Why protecting your culture is important to talent optimization It’s been said that “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” When an organization’s culture is aligned with its business strategy, it acts as a catalyst for individual and collective productivity. But if left unmonitored and unmanaged, a toxic culture can develop and spread throughout the organization—zapping engagement…
Why productive peer relationships are important to talent optimization When a sole proprietor adds their first employee, they open a door to expanded output—and interpersonal conflict. When any two people in an organization collaborate, they are able to share resources, skills, knowledge, and abilities in mutually beneficial ways. Two people not only can do twice…
Why developing your leaders is important to talent optimization Talent optimization requires developing leaders at every level to drive employee performance and engagement. It also includes identifying and evaluating leadership competencies and giving performance feedback within business context. Leaders should exist at all levels of your organization; they’re an asset you should continuously nurture and…
Why creating new jobs and career paths is important to talent optimization As your organization grows and matures, you’ll need to create new jobs to execute your strategy. You’ll also need to create career paths and modify job roles for your current employees. Creating career paths for your employees has a direct impact on your…
Inspire is part three of the four-part talent optimization framework. Inspire includes important employee-oriented activities ranging from career pathing to maintaining organizational culture. Inspire also includes enhancing that critical relationship between an employee and their direct manager. Why Inspire is important to talent optimization In most organizations, employees lack the necessary people data insights to…
Determining candidate cultural fit includes communicating your organizational culture to candidates during the selection process and evaluating candidates based on cultural fit. One of the key things to evaluate when considering whether to add a new person to your organization is the impact on your company culture. World class companies have designed the culture they…
To win the war for talent, your leaders must be fully invested in driving the hiring process from screening candidates to leading interview teams. When hiring managers place the wrong people in roles, employees are left to languish doing work that’s a poor behavioral or cognitive fit. But when you train your hiring managers to…
If the members of the hiring team don’t fully understand the intricacies of the job, they’ll be hard-pressed to match the right candidate to the open role. Using a talent optimization approach to define job requirements allows stakeholders to collectively pinpoint the behavioral drives and cognitive ability candidates need to succeed. When you take the…
Hire is part two of the four-part talent optimization discipline. This is where you’ll use talent optimization insights based on people data to hire top talent and build high-performing teams. In a large or growing organization, hiring is happening constantly. You may simultaneously be hiring for a new position, a position that you’ve recently modified…
No team operates in a vacuum—the team’s efforts always exist within the context of the business. Thus, the work to be done represents an important lens through which to view (and interpret) the behavior and execution of each team member, and the team as a whole. Doing so can highlight fits and gaps that lead…
Too often, an organization or team’s strategy can be abstract or highly technical. Yet it’s your people who will execute this strategic intent, so it’s important that they can see themselves and their endeavors as directly supporting it. Let’s see how following these steps can help you look at your strategic intent through a talent…
An organization’s success is largely determined by its employees’ ability to work together efficiently to achieve goals. In organizations, much of the work is performed by teams of people working together. All teams will undergo varying levels of change, so it’s important to measure team performance over time. It’s also a must that all members…
Most organizations are comprised of a wide variety of employees. These employees differ not only in terms of seniority, experience, functional expertise, and skill sets, but also in their natural behavioral preferences. Some employees, for example, may be naturally detail-oriented and prefer precise instructions, while others may prefer to work under less rigid guidelines and…
Design is part one of the four-part talent optimization discipline. This is where you’ll create and continuously evolve your people strategy. Why design is important to talent optimization Many companies cobble together employees without considering team dynamics, and they appoint leaders who might be excellent individual contributors but who lack the self-awareness and/or motivation needed…
Talent optimization is a four-part discipline for aligning your business strategy and your people strategy so that you can achieve your desired business results. At its core is the collection, analysis, and application of people data. Here are the four aptitudes you must master to practice talent optimization successfully: