One group is that of managers, leaders and their teams.
The other group is the HR function, which has a critical role to play alongside management.
Some of the services cross over between the two beneficiary groups; others are specific to each group.
Large organisations tend to develop more formalised processes, in order to support increased operational complexity due to a more significant company size, growth of client base and higher supplier number. Together, they further multiply the complex system of already existing internal and external interactions.
To support this change, larger organisations also need to structure into better defined and more specific functions, run by specialised people. These functions are either business specific verticals (R&D, manufacturing, sales, marketing etc.) or supporting functions that horizontally cut across the business verticals (accounting, quality management, HR management etc.)
The challenge of larger organisations is to keep the business working as an integrated entity and prevent the “silo” fragmentation - a most typical threat – from encumbering future success and growth.
The key differentiators that can sway the operating paradigm of a company one way or the other are the company culture and its quality philosophy.
The portfolio of services that I offer are aimed precisely at supporting both culture and quality, as appropriate for each client, depending on the industry, operating scope, type of product/service and geographic span.
- Individual psychometric profiling
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Specific tools such as questionnaires can be used to inform and illuminate aspects of one’s personality, such as personality type, contribution to team, values and beliefs, emotional intelligence etc.
- Team profiling
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Team profiling and group activities, are highly beneficial in establishing team cohesion, team self awareness, appreciation of complementarities provided by individual diversity. Also clarifying: the common goal plus roles, responsibilities, inter-dependence and collective aspirations, in order to achieve it.
- Graduate recruitment program
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For many organisations graduate recruitment is a key yearly event which in fact builds organisational capability and ensures business continuity and eventually succession planning, providing a new and fresh talent pool to the organisation.
Designing the “assessment centre” elements should include individual profiling as well as team activity and individual presentations, alongside interviews and CV review. - Graduates mentoring and coaching
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Once the graduate pool has joined the company, it is of great importance that a follow up program is in place and delivered by an external neutral party, in order to ascertain how the new recruits integrate into the organisation, how they cope with the shock of change from academic to working life, Verify if they still think they have made the right choice of organisation or not and support them through times of tribulation, change and uncertainty.
This is a critical activity which is meant so safeguard the investment the organisation makes into the young people they have hired, so that return on investment is realised, for the benefit of both the graduates and the organisation. - Internal career coaching
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When they need new skills, Organisations tend - on the one hand – to hire externally – on the other – to promote internally along hierarchical lines, often disregarding the individual readiness and capability for the promotion, with its increased managerial requirements. often to the level of “incompetence” of the promoted individuals.
A much better way can be used instead, by setting up an internal career coaching and guidance service, which can make better use of existing resources by guiding internal resources where they are best suited, and so safeguard knowledge, experience and legacy. This together with progress and novelty of skills will ensure the best balance for continuity. - Performance coaching
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It is quite often the case that good technical specialists with some years in organisation get promoted to management roles based on their previous performance. However the hierarchical moves upwards demand in fact more and more soft skills capability rather than technical knowledge. Most managers, apart from driving the achievement of business targets, need to develop advanced skills of communication, relationship building, leadership, time management, influencing skills a.s.o. This performance enhancement can be achieved by specific training but also by developmental activities such as coaching and mentoring.
- Mentoring the mentors
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Mentoring schemes are often set up by organizations with a view to support the younger staff and also contribute to succession planning implementation. However often, the mentors themselves are thrown at the deep end with little preparation treated to their responsibility, role, motivation, boundaries, conflict of interest, and readiness for unforeseen situation. They do not have a dedicated support person, whom the can contact to discuss personal of professional dilemmas that may arise in the mentoring process. For this purposes having an external party, ideally with business and psychology background, could be instrumental in making the mentoring scheme a real success.
- Transition coaching
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Many promising individuals in organisations are promoted or placed in position of responsibility based on previous performance, but not necessarily ready or supported to face the new demands. Equally, externally hired individuals will not have knowledge specific to the company they have just joined or could have come from a different business function from the one they are now heading.
During the first 90 days in any demanding job, providing coaching and mentoring, to support the newly appointed individual thought the first faze, is of great importance to ensure a positive start, build up and embed confidence and achieve full utilisation of their ability. - Cross cultural coaching
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If there is one single show stopper, when it comes to implementing anything - apart from individual differences, and closely linked to it - is the “cultural difference”. Whilst some mention this factor or even recognise it, when it is at play, very few know what “cultural differences” mean and even less, what to do with these potentially counter productive forces, to put them to good use. In today’s world, where cultural diversity surrounds us in both social and business circles, not knowing about “cultural differences” and how to make them work for us is a risky path which only leads to wastage and potential failure.
- Executive recruitment
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One aspect of executive recruitment that in my experience adds value to successful outcomes, is the psychometric profiling, using a number of questionnaires on personality, motivators, values and beliefs, team contribution preferences etc.
Conducted independently, this profiling becomes a complementary source of information in the decision making process, enhancing the probability of predicting future behaviour alongside other sources (CV, interviews etc.)
- Procurement of "soft" HRM related services
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For many years I have worked for leading organisations, as a procurement, supply chain and third party supplier selection and management specialist.
I have purchased both services and products. In the last 8 years I have also become a service provider myself.
This experience combines an informed and unique perspective of the process from both sides.
I know form experience that today the procurement of HR related services is exercised:
- Either by the HR function itself (which is not specialised in procurement, this being a discipline in its own right)
- Or by Procurement (a function that serves the entire company) where the procurement officers are not necessarily specialised in buying services but products and tend to transfer the process and methodology from one to another…not an ideal approach.
One outcome is that some acquisitions of services are made based mainly on price. Sadly the trend of driving prices down has achieved nothing more than debase the professional standards and alienate those consultants who invest in CPD and Professional Memberships. Personally I have spent around £30.000 on CPD in the last 7 years to maintain the high quality of my services.
The other downside is that extremely complicated and bureaucratic processed are being used, with a doubtful outcome. Example: 1200 applicants, sending in forms of up to 20 pages which took days to prepare, in order to fill in a register for only 23 names! And no assurance of work.
Such examples I have encountered in both the private and public sector and they demonstrate a "fashion" in procurement of services, which is quite counterproductive.
My experience both as a procurement specialist and also provider of services places me in a unique position to advise and assist the HRM function with such matters. - Introduction to psychometric testing
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Some HR departments utilise psychometric assessment as one element of the assessment process for graduate recruitment, general recruitment or staff developmental programs.
In my experience, the HR staff have appreciated my introductory presentation and training related to psychometric tools, which clarified:
- What do psychometric tools measure
- How can they be best used: what categories are available.
- What criteria to use when choosing the right questionnaires
- Requirements related to data storing and dissemination
- Ethical requirements and issues
For those HR specialists who may have already trained in specific instruments( for instance MBTI, which is very popular with HR) the value add related to a new understanding of how and why a particular tool was complemented by others, and why it is best to use more than one (ideally three!) different questionnaires, in conjunction. - Talent management
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Talent management is the new “label” which in recent times had been used to brand a wider and much needed more strategic perspective to managing resources.
The key difference is that the newly branded Talent Management activity, requires a more integrated focus on skills, in the context of business continuity and succession planning. Aspects such as :
- defining the 70%- 15%- 15% split into, high/low performers and the respective management approaches to these two categories
- graduate recruitment as part of strategic planning for skills for the future
- related T&D and individual career planning
- link to performance appraisal against competencies
are all combined to mix the tactical aspects of HR (horizontal alignments) with the Strategic HR objectives as developed to support achievement of business objectives.
Personally I have worked with these, during my earlier business career, under a different name - quality management function- well before the current focus on talent management. Therefore I am quite enthusiastic about the subject and able to support any HR function interested in Talent Management. - Internal selection for HR restructuring
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Depending on the level of sophistication and business complexity, some HR departments, have acknowledged a need to specialise and diversify internally, in their offering for business support. A broad outline would look at a tactical highly specialised group of people on one hand and a more long term business focussed group on the other, as two potential categories of services that HR can offer to their business. Many organisations have implemented such a split in a swift and perhaps at times, arbitrary manner. However to ensure proficiently from each of the two categories of professionals, it is helpful to set up a specific internal selection/assessment process, which will map the right skills, motivation and preferences, to the right area of HR. My offering is to contribute to the design and implementation of such a process.
- Individual psychometric profiling
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In my experience, utilising psychometric testing as part of the recruitment process for mainly middle and senior management is quite a valuable measure.
The feed back process – to candidate and company – has been extremely useful in providing additional information, alongside interviews, CV and references. The candidates benefited directly in terms of self awareness whilst the organisation gained access to complementary information based on candidate self reporting and synthesised in an independent, system generated report. In this sense corroborating the finding of the Psychometric testing with the information from other sources, offered the possibility to check the congruence of the evidence gathered.
Having started from a sceptical position, after hundreds of such psychometric assessment, I have changed my view and now strongly believe in the usefulness of this process. My belief has also been confirmed by the feed back I got from the organisation/hiring managers, the HR function and the candidates. - Graduate recruitment panel
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For many organisations graduate recruitment is a key yearly event which in fact builds organisational capability and ensures business continuity and eventually succession planning, providing a new and fresh talent pool to the organisation. Designing the “assessment centre” elements should include individual profiling as well as team activity and individual presentations, alongside interviews and CV review.
- Senior executive recruitment feed-back
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My specialist contribution in executive recruitment has mainly been around using psychometric assessments and providing relevant feed back. However, as a career coach, I have extensive experience with preparing candidates for the recruitment process, interviews and CV writing. As a result I can contribute this complementary knowledge, using it from a recruiter’s perspective in addition to the psychometric assessment. This contribution to decision making, particularly for senior hire, has been regarded as powerful, significant and helpful, by both HR and hiring managers.
