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I. OUR FIRM'S PHILOSOPHY
If people are truly the primary resource of the firm, as most organizations assert, then they must be managed and developed like other assets. It's really not unlike the management of any asset portfolio. That is, each person is like an individual portfolio of assets with a strong potential for either managed growth or sub-par performance. The investment, if one is to optimize its assets and liabilities, must first be "valued," i.e., assessed against objective standards for its strengths and weaknesses. Then, after this initial appraisal of the portfolio, we are in a much better position to know what it will actually take to optimize the potential of the individual (portfolio): maximize strengths, minimize weaknesses, and add new "assets" (skills, behaviors, and attitudes) to the portfolio, in order to make it both as robust as possible and optimally protected from any downside risk.
Whether we're talking about executive development, the turnaround of potential derailers, careerpath development, or even teambuilding there is one strategy that is more effective than any other. People can change, but from the outside lasting change is realized when people develop themselves from the inside out. This is the surest way to prepare and motivate someone to accept the new personal change opportunities made available to him or her, e.g., reading, training programs, on-the-job experiences, and so forth. Consequently, whenever we're attempting to enhance an "individual human resource portfolio", it's essential to begin at the beginning and focus on the inside (i.e. self-awareness and self-understanding) before the "outside" (i.e. skillbuilding, in-placement, or whatever). It's this change strategy that has proven to be a more certain way of assisting people through the difficult process of self-change and self-development.
II. OUR APPROACH
- Rapport Building
When we assist people in being better and going further than even they've imagined they could, we follow some basic procedures. Building rapport is fundamental, so we must be seen as trusted and competent confidantes. Our clinical expertise is critical here. Even with the most skeptical (even cynical) professionals, we've consistently been able to establish credibility and then a working alliance.
- Creating Dissonance and Developing a Mindset For Change
At the same time that we must develop and maintain an effective rapport with the candidate, we must also create an optimal amount of dissonance in order to precipitate the motivation required for personal change. Creating the dissonance involves our assisting the person in recognizing and acknowledging their weak points, blind spots, and/or self-defeating behavior patterns.
Again, this takes a great deal of finesse, especially while we're trying, at the same time, to sustain rapport and trust. However, we get a significant assist from the psychological tests and the performance feedback tools that we use. Computer analyzed tests serve a wonderfully helpful heuristic function with the candidate. That is, the test output is a rich source of hypotheses (emphasis on hypotheses), as we brainstorm with the candidate about possible vulnerabilities in their various interpersonal, cognitive, and personality styles. Being computer analyzed seems to lend a great deal of objectivity to the process in the mind of the candidate, so they're rarely defensive about test results (plus, we always emphasize the limitations of our own instruments and that, too, puts the candidate at ease). Our 360° feedback tools, too, prove to be tremendously enlightening and motivating to the candidate and serve to accelerate the development process.
So, the combination of in-depth interviewing psychological testing, and the 360° feedback data have been extraordinarily effective in creating an optimal level of dissonance in the candidates with whom we work. We then harness this dissonance, channel it into motivation for change, and then into a developmental Action Plan.
- Action Plan
Once we arrive at a common understanding of what makes the candidate tick, it is then relatively straightforward to design an Action Plan that will be a pragmatic and effective response to the training and development initiative - whether it be proactive development of high-potentials, a reactive turnaround evaluation, part of a teambuilding process, or careerpath development. We've also found it particularly effective to build "partnerships" between the candidate and his or her "significant others" as an integral part of the Action Plan. This significant other could be a boss, a mentor, a peer, even a spouse, or some combination of people who are truly invested in the person's progress and future success.
III. CAREERPATH DEVELOPMENT
The approach described above is our generic approach to the staging and implementation of any kind of individual or group development project. When applied to the careerpath development process, the content areas that we focus on include:
- values and goals
- wants and needs
- skills and knowledge
- traits and temperament
- interests
- accomplishments
The candidate is assisted in developing a multi-faceted awareness of himself/herself, in order to make a fully informed set of career decisions. In this way the candidates forge a meaningful integration of their personal ambitions with their capabilities, interests, and skills.
With our approach, candidates also receive several value-added benefits from the careerpath development exercise:
- enhanced self-esteem and self-respect
- improved sense of how to objectively read situations
- increased ability to maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses
- greater control of their future (and, thereby, a greater sense of mastery)
- heightened sense of purpose
Even when there are psychological obstacles that block the individual's ability to pursue self-understanding and self-realization, we have the tools and expertise to assist them in overcoming various defensive maneuvers like avoidance, complacency, fixation on security, or an illusion of success.
And, of course, all of this is carried out with an eye to maintaining alignment between the organization's strategic mission and the individual's personal goals.
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