Are Psychometrics widely used when selecting franchisees?

I ask this question because if they are not perhaps they should be.

After all making the transition from working for somebody else to working for oneself requires certain personality traits which are not necessarily the same as those needed by budding entrepreneurs. In truth, a franchise is something of a unique proposition. True, the franchisee owns the business but s/he are part of a much larger brand which has to be promoted and protected. Franchisees have to conform to a tried and tested formula – they can’t “go it alone”! Read more

Search for a Star – part 2

Search for a Star

In the first in a new series on sales recruiting for Winning Edge magazine, IAIN CHALMERS reveals some of the factors that will increase your chances of getting your next hire right. Read more

On-boarding imperatives – 5 important factors

by Ian Cameron, Managing Director, The McQuaig Institute.

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Having been the  Managing Director of The McQuaig Institute for only seven weeks I thought it only right that I tell you how my own on-boarding process has gone. Based solely on my own experience I  hope that they may give you pause to reflect on your organisation’s on-boarding practices.

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Slim pickings for graduates

We’ve been saying for the last few years that the number of applicants for every role will increase. Well, in today’s Independent there is good news for graduates…but not all of it is positive.
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Business bang for training $buck£ spent

The Holst Group faculty members carried out a ROI evaluation on a major programme delivered to high level sales people.

The results were examined  independently by The Work Foundation who commented:

‘This was an exceptional programme design when few can prove, as this programme does, that full evaluation has been designed into the training events up to and including Kirkpatrick’s Level IV.’

Where high level sales skills training such as ‘selling in the board room’,‘coaching’ & ‘mentoring’  etc. are involved and where there is a long sales cycle such evaluation is rarely achieved as in this case.
This particular programme evaluation finally stated that in the opinion of the delegates they were able to say that £25M extra net revenue was generated by their utilisation of the training received.

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Is headhunting the new job-board?

*You* are the biggest blocker to your own success

When I asked, ‘What stops you from reaching your full potential?’ I received a surprisingly candid response.

The results, from a LinkedIn poll, showed a majority of people see themselves as  the biggest blocker to fulfilling their potential. Read more

Get people on your side, then vote!

Our recent poll on How do you resolve conflict in your organisation threw up some interesting comments, like “Get as many people on your side…then take a vote” from Roger Patron.  A tongue in cheek a view of office politics perhaps but is it closer to the bone than we think? Read more

Build a better team…

Have you ever wondered how it would feel, to concentrate purely on the things you love about your job and leave the rest to others?

An extremely successful corporate manager once described her career to me as ‘delegating to the point of redundancy’. Imagine if each day you could arrive at the office and focus all day on what you do best; safe in the knowledge that the show was running like clockwork, thanks to the efforts of your team? This can indeed be a reality, but only if know where the strengths in your team lie.

I ran a LinkedIn poll to find out how line managers in different departments were using psychometric assessment.

The results show that departments arguably most in the firing line (Business Development & Marketing), are the least likely to use the psychometric tools to improve management skills or develop high ranking staff.

We can also see that independent Consultants, usually brought in to enhance productivity and teamwork, value psychometric management tools (50% support). HR departments, central to hiring and firing, believe psychometric development tools to be key (29%) – surely this a positive progression to follow?

Using management and development tools a line-manager can fast track to a deeper understanding of behavioural patterns within their team. This will create better balancing of team work loads and focus on an individual’s strengths rather than weaknesses. Likewise, the performance of a team that is correctly understood will naturally optimise, leaving a line-manager more time to relax!

In brief, a psychometric assessment package should:

Deliver one set of rules to the employee: Their line manager will motivate and coach them on the same set of behaviours they were recruited against. Using these behaviours they can then develop their strengths and manage their developmental areas.

Teach a common language to the line manager: Learn one system once. Get to know and trust a tool like The McQuaig System and the line manager will get the best from their team.

Create succession planning for the organisation: Use one system to recruit, manage and develop staff. The organisation can better measure strong performers and plan future recruitment and promotion strategy.

To generate better ROI, psychometric assessment can, and should be implemented across an employee’s lifecycle.

Do you use psychometric assessment for more than just recruitment ?  Please leave your comment below.

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