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Got a new job? You’re going to need some new skills then. The challenge of promotion is often that the skills that earned you the shiny new senior position are going to be largely defunct as you move into the management structure.
Someone who knows all about how to help people make the leap is Hannah McNamara, Director of HRM Coaching the company provides career coaching, executive coaching, life coaching and leadership development for professionals in London, the UK and internationally
Every year Hannah and her team help hundreds of professionals make the often challenging transition from proven expert to new manager.
“It’s a real issue for people entering management for the first time and leading a team - no one has told them how to do it. Plus all the aptitude they had for their old job is largely redundant as they will need a whole new skill set,” explained Hannah McNamara.
“We work with people either sponsored by their company or who have approached us privately. We also work with a lot of people coming via the Government’s ‘Train to Gain’ initiative, a funded service offering UK companies assistance in improving the skills of employees so that they can compete in the global economy.
“Train to Gain estimates that every day over 1.3 million people go to work without the skills they need to do their jobs well. As a recommended supplier we help people to identify and develop the necessary ability, confidence and motivation they need to deliver real business results.”
As part of the HRM Coaching process, the consultants use the PeopleMaps personality profiling tool.
“We ask clients to complete the questionnaire and then share the results before we start the sessions. It provides a very accurate insight for both of us and helps us to get an understanding on where we need to start from,” said Hannah McNamara.
“It also overcomes the perennial problem of people putting on their ‘best face’ in the initial sessions and not relaxing, plus the clients like the independent assessment.
“The outcome that we are looking for is that people can identify what their goals are. Everyone knows what they don’t want but people are not necessarily clear on what they want to achieve and what it looks like.”
HRM Coaching also uses the PeopleMaps profiler when working with business owners. One common objective is to help them create the environment where the business can operate without them.
“It sounds odd initially but owners should be working ‘on’ the business not ‘in’ it. They need to be able to detach themselves so that they can look strategically at how the business should be developed,” said Hannah McNamara.
“People often make the mistake of thinking that being very busy all the time is best, but it isn’t always so. To run the business well you need to be able to take time out and consider your options on where the company is going. The same is equally true when people realise that perhaps they don’t actually need to know everything and that it’s not a weakness to delegate or bring in advisors. Many people have an issue with trust but we can help them to overcome it.
“There is also the occasional revelation by people that it may be something in their own personality that is holding then back. I spoke to one successful business woman who absolutely disagreed with part of her PeopleMaps profile only for her to suddenly realise how correct it was when she started to evaluate her own responses to questions during the session. She admitted that she simply did not realise that she was like that before. Though, the most common response to the report by clients is that its accuracy is nothing less than ‘spooky’.”
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As the economy heads relentlessly deeper into recession, competition for business in the service industry such as the hair and beauty business is intensifying. And with recent research stating that customers would be more likely to return to a salon if they felt welcomed and valued, customer service guru Julie Eldrett is warning businesses to get their houses in order.
“The Hair and Beauty Business is all about people. You need to know how to get the best from your people and know how to choose and develop a winning team to deliver your brand promise and surpass customer’s expectations. It all starts with the owner/manager and whether they have a vision or goal,” explained Julie Eldrett.
“It’s not just the credit crunch that’s making times harder in the high street, competition is increasing for everyone and the customer is truly ‘king’ if you want to stay in business. That means having the right people in the right jobs delivering great customer service. An awkward customer may ruin your day but employing the wrong team will ruin your business.”
Julie Eldrett has over 39 years experience in the hair and beauty industry. A former successful salon owner, she now advises many of the best known names in the business including L’Oreal, Saks Hair & Beauty, Toni & Guy and Daniel Galvin amongst others throughout Britain, Europe and India on customer experience and frontline service delivery.
“The biggest challenge facing salon owners is that they are very creative people with exceptional technical skills. However, this is not enough to make a salon successful. Without the right team in support no business will survive and choosing the right people with the right attitude and getting the most out of them is a quite separate skill. A good team needs a wide range of people to make it work.” says Julie.
“The salon should be treated as a stage with everyone in costume and character and performing properly as approachable and knowledgeable professionals. The customer is there for your help. Yes we all have problems in real life but the customer is paying us to make them feel better. Positivity spreads from team to customers and back again - that’s the professional approach.”
“But this alone is not enough to make the business succeed if no one is monitoring the performance of the salon closely. Who is spending the time on assessing average bills, which hairdressers are getting the most repeat customers, who is looking after the team’s development? These are real issues. One salon I looked at spent more on loo rolls per month than on team training!”
Julie admits that finding the right people for the right roles is perhaps every salon owner’s greatest challenge but fortunately today there’s help at hand in the form of low cost psychometric profiling.
Already used by over 65% of UK businesses, psychometric profiling traditionally was only a solution for those that could afford it and even then they tended to restrict it to senior executives because of the cost. But then along came the internet which has crushed the cost, providing instant online delivery for the price of a decent lunch.
“Salon owners no longer have to struggle with deciphering the personality of the person they see before them in an interview,” explained Julie. “Using PeopleMaps profiling you can now identify the people who are a natural fit for the roles you are recruiting for.”
In a nutshell, psychometric profiling gives an employer a snapshot view of the preferred behaviour that comes subconsciously to most people. This is the behaviour with which they are ‘comfortable’ and can sustain for long periods of time. This behaviour is social and intellectual and governs the nature, the work environment and, for the individual, their job satisfaction.
“I advise the companies I work with to use the PeopleMaps online profiler because it’s fast, accurate and very low cost. I use it myself in my own business, where there are things that I know I naturally don’t enjoy like sorting out the intricate details of travel arrangements or credit control. My team is made up of people who thrive on the things I hate and vice versa, that’s what makes my business run well,” said Julie.
Profiling is no longer as generic as it used to be. The PeopleMaps service has reports designed specifically by working with Julie over the past few years for the service sector and it pays for itself as it reduces the likelihood of training the wrong people who then up and leave afterwards, which is no good for your customers or your business.
“The customer is the most important person in any business and we need to understand them. For instance, In a recent poll one of the most hated questions by customers visiting a salon was “what are we doing to your hair today?” Team members with emotional intelligence will help your salon deliver great customer service and the right support team will help make it profitable too. This, in turn, will help you steer your salon away from the bumpy times ahead.
“All you need is the right people doing the right job with the right attitude.” concluded Julie.
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News Release
PeopleMaps Launches New Low Cost Psychometric Profiling Test At Customer Contact Convention 2008
Glasgow 18 November 2008 - PeopleMaps today announced a new service that will guarantee to reduce staff turnover rates in contact centres by 5% within three months at the annual Customer Contact Convention in Edinburgh.
The new service has been developed in conjunction with the Customer Contact Association (CCA) to tackle some of the major issues that are facing the industry, including staff attrition rates, team development and succession planning.
The new online service, which can be accessed via the CCA’s web site at www.cca.org.uk or from PeopleMaps direct, enables customer contact operations to create personality ‘benchmarks’ based on the profiles of successful employees in a variety of roles which they can use in their recruitment process. Importantly, the entire service is delivered entirely online and does not require any consultancy input to work.
“The benchmarks are created instantly online and every job applicant can be compared against this to determine which role they would be most suited to. At the convention we have launched our ‘unmetered’ low cost service so that contact centres can profile everyone applying for a position no matter how many apply. And if attrition rates are not reduced we’ll provide a full refund,” explained Martin Gibbons, CEO of PeopleMaps.
In a recent pilot in a customer contact centre in the West of Scotland, the company used this method and reduced the amount of interviewing that it had to do by 70% and after six months the monthly attrition or ‘churn’ rate dropped from 46% to 12%.
“As the industry average attrition rate is currently 24%, the potential savings for companies on recruitment, training and attrition costs are immense. It is estimated that it costs between at least £10k to recruit and train an individual, so when that investment walks out the door it hurts,” said Martin Gibbons.
“The power of psychometric profiling is already very well established but previously expensive to use on a large scale. Now using the internet as the delivery channel the new system has dramatically reduced the cost and provides instant delivery giving employers the insight they need in what is essentially a personality focussed job.
“People whose personality is suited to a job in any industry are happier and more productive. The profiling system simply identifies those people who are a natural fit. However, as there are many different roles in any organisation, no one should be rejected as their personality is likely to fit another position in the organisation that they might not even have considered.”
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They say a week is a long time in politics yet I don’t believe it would have felt that way to Barack. He always looks cool, calm and collected, however I am reminded of the swan who also looks like this whilst paddling like mad under the surface. The highlight of the week had to be the visit to the White House, he even made people feel more warm towards George W. Bush. Although Bush has had a terrible press, I do think he redeemed himself somewhat in extending this courtesy to Barack and Michelle Obama. The Bushes appeared charming and hospitable, keen to be seen to be doing the right thing and the Obamas, OH BOY!!!
The Dress
Let’s start with Michelle’s dress; an unusual starting place for someone like me, who hates the fact that clever women’s looks are always commented upon by the media, while no mention is ever made of men’s appearance. However in this case it is justified - WOW! is the only comment I can make. Not only is she clever, smart, beautiful and with a figure many a model would die for, she is also confident, likeable and secure in her skin, and boy does it show.
This dress sums up her personality very well. She knows how she looks and accepts this as something given, not something she’s created, however she uses all her gifts and makes the most of her outgoing character in wearing bright red. This colour suits her both in appearance and in character. She’s a “do it now” type, practical, action oriented and keen to get on with things and the dress lets us know this. When not wearing red she is often to be found wearing black, yet another colour declaring that she is a serious minded woman who is determined to go about her business in a no nonsense fashion. it was particularly telling that the dress she wore, on the night the result was declared, mixed her two favourite colours. The black background marked the seriousness of the occasion and the bold red splashes confirmed “yes we can” and not only that but we’ve done it!
As a couple they are just perfectly matched. Their height overshadowed president Bush and his wife yet they are both tall. More than their height, it was their shining personalities, their natural smiles and general feeling of joy about life that caught my attention. Joy is to love and be loved and the glow that shone from them, made this true for this couple. The dress also marked a departure from playing it safe. No one could ever fault Laura Bush for her decorum. She has a classic conservative take on fashion and would no more be seen wearing such a bold red dress than she would a feather boa! Playing it safe and breaking no rules is the way she goes about her business and this suits her personality very well. Michelle is obviously a very different character and if nothing else the dress flags up that changes in lots of ways are about to descend on the presidency. This adds to the general air of excitement about her husband’s election. It’s interesting that the most charismatic man in world wide politics since Bill Clinton (Prior to his scandals), can be instantly referred to and recognised as ‘her husband’.
Jung and individuation
It’s said that Jung’s psychology is more relevant to those in their middle years, forty plus. His aim in helping people to understand their personality type is to enable them to become fully individuated personalities. What he means by this is that through life we should be working towards using all our gifts. For example if our attitude is for introversion we should be working on using our extraversion more often, and if we have a preference for objective thinking we should be trying to bring our subjective feeling preference in to the light. Not many will achieve this: however, according to Jung, this should be one of our major purposes on our journey through life.
A compromise often reached, albeit subconsciously, is between couples who end up marrying their opposite type and thus between them create a wholly integrated personality. It’s often said that opposites attract and this is true but only in temperament. For a relationship to work effectively, goals and values have to be in ’sync’ and I believe that this is what’s happened between the President and First Lady Elect.
President and First Lady Elect
I claimed last week that Obama’s personality was on the South West of the PeopleMaps’ Map (a Jungian Introverted intuitive feeling (INF) type) and this raised some queries as others thought him North West a Jungian (INT). I think this was due to the fact that he is obviously very analytical and intelligent, yet I still plump for INF. I believe it is his ‘feeling’ preference that enabled him to attract and inspire so many loyal supporters, not something an INT would find easy to do. Of course he uses all his gifts and although subjective feeling is his first preference he is trained and educated to use his objective thinking preference, certainly as a lawyer and also as an academic. His often humble take on things, ability to remain unruffled, avoidance of the personal insult and sticking to a steady low key mantra through thick and thin, rarely rising to the bait, also bodes well for subjective feeling preference. The mantra itself helps corroborate the Feeling over Thinking preference “Yes we can” never “Yes I can”: the we is inclusive, something that comes naturally to him because he has a strong feeling preference.
The First Lady elect is his opposite type as I believe that she appears on the North east of the PeopleMaps Map (an Extraverted Sensing Thinking (EST) type) which is the reason they balance out so nicely. She is the ‘Rock of the family’ according to Barrack. She is also an active force who will encourage as well as support and drive him on to take action when his first instinct may be to contemplate issues for longer periods. His placid temperament also brings value to her as he is able to calm her and stop her taking precipitate action that she may later regret. He will help her to get in touch with her ‘feeling’ side more often and encourage her to laugh and not take the world too seriously. He is much more tolerant than she and some of this is bound to rub off too. Together they are a powerful team. They have both had to make great sacrifices, which she would have done after giving some considered thought to the consequences on her family. Family is important to her and she places high value on their needs. Thrusting them into the public eye and all the risks that this implies makes this a very high price to pay. She has made this sacrifice because she has decided that change is needed and that he is the very person who will bring that change about. Although he has gone to great pains to show that he is about to be president for all Americans, she knows what it means to Black Americans and is prepared to make the sacrifice alert to the past sacrifices made by black Americans, that have enabled them to be in the position they are today.
Although she is not in an elected position she will be very much part of his team as he depends on her to help him clarify his thinking in a safe secure environment. This is a partnership but she will not push herself forward as this would not sit well with his personality type. Encouraging him and giving the benefit of her thoughts will be part of the deal however he is the one who will be making the decisions and while a sounding board is handy, the buck will always need to stop with him. Fortunately he will gather around him one of the strongest teams possible and in this regard he has already made a start.
The Evolving Team
Joe Biden
Prior to the election the choice of Vice President had been made with the placement of Joe Biden. Although he was not particularly well known outside America he seems to be very well known and in the main regarded highly within the USA. He sits on the South East of the Map (Extraverted Intuitive Feeling (ENF) type). He can provide the gregarious aspects that Obama lacks, sometimes he is seen to be too gregarious as generally he is generally speaking! No doubt he will manage to curb his overt enthusiasm when the need arises, yet it is this very enthusiasm that Barack and the American people will benefit from. He can inspire, innovate and enthuse which will be a great advantage to the team in the difficult days ahead.
Rham Emanuel
The first appointment by the new President elect was that of his Chief of Staff Rham Emanuel who is someone with a highly driven Thinking preference - due North on the PeopleMaps Map. He is a great choice for Obama as he will be responsible for the running of the show and this needs a ‘tough nut’, which from comments in the press, he seems to be. His type is Introverted Intuitive Thinking (INT) however he is at the very centre of the map and can use his extraversion equally competently as his Introversion, this together with his high Thinking/Task focus enables him to stride like a Collosus over the wide territory of the map where no nonsense is tolerated.
His type enables him to get things done. He does this because he has the ability to move into his action mode and apply his Extraversion preference. His is a formidable intellect and he is also a perfectionist. He has the strong personality that enables him to pull all of the team back to the drawing board if a decision has been taken, that on further reflection, he deems not robust enough to go forward. He rarely cares about being popular or liked, nor what people think about him. Getting the job done and doing it to the best of his, and every member of the team’s ability, is what he is about.
Conclusion
This is only the beginning and already it is starting to look like an exciting team. I believe that the next appointments to be made may throw up a group of Introverted Sensing Thinking (IST) types : those who reside in the North West (NW) of the map will bring the careful analysis needed to help solve the very, very many challenges that the new President and the World at large currently faces. It will be the purpose of this team that will decide the make up of the personalities involved. It has already been decided that the first purpose is the economy and for this a great deal of analytical endeavor is required, however this will need to be tempered with a whole variety of other personalities too, especially if the purpose has to be sold to the many stake holders who will be involved.
(This post was written by Anne Ellis, PeopleMaps Director of Psychology)
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My husband and I have just returned from our annual holiday in Atlanta and North Carolina in the United States and to say the whole place was electrified due to the recent election campaign would be an understatement. Unfortunately we had to return on the Monday just before the election and have been tied to CNN ever since. At the outset of the campaign I was very much in support of Hillary Clinton and was quite peeved at Barack Obama displacing her; not anymore! Once I had started to watch him in action and after reading his two books I was hooked - he is amazing!!!
My original impression of what I saw of him in the UK news broadcasts, which admittedly was not much was that he was (in Jungian terms) an Introverted Intuitive Feeling (INF) type and didn’t seem able to push his message as much as the others. When people watching I always try to position them using the PeopleMaps’ map and for me, someone who hailed from the South West segment of the map - which is the general direction of INF’s - was never going to be tough enough. He was up against Hillary to start with and if ever there was an Extroverted Intuitive Thinking type (ENT) it was her!
Being an ENT myself I probably appreciated her no nonsense tell it as it is, kick ass, sort of style. These extraverted sensing with thinking or extraverted intuitives with thinking types (EST/ENT) come from a completely different area of the map, which makes them behave in a totally different manner to that of Barack Obama. They are positioned in the North East of the map with the ENT moving just a little bit further south than the EST, type yet both firmly positioned in the north.
Even though I have been teaching Type for endless years delivering the message that there are various ways to achieve objectives and that no one type has all the answers or the monopoly on getting results I still found myself being drawn to Hillary’s and my own style as the best way to get ahead. Was I ever wrong?
Obama’s Type
It was due to Obama’s ability to remain calm and inject as much time as was needed in slowly, slowly, getting his message across, together with his ability to stick to the same message, rarely deviating yet at the same time appearing to listen to his audience as much as speak to them, that he endured, where others faded, burned out, or merely sounded shrill.
The word ‘transformational’ was used about him constantly in broadcasts and I believe that this is why he is the right person at the right time to lead the great stew of people within the USA today. He is truly a transformational leader and since this is the type most likely to succeed when working within or leading teams he is exactly right. Of course it helps that he is also very clever, shrewd and has the ability to surround himself with the absolutely best people to do the job. Due to his type he will not compete with them but share the limelight and involve these people for their gifts, which will be different from those that he possesses. This is something that is quite difficult for ENT and EST types to do.
Creating the Team
Obama’s very first choice of Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel is as far away from Obama on the PeopleMap’s map as it is possible to be. He is placed right at the top of the map in the centre position, hanging off the coast line. He is an extreme EST which is Extraverted sensing with thinking. He will want to see the evidence for everything, listening will never be his strong suit as he knows exactly what it is he wants to tell people and tell them he will. Options and consequences and bottom line results are what motivate him. He will not hear arguments that go against his commands, and certainly none that are offered without hard factual evidence to back them up!
The PeopleMaps’ Map
Obama’s new Chief of Staff would have a flag at the centre of the outer rim coastal area at the very top of the map. Hillary, McCain and Sarah Palin would all be on the extreme right hand side in the Northern segment with Hillary possibly moving closer to Emanuel and the other two moving more towards the south, yet still firmly fixed in the northern segment of the map (as would be Bill Clinton and George Bush).
It should be possible if we manage to gain enough exposure to the other members of the team to identify where they would fit on the map. Joe Biden, for example will possibly be in the east southern side. He has the characteristics of an extraverted intuitive feeling type (ENF). He thrives in the limelight and just loves to talk, whereas Obama has probably had to learn to put up with the limelight and been forced to talk, when many a time he would be happier quietly listening or reading than being involved socially.
The Competitors for President
It is interesting that both John McCain and Sarah Palin are extraverted intuitive thinking ( ENT) types (McCain called them Mavericks and he was right!) and the very fact that they are so similar (Recruited in his own image?) they would most certainly clash on almost every issue and both would fight for the limelight.
Their government would be all about them and very little about the country as a whole, except where their input would be able to show them in a good light. This would have been true of Hillary also, except she moves towards the north, with more sensing in her make up. All three of them have a transactional style, which is pretty much the same as Bush’s type and the one thing the whole world agreed on - without necessarily recognising that they wanted no more transactional input - was that we absolutely must have change.
Not only is Barack Obama’s type right for the current climate, so also is this type (INF) beginning to be truly appreciated as having the appropriate gifts that make them the best people to ensure transformational leadership within teams. Since team working is more prevalent today than any hierarchy, we are seeing a great shift away from recruiting the ‘extroverted shout louder than others types’. Because today information is so available, and speedily delivered via the internet it is not only impossible for one person to have all the information but it is also much easier to see those who do not have it, something that was covered up for years within hierarchies.
Obama’s INF type is shown in position South West on the Peoplemaps’ map. Due to the fact that he is closer to the centre of the map than some INF types this enables him to reach and relate more easily with all the other types positioned around the map, because the journey is shorter. Trying to reach the Northern hemispheres of the map from an extreme southern coastal position would be too difficult.
I believe that we are about to witness a wholly different style of leadership from Obama and in the beginning he will appear not to be doing very much as his style is to consult and to listen before taking systematic action. He will relate with different types around the map and by doing this will be able to collate a diverse range of views which he will analyse and apply. He is transformational and God willing that is what he will bring about - the transformation our world needs.
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Created to help you win more job interviews with a CV that truly stands out - and tips on how not to blow your interview when you get it - this free personality report gives you a peek into what an employer will be reading about you if they ask you to take a psychometric test.
And there is an increasing chance you will be asked to take a psychometric test - with a reported 60% of employers reportedly using personality measures for pre-screening. (PeopleMaps delivers personality reports to hundreds of employers - so we already know this to be the truth.)
Ten questions, five minutes and you’ll be presented with a report designed to give you more than just personality information. This report will give you an edge over other jobseekers.
You get access to not one, but two topics designed for employers to get to know you better. Use them to get a head start, and be fully prepared for those interview questions.
We’ve also included an extract from a video interview with Anne Ellis, PeopleMaps’ Director of Psychology to help you understand how personality profiling works.
- free personality test - instant report
- 10 questions - five minutes
- no credit card required - no obligation
Start Now!
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Operating a business with a truly global view of the world, and within the punishing deadlines that TV and radio transmission bring, you need the right people with the right skills working as a team. With time being the premium commodity, WRN uses PeopleMaps in its recruitment process to get the right results and fast.
WRN is an international TV and radio transmission company, offering a comprehensive and innovative range of services including permanent and ad hoc satellite capacity, medium and short wave transmissions, FM airtime brokerage, internet, content hosting, broadcast consultancy and studio facilities. Its global fibre circuit allows for the distribution of video and audio signals to points of presence around the world.
WRN also operates its own radio stations in five languages, which carry news, current affairs and cultural programmes from leading public and private broadcasters worldwide. These stations are distributed to listeners throughout the world on market-leading platforms
“At this point the main part of our business is brokering satellite space for TV and radio services. We also sell broadcast slots to many national public service broadcasters, ranging from NPR, Korean Broadcasting and Radio Canada. We have a truly worldwide view of what’s happening,” explained Simon Blake, a Director of WRN.
“Our team is a complete mix of skills; from international salespeople dealing with multinational TV and radio clients to the most technically expert broadcast engineers maintaining our 24 hour Master Control Room. Being able to recruit and select in such diverse specialist fields can be tricky.”
With previous experience of using psychometric profiling, Simon wanted to use it in the hiring of new staff. But in line with the exceptionally fast pace of the business, he needed a service that would provide a solution without impacting on time and resources.
“I’ve always been impressed by the results and insights that profiling can provide but found traditional offline services time consuming, so when I found PeopleMaps with its low cost and ease of use it was perfect for us,” said Simon.
“We use it throughout our hiring process and even used it in the recruitment of our new Business Manager. With very ambitious growth plans, our team dynamics and people are crucial and the insight we get from PeopleMaps is, in a word – uncanny!”
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-Very Exiting and informative.
-Very good! I find it a very valuable tool; as one believes more in something if experienced it personally.
-Wow! At the risk of sounding like Patsy or Edina - my PartnerMaps report is Absolutely Fabulous! I love the way it looks and the best thing about it is that my partner of 35 years agrees with what it tells about us both. Everyone should have one.
-It's the best!
-Thank you, most informative and helpful. Timothy.