking for? (e.g., more serious or more
light-hearted, more collaborative or more
independent work styles)
•• What kinds of different personalities and
work styles will lend themselves to bringing
this type of desired culture change?
•• What types of personalities and work
styles might represent too much change
for our organization to absorb well?
Creating a complete and
specific inventory of what
you are looking for in an
ideal senior leader can be
immensely helpful.
These kinds of questions will help you iden-
tify what types of personalities and work
styles will fit best with your goals for the
senior leadership position and the direc-
tion the organization will take in the future,
once this new senior manager has joined
the team.
STEP 3:
determine
the candidate’s fit
With a clear understanding of your organ-
ization’s culture and how you want this
new senior hire to affect that culture, you
can evaluate how specific job candidates
measure up against your fit criteria.
| drakeintl.com
Some aspects of fit and personality are more
easily assessed than others. For example,
during the interview process, it may be
obvious if a candidate has a calming pres-
ence. In contrast, having a good sense of
humour or being a team player or being flex-
ible can be more difficult to assess. Some in-
vestment banks ask candidates to tell a joke
as part of the formal interview process to
assess whether they have a sense of humour
and are able to think quickly on their feet.
While we do not necessarily recommend this
tactic, many other ways exist to get the in-
formation you need to determine how well
a candidate will fit with your organization.
Maximize interactions
during the interview process
“It is immensely helpful to have a 360° view”
during the formal interview process, notes
McGrath. “This means having candidates
interact with not only the people they will
report to, but people who will be their peers,
and the people who will report to them.”
And although it’s incredibly time-intensive,
“scheduling a day of a long series of meet-
ings with a candidate can ensure that any
facades are worn through.” In addition to
receiving formal feedback from people
who interviewed the candidate during the
process, be sure to ask the receptionist, the
person who scheduled the interviews, and
anyone else who interacted with the person
for their assessment. Candidates for senior-
level jobs will probably also meet with board
members, allowing you to get feedback
about them from the board’s point of view.
One organization created a half-day inter-
view process in which job candidates had
formal, one-on-one interviews with senior
management members in the morning,
followed by a lunch meeting with members
of the support staff. It was extremely

informative — and sometimes surprising
— to see how various candidates reacted
to this requirement and how they treated
the support staff during the lunch. Several
promising candidates who had seemed re-
spectful and inquisitive when interviewing
with senior managers were ultimately not
offered a position because they had been
rude or dismissive of the support staff.
Ask a lot of good questions
To assess fit, ask such questions as, “What
did you enjoy most about the last place
you worked? What did you not enjoy?” or
“What are you looking for in a colleague or
co-worker?” or “When you think back on your
favourite job, what was it and why?” and
“Describe your favourite and least favour-
ite bosses.” The answers you hear will help
inform how well the candidate’s favourite
work experiences match up with the kind
of work environment and personalities at
your organization.
“Ask candidates what they like to do for fun,”
McGrath suggests. “This can be a great way
to ask a personal question without violating
any employment laws.” For example, one
hiring manager discovered that a candidate
ran marathons in her free time, which served
to confirm that she had the discipline and
persistence to succeed in the job. In addition,
invite the candidate to ask questions: You
can tell a lot about people based on the type
of questions they ask — whether they are
insightful or not, big picture versus detail-
oriented, process versus people-oriented.
Seek out informal interaction
opportunities with the candidate
If possible, find ways to spend time with the
candidate outside of the formal interview
process. It is perfectly appropriate to invite
a candidate for a senior position to attend
a brown-bag lunch, participate in a staff
meeting, or come to an upcoming fund-
raising event. In each of these situations,
you can learn a lot about the individual by
seeing how they participate in these various
settings, how they interact with staff, or how
attentive they are in a staff meeting. One
executive director recounted how a candi-
date had difficulty staying awake while he
was visiting a staff meeting. Needless to
say, he didn’t get the job.
Take the opportunity to ask candidates
about their impressions of the brown-bag
lunch, staff meeting, or fund-raising event.
Ask them what they think about the organi-
zational culture and whether they have any
questions or concerns about the issues that
were discussed or the group dynamics. If
they attended an event, inquire if they have
any recommendations for improving the
event and what they would have done dif-
ferently if they had been running it. Assess
how open they are to giving solicited feed-
back and how much unsolicited feedback
they offer. Note how critical or constructive
they are in their suggestions. Observe what
kinds of things they observed. Are they more
interested in the organizational dynamics, or
are they more concerned with the processes
and procedures? The manner in which the
candidate answers these questions can tell
you a lot about whether they will fit with
your organization’s culture.
Do the airport test
Many managers have experienced the dis-
comfort of having one or two people on
staff who don’t get along with others in
the organization. Such a situation can be
a drag on productivity and morale. It is not
always possible to like everyone you work
with, but it can make a big difference in
focus on: making the right hire
the workplace if most people enjoy each
other’s company. When interacting with
job candidates, one good way to discover
this “likeability index” is something we call
the airport test. Imagine that you are trav-
elling for work with the candidate and you
discover your flight is delayed. How do you
feel about being “stuck” with this person for
two-plus hours in an airport with not much
else to do? Can you imagine being happy
about this or neutral, or do you think you’ll
dread it? Just asking this question can help
clarify how you really feel about a candidate
and their fit with your organization’s culture.
Use reference checks to gather more
information about fit
Conducting reference checks is more than
just a formality in the interview process.
It can be a very powerful way of learning
about a person from the perspective of five
or six people who have worked with them
in a variety of roles and positions. Yazbak
advises, “It is important to interview indi-
viduals who have known and worked with
the candidate, ideally for a long period of
time and in different settings.” When asking
for a reference list, ask candidates to include
peers, direct reports, their own bosses, and/
or individuals external to their organizations
with whom they worked fairly closely (e.g., a
vendor, client, or partner in a collaboration).
“Speaking with this broad list of people
should provide a rounded view of how a
candidate interacts with people at different
levels within and outside the organization.”
Conducting reference
checks is more than
just a formality in the
interview process.
11
focus on: making the right hire
During the reference check, be sure to ask
more than just “yes” and “no” questions,
probing on issues of whether people enjoyed
working with this person and if they got
along well with people from a wide range
of backgrounds. Some good questions to
assess fit are: “How would you character-
ize XX’s general management style?” (e.g.,
authoritative, consultative, task-master) and
“What type of work environment do they
need to succeed?”
Pay attention to your gut instinct
After interviewing the candidate, reflect
on how the interviews went from a fit per-
spective. Ask yourself such questions as:
“Does the candidate share the same values
as our organization?” and “Can I imagine
the candidate working effectively with our
team?” and “Would I be able to work with
this person?” and “Would I enjoy working
with this person?” If there are fit criteria that
the candidate does not meet, think long and
hard about whether those criteria are still
important to you and whether this candi-
date offers sufficient trade-offs to warrant
putting them aside.
When looking to staff a brand-new position,
this process of negotiating your trade-offs
can be especially tricky. A new position often
requires someone with different ways of ap-
proaching problems, which may not fit as
well with the current organizational culture.
Or you may be bringing in a new person to
change the culture in subtle or not-so-subtle
ways. “Asking yourself what things you can’t
live with is another helpful way to make
sure you’re covering all the bases,” advises
Yazbak. When you’ve done your research
and looked at how a candidate stacks up
12 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
against your organization’s fit criteria, step
back and listen to your gut before you make
a final decision.
Finding the candidate who is the best cul-
tural fit for your organization can be a very
challenging task. It requires insight into your
own organization’s culture and keen obser-
vation of the candidate’s personality and
Drake P3® predicts the behaviour and
work style. By proactively developing a list
personality of potential candidates
of ideal fit characteristics that go beyond the against the traits of your existing top per-
job description, and maximizing opportuni- formers — before you make a job offer.
ties to learn more about candidates through
formal and informal interactions, you can To find out how Drake P3® can improve
have greater confidence in finding the right your hiring success, contact the Talent
senior manager for your organization. Management Solutions team.
Read Drake’s White Paper,
“Effective Hiring — Innovative
Africa: 2721 425 3300
africa@drake.co.za
Recruiting & Behavioural-
Australia: 613 9245 0245
Based Testing to Ensure hrsolutions@au.drakeintl.com
Your Future Success”
Canada: 416 216-1074
This white paper focuses on how behav- solutions@na.drakeintl.com
ioural assessments can increase successful Hong Kong: 852 2848 9288
hiring and reduce costs. It also examines the Drake@drake.com.hk
costs associated with selecting the wrong
candidate within your organization and the New Zealand: 0800 840 940
elements that are at risk in terms of time, solutions@nz.drakeintl.com
company performance, and relationships. Philippines: 632 7532490
weoutperform@drakeintl.co.uk
You can find it on the Drake International
Canadian website https://ca.drakeintl.com/ Singapore: 65 6225 5809
under “HR News/Drake White Papers”. drake@sg.drakeintl.com
South Africa: 011 883 6800
DBR
Solutions@drake.co.za
Reprinted with the permission of The Bridgespan Group,
United Kingdom: 0800 111 4558
a global non-profit organization that collaborates with solutions@drakeintl.co.uk
mission-driven leaders, organizations, and philanthro-
pists to break cycles of poverty and dramatically improve
the quality of life for those in need. To learn more, visit
https://www.bridgespan.org/
| drakeintl.com
GENDER
DIVERSITY
IS GOOD FOR
BUSINESS

Survey after survey has shown that companies who

have more women on their senior management teams
and on their boards reap greater financial rewards.
When you focus on gender diversity, you see better results.
It’s a big bonus for your bottom line.
To bridge your workplace gender gap, contact us at
genderdiversity@au.drakeintl.com or visit drakeintl.com

FOR TALENT MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS,

People | Productivity | Performance CONTACT YOUR NEAREST DRAKE OFFICE
The
Business
Benefits
of Gender
Diversity
Attracting and retaining
senior female leaders
Recruiting more women into senior lead-
ership and CEO roles continues to be a
challenge facing organisations around the
globe. In a study of nearly 22,000 firms glo-
bally, the Peterson Institute for International
Economics found that firms with more
women in the C-suite are more profitable.
In fact, “going from having no women in
corporate leadership (the CEO, the board,
and other C-suite positions) to a 30% female
share is associated with a one-percentage-
point increase in net margin — which trans-
lates to a 15% increase in profitability for a
typical firm.”
According to numerous published reports
and studies, the fact that men continue
to represent the vast majority at the ex-
ecutive level is hurting corporate perfor-
mance. In Australia alone, only 15.4% of
women are in a CEO role, and only 23.4% of
women are in director ASX200 roles. (WGEA,
August 2016).
14 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
Companies
cannot afford
to ignore 50%
of the poten-
tial workforce
and expect to
be competitive
in the global
economy.
Sangeeta Bharadwaj Badal, Principal
Scientist Entrepreneurship at Gallup
Inclusive recruitment
strategies work
To attract and retain women, organisa-
tions must take some key actions. If you
are looking to recruit more women into
your senior leadership roles, these are some
things you can do right now:
1. Conduct an audit of your
recruitment practices
An audit of your recruitment practices is a
good first step to eliminating processes that
continue to disadvantage women. Consider
placing at least one woman on your selec-
tion panels and do make sure all hiring man-
agers are aware of the company’s equitable
recruitment policies and procedures.
Be sure to base any measurement in your re-
cruitment and selection practices on gender
breakdown, including number of applicants,
number of interviews, number of hires. This
identifies gaps that may exist overall and in
specific pockets of your organisation.
2. Review your
position descriptions
Do you regularly review your position
descriptions to ensure they truly reflect
the qualities and skills required in the
role today?
| drakeintl.com
Say you want to recruit train drivers, and the
requirement in the position description is
for a candidate to have at least eight years’
experience. You then need to be ask: Why
eight years? Is this essential? If you histori-
cally have had 90% male train drivers, then
keeping this requirement means the odds of
recruiting a woman are extremely low. This
further exacerbates the lack of female talent
in your pipeline into operational leadership
roles in the future.
3. Mitigate bias where
possible up front
As attitudes that affect our understanding
and actions are generally subconscious, the
key is to ‘mitigate’ bias. Such interventions
include ensuring the applicant pools contain
a specified minimum number of female
applications. This requires good communi-
cation with your recruitment partners so
they are aware of the importance and sup-
porting your company’s policies and gender
diversity targets.
You can also specifically target recruitment
and advertising campaigns at women.
Review language in your advertising to
see whether it engages and appeals to
women. For example, is the language free
of jargon and corporate speak? Is it high-
lighting flexible working practices offered
by your organisation? Are stated selection
criteria emphasising the qualities needed for
the role rather than just the qualifications
and experience?
All these elements together can make a big
difference in the number of female applica-
tions you attract.
4. Educate your leaders
on affinity bias
Affinity bias — the tendency to like people
who are like us — has an impact on all facets
of leadership performance and decision
making in organisations. It is the reason
that recruiting on ‘merit’ is in fact a mis-
nomer, because biases affect the process
of selecting on merit. There are many case
studies on this and methods that organisa-
tions have applied to eliminate bias, where
possible, such as removing names and even
addresses from résumés to ensure selection

is truly merit based. By taking out personal
information and effectively using a blind
CV policy, unconscious bias is reduced, and
decisions are then based on people’s ability
and competencies.
The next time you make a recruitment de-
cision and assess the potential cultural fit
of a candidate, consider this: Are you really
assessing the candidate’s values, beliefs,
outlook, and behaviour, or are you more
focused on selecting someone who is just
like you?
Mitigating affinity bias is a start to eradi-
cating the ‘merit trap’ and creating change
in the representation of women in senior
leadership roles.
5. Agree how to give feedback
on ‘bias in the moment’
Another intervention to help mitigate bias is
agreeing to a way to provide feedback when
bias is identified ‘in the moment’. Rather
than humiliating a colleague for their bias
in action, a better approach is to collectively
agree how feedback can be delivered. This
creates buy-in in advance from all involved.
This is crucial because being biased isn’t
something only the ‘bad guys’ do; every
single one of us is biased. By acknowledg-
ing this and striving to learn, improve, and
have the hard conversations, you create an
environment where everyone feels they are
safe at work.
Retention is just as
important as attraction
Once you recruit senior women into your or-
ganisation, it’s important to retain them. The
Bain & Co./CEW 2012 gender parity study
found that women face issues around their
‘style and fit’ in traditionally male working
environments. Retaining senior female
leaders therefore requires following these
strategies to be successful:
1. Develop an
inclusion mindset
When you practise inclusion in your or-
ganisation, you inherently understand the
magic of the mix each person can bring.
This is when gender diversity can thrive. To
the business benefits of gender diversity
be inclusive, you first need to check your
mindset, or your mental attitude and beliefs,
when recruiting and promoting people.
Inclusion is about creating a safe environ-
ment that gives everyone an equal voice. An
ability to express your thoughts, feelings,
and opinions without the fear of being shut
down, ridiculed, or judged is imperative to
a high-performing team and organisation.
2. Measure your results
Monitoring and reporting systems are es-
sential for internal accountability. Both
workforce metrics and attitudes apply. This
can include gender pay differentials, gender
turnover statistics, engagement survey
results, and representation on employee
committees. Exit interviews should also be
analysed for any gender-related reasons
for leaving.
3. Incorporate
flexibility initiatives
It’s no secret that flexibility is important to
most employees. This goes beyond policy
though and should extend to senior leaders
using flexible work practices themselves.
The old days of judging an employee based
on ‘face time’ or the amount of time they are
‘at a desk’ has gone. Measuring on output
needs to be the new norm. If your organisa-
tion doesn't provide flexibility, it is likely that
women (and men) will seek it elsewhere.
4. Provide sponsorship
opportunities
Providing work and sponsorship oppor-
tunities across different functional areas
increases general knowledge of the busi-
ness and creates opportunities for women
to move into more general management
roles. In senior leadership, relationships and
networks are everything. By sponsoring and
connecting your female senior leaders into
these networks, you have a much better
chance of retaining them into the future.
5. Recognize your differences
as your strengths
As the poet, essayist, and novelist Audre
Lorde once wrote, “It is not our differences
that divide us. It is our inability to recognise,
accept and celebrate those differences.”
Fostering a mindset that leverages strengths
and appreciates differences increases your
capability to innovate, remain agile, and be
profitable for the longer term. Organisations
with a renewed mindset and supportive
brand values are more likely to attract and
retain women.
6. Challenge the status quo
Acceptance is an important part of engag-
ing others. Reflection allows leaders to ask
themselves whether they are attached to
the status quo or committed to being open
to new ways of doing things.
When we are attached to the status quo,
we engage in positional conversations that
isolate and exclude. When we are commit-
ted to change, we are more courageous in
our conversations and more caring, trans-
parent, and curious about others, which
creates belonging and inclusion.
If organisations commit to making these
gender diversity changes, then we have the
opportunity to change the shape of the
future of work, ultimately creating oppor-
tunity for all. Businesses also benefit, as an
inclusive and diverse workforce has a direct
and positive impact on the bottom line.
DBR
Belinda Brosnan is an executive coach, mentor, facilita-
tor, and leadership expert passionate about helping
leaders be the best ambassadors they can be for
themselves and their organisation, especially through
change. As CEO of her own practice, Belinda is a Telstra
Business Women’s Awards State Winner 2015 and a
passionate advocate and facilitator of leadership im-
mersion programs for The Hunger Project in Africa. See
www.belindabrosnan.com for more information.
Gender diversity is more than meeting
an agreed quota. At Drake, we are
working with a number of clients to
help overcome some of the many chal-
lenges associated with the attraction,
selection and retention of female talent.
If you recognize the need to bridge the
workplace gender gap, email us at:
genderdiversity@au.drakeintl.com
For information on Drake International’s
talent management solutions, visit us at
www.drakeintl.com
15
 Succession Planning:
Retaining Skills and Knowledge
E
mployees can hold vast amounts
of key experience, information, and
skills, which walk out the door when
they retire or leave an organization
for other reasons. Employers that are un-
prepared can be left scrambling to run their
day-to-day operations.
Key knowledge needed to run an organiza-
tion exists at all levels, not just in manage-
ment positions. Some is easy to recognize,
such as technical skills and contact lists;
other is more difficult to define or com-
municate, such as workers’ learned experi-
ences that they may not realize are relevant.
Retaining skills and knowledge is an im-
portant issue for organizations of all sizes.
However, it is especially so for small and
medium-sized organizations, which often
have more critical knowledge concentrated
in fewer employees.
Planning for the exit of knowledgeable
employees is critical to the long-term
success and competitiveness of businesses.
Employers often use succession planning
and knowledge transfer as risk manage-
ment tools to keep critical knowledge in
their organizations. Think of these tools as
insurance for capital assets.
Employers often use
succession planning and
knowledge transfer as risk
management tools to keep
critical knowledge in their
organizations.
Succession planning is the process of iden-
tifying and developing employees to fill key
positions in an organization. It can prepare
an organization for when other employ-
ees leave and for employee promotions,
as well as for expansion or reorganization.
16 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
in Your Workforce
Succession planning can make organizations
more competitive, improve its retention of
talented employees, and lower the risk of
losing critical knowledge when people leave.
Knowledge transfer is the process of cap-
turing skills and information and sharing
them between employees and between
parts of an organization. The goal is to make
that knowledge available for current and
future workers. Knowledge transfer applies
to knowledge that is obvious and easily
defined, as well as to that which is harder
to define or articulate.
Knowledge transfer is an important part of
the succession planning process; it is how
employees get much of the information and
skills they need to move into key positions.
Planning for
employee
succession
Succession planning is about developing
your employees and supporting them in
their careers to ensure your organization
has the right talent for key positions. On a
more strategic level, succession planning
will help your organization remain success-
ful even after the loss of a key worker. Other
benefits include:
•• having the right people in the right place
at the right time
•• developing a qualified pool of candidates
ready to fill key positions
•• helping employees realize their career
plans and aspirations
•• improving employees’ ability to respond
to changes in the workplace
•• creating more opportunities for the timely
transfer of knowledge at the corporate level
| drakeintl.com
Human resource professionals say succes-
sion planning also helps retain valuable
workers and lowers the costs of recruiting
new talent, major considerations as the
workforce ages.
Succession
planning process
Different ways exist to implement succes-
sion planning in your workforce. The five
steps in this section come from various
resources, the private and public sectors,
academic studies, and human resource and
management consultants.
1. Make a demographic
profile of your workforce
A good place to start the succession planning
process is creating a demographic profile
of your organization. A simple one lists the
ages of your employees, their roles, and their
skills. This can help you determine whether
you are likely to lose key employees in the
near future and whether you have any candi-
dates to replace them. A demographic profile
for your organization may help you answer
these questions:
•• How old is your organization’s talent pool?
•• Do certain positions have more employees
approaching retirement age?
•• Is a rich pool of candidates available to
take their place?
•• How much time do you have to identify
and develop replacements for employees
who are retiring?
While a demographic profile can begin to
answer some of these important questions,
it may not provide the full story of the factors
affecting your workforce. Speaking directly
to employees about their future retirement
or career plans can fill in the gaps and help
you plan for the future.
 s u cc e s s i o n p l a n n i n g : r e ta i n i n g s k i l ls a n d k n o w l e d g e i n yo u r w o r k f o r c e
FIVE STEPS OF
SUCCESSION PLANNING
1 Make a demographic profile of your
workforce. It is a tally of the ages,
roles, and skills of all your employees.
2 Identify the key positions to deter-
mine the roles and skills that keep
your organization going.
3 Build job profiles for the key posi-
tions to document the knowledge,
skills, and qualities required.
4 Identify and assess potential candi-
dates to decide who could advance
to the key positions.
Implement employee development
5 plans to create learning and knowl-
edge transfer goals for these candidates.
2. Identify key positions
Key positions are those that are crucial
for your organization’s future success.
Identifying them can help you focus your
succession planning efforts where the risk
of losing important skills and knowledge is
the greatest. “Identify the ‘choke points’ of
an organization — things that can stop the
business from running,” says Anne Scott,
a business counsellor with the Canadian
Federation of Independent Business. She
suggests answering these questions to iden-
tify key positions:
•• Does the position play a key role in
meeting the organization’s goals? If so, what
is the unique contribution of the position in
meeting those goals?
•• If no one was in that position, would im-
portant aspects of the organization’s opera-
tions stop or be slowed down?
•• Does the position require specialized or
unique skills or knowledge that may be dif-
ficult to replace?
•• Is the position difficult to recruit for, or is
that talent hard to find?
When looking at key positions, it is important
to envision how the skills and knowledge
your organization has today will change as
your business evolves. A good way to start
looking at your future workforce needs is by
identifying the amount and type of work you
expect to do in the future. It is impossible
to predict every change, but reviewing your
organization’s strategic plan, business plan,
or annual reports can help you identify:
•• types of work your organization plans for
the future
•• types of work that may no longer be
needed in the future
•• your organization’s expected growth rates
•• ways the work will get done (e.g., using
new technologies or methods)
•• societal, technological, economic, or labour
market trends that could affect the kind of
knowledge your organization will need
A good way to start looking
at your organization’s
future workforce needs is by
identifying the amount and
type of work you expect to
do in the future.
3. Build job profiles for
key positions
The critical next step in succession planning
is building job profiles — the knowledge,
skills, and competencies required for key
positions. A job profile should give you a
complete picture of the position, what is
actually done and how. The profile can also
include the personal attributes and qualities
that contribute to an employee’s success in
the position.
4. Identify and assess succession plan needs improvements:
potential candidates
With a completed job profile, you can identify
strong potential candidates within your or-
ganization who could advance into key posi-
tions. Candidates must meet the minimum
requirements in the job profile, have the po-
tential to learn the rest, and have the desire
to take on the position.
You can use these documented sources on
employees to identify potential candidates:
•• performance ratings and reviews
•• specific accomplishments
•• feedback from supervisors and managers
•• skills assessments
•• technical and professional designations
•• past work experience
•• short-term trial projects
But the best source for identifying potential
candidates may be your own employees.
Those who see an equitable and fair succes-
sion plan in action are often eager to par-
ticipate. They also more often express their
interest in moving to more challenging roles.
5. Implement employee
development plans
The final step in succession planning is to
develop the talent of your employees. The
job profiles built in step 3 can help determine
where to focus your training and knowledge
transfer efforts.
Employers commonly work with employees
to create an employee development plan,
which shows how they will narrow the gap
between what they can already do and what
they need to do to meet future requirements
in a key position.
Monitoring your plan
Brien Perry, former vice-president of human
resources at Calgary-based oil and gas pro-
ducer Enerplus Corporation offers these
questions to help you identify where your
•• Have all key jobs been identified, and do
they have succession plans?
•• Are key positions filled quickly after a
vacancy?
17
S u cc e s s i o n P l a n n i n g : R e ta i n i n g S k i l l s a n d K n o w l e d g e i n Yo u r Wo r k f o r c e
•• Do employees perform effectively in their
new roles in key positions?
•• Do any key positions have no successors?
•• What is the ratio of external hires to in-
ternal hires?
Ultimately, whether your organization’s
succession planning delivers a return on
investment will depend on the original
goals. And even these can change as the
marketplace, technology, and employees
change. Answering these basic questions
can help you tell when you need an update
of the plan:
•• Are the goals of the succession plan still
appropriate?
•• Has critical technology changed?
•• Do key positions need to be added to the
plan?
•• Do any marketplace or government
changes affect existing plans for employee
succession?
Basic strategies
for transferring
knowledge
Retaining the knowledge held by key em-
ployees and passing it on to potential re-
placements is an essential part of succession
planning. Some quick and low-cost strate-
gies will help your employees start sharing
knowledge, regardless of the size of your
company or the industry you’re in. You may
be doing some of these things already. By
taking even one small step, you will likely
have some success in opening the lines of
communication. At the very least, you will
bring attention to the need for knowledge
transfer in your organization.
1. Communicate with staff
Communication is key to transferring knowl-
edge in your workforce. It builds relationships
and trust, both of which are necessary to
promote the transfer. Communicating with
staff can be as easy as walking around and
chatting informally with your employees. Ask
them what they’re working on, how their
18 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
processes work, or even how things could
be made easier for them. Get to know them
— it will help build an open and trusting en-
vironment in your organization. It will also
help you identify who has what knowledge.
2. Make learning part of tions. Succession planning is crucial insur-
your organization’s ance for the long-term viability of businesses.
culture
If you make learning part of your organi-
zation’s culture, knowledge transfer will
become part of your employees’ everyday
duties. Demonstrate that learning new
procedures and improvements on current
practices is a priority in your organization.
Include it in your mission statement, job de-
scriptions, and other materials. Take time to
discuss with your workers the importance of
succession planning and sharing knowledge.
3. Lead by example
Employees will feel more comfortable if they
see their leaders sharing knowledge. To help
lead by example, take steps to get all of your
organization’s leaders on board. Reward
them for their efforts and hold regular meet-
ings to discuss knowledge sharing.
Documentation
When done effectively, documenting knowl-
edge can pass on detailed work information
from one person to as many other workers
as needed, regardless of time or space. For
example, if an employee has clearly docu-
mented their progress in a business deal and
suddenly leaves, another employee can step
in and pick up where the exiting employee
left off. Common types of documentation
include manuals, databases, briefing notes,
meeting minutes, project status reports, and
wiki websites.
•• These questions will help you make the
most of the documentation strategy:
•• What do people need to know?
•• Who is the audience, and how can they
be reached?
•• Is the information being documented and
shared in a way that is appropriate for the
content and the importance of the material?
| drakeintl.com
Success with
succession planning
Planning for the departure of knowledge-
able employees is critical to the long-term
success and competitiveness of organiza-
The benefits are enormous: Your organiza-
tion will be more competitive, the reten-
tion of talented employees will improve, and
you will minimize the risk of losing critical
knowledge when people leave. While there
are many challenges ahead, succession plan-
ning will help your organization be better
prepared for the future.
DBR
Excerpt reprinted with the permission of Alberta
Community and Social Services, Workplace and Career
Planning. The complete publication can be found at
alis.alberta.ca/succession. © 2012 Government of Alberta,
Human Services
Drake provides valued succession plan-
ning support to business leaders by
helping to determine the skills required,
and identifying and selecting the most
qualified individuals to move the busi-
ness forward successfully. Our suite of
Talent Management Solutions provides
assessment and selection tools that go
beyond traditional methods to ensure
the very best fit. For your succession
planning support, contact Drake in:
Africa: 27 21 425 3300
africa@drake.co.za
Australia: 613 9245 0245
hrsolutions@au.drakeintl.com
Hong Kong: 852 2848 9288
Drake@drake.com.hk
New Zealand: 0800 840 940
solutions@nz.drakeintl.com
Singapore: 65 6225 5809
drake@sg.drakeintl.com
South Africa: 011 883 6800
Solutions@drake.co.za
United Kingdom: 0800 111 4558
solutions@drakeintl.co.uk
don’t have the
resources
to yourself?
do it
augment or outsource your current hiring
process and get the services you need, when
you need them the most.
we will assist you to find the top performers
you need to build an organization with a
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contact the nearest drake office or visit drakeintl.com

How to Identify
Who Is About
to Quit

20 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2 | drakeintl.com


TOP 10
WAYS
F
ew things are more shocking to a
manager then having a top-perform-
ing employee suddenly quit on them.
Some managers have described it as
a “kick in the gut”. It is a shock, not only
because losing a key employee damages
business results, but also because manag-
ers hate surprises; and as a result, they fre-
quently wonder how they missed the signals
that this person was going to leave.
Employee turnover is always an important
issue, but most managers are unaware that
overall turnover rates went up 45% in the US
last year, and I predict that they will go up
at least 50% this year. Therefore, individual
managers should be aware of the precur-
sors or warning signs that can indicate an
employee is considering looking for a job,
so they can act before it’s too late.
After more than 20 years of research on
predicting turnover, I have found that if you
approach the problem systematically, you
can successfully identify which individual
employees are likely to quit, with an accuracy
rate of over 80%.
Firms like Google, Xerox, and Sprint, as well
as several vendors, have developed processes
for identifying who might quit, but you will
have to develop your own identification
process. So if you know any managers who
are worried about turnover, pass this list of
turnover predictors to them so they won’t
be surprised when their next employee an-
nounces that they are quitting.
Even though every employee is different,
you can identify most individuals who have
or are about to enter job-search mode by
using one of these ten proven actionable
approaches, listed in order of impact the
majority of managers have found.
how to identify who is about to quit
1 conduct individual
stay interviews
Many firms use exit interviews to find out
why an individual employee is leaving.
Unfortunately, asking on their last day “Why
are you leaving?” doesn’t provide useful in-
formation in time to prevent this turnover.
A superior approach is to be proactive and
conduct a “stay interview”. This helps you
understand why an individual employee
stays in their job by simply asking them in
an informal one-on-one meeting to identify
the principal reasons why they stay, so that
these important factors can be reinforced.
As part of the interview, you can also ask the
employee to identify any major frustrators
that have in the past made them, even for
a moment, consider leaving. As part of the
interview process, ask your key employees
to have the courtesy to provide you with a
heads-up whenever they find themselves
returning a recruiter’s call. Holding a stay
interview with an employee has the highest
predictive value because it is customized to
the employee and it occurs before a decision
to leave has been made.
2
proactively search
the internet for
indications
The best way to find out if an employee
is searching or is about to search for a job
begins with looking at their LinkedIn profile
to see if it has been significantly updated
recently. You can also search niche and large
job boards to see if they have posted their
résumé, or you can do a simple Google search
on this employee to find if they have recently
updated their résumé. You can even ask an
Internet-savvy person to create a “spider”
that will continually search the Internet for
LinkedIn profile and résumé updates that
are made by your key employees.
3
look at previous
job tenure
One of the most accurate predictors of when
someone will leave a job is their average
tenure in the last few jobs. If an employee
has a pattern of leaving a job after a certain
number of months or years, it makes sense
to examine their résumé to get a good indi-
cation of when they are likely to leave again.
It’s better to underestimate their departure
date, so that the worst that will happen will
be that you will begin “too early” to try to
retain them.
One of the most accurate
predictors of when someone
will leave a job is their
average tenure in the
last few jobs.
4
identify past reasons
for quitting
Most employees are consistent — the same
factors that made them leave previous jobs
will also make them consider leaving their
current one. That is why it is a good idea
to specifically ask new hires during inter-
views, or as part of onboarding, which spe-
cific factors caused them to leave your last
jobs. Managers need to be vigilant to spot
whether those past reasons for quitting may
be reoccurring in their current job.
Managers need to be
vigilant to spot whether
those past reasons for
quitting may be reoccurring
in their current job.
5 identify those in
high-turnover jobs
Employees frequently get the idea to leave
simply because other employees in their
same job family are leaving for what they
consider to be better jobs. Managers should
work with HR to develop a “heat map”, which
indicates which jobs, teams, and business
units are currently experiencing a high rate
of turnover. Managers should then target
their own most desirable employees — in-
novators and top-performing employees
— who are in those high turnover jobs for
retention efforts. Research has shown that
50% of new hires are unhappy with their job
decision and 46% of new hires fail within
18 months, so it makes sense for managers
to target all recent hires in any job as high-
probability turnover risks.
21
how to identify who is about to quit
6 final thoughts
note if someone
close to them
leaves the team
Having a manager, a close colleague, or even
a close friend leave the team can provide a
powerful impetus for an employee to also
leave. In many cases, the exiting employee
may actively encourage them to follow as a
referral (as many as three to five employees
will follow an influential employee). But the
thought of not being able to work alongside
a great friend, having to work under a new
manager, or having to train a new hire may
be enough to drive them into considering
a new job.
7 be aware of any
career-damaging
event
For most employees, having a weak manager
or an uninteresting job isn’t by itself enough
to cause them to look for a new job. Instead,
the employee requires an additional cata-
lyst or negative event, or “career trauma”,
serious enough that it actually damages
their future career. These negative events
might include having a major project can-
celled, a project proposal rejected, major
layoffs or a re-organization, being reject-
ed for a promotion, being assigned a new
manager, or a major resource reduction or
staff cut in their job area.
8
recognize when an
employee’s career
stage is ending
Most people go through predictable
stages or steps as they progress through
their career. Many employees change jobs
when they reach the end of a stage or phase.
Career stages include entry-level, becom-
ing a journeyman/professional, becoming
a team lead, promotion to a higher level,
and eventually complacency and preparing
for retirement. By paying attention to and
plotting those career stages, a manager
can often predict approximately when an
employee is likely to enter job-search mode.
Important outside-of-work life events can
also cause an employee to move into their
next career stage, including marriages
and divorces, new births, children reaching
school age, the last child finishing school,
deaths, health issues, and certain landmark
ages (turning 30, 40, 50, or 60), as well as
a large amount of their company stock
22 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
vesting and an extremely negative perfor-
mance review. There is no precise formula,
but a manager who pays close attention to
where an employee is in their career cycle
and to their major life events can get an
indication of when an employee is likely to
begin looking.
Many employees change
jobs when they reach the
end of a stage or phase of
their career.
9 identify employees
who are “overdue”
for important things
A key frustration for employees is perceiving
that they are unjustly overdue for something
important. It’s partially an equity issue, in
which they see others unfairly getting things
before them. But it is also an internal desire
to keep moving, growing, and learning, as
well as getting new tools, opportunities, and
challenges. When they feel overdue, they
become frustrated and begin looking for a
new opportunity. Common overdue factors
include too long a period since their last
pay raise, promotion, training opportunity,
a chance to lead, but also (especially among
techies) upgrades in their tools, equipment,
computers, and mobile phones.
10
recognize when
a top performer
feels underused
Top performers and innovative employees
will begin considering a new job simply if
they feel underused. Almost all top perform-
ers want to be continually challenged and
to make a major contribution. As a result,
managers must be aware that once a top
employee feels that their skills are either
eroding or that their talents are being un-
derused, they will likely begin considering
leaving. (Google research indicates that
the feeling of being underused is their No.1
reason.) You can find out if an employee
feels underused by simply asking them or
by talking to their close co-workers. Of all
turnover issues, this is the easiest one to
solve because the employee simply wants
to do more challenging work.
| drakeintl.com
I’ve never seen a manager’s job description
that specifically outlines their responsibility
for identifying key employees who are likely
to quit. As a result, I have found that nearly
95% of managers make no formal attempt
to periodically sit down and systematically
identify key team members who are likely
to leave.
As turnover rates increase and the economy
continues to improve, managers need to
realize that top employees not only have
the choice of going to a competitive firm but
now have expanded opportunities to create
a start-up (known as the garage factor).
Failing to be proactive has high costs — once
an employee announces they are leaving,
it’s extremely difficult and expensive to get
them to change their mind.
And be aware that the No.1 cause for em-
ployee turnover is often a bad manager,
so be aware that you may be the greatest
reason why your employees leave.
DBR
Used with the permission of Dr. John Sullivan, Professor
of Management, San Francisco State University, author,
public speaker, and a thought leader on strategic talent
management and human resource practice. For more
information, email John@drjohnsullivan.com or visit
www.drjohnsullivan.com
Why not manage your turnover in
advance? Stay and Exit interviews fa-
cilitated by an expert third party give
you deeper and more accurate informa-
tion than interviews conducted in-house.
They generate the data you need to un-
derstand why employees stay and why
they are leaving, which helps end unnec-
essary turnover and improve operations.
To learn how Drake can help facilitate
your interviews, contact your Talent
Management Solutions Team.
 STOP THE REVOLVING DOOR: HIRE AND RETAIN TOP TALENT
E
very year, valuable employees leave
companies for reasons no one really
understands — not even the depart-
ing employees. In fact, when asked
why they quit, many employees simply state:
“I didn’t like the job.” This leaves many busi-
ness owners, managers, and HR profession-
als scratching their heads as they believe it’s
impossible for anyone to pinpoint what con-
stitutes “like”. In reality, what makes people
like their job is something you can control,
although it’s also something most compa-
nies don’t focus on.
Those who lead a company or department
or who are responsible for hiring employ-
ees tend to focus on the tangible aspects
of employment, such as wages, benefits,
and job duties. Therefore, when they bring
new people into the organization, they do
so on the premise that if Bob was success-
ful selling widgets at ABC Company, then
he’ll be successful selling widgets here. But
just because someone was successful in a
past company doesn’t mean they'll be suc-
cessful in your company. And just because
someone has the technical skills to do the
job you have available doesn’t mean they’ll
like working at your company. That’s why
you need to go beyond skills and technical
expertise if you want an organization filled
with productive people who actually like
their job and stay with you.
So if you sometimes feel that your company
has a revolving door of talent, consider these
suggestions for hiring and retaining the
staff you need.
1. ENHANCE YOUR
HIRING PROCESS
Gone are the days when hiring an employee
meant reading a few résumés, conducting
a couple of interviews, and then hiring the
person with the best professional and/or
academic background. Today’s companies
and employees are more complex than ever.
And since most interviewers and most man-
agers don’t have a background in psychology
to discover what’s really going on inside a
job candidate’s head, pre-hiring behavioural
and/or personality assessments are vital to
any hiring decision.
A simple assessment tool, which many
people can complete in less than 15 minutes,
reveals a wealth of information that can
help you better determine the person’s
strengths, weaknesses, communication
style, work style preferences, and so on.
While you can’t use the assessment tool’s
results as your only hiring criterion, you can
incorporate them with your formal interview
answers to get a clear understanding of the
job candidate’s preferences and tendencies.
2. GET A GOOD FIT
You know you want employees who “fit” in
your organization. But what exactly does a
“good fit” mean? It means that the person
will be able to work within your organiza-
tional culture, not that they are technically
competent to do the job. For example, is this
person someone who enjoys being around
others or prefers to work alone? Does this
person like to do things by the book or thrive
in a flexible work environment?
Knowing more than just someone’s skill
set is important, because chances are that
someone who was successful in a struc-
tured environment will not be successful
in a flexible one. And while few employees
will ever pinpoint the disconnect in work-
style preferences as the root of their job dis-
satisfaction, any employee in that situation
will complain about not liking the job, even
though it’s the same job they did elsewhere
and excelled at. A good assessment tool will
reveal much information about a person’s
potential fit within your company.
3. HELP YOUR
MANAGERS MANAGE
Often a manager will tell an employee who
isn’t working out well: “You need to do X dif-
ferently.” But rather than expect employees
to change, companies need to help their
managers manage better. After all, man-
agers are supposed to manage — that’s
their job. Unfortunately, most managers are
so focused on meeting quarterly financial
goals that they don’t take the time to un-
derstand the personality of each employee
and interact with them accordingly. An as-
sessment tool can actually help managers
do their job better by suggesting how to
manage that particular employee based
on the employee’s behavioural tendencies.
For example, one of your managers, Bill, may
tend to give long, drawn-out instructions to
people. But one of his employees, Mary, does
better with directions that are short and to
the point. Imagine how much more effective
Bill could manage Mary if he knew that, by
simply giving her bullet-point information
rather than page-long instructions, she can
go from being frustrated with her boss and
not liking her job to understanding what
he wants and being cheerful about work.
So often we hear that managers have a
“style”. But no manager can be successful if
they treat and interact with every employee
the same way. They need tools that will help
them work with an employee in the way
they work best.
A HAPPY AND
PROFITABLE FUTURE
In many companies, high turnover is a lot like
a sore toe: Yes, the toe hurts, but you even-
tually get used to the pain, and it doesn’t
bother you as much. Don’t get used to high
turnover and say: “That’s just how it is here.”
High turnover is a solvable problem once
you acknowledge it.
By having a reliable assessment tool that
helps you get a good fit and manage better,
you’ll build a solid company of loyal and
happy employees who are eager to get
to work every morning. And remember,
happy employees equal happy customers,
and that leads to more profits for you and
your company.
DBR
Written by Paul Endress, President of Maximum
Advantage International, and a nationally recognized
consultant and expert in the application of psychology
to the business world. For more information, visit http://
www.maximumadvantage.com/
Drake P3®’s online assessment solution
predicts the behaviour and personal-
ity of potential candidates against the
traits of your existing top performers—
before you make a job offer. To find
out how Drake P3® can improve your
hiring success, contact your Drake Talent
Management Solutions team.
23
 Strategies for Managing
the Wave of Retiring Workers
S
enior leaders across an array of
industries highlight retirements,
turnover, and succession planning
as key issues confronting their or-
ganizations. Much has been written and
reported on the impending retirement wave
of baby boomer workers as a major source
of concern.
As new generations enter the workforce and
older generations remain at work longer,
employers must evolve to meet new em-
ployee needs. Most solutions involve re-
cruiting tactics for attracting new, younger
talent to industry ranks through collabo-
ration with local colleges and technical
schools, but what about proactively man-
aging the actual turnover in the workplace?
What's the broader plan for transferring the
“tribal knowledge” of departing workers to
their replacements?
A turnover strategy must address two chal-
lenges. The first involves the sheer magni-
tude of baby boomer retirements under-
way and on the horizon: In the US, about
10,000 baby boomers are retiring every day.
At many companies, more than 50% of the
workforce will be retiring in the next three
to five years, most of them in key manage-
ment and supervisory positions with ex-
tensive tenure, tribal knowledge and the
secrets or tricks to keeping the workplace on
pace. How will their knowledge make it to
their replacements?
At many companies, more
than 50% of the workforce
will be retiring in the next
three to five years.
24 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
The second challenge involves the next gen-
eration of workers and their perspectives
on employment and tenure. Demographic
and trend studies show that the future will
bring fewer loyal workers who dedicate their
entire careers to a single workplace. Younger
workers are significantly more connected
with national and international business, job
opportunities, and trends. Whereas 10 years
ago, a baby boomer may have been aware of
two or three alternative job opportunities
within a 100-mile radius, today's generation
X or Y worker is likely aware of hundreds of
national or global opportunities for which
they may be qualified. Skilled young produc-
tion and manufacturing industry workers
are in high demand, so the likelihood of
more frequent job-swapping is real.
Generations X and Y made up over 60% of
the workforce in the US in 2012, and that
number will continue to rise. Job tenure fell
from 9.2 years in 1983 to a mere 4.1 years
in 2008.
A higher cycle of turnover is the new reality.
More than 90% of millennials — people
born between 1977 and 1998 — expect to
stay in a job for under three years. How will
your company manage the turnover of key
positions every few years as opposed to
every decade?
Organizations must understand the dynam-
ics of near- and long-term turnover, includ-
ing how younger generations of workers will
affect how you recruit, train, and operate;
the tactics for capturing knowledge from
workers approaching retirement before they
leave; and how to use enterprise asset man-
agement (EAM) and a computerized main-
tenance management system (CMMS) to
sustain best practices despite higher turn
over rates.
| drakeintl.com
More than 90% of
millennials — people born
between 1977 and 1998 —
expect to stay in a job for
under three years. How will
your company manage the
turnover of key positions
every few years as opposed
to every decade?
Dynamics of near and
long-term turnover
To prepare for these changes in the work-
force, companies must first consider their
aging workforce and focus on how to
capture the tribal knowledge these workers
possess. They must also look at millennials.
How do they fit into the workplace? How
can you engage them and what are they
seeking to attain job satisfaction?
Organizations need to assess their company
culture, the product of how they have
learned to manage problems. Culture is
sustained by three things: structures, or
how you divide the work, such as through
organizational charts and job descriptions;
systems, or how you coordinate the work,
including processes, measures, rewards, and
contracts; and style of leadership, which
addresses how you engage and motivate
the workforce.
To better engage the next generation of
workers, you must eliminate some of the

rigid constraints that past organizational
structures may have created. The following
chart offers a contrasting perspective on the
differences between the generation X and
millennial workforce.
Source: The Learning Café and American Demographics Enterprising Museum
Impact of younger
generations of workers
For recruiting millennials, it helps to have an
outstanding employee from the millennial
generation talk to the candidate. Millennials
look for organizations that provide flex-
ibility to allow them to pursue their many
outside interests. They like to get involved in
meaningful volunteer efforts and are com-
munity oriented.
Millennials are financially savvy and have
the capability to access and share informa-
tion quickly. This is the most technologically
and globally aware generation. Pair them
with older mentors. On surveys, millennials
say they relate best to the baby boomer and
World War II generations.
How can you operate your organization with
a workforce of millennials where high turn-
over rates are inevitable? For example, con-
sider an enterprise that has more than 250
employees with an average age of under 22
who operate and maintain sophisticated
mechanical, electrical, and cutting-edge
technology systems in unusually harsh cli-
mates and around-the-clock shifts. The op-
erating requirements demand no less than
100% reliability for periods often exceeding
st r at e g i e s f o r ma n ag i n g t h e wav e o f r e t i r i n g w o r k e r s
six months. Now consider that this unusu-
ally complex operational facility actually
turns over its entire workforce, including the
president and senior management team,
every three years.
The operation described above does exist.
It is typical of a US Navy warship or subma-
rine. How does a Navy ship's commanding
officer manage constant turnover while
successfully operating and maintaining such
a complex organization? The answer is in
the ship's operating culture, which allows
the crew to not only survive but continu-
ously improve in an environment of ongoing
personnel turnover. An operating culture
can be defined as the collective behavioural
norms and expectations that govern the
way people approach their work and interact
with one another.
Capturing knowledge
from workers before
they leave
On a Navy ship. you likely would see work
being conducted with checklists or stand-
ard operating procedure manuals, formal
safety procedures, and a buddy system that
ensures quality control and safety. Training,
both formal and on the job, is continuous.
Senior supervisors and officers are visible
and supportive. Very little seat-of-the-pants
work is performed despite the nature of
the unique maintenance, operations, and
training challenges the crew confronts daily.
Within any organization, the most effec-
tive method for establishing a repeatable
and more easily adopted operating culture
is to develop standard best-practice busi-
ness operations and maintenance process-
es and procedures. It is critical to ensure
that high expectations and associated ac-
countability standards are set for procedural
compliance and to continuously improve
these processes.
An example at a power generation facility
might be the synchronization of electrical
turbine generators. Is this accomplished by
each shift and supervisor with a standard-
ized set of procedures and checklists, or is it
done a little differently each time, based on
the personalized styles of those in charge?
How would it be accomplished next month
if those supervisors or technicians were no
longer with the organization?
Evolving from a culture of tribal knowledge
and informal operating practices to one of
standardized process adherence, practices,
and procedures involves commitment and
accountability from the leadership team.
Sharing knowledge, documenting inherent
best practices. and eliminating the “knowl-
edge is job security” mentality will require
time and significant behavioural change.
Do your root cause failure analysis efforts
often result in “human error” as a common
cause? Have you observed personnel com-
pleting a task? Are they following a stand-
ardized process or procedure that is written
down? Are they completing a checklist and
confirming or quality-checking their work?
If not, how might you go about introducing
those concepts?
Try these initiatives to create more standard-
ized work practices and reduce the damag-
ing effects of high turnover:
1.
Identify critical work and procedures
that are currently being accom-
plished with tribal knowledge or without
the benefit of documented standard oper-
ating procedures.
2.
Capture knowledge and data for
this critical work from existing
employees and transform that knowledge
into institutionalized training programs and
documented procedures.
3.
Establish training programs that
drive accountability and ensure all
employees have the skills, competency, and
knowledge to perform the assigned tasks
as well as the ability to record data from
those tasks.
4.
Develop continuously evolving
standard operating procedures that
are followed via checklists and supervisory
oversight.
5. Use an enterprise asset manage-
ment (EAM) system that allows man-
agers to make decisions and plans based
25
st r at e g i e s f o r ma n ag i n g t h e wav e o f r e t i r i n g w o r k e r s
on factual information, captured data, and
trends rather than gut feel or the experience
of employees who may no longer be around.
It takes time to shift from a culture of “That's
the way we've always done it” to “Here's pre-
cisely how and why we do it this way.” This
will require a commitment from leadership
to be engaged and visible with workers.
It's likely your organization has accom-
plished this within other elements of your
business. Safety and human resource de-
partments tend to have evolved their stand-
ardization of procedures and processes. Now
is the time to initiate the change and activi-
ties necessary to bring this consistency and
standardization to your everyday operating
practices on the plant floor.
The operating culture of a US Navy warship
is an impressive vision for leaders to model
because it serves as a realistic example of
how an organization can be efficient and
effective in managing workforce turnover.
A survey of corporate boards once found
the number 1 reason senior executives are
terminated is “the inability to affect change
within their organizations”. Likewise, chang-
ing the operating culture within your or-
ganization to ensure the transitions that
take place when personnel leave will be a
critical factor in meeting goals and objec-
tives through this coming wave of retire-
ments and into the next generation of more
frequent employee turnover.
Using an
EAM/CMMS
In many organizations, information is com-
partmentalized by functional group (e.g.,
finance, procurement) and fragmented into
pre-programmed reports or analysis formats.
As a result, it is difficult, if not impossible,
26 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
to quickly and accurately measure perfor-
mance or make data-driven decisions.
Information is a highly complex, multi-di-
mensional and multi-disciplined issue. It is
an ongoing challenge to convert data into
knowledge that is reproducible and sus-
tainable. No single employee or vendor can
provide a comprehensive solution.
Handling the massive amounts of data gen-
erated within an organization is not a small
endeavour. A number of elements must be
considered, including information quality,
legacy systems, data visibility, and security
concerns. It is impossible to take everything
into account upfront.
Many facilities are data rich but knowledge
poor. They record gigabytes of raw data,
ranging from trivial transactions to critical
business indicators. The rapidly changing
global market has put more pressure on the
ability to quickly make data-driven decisions.
As a result, the volume of data needed to
manage a company has grown by a factor
of 10. Unfortunately, the ability to convert
raw data into an actionable database has
not kept pace.
An enterprise information management
system should be able to seamlessly inte-
grate in near real time all of the data re-
quired to manage the entire operation, in-
cluding each of its functions. It can provide
effective coordination of activities and the
same real-time information to workers at
the appropriate level.
Adapting to a changing workforce climate
with higher turnover demands a multi-
dimensional approach. Leaders must un-
derstand the dynamics of near- and long-
term turnover in their organization as well
as how younger generations of workers
will have an impact on how they recruit,
train, and operate their business. They
must also employ tactics for capturing
| drakeintl.com
knowledge from workers approaching
retirement before they leave.
DBR
Written by Bruce Wesner, Managing Principal with Life
Cycle Engineering, and reprinted with the permission of
Noria Corporation and Reliable Plant. For more informa-
tion, visit www.reliableplant.com.
Engaging and motiving your employees
and ensuring they work well together
helps in the knowledge transfer process
and reducing turnover. Drake P3® is an
online assessment solution that reveals
a person’s natural tendencies, commu-
nication styles, emotional intelligence,
motivational needs, decision-making
abilities, energy levels, and more.
To find out how Drake P3® can help you
understand your employees better and
recruit effectively, contact the Talent
Management Solutions team:
Africa: 2721 425 3300
africa@drake.co.za
Australia: 613 9245 0245
hrsolutions@au.drakeintl.com
Canada: 416 216-1074
solutions@na.drakeintl.com
Hong Kong: 852 2848 9288
Drake@drake.com.hk
New Zealand: 0800 840 940
solutions@nz.drakeintl.com
Philippines: 632 7532490
weoutperform@drakeintl.co.uk
Singapore: 65 6225 5809
drake@sg.drakeintl.com
South Africa: 011 883 6800
solutions@drake.co.za
United Kingdom: 0800 111 4558
solutions@drakeintl.co.uk
don’t pay a
full-time salary
for a part-time job
• Gain access to a large pool of staff at short notice
• Avoid the long-term responsibilities associated with permanent staff, as well as the overhead
• Pay for only the hours they work
• Benefit from compensation insurance covered by Drake
• Lower your hiring costs

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contact the nearest drake office or visit drakeintl.com

 the beginner's guide to
HR Analytics
H
uman resources has come a long
way from its traditional focus on
collecting and tracking informa-
tion on employees to the modern
focus on using the data to make deeper
analytical connections across the business.
This guide explains the essence of human
resources (HR) analytics and the reasons
your organization should take this procaess
seriously. It also explains the common pit-
falls of HR analytics and offers five steps that
will get your organization started.
what are human
resources analytics?
HR analytics — also known as talent analyt-
ics — uses the techniques of data mining
and business analytics (BA) for processing
HR data. Data mining, in this context, is the
practice of studying established databases
to create new information. The two main
purposes for HR analytics are providing in-
sights and identifying key data.
The first purpose aims to provide the or-
ganization with information on its own
28 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
operations to help with the effective man-
agement of employees. These insights can
then ensure business goals are reached ef-
ficiently within a certain timeframe.
The second purpose is to help identify the
data the organization should capture, as
well as provide the models for predicting the
different ways the organization can receive
an optimal return on investment (ROI) on
its human capital.
Overall, HR analytics is focused on making
the most of the vast amounts of HR data
an organization has gathered, such as em-
ployee demographics and training records;
but it is in the analysis of the data that HR
analytics can help you.
why should your
organization focus
on hr analytics?
HR decisions are often based on professional
instinct and gut feeling. Recruitment, for
example, often relies on the personal con-
nection recruiters make with the candidate.
| drakeintl.com
The problem with relying on this gut instinct
is that it can normalize bad practices.
Common workplace injustices can there-
fore go unnoticed. The pay gap between
men and women is a solid example of this.
Promotions and rewards might be provid-
ed to male employees due to gut instinct,
instead of relying on cold data on perfor-
mance, for instance. Organizations might
even consider they are paying the same,
unless they study the actual data.
HR analytics can help boost the performance
and predict which models lead to better
success. It removes more of the human
error from decision making. For instance,
improvements in workload management
can be more effective when data are used
to show which departments or teams are
bearing the burden and which can afford
to take on more responsibilities.
HR analytics has been proven to improve
company growth. Training Zone, a UK learn-
ing and development publication, reported
on the findings of performance boost for
 t h e b e g i n n e r ' s g u i d e to h r a n a ly t i c s

one company that used HR analytics to
improve its recruitment process. Through
data analysis, the company noticed the
traditional key metrics of education and
reference quality didn’t have a big impact
on the candidate’s performance in sales
productivity. In fact, it was such metrics as
experience in big-ticket sales and the ability
•• Health and safety: HR analytics can better
locate the problem areas related to health
and safety issues. Data can point out the
roles, job locations, and other factors with
the highest rates of accidents.
•• Employee retention: You can also learn
more about employee retention through
If your HR department just gathers a lot
of data without proper implementation of
analytics, you’ll end up with bloated data.
The more bloated the data, the harder it is to
make valuable use of them. All the metrics
you gather should be properly defined and
categorized. You must define the questions
you want to solve with your data, not simply

to perform in unstructured circumstances
that drove better sales performance. When
the company implemented these HR ana-
lytic findings to recruitment, its sales grew
substantially the following year.
Other surveys have had similar findings in
terms of the importance of HR analytics
to overall company performance. A survey
by MIT and IBM discovered that a higher
level of HR analytics use had the potential
to: provide 8% higher sales growth; gener-
ate 24% higher net operating income; and
produce 58% higher sales per employee.
key ways to use
data. You can use HR analytics to discov-
er the aspects that increase employee
engagement.
•• Talent gaps: Data can reveal any talent
gaps in the organization. For example,
certain departments might have higher-
skilled workers than others.
•• Sales performance: HR analytics help
provide details on how sales targets can
be exceeded. You can discover how specific
talent helps employees perform better or
which training programs yielded immediate
returns in terms of sales.
2 Data quality
gather them for their own sake.
As well as gathering the right amount of
data, you also need to focus on data quality.
Data deluge can quickly lead to poor-quality
data, as you aren’t creating meaningful con-
nections between different data sets.
To guarantee data quality, you must focus
on ensuring data integrity and security. The
problem for many organizations is that the
data used in HR analytics can come from
different departments within the organi-
zation and therefore lead to issues. Data

hr analytics five challenges to can be ignored, dropped, or lost, or the data

hr analytics
sets cannot be joined, which can result in

The applications of HR analytics are many,
and the important metrics to an organiza-
tion depend on the industry as well as the
nature of the business. Key HR metrics to
analyze include:
•• resignation rate
3 most
inadequate analysis.
Before we look at the starting steps for im-
Low analytical skills in
plementing HR analytics, it’s worth examin-
ing the five main challenges the application
HR departments
of the process creates. It is essential to find For HR analytics to succeed, the team behind
ways to manage these when establishing it must be knowledgeable in both human

•• time to recruit to hire
•• turnover rate for different staff groups
(e.g., first year, five years)
•• revenue per full-time employee
•• performance appraisal participation rate
1 Data deluge
HR analytics in your organization.
The more data your organization gathers,
the harder it is to use appropriately. Big Data
doesn’t automatically generate good results;
you must be able to implement the right
data analytics to succeed.
resources and data analysis. But finding
HR leaders who are also competent in data
analytics can be difficult.
According to Elizabeth Craig, a research
fellow at Accenture Institute for High
Performance, the right talent for HR ana-
lytics is scarce. Furthermore, she added that
some data analytics tools require special IT
skills, which makes it even more difficult

These metrics and other such data can be

used to boost business performance. HR
data can help in these key areas:
•• Recruitment: HR analytics can provide
answers for finding the ideal candidates
Big Data
to help the business succeed. Data can be The growth of digital technologies has enabled companies to collect
used to identify the candidate qualities that massive amounts of data. As a result, most are now seeking more powerful
yield better results. You can compile data of techniques to make sense of them. “Big Data” refers to the data gathered
candidates who end up staying with the by businesses and organizations and stored digitally.
company and find the common denomina-
It is emerging as a critical business capability.
tors among them.

29
to find the right people to take care of
the process.
The problem is further expanded by findings
that only 6% of global HR teams feel confi-
dent about their skills in using analytics. In
addition, just 20% thought the data usage
savings. Insufficient software and tools can
lead to inefficient and incomplete results,
which won’t create a high enough ROI to
justify the investment.
five steps to
implementing hr
•• Revenue from full-time employees: What
revenue is generated per full-time worker?
•• Amount of overtime pay: How high is over-
time pay, and how often is it implemented?
•• Ratio of permanent to temporary workers:

analytics
in their organization was credible and reli- How many of the employees are part time
able enough to make decisions. compared to full time?

4 Executive support
2
Identify the data
How can your organization implement HR
analytics? These five steps can help you set
for HR analytics up the process. that answer those
often lacking questions

HR analytics has not yet become the main-
stream process for many companies and
often lacks executive support. But for the
process to work, HR departments must be
able to convince the executive leaders on
the benefits of using analytics.
Executive support is important as it provides
access to better resources as implementa-
tion of a proper HR analytics system is not
cheap. It can also provide better access to
data across different departments. To con-
vince the executives, HR departments must
focus on highlighting the possibilities of a
strong ROI with the initial investment.
1
Define the business
questions you want
to solve
The first and most important thing is to
define the business questions you are
looking to solve. You can’t start gath-
ering data and then blindly look at it to
find correlations.
Define the issues you’d like to improve in the
HR sector, such as workplace diversity, im-
proving employee retention rates, measur-
ing the amount of money spent on training,
or understanding the workplace absence
levels better. You should start with simple
With the questions and problems defined,
you can start identifying the data required
to solve and answer them.
First, focus on HR-related data that your
department already has stored, includ-
ing information on recruitment, perfor-
mance, and succession. Your HR depart-
ment should already be monitoring these
common datasets.
Second, start gathering data on employ-
ment engagement, surveys, and exit inter-
views. Depending on the level of data gath-
ering within your organization, you might

5
HR analytics
expensive and ROI
often not visible
Finally, organizations must be aware of the
cost challenge. The price of HR analytics
tools is as varied as the availability of tools.
According to a Data Informed article, plat-
form costs can range from “$400,000 to $1.5
million for a company with 5,000 full-time
employees”. And this doesn’t include the
increased costs organizations might face
in terms of hiring new staff to implement
the programs or training existing staff in
the use of analytics.
In addition, the ROI for HR analytics isn’t
the most visible, because the benefits will
show across different departments and over
a long period. For example, improvements in
employee retention won’t become evident
until years later.
The challenge comes from the realization
that aiming for a cheaper HR analytics
platform doesn’t necessarily yield bigger
already be creating these datasets.
issues and later look into the wider issues.
For instance, you might want to understand
how the HR effort impacts profit margins.
Finally, extend your data gathering to other
business systems and departments. Start
Once you are aware of which HR-related gathering important metrics from finance
and market research, including turnover,
issues you’d like to examine more closely,
sales performance, money spent on market
start outlining the required metrics
research, and training.
for solving these problems. HR metrics
that highlight the HR department’s
performance include:
•• Resignation rate: How many employees
resign within any given period in terms of
the overall workforce?
•• Recruitment time: How long does it take Once you have the
to fill a job position, and how long for a
candidate to accept the offer and become
questions and the problems
an employee? defined, you can start
•• Staff turnover rate: How many recruits identifying the data
leave after the first year, five years, and required to solve and
so on?
answer them.
•• Workforce diversity: What are the per-
centages when it comes to women, men,
religious groups, and ethnicities?

30 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2 | drakeintl.com


3 Implement ETL
The HR department must work in
close connection with the IT department
as certain software and data extraction
might require specialized data analytic skills.
Therefore, start making closer connections
between these two departments.
Part of this process is the implementation
of ETL — extraction, transformation, and
loading. This process allows you to extract
the necessary data from a source you define,
transform them to the correct clean and
consistent format, and load them onto your
analytical platform to be used in the analy-
sis. There are tools you can use to implement
this process automatically. While non-tech-
nical employees can use these platforms, it
can be beneficial to ask the IT department
for assistance.
4
Incorporate the
findings to
business operations
When your HR data analytics starts
generating results, you need to start
implementing changes.
For example, if you focused on looking at
workforce diversity and your data show
you’re not receiving enough applications
from ethnic minorities, start changing your
recruitment strategy, perhaps by targeting
recruitment agencies that focus on minority
candidates, conducting interviews within
minority groups to see whether the com-
munity views your organization negatively,
t h e b e g i n n e r s g u i d e to h r a n a ly t i c s
and creating more tutoring opportunities
with minority employees.
You also need to draw a connection between
the HR data and other business measures.
For instance, reduction in staff overtime
can directly correlate with productivity and
profitability. The KPMG report People Are the
Real Numbers discussed the importance
of these solid connections in an example
of workplace absence and cost efficiency:
“While it’s helpful to track absences by lo-
cation or versus prior years, if HR could also
show that improvements in absenteeism
positively correlate with manufacturing cost
efficiency, then line leaders would be more
5 Perform
likely to see the value of HR.”
regular
analyses
Finally, HR analytics should not be done
irregularly and remain irrelevant the ma-
jority of the time. To enjoy the benefits of
the process, it’s essential to implement a
regular schedule.
For example, as you’ve defined an issue you
want to look at with HR data, you’ll perform
data analysis to find an answer to the issue.
Once you implement the solutions to your
problem, return to the issue regularly to
see whether the changes are sticking and
whether new issues might have risen.
in conclusion
HR analytics is an essential part of data
management, and its implementation can
yield positive returns for any organization.
But the management, analysis, and interpre-
tation of data aren't always straightforward,
and organizations need to approach HR
analytics one step at a time.
The key to successful HR analytics is under-
standing that it's not the size of the meas-
ured data that's key to success, but rather
the impact the data can have on decision
making in the organization. HR analytics
shouldn’t be seen as influential only in the
HR department, but as something with
the potential to create value throughout
the organization.
DBR
Reprinted with the permission of Martin Luenendonk.
Visit him at www.cleverism.com. The complete
article can be found at https://www.cleverism.com/
beginners-guide-hr-analytics/.
Drake Workforce Analytics leverages
critical data within your company to
provide the very best in predictive and
value-driven analytics for your workforce
management. Integrate data from all
corners of your business in a user-friendly,
easy-to-understand way. To learn more
on how Synergizer or Drake Dashboards
can help you effectively calculate the ROI
on your human capital investments and
connect the critical data points through-
out your company, contact the Drake
Management Solutions Team.
Australia: 613 9245 0245
hrsolutions@au.drakeintl.com
Canada: 416 216-1074
solutions@na.drakeintl.com
Hong Kong: 852 2848 9288
Drake@drake.com.hk
New Zealand: 0800 840 940
solutions@nz.drakeintl.com
31
 Visualizing your way to
profit improvement
Thanks to our patented interactive intelligence interface, your dashboard graphics
will be dynamic, engaging, and, above all, easy to understand.

Total Number of New Hires

350
323

300

250
211
200

150

100
60
50 36
15
0
Alberta Ontario Overall Quebec British Columbia

% New Hires by Source

Alberta British Columbia Ontario

Overall Quebec

People | Productivity | Performance

Leverage the power of Drake Analytics with these features:

Drag-and-drop interface Data blending Intuitive scenario modelling

Analytics consulting Complete customization Unlimited data drill-downs

Have you considered the following bottom-line predictors?

• What is the ROI that our human resource division generates each year?
• Can we model our workforce to optimize cost, profit, and productivity?
• What are the predictive indicators of turnover, and which of our employees are at risk?
• From where do we derive our best talent, and which managers are true leaders?
• What is driving high employee turnover, and how much is it costing our business?
• How can we reduce absenteeism and balance permanent versus contract staff?
• What percentage of the workforce has a defined career path?

Creating a compelling case for analytics by demonstrating

ROI can help you influence key decision makers for the right
people strategies.

Contact Drake and we’ll show you how:

• (Canada) T 416 216 1074 • drakeanalytics@na.drakeintl.com
• (Australia) T 13 14 48 • hrsolutions@au.drakeintl.com
• (Singapore) T 65 6225 5809 • drake@sg.drakeintl.com
• (Hong Kong) T 852 2848 9288 • drake@drake.com.hk

33

G
ood business leaders often say
they’ve learned more from their
failures than their successes.
These leaders have the confi-
dence to know they can’t be right all the
time and that mistakes come with the ter-
ritory. For example, they might fail to com-
municate effectively or delegate properly.
Perhaps they need to improve at account-
ability or developing their people.
But the biggest failure of all, which causes
harm to the performance of a company,
giving leadership the most grief is a people
problem — hanging onto the wrong person
in the wrong job for too long.
Ironically, it’s often the company leader or
manager who is the last to understand the
impact of not taking action on a poor per-
former. It’s the employees working alongside
the poor performer who quickly recognize
the dire consequences of this situation,
which breeds poor employee morale and
loss of productivity. It can also erode the
confidence and effectiveness of those in
charge. On the flip side, when team leaders
are aware of a performance problem, many
do nothing about it or take too long to tackle
the problem.
Why does this happen?
Let’s start with loyalty. Companies and
managers encourage and value loyalty.
However, at times a manager crosses the
line and over-identifies with a particular
employee, often getting too close to that
person. This makes it more challenging to
deal with performance problems because
34 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
Leaders’ #1 Failing:
hanging onto
the wrong person
for too long
the manager has valued loyalty over per-
formance. This often happens when man-
agers hire friends and/or relatives. That
thin line between the manager and the
employee becomes increasingly difficult
to recognize, so the manager becomes con-
fused and finds it difficult to deal with the
poorly performing employee in an objective,
constructive manner.
Second, nobody likes to be wrong. Managers
who hire a bad fit for a position must pub-
licly admit they made a mistake if they let
that person go. Unfortunately, the fear of
admitting mistakes often stalls or prevents
the termination process altogether. Perhaps
the manager keeps hoping that this person
will improve, but since hope is not a strategy
for success, this likely will never happen. The
situation just festers, and everyone suffers.
Third, managers often don’t do anything
about ousting the poor performer if they
haven't a back-up plan, believing that any
living, breathing body is better than none
at all. They accept mediocrity rather than
take a risk that would enable them to create
the opportunity to improve their situation.
The solution would be to recruit proactively,
always looking out for someone who could
be a better team player.
Managers often don’t
do anything about
ousting a poor performer
because they haven't a
back-up plan.
| drakeintl.com
Fourth, managers often believe that dealing
with the poor performer always results in
conflict. Most people don’t like conflict, so
they avoid situations that might lead to
it. But implementing a good performance
management system, one with an ongoing
methodology to evaluate performance,
eliminates the potential for conflict by cre-
ating an objective process for communi-
cating to employees about their strengths
and shortcomings. Many managers don’t
have a good system in place, so if they have
to deal with the poor performer, conflict
results. What’s more, without an ongoing
methodology to evaluate performance and
give feedback, employees are often surprised
if they’re suddenly severely reprimanded
or let go. That’s obviously a conflict-ridden
situation, and one that can be avoided with
a solid performance management system
in place.
Implementing a good
performance management
system creates an objective
process for communicating
to employees about
their strengths and
shortcomings.
But most important, company leaders
hold onto the wrong person in the wrong
position for too long simply because they
lack good performance management skills
themselves. A good accountability leader is

able to not only use the established perfor-
mance system as a tool, but also create a
culture in which open, honest conversations
about performance can take place. Strong
leaders are candid: They have no problem
addressing poor performance and embrace
the opportunity to make such conversa-
tions productive for both the company and
the employee. In addition, they set clear
expectations for their employees, measure
their progress, coach them when neces-
sary, and conduct more formal training.
Furthermore, effective leaders sense when
it’s time to draw a line. For instance, when
they keep hearing a little voice inside their
head saying, “I hope that employee gets
better,” they take that as a cue that it’s time
to ask some critical questions about that
person’s performance and take immediate,
appropriate action.
Company leaders hold
onto the wrong person in
the wrong position for too
long simply because they
lack good performance
management skills
themselves.
When you examine all these reasons behind
why leaders and managers keep the wrong
person in the wrong job for too long, it’s easy
to see why this is the number one leadership
failing. But the good news is leaders can
easily change the potential for mistakes by
addressing the problem head-on. What’s the
best way to do this? Position employees for
success by establishing a proven system for
accountability; properly delegate job respon-
sibilities; provide them with clearly defined
goals; make sure their skills align with the
job and specific duties; and implement that
crucial coaching and training.
Since the number one mistake managers
commit is hanging onto that wrong person
in the wrong position too long, there’s a
really good chance that you could be guilty. If
that’s the case, challenge yourself to uncover
the reasons why you haven’t addressed poor
leaders’ #1 failing: hanging onto the wrong person for too long
performers, develop a plan, follow your com-
pany’s performance management policy,
and take action now.
Challenge yourself to
uncover the reasons why
you haven’t addressed
poor performers, develop
a plan, follow your
company’s performance
management policy, and
take action now.
Be an
accountability leader
The key to positioning your employees for
success is your own ability to hold them
accountable. The following checklist will
get you on your way to developing your
own leadership skills, which relate directly
to accountability.
1.
Set clear goals and es-
tablish Vital Factors, the
key indicators of a business’s
health for each person on the
team. Communicate what
performance measures you’re
using and your expectations
about performance. Be spe-
cific and focus on results, not
just activity.
2.
Enlist the help of a pro-
fessional accountability
coach to help you understand
what good accountability looks
like and model accountability
effectively.
3.
Identify your weakness-
es as an accountability
leader and determine what you
personally need to develop.
4.
Establish a system for
accountability and use
your established Vital Factors,
or the key measures of your
company’s health, to evaluate
performance and take correc-
tive action.
5. Understand how you
deal with conflict,
what you should do differ-
ently to modify any resistance
to conflict and improve your
conflict style.
DBR
Written by Lee Froschheiser, president and CEO of Map
Consulting (MAP) and co-author of the best-selling book
Vital Factors, The Secret to Transforming Your Business
— And Your Life. Reprinted with the permission of PR/PR.
The key to not hiring the wrong person
is to hire the right person, the first time.
Drake P3® predicts the behaviour and per-
sonality of potential candidates against
the traits of your existing top performers
— before you make a job offer.
To find out how Drake P3® can improve
your hiring success, contact the Talent
Management Solutions team.
Africa: 27 21 425 3300
africa@drake.co.za
Australia: 613 9245 0245
hrsolutions@au.drakeintl.com
Canada: 416 216-1074
solutions@na.drakeintl.com
Hong Kong: 852 2848 9288
Drake@drake.com.hk
New Zealand: 0800 840 940
solutions@nz.drakeintl.com
Singapore: 65 6225 5809
drake@sg.drakeintl.com
South Africa: 011 883 680
Solutions@drake.co.za
United Kingdom: 0800 111 4558
solutions@drakeintl.co.uk
35
 How to Develop
Your Leaders
Capable leadership is undoubtedly one of
the most important factors in creating and
maintaining an organization that achieves
outstanding and sustainable results. In fact,
in today’s complex and changing world, the
need for strong leadership is greater than
ever. And yet, 80% of CEOs participating in
a recent study rated their efforts to develop
leaders throughout their organizations as
“less than adequate”.
Although corporations in the US spend
about $300 billion each year on training,
permanent change will occur only when
an organization’s infrastructure elicits, rein-
forces, and even demands desired leadership
behaviours. Research shows that only about
10 to 20% of the knowledge gained from
training actually transfers to the job. The
challenge and opportunity is to translate
knowledge and skills into practices that ac-
tually improve organizational performance.
Of CEOs participating in
a recent study, 80% rated
their efforts to develop
leaders throughout their
organizations as “less than
adequate”.
These guidelines represent tested and
proven ways of making desired leadership
behaviours a permanent part of your or-
ganization’s culture. However, they are not a
quick fix to the challenge of creating strong-
er organizational leadership. Implementing
them requires thought, dialogue, and hard
work. No endeavour as important as this
could require anything less.
36 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
1. Focus all leaders on a shared
definition and leadership paradigm
Few companies have attempted to clearly
define what they mean by leadership. Yet,
to provide excellent and consistent leader-
ship across the organization, it is neces-
sary that all leaders share an understand-
ing of the leadership role. This knowledge
forms the foundation upon which to build
an excellent leadership team. Its absence
means that people perform from personal
paradigms (which are usually traditional,
self-protective, and reactive) and which may
not be consistent with the organization you
want to create.
There are many good definitions and para-
digms of leadership. Their content is less
important than selecting a definition and
paradigm that can be taught, understood,
and embraced by all of the leaders within an
organization. This shared definition includes
such elements as:
•• well-articulated organizational philoso-
phy, including mission, ideal future vision,
and guiding principles
•• definition of leadership and the roles and
practices of leaders in a high-performance
organization
•• set of performance expectations and core
competencies for supervisors and managers
These elements represent the kind of
shared framework in which leaders should
be grounded. It provides a foundation that
will create and sustain appropriate leader-
ship behaviour over time. All of the other
guidelines build upon this foundation.
| drakeintl.com
2. Set the example
As much as we tell people what we expect
and how we want them to behave, they
won’t do so if they perceive that leaders at
the top are not also doing so. In truth, actions
speak louder than words: It’s not what we
say that informs people about what is im-
portant and how they should behave, but
rather how we act. If you want your direct
reports to treat people with respect, then
you must treat others with respect. If you
want people to value quality as much as
meeting the production numbers, then they
must observe you making that trade-off
during a difficult moment of decision. If you
want them to be open and non-defensive,
then you must be open and non-defensive.
If you want them to partner with others and
be team players, then you must be a team
player. If you want them to empower and
allow others more authority and involve-
ment, then you must not micromanage but
allow others more authority. If you want
your managers to become proactive and
focused on the important instead of always
reactive and attending to the urgent, then
you must find a better balance between the
urgent and important.
It’s not what we say that
informs people about what
is important and how they
should behave, but rather
how we act.
If you don’t like what you see in your organi-
zation’s culture, examine your own example.
Continually evaluate yourself and ask how

well you are being a living example of the
behaviour you want others to model. Many
times we are blind to the occasions when we
violate our own values, especially when the
larger corporate culture reinforces a set of
behaviours that is different from the culture
and behaviours you want to instill within
your organization. Being a buffer and creat-
ing a different culture from the corporate
culture requires courage and determination.
3. Create a forum for feedback
One powerful way leaders can hold them-
selves accountable is by holding regular
feedback meetings with employees to
ensure that their day-to-day practices (as
well as policies, procedures, and systems)
are aligned with their espoused values
and philosophy.
Try this simple process. Schedule feedback
meetings for the entire year, as often as
every other week but no less than monthly.
Invite a different group of 12 to 20 employ-
ees per session to attend each meeting.
Select participants by some random method
(e.g., alphabetically) and ensure that every
employee participate in at least one
session a year.
One powerful way that
leaders can hold themselves
accountable is to hold
regular feedback meetings
with employees.
Each session follows a simple structure:
Review the mission, vision, and values
1 of the organization.
Ask what they understand or not
2
about our mission, vision, and values.
Ask what the leadership team does
that is consistent with your mission,
3 vision, and values.
Ask what the leadership team does
that is inconsistent with your mission,
4 vision, and values.
Ask what specific changes they would
5 recommend.
A quorum of senior leaders should be
present in each session. They keep an
ongoing “action registry” from these
events and make decisions about what
and how they can implement suggestions.
They are also responsible for communicat-
ing to the entire organization the prior-
ity items and actions they are taking to
make improvements.
In too many companies, people give lip
service to a set of values that sound ap-
propriate but to which they lack genuine
commitment. The feedback process forces
leaders to be serious about their deepest
beliefs. As they do so, they gain the trust,
credibility, and loyalty of their employees.
4. Establish a foundation of stability
Organizations can be characterized at one
of three stages of development.
Chaos, characterized by:
•• inconsistent results
•• crisis and short-term focus
•• lack of clear direction and shifting
priorities
•• unclear policies, procedures, systems
•• lack of team work — “us” versus “them”
•• frustration and alienation
Stability (back to the basics), characterized
by:
•• consistent performance results
•• clarity of direction and priorities
•• well-defined policies, procedures, systems
•• agreement on roles and responsibilities
•• basic management processes practised
and rewarded (goal setting, performance
reviews)
how to develop your leaders
High performance, characterized by:
•• excellent performance results
•• clear mission and values that result in
distinctive culture
•• respect, involvement, empowerment of
people
•• flexibility and innovation
•• excellent information-sharing systems
•• design (structure, work flow, etc.) aligned
to mission and values
A key to effective leadership is managing ac-
cording to the organization's stage of devel-
opment. Stability is characterized by clarity,
control, and discipline. High performance is
characterized by “shared ownership” in the
business and empowered employees. Many
leaders attempt to achieve a culture of high
performance without a foundation of stabil-
ity. Stability requires getting out of a chaotic,
reactive, fire-fighting mode through clarity
of goals, priorities, roles, and responsibilities
as well as processes and procedures. This
results in an efficient operation, which forms
the foundation for excellence and high per-
formance. Many leaders aspire to high per-
formance but without first putting in place
a foundation of discipline and routine.
Many leaders attempt
to achieve a culture
of high performance
without a foundation
of stability.
5. Manage proactively from
a master plan
To ensure the development and effec-
tiveness of leaders, make planning part
of the infrastructure of the organization.
Although this seems to be a simple notion,
managers and supervisors in most organi-
zations readily admit they are in a fire-
fighting mode, reacting to the demands
37
of the moment rather than acting from a
predetermined agenda of what they want
to accomplish.
A lack of planning creates a vicious circle
from which escape is very difficult. The less
people plan, the more an atmosphere of
chaos and urgency reigns. And the more
urgency and chaos people experience, the
more difficult they perceive it to be to take
time to plan. Consequently, they are forever
attacking symptoms while leaving intact
the root causes of organizational prob-
lems. Although many factors contribute to
a climate of chaos, perhaps the most im-
portant is a lack of planning and perception
that “we just don’t have the time”.
A secondary consequence of this vicious
circle is that it sets leaders up to be overly
involved in day-to-day affairs and to micro-
manage the business. This practice demoral-
izes employees, making them conclude that
they are neither trusted nor able to make
a difference in the organization. Nothing
happens without the involvement of the
manager or supervisor.
By managing from a plan, leaders pay at-
tention to the big picture and what matters
most. They work (to borrow a phrase from
Edwards Demming) “on systems not in
systems” and thereby gradually eliminate
the root causes of problems. Doing this re-
quires a culture that values planning and
organizing skills.
6. Establish performance require-
ments and core competencies for
each leadership position
Performance requirements planning pro-
vides a clear definition of expected out-
comes for a given position as well as identi-
fication of those behaviours (best practices)
and/or competencies that will lead to those
outcomes. It serves to:
•• measure individual (leadership)
performance
•• provide individual performance feedback
•• develop personal improvement and pro-
gression plans
38 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
•• create and deliver training programs
Follow these steps to accomplish this
objective:
Identify four to six key performance
1 areas for a given position. (See
example below)
Conduct interviews and/or focus
2 groups with star performers and their
managers to identify best practices
or core competencies related to each
key performance area.
Write and administer a 360° survey
3 based on these best practices.
Provide feedback and develop
4 personal improvement plans for
each person.
Develop tailored training to meet spe-
5 cific developmental needs.
Example: Key performance area:
Leadership behaviours
Performance Requirements:
•• Analyze the organization’s environment
for important trends and changes.
•• Articulate a picture of future in a way that
motivates and inspires other people.
•• Guide the team/organization in the devel-
opment of charter and direction.
•• Develop, communicate, and enforce
team boundaries (expected results and
non-negotiables).
By documenting best practices and core
competencies, leaders have a road map for
knowing where they are, where they are
headed, and how they will get there.
7. Provide feedback and create
a personal development plan
for each leader
Once you have clear performance require-
ments, leaders at all levels of the organiza-
tion must be measured against them. A
highly effective means of feedback is the
| drakeintl.com
360° survey, which uses many data points
(boss, peers, and direct reports) to assess
how well someone is performing on criti-
cal leadership behaviours. People improve
when they know the score. Although ini-
tially intimidating, most people appreciate
objective data when it helps them better
understand themselves and know where
they can make improvements.
More senior leaders should meet with
each of their subordinates to assess their
strengths and weaknesses (from survey
feedback) and then work together to create
a plan to help them overcome weaknesses
and gain those competencies required to
succeed. The developed plans should not
be reviewed once a year, but should be a
working document always within reach and
referenced during many one-on-one meet-
ings. In fact, they should form the basis of
much of the dialogue between a boss and
direct reports.
8. Hold regular personal
accountability interviews
The personal accountability interview (PAI)
is a key tool for building new leadership
practices into the infrastructure of the or-
ganization. It is a formal meeting between a
leader and each direct report to review and
help them improve their performance. The
meeting has two major objectives. The first
focuses on the performance of the subordi-
nate, how they are doing against their per-
formance requirements, goals, metrics, and,
in general, in their management and leader-
ship roles. This represents an opportunity for
the leader to hold people accountable and
also provide them with the resources and
support they need to succeed. It is a time to
make sure that people are using their time
wisely and making good business decisions.
The second objective focuses on the devel-
opment of the subordinate. The leader plays
the role of mentor by providing information
or training in such areas as the strategy and
direction of the business, the role of leaders
in a high-performance organization, and be-
havioural expectations. It is a time to create
and monitor the personal development plan
to be sure the individual is making continual
improvements in their performance and

moving ahead in their career. Most impor-
tant, it represents an opportunity to listen,
understand, and learn about the subordi-
nate, how they are doing, and what they
need in their ongoing development.
9. Write a “team member letter”
The purpose of this letter is to ensure un-
derstanding and agreement between an
individual and their leader about the individ-
ual’s job. In a team environment, the letter
can be written and shared with the entire
team rather than just the leader. The team
member writes the letter and gives it to
the leader for review. The two of them then
discuss the contents and make sure they are
in agreement. Within the letter, the team
member writes their understanding of:
•• the leader’s role and responsibilities
•• the team member’s role and
responsibilities.
•• the goals of the team and team member,
including performance standards to judge
success
•• major obstacles to fulfilling
responsibilities
•• what the team leader and/or company do
that help and hinder the team member from
carrying out their responsibilities
•• what the team member feels they
need (resources, training, and support in-
formation) to successfully carry out their
responsibilities
The letter becomes a “contract” between
the team member and leader and basis for
the team leader to work with the member
on their development.
10. Manage as teams
Create and accomplish your work as a team
member. Teams provide an opportunity for
much greater integration and coordina-
tion. The benefits are often obvious among
people who do the core work of the organi-
zation. However, they are just as signifi-
cant for an organization’s leaders. Thinking
and working as a leadership team member
overcomes the problems of fragmentation,
duplication of efforts, poor communication,
turf battles, a narrow perspective, and lack of
ownership that pervade traditional organi-
zations. It helps leaders identify and work
together to accomplish shared, long-term
objectives rather than expend too much
time and energy fighting fires.
11. Hold regular discussion sessions
Discussion sessions are one- to two-hour
blocks of time in which leaders come togeth-
er to learn and support each other in their
development. The session can include some
structured time in the form of a mini-lecture,
exercise, or simulation, as well as unstruc-
tured time for discussion and application of
the theme of the meeting. These sessions
are less formal than training because they
are designed for application and internaliza-
tion of the principles discussed. The sessions
represent an opportunity to review and re-
inforce critical principles from past training,
such as empowerment, listening skills, or
conflict resolution. Numerous people can
take the leadership in designing and fa-
cilitating such sessions. In fact, the more
people involved, the more people learn, and
the more valuable they become. Hold them
regularly, at least monthly, and require that
people attend.
12. Design systems to support
high-performance
leadership behaviours
Leaders will not demonstrate high-per-
formance behaviours if the systems of
the organization impede or fail to reward
them. One of the most important systems
to evaluate is compensation. Can the com-
pensation system be better managed and/
or designed to reward facilitators and man-
agers for achieving results and modelling
high-performance behaviours? How is it
currently aligned to do so, and how might
it need to be altered? Is there a recognition
system that reinforces people for model-
ling the organization’s values or achieving
outstanding results? Do leaders receive in-
formation in an accurate and timely way?
A task of the executive team is to examine
each of these systems and to determine
how to develop your leaders
the extent to which they are accomplishing
their intended purpose.
The key to changing leadership behaviour
is altering the infrastructure of the organi-
zation to elicit and reinforce desired behav-
iours. It is not enough to share theory and
knowledge, however correct it may be. Old
habits are hard to break, especially when
they are reinforced, albeit unintentionally,
by cultural norms contrary to new values
and behaviours.
These guidelines represent the kinds of
actions that can build new leadership
habits and norms into the organization.
Culture change must start at the top. Not
only must senior leaders clarify the kinds of
practices they expect of themselves, manag-
ers, and supervisors, but they must create
the processes and methods to maintain a
consistent message and reinforce desired
behaviours.
Sometimes we are hesitant to engage in the
kinds of behaviour described above because
of the time it requires. We allow the urgent
to rule the important. However, by not com-
mitting this kind of time to developing our
subordinates, we fail to play a leadership
role. We become overly involved in opera-
tional issues rather than providing guidance
and direction and developing the long-term
capability of the organization.
DBR
Written and reprinted with permission by Roger K. Allen,
PhD, co-founder with Preston Pond of The Center for
Organizational Design, whose mission is to create high-
performance organizations that enrich human life and
achieve extraordinary results. To learn more, visit http://
www.centerod.com/
Drake’s Leadership Development
Solution uses behavioural assessments,
coaching, and workshops to deliver the
insight your people need to become
better leaders. To find out how Drake’s
Leadership Development solution can
inspire your current leaders, improve pro-
ductivity, reduce turnover, and attract
top performers to the company, contact
the Talent Management Solutions team.
39
 8 CORE COMPETENCIES
Every Leader Should Possess
T
wo words we often hear in politics
and business are leadership and
sustainability. Organizations need
those who can successfully lead
others and sustain success. When choos-
ing such leaders, we must look for these
core competencies in eight areas that ensure
they can create environments that are both
productive and sustainable.
1. Communication
2. Leadership
3. Adaptability
4. Building relationships
5. Task management
6. Productivity
7. Development of others
8. Personal mastery
These competencies ensure that a leader is
well rounded and fit to lead.
1. Communication
All leaders must be able to listen to others,
process information, and communicate
effectively.
40 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
Within the Communication core compe-
tency, listening to others enables leaders to 2. Leadership
encourage the sharing of information and
ideas as well as concerns. Listening openly Successful leaders instill trust, provide direc-
to others, without interruption, is a key to tion, and delegate responsibility.
becoming more effective and optimizing
Leadership is about producing the desired
performance. Processing information is
results. Building and instilling trust enables
crucial to being a good leader. Being able
a leader to show they can be trusted to keep
to get to the point, weigh pros and the cons,
promises and confidences and that they are
and evaluate short- and long-range conse-
honest and ethical. Leaders provide direc-
quences of decisions is vital. It helps leaders
tion by establishing clear expectations and
develop logical and clear conclusions.
developing a manageable workload to ac-
complish those expectations, while keeping
focused on the overall vision.
Being able to get to the
Under the Leadership core competency, a
point, weigh pros and leader must be able to delegate responsibil-
the cons, and evaluate ity — appropriate jobs to appropriate people.
Leaders empower others to work and solve
short- and long-range problems on their own.
consequences of
decisions is vital. Leaders must be thorough,
concise, and consistently
The final component of the Communication straightforward when
core competency is the ability to communi-
cate effectively. Leaders must express them-
sharing information
selves clearly, in both writing and speak- and their vision
ing. They must be thorough, concise, and
consistently straightforward when sharing
with others.
information and their vision with others.
| drakeintl.com
 8 core competencies every leader should possess

needed by leaders to be successful. These

3. Adaptability
The best leaders have the ability to adjust to
circumstances and think creatively.
Adjusting to circumstances involves the
adjusting to people’s diverse work styles
and to varying environments. Competent
leaders know how to deal with setbacks
constructively, and they anticipate change.
Under Adaptability is the ability for a leader
to think creatively, which brings an imagina-
tive approach to the job. Creative-thinking
leaders inspire innovation, risk taking, and
creative problem solving.
5. Task management
Good leaders work efficiently and
competently.
A leader must make efficient use of current
technology and wise use of outside resourc-
es. They avoid procrastination and set priori-
ties. Working competently means the leader
has mastered the fundamentals of the job.
This leader can quickly and competently
apply new methods and new information
as appropriate for new tasks.
6. Productivity
leaders maintain high levels of energy, per-
severe, and remain positive.
These eight core competencies provide a
systems approach to personal leadership
development. Effective leaders are com-
mitted to developing these competencies
in themselves on an ongoing basis.
DBR
Written by Dr. Terry Jackson, Managing Partner for
WEpiphany, and reprinted with the permission of About
Leaders, which works with leading companies to take
their management teams from good to great. For more
information, visit www.aboutleaders.com

Leaders take action and achieve results.

Competent leaders An effective leader knows when the time

know how to deal with
setbacks constructively,
and they anticipate
change.
4. Building relationships
Building a personal relationship may be the
most crucial component of being a leader.
It means being considerate of others’ feel-
ings. Leaders must also show freedom from
unfair biases, be tactful when giving criti-
cism, and remain composed under stress.
Building relationships is ensuring team
success. Leaders must resolve conflicts fairly
in a spirit of cooperation, build consensus
and lead teams with appropriate goals,
and recruit effectively and use talents of
group wisely.
Team success is crucial
in the workplace as
is right to initiate action. Leaders handle
problems assertively and make timely and
firm decisions. Leaders take action so they
can achieve results. To achieve results, they
must know how to overcome obstacles to
achievement and set high standards that
have a positive impact on the organization.
7. Development of others
Leaders develop leaders.
Two important factors in the development
of others are cultivating individual talent
and successfully motivating others. Leaders
who are successful in cultivating talent are
effective at coaching and making training
available. These leaders also provide objec-
tive performance feedback on a timely basis.
As a leader, one must be able to give recogni-
tion to people who produce excellent work
and make an extra effort. The leader also
has an enthusiastic attitude that positively
affects others.
8. Personal mastery
Leaders who master themselves seek
improvement and display personal
Every organization needs to ensure they
have the right leadership on board —
leaders with the people skills required
to steer superior performance. Drake’s
Leadership Development Solution uses
behavioural assessments, coaching, and
workshops to deliver the insight your
people need to become better leaders.
To find out how Drake’s Leadership
Development solution can inspire your
current leaders, improve productivity,
reduce turnover, and attract top per-
formers to the company, contact the
Talent Management Solutions team.
Australia: 613 9245 0245
hrsolutions@au.drakeintl.com
Canada: 416 216-1074
solutions@na.drakeintl.com
Hong Kong: 852 2848 9288
Drake@drake.com.hk
New Zealand: 0800 840 940
solutions@nz.drakeintl.com
Singapore: 65 6225 5809
drake@sg.drakeintl.com

no man is an island. commitment.

South Africa: 011 883 6800
Solutions@drake.co.za
These leaders learn positive lessons from United Kingdom: 0800 111 4558
mistakes, accept constructive criticism, and solutions@drakeintl.co.uk
pursue resources to improve and develop
professionally. They set no limits on personal
potential. A high level of commitment is

41
 How to Instill Behaviours
That Support Your Corporate Strategy
H
ave you ever considered how your
employees’ behaviours affect your
company’s overall success? If not,
then perhaps you should. When
you ask employees what they think of the
organization, you may get very different
views. But their individual views are tied to
how they are expected to behave and how
they are actually behaving. Every behaviour
in your organization affects what your af-
filiate organizations and customers think
of you. When other people have a different
view, perhaps a negative one, it means you
have excess movement going on within
your organization.
Every behaviour in your
organization affects
what your customers
think of you.
Excess movement means too many people
are doing tasks they should not be doing.
They’re fixing mistakes and making up for
other people’s lack of results. Essentially,
they’re doing excess things that are not part
of operating in a streamlined fashion. When
people are constantly fixing other people’s
work or redoing their own work, they’re not
supporting the corporate strategy.
However, you can create a culture that ties
strategic actions to expected results and has
no excess movement. In this environment,
every behaviour is deliberately focused on
satisfying the organization’s goals and satis-
fying that person’s need for fulfillment. The
way the employees behave, the way they
interact with each other, and the way they
go about their business enhances quality
and communicates the right attitude.
42 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
Imagine an organization in which behaviour
is an important ingredient in how you work.
Everyone is expected to treat others with
respect and provide them with information
when they ask for it. Behaviour is held on a
high level, and exceptional work is expected
because it helps an organization grow and
flourish. As a result, everyone feels encour-
aged to strive for a little more.
The way employees
behave, the way they
interact with each other,
and the way they go about
their business enhances
quality and communicates
the right attitude.
To foster this type of culture in your organi-
zation, follow these tips:
1. Maintain a “number one”
mindset
Part of this culture starts from the CEO’s
desire to be the best. With this mindset,
you don’t worry about encroachment by
competitors; rather, you think about ways
you can continue to be number one.
How can you not worry about competitors?
Essentially, all businesses provide either a
product or a service. If you provide a service
and if you focus on delivering your very best,
then no one else in the marketplace can
compare with you. You make yourself stand
out by your dedication to your clients. If
you offer a product, however, you must find
some other way to make yourself stand out.
| drakeintl.com
Perhaps you focus on customer service, or
the way you deliver your product, or the
way you package your product. This act of
differentiating yourself sets you apart from
others so you’ll no longer be a commodity.
Customers will see you for the value you
offer and will buy from you for reasons other
than the actual product.
Ultimately, having a number one mindset
is not about comparing yourself to others;
it’s about focusing on you and the internal
processes and procedures that keep your
entire company focused on the goal. With
this mindset, you not only believe and act
like you’re the best, but you treat employees
as if they are also the best. Respect and trust
are the driving forces that permeate every
relationship. Additionally, cooperation and a
willingness to share are evident on all levels,
from the CEO to the mail-room clerk. When
everyone models these behaviours, then the
number one mindset is easy to implement.
2. Eliminate competition
When you treat all your employees as if
they are the best, competitive behaviour
is no longer necessary. You create an open
environment where everyone is the top in
their field. By eliminating competition, your
employees function and work together as
a team. They don’t thwart other people’s
efforts, hide information, or work against
each other in any way. No one feels the need
to compete to be the best because they are
all the best.
You must make it known to all your em-
ployees that competitive behaviour has no
place in your organization. When someone
exhibits this behaviour, you need to put
them back on track or end their relationship

with your company. If someone behaves in
a disrespectful manner, they aren’t working
toward the organization’s goals.
You must make it known to all
your employees that competitive
behaviour has no place in your
organization.
3. Encourage exceptional work
To align behaviour with the organizational
strategy, you must expect people to deliver
only exceptional work and to come up
with whatever they need to achieve that.
Creativity is commonplace, and even mis-
takes are encouraged in this open-ended
type of environment because they lead
to creativity.
When your employees perform at an ex-
ceptional level, reward their behaviour.
Monetary rewards are not always necessary;
you can also show recognition by putting
people up on a pedestal and giving them
company-wide recognition for delivering
extra value. This will encourage others to
perform at this level as well.
4. Mix up talents
Within your organization, you likely have
people whom you have identified as fast-
trackers, those who have great potential for
success and who you want to advance in the
company. But before you simply promote
someone, have them learn other areas of
the business by “trading” jobs. This not
only gives fast-trackers a broader sense of
what the company does, but it also helps
them develop creativity, operate out of their
comfort zone, and know what others in the
organization are up against.
For example, you have identified a talented
engineer in your company as someone who
should move up in the organization. Before
putting that person in charge of decisions
that could affect other departments, have
them work in the marketing department
for six months to a year — exclusively, not
just one or two days a week. Then have
them spend the same amount of time in
h o w to i n st i l l b e h av i o u r s t h at s u p p o rt yo u r c o r p o r at e st r at e g y
the research and development department,
then time in another department. Make
sure this engineer thoroughly understands
the needs and challenges of everyone in
the organization.
Realize that you’re not trying to turn this
engineer into a marketing person or a re-
search and development person. You’re ex-
pecting them to get a broader perspective
of the company so they can go on to higher
ranks in the company with that knowledge,
insight, and sensitivity.
5. Keep everyone on track
As individuals produce results or make pro-
gress towards company goals, immediately
reward them with feedback, money, awards,
or any other means that shows your appre-
ciation and recognizes a job well done. As
you give the positive feedback, reiterate the
goals and objectives and find out what they
will do next to bring the company closer to
those objectives. The more positive feed-
back you give, the more you can ask people
to contribute.
Aligning behaviour for success in the future
A culture that ties behaviour to the stra-
tegic goals of the organization can have a
powerful effect on your employees and your
overall success. It allows all your employees
to combine their individual strengths and
experiences to solve problems, and they give
extra effort to the process. They don’t focus
on any one person shining through; rather,
they focus on the end result and overall
success of your organization.
A culture that ties behaviour
to the strategic goals of
the organization can
have a powerful effect on
your employees and your
overall success.
When you use these strategies to instill this
culture in your organization, everyone will
be more productive and happier at work.
As a result, people will interact better with
each other and will no longer have to bother
higher executives with day-to-day problems.
People will actually want to come to work
every day, and they’ll get more done than
ever before. When that happens, you’ll get
the best reward of all — higher profits and
employees who care.
DBR
Marsha Lindquist, President of Granite Leadership
Strategies, Inc., has over 30 years' experience as a business
expert in government contracting. She has enhanced her
clients’ cost competitiveness, improved their contractual
positioning, and solidified overall strategies with com-
panies, including BP Amoco, DynCorp, and Northrop
Grumman. Marsha adds value by telling you what
you need to hear. For more information on her, please
visit www.GraniteLeadershipStrategies.com or email
Marsha@GraniteLeadershipStrategies.com.
When every behaviour in your organi-
zation affects the way your custom-
ers think about you, it’s critical to un-
derstand your employees and to help
ensure they work together in a culture
of team work. Drake P3® online assess-
ments provide accurate and insightful
reports on your employees’ behaviours
and motivators. For more information,
contact the Drake Talent Management
Solutions Team.
Africa: 2721 425 3300
africa@drake.co.za
Australia: 613 9245 0245
hrsolutions@au.drakeintl.com
Canada: 416 216-1074
solutions@na.drakeintl.com
Hong Kong: 852 2848 9288
Drake@drake.com.hk
New Zealand: 0800 840 940
solutions@nz.drakeintl.com
Philippines: 632 7532490
weoutperform@drakeintl.co.uk
Singapore: 65 6225 5809
drake@sg.drakeintl.com
South Africa: 011 883 6800
Solutions@drake.co.za
United Kingdom: 0800 111 4558
solutions@drakeintl.co.uk
43
 Create the
Conditions to
ENSURE
Team Success
M
uch writing on leadership
focuses on the capabilities
and behaviours of effective
leaders of large divisions or
enterprises. We read about such important
characteristics as transparency, vision, au-
thenticity, and optimism, and such behav-
iours as setting big, hairy, audacious goals.
These are no doubt critical, but many firms
have been increasingly relying on teams
to help solve business problems and drive
results, and leaders of these teams need
additional skills. Teams are not a new phe-
nomenon; however, based on my experience
working for several Fortune 500 companies,
I've discovered what’s different about many
teams today:
•• Teams are led by individuals who have no
formal authority over them. Team members
do not report to the leader nor are some
of them even in the same business unit or
44 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2
division as the leader. In one organization
where senior management was seeking to
redesign and rationalize its staff functions
globally, the majority of team members
came from the line.
•• Team members are increasingly diverse
— demographically, functionally, and geo-
graphically. In their efforts to capture the
best thinking globally, organizations are
turning to their talented employees world-
wide to participate in these teams. In many
global teams I've led, members have come
from different regions of the world and rep-
resent different levels of the organization.
It was not uncommon, for example, to have
a high-potential junior team member from
Germany in the same team as a vice-pres-
ident of a corporate staff group.
•• The emergence of new networking tech-
nologies has made virtual team meetings,
at least in theory, easier to manage.
| drakeintl.com
Many firms have been
increasingly relying
on teams to help solve
business problems.
All these create different challenges for
team leaders. Because the team leader has
no “legitimate power”, they must rely on
other sources of influence to motivate and
engage the team. Occasionally, the goals
of the team may be in conflict with the
agendas of team members. For example,
team members from line organizations may
see the centralization or consolidation of
such staff functions as finance, procure-
ment, and human resources as an attempt
to reduce their control of resources and their
ability to influence these functions. In a
team I led whose members were from an
organization that had just been acquired by
the parent company, the goal was to acceler-
ate the integration of the two companies,
but many team members initially perceived
that the parent company was imposing its
practices and management approach onto
the acquired company.

Another challenge arises from the level of
commitment of the team members. While
it is motivating for a team member in, say
Latin America, to be invited to participate in
a global team that might have significant
impact on business results, that member has
a regular job and may have day-to-day pres-
sures that will drive out any good intentions
to contribute to the team. More importantly,
individual team members’ bonuses may be
based on achieving business results for their
area of responsibility versus contributing to
the team’s success.
Finally, while some new technologies are
elegant, they can also reduce the oppor-
tunities for social bonding and make it
more difficult to establish trust among
team members. With audio conferences,
for example, it is difficult to make sure that
everyone is equally engaged and paying full
attention to the conversation. Even with
video conferencing, it can be difficult to
replicate the give-and-take that takes place
in a face-to-face meeting.
Team leaders, therefore, need to ensure
that they implement these four focused
strategic actions:
1.
Create the conditions to ensure
team success, especially around
sponsorship, resources, and rewards
Are the members, and especially you the
leader, clear on who is sponsoring the
project? Are you clear on what the expec-
tations of the sponsor of the project are? Do
you have the right resources for the team
to succeed? Have you secured sufficient IT
support to ensure you can use the technolo-
gies available and the appropriate training
for your team? Have you worked with the
team members’ managers and negotiated
with them on time commitments, as well
as how to recognize members for their con-
tribution to the team? Have you worked
with HR to design rewards to ensure it is
worthwhile for members to be in the team?
2.
Engage and excite the team with
a shared vision
This does not have to be some lofty abstract
ideal but must be something that challeng-
es and inspires, that taps into a business
c r e at e t h e c o n d i t i o n s to e n s u r e t e am s u cc e s s
issue members all agree is important for
the organization to address, and that may
lead to some breakthroughs. How can you
link the business impact of your project to
the organization’s success? How can you
engage the team so members become com-
mitted to participating in the team and
doing the work?
3.
Leverage new technologies, but
consider face-to-face meetings
always best
Have you given enough time for members
to try out and become comfortable with
the new technologies? Have you built into
your budget expenses for face-to-face meet-
ings and laid out a plan on how often these
meetings should be held? In one team I was
involved with, we worked closely with IT to
make sure that virtual members, many of
whom were in different countries, had the
infrastructure in their locations enable them
to participate effectively long distance.
4.
Work on one-on-one relationships
and team processes
Pay close attention to the cues on whether
members are becoming less engaged.
Spend time with individual members to
get to know them and understand their
concerns and motivations. Also pay close
attention to the way the team is function-
ing. If conflicts emerge, determine the best
way to resolve them and act swiftly. Daniel
Goleman and Richard Boyatzis, in writing
about “socially intelligent” leaders, tell us
it is essential that team leaders have social
intelligence, and senior managers selecting
team leaders would do well to use this as an
important criterion.
Spend time with
individual team
members to get to know
them and understand
their concerns and
motivations.
Team leaders are the cornerstone of today’s
organizations. Being a team leader is a chal-
lenging assignment, but it also carries great
rewards, not only from a professional stand-
point but also because it can personally be
very fulfilling.
DBR
Reprinted with the permission of Roger K. Allen, PhD,
and Preston Pond, co-founders of The Center for
Organizational Design, whose mission is to create high-
performance organizations that enrich human life and
achieve extraordinary results. To learn more, visit http://
www.centerod.com/.
The first step to working with teams
is understanding who your team
members are and what motivates
them. Drake P3® is an online assess-
ment solution that reveals a person’s
natural tendencies, communication
styles, emotional intelligence, motiva-
tional needs, decision-making abilities,
energy levels, and more.
To find out how Drake P3® can help
you understand and engage your
teams, contact the Talent Management
Solutions team:
Africa: 27 21 425 3300
africa@drake.co.za
Australia: 613 9245 0245
hrsolutions@au.drakeintl.com
Canada: 416 216-1074
solutions@na.drakeintl.com
Hong Kong: 852 2848 9288
Drake@drake.com.hk
New Zealand: 0800 840 940
solutions@nz.drakeintl.com
Singapore: 65 6225 5809
drake@sg.drakeintl.com
South Africa: 011 883 6800
Solutions@drake.co.za
United Kingdom: 0800 111 4558
solutions@drakeintl.co.uk
45
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46 Drake Business Review | Volume 9, Number 2 | drakeintl.com

 People | Productivity | Performance

PI + PI = PI

PRODUCTIVITY + PERFORMANCE =
I M P R O V E M E N T I M P R O V E M E N T PROFIT
I M P R O V E M E N T

Our suite of Talent Management Solutions has been created to drive organizational effectiveness, improve business results,
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hrsolutions@au.drakeintl.com solutions@nz.drakeintl.com solutions@drakeintl.co.uk 47
what is the cost of
hiring a mediocre
performer?
Here’s what our
clients are saying
You advertised the role, then waded through hundreds
about us.
of responses, interviewed, tested, and re-interviewed. “We appreciate the efficient service
Once appointed, your newest employee resigns…so it’s Drake has provided, the proficiency
back to square one. of its staff, and the ease of the
company’s online services.”
Poor hires result in lost productivity,
“I have experienced 13 + years of
increased costs, high turnover, and efficient, honest and professional
possible litigation. service. Thank you for helping us
build a great team of employees!”
At Drake, we are dedicated to helping you find and retain
top-performing talent. We’ll provide only the best of the “By utilizing tools like P3
best who meet your business needs and objectives while (behavioural assessment), Drake
ensuring that all-important cultural fit. Drake can help made candidate selection more
you minimize the potential of new recruit turnover and scientific and from our perspective
increase your productivity. produced a “best fit” solution.”

contact the nearest drake office or visit drakeintl.com