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Profiles WorkForce Compatibility™
Make good managers into great
coaches AND manage conflict effectively.
To download this article as a .pdf file click here. The world would be a perfect place if everyone was exactly like us, right? If everyone behaved in the same impeccable manner, had the same quick intelligence, and enjoyed, and was motivated by, all of the same activities and work. This would be especially useful for those of us who have the responsibility for managing others, to ensure that they deliver the results that the organisation hired them to deliver. After all, if all the others were simply carbon copies of us then we’d know exactly how to get the best out of them – how to motivate and interest them; how to get them to do what we need them to do. It would be second nature – no thinking required. Such is the view of those among us who are perfect! Happily the world, and the people in it, is much more interesting than the world such people might yearn for – every person we meet has an infinite number of possible differences from us or from anyone else we’ve ever met. All of this makes life exciting - but it can also make it very challenging if we have the responsibility for managing a large team of people – all of them different. Every manager / employee relationship is unique – the unique combination of the two parties’ personalities, abilities and motivations interacting to create a truly ‘one-of-a-kind’ relationship; and all of the research suggests that the quality of this vital relationship has a very direct effect on the results employees produce. Survey after survey shows that good manager-employee relations promotes genuine employee engagement, motivation and productivity. Employees produce more and, just as importantly, as our demographic crisis creates a shortage of people, they stay longer in positions where they have a positive working relationship with their immediate managers. The old saying “people leave people” was never as true as it is today – and the increasing shortage of people will make it even more so in the future. Every professional manager has the responsibility to ensure that every one of his/her relationships is positive and productive. Of course, to make a relationship work requires effort on both parts – but the ultimate responsibility for making it work must lie with the manager for it is he or she who will reap the benefits of positive employee relationships. Traditionally, it takes time to get to know someone well enough to build a good working relationship – but at a time when the research suggests that people are staying less and less time in their jobs anyway we no longer have that luxury. In the opening paragraph we jokingly observed that life would be much easier if everyone else was just like us. In reality, this might be a form of hell on earth. But the main reason for supposing it would be easier is that we would know the other person ‘inside out’. For example, if we’re highly decisive then we know how to work best with other highly decisive people; we understand what makes them tick and we have a good chance of making the relationship work well with little work. But what if our employee is just the opposite? What if they need time to consider all possible options before choosing a course of action? If we choose to manage them as we would manage ourselves then we put enormous strain on the relationship. If we could know each of our people ‘inside out’ – and if they had a similar insight to us – wouldn’t that make life, and business, altogether easier? Happily, modern technology provides precisely that insight. Profiles Workforce Compatibility Solution In November 2008 Profiles introduced the Profiles WorkForce Compatibility™ solution. This tool has been designed to provide the two parties to a working relationship – the employee and his/her manager – with an in-depth insight into one another that ensures they know how to work more effectively together. The new Workforce Compatibility reports are produced from the analysis of the responses of any given manager and one of his/her direct reports. The Workforce Compatibility solution analyses the two sets of results alongside one another, and presents detailed reports on how the two parties can work together effectively. They provide insight into the seven key characteristics that define the quality of a relationship between a manager and his/her direct reports:
Two key reports are provided: Supervisor Report The Supervisor Report provides a highly graphical and detailed analysis of the differences in ratings between the manager and the employee for the seven characteristics. For a sample report click here. To make it maximally usable for the manager it contains four key sections: The Profiles Summary provides a high level overview of the major working styles for both the Manager and the employee. The ‘Characteristic Comparisons’ section provides quantitative ratings identifying similarities and differences between the employee and the manager for the 7 characteristics.
The ‘Working Together' section provides specific recommendations on how best to manage the employee based on the similarities and differences in working characteristics.
The ‘Next Steps’ section provides detailed instructions on how to successfully implement the Profiles WorkForce Compatibility™ solution.
Employee Report The Employee Report provides an employee-centric perspective on the similarities and differences in working characteristics of their manager, with specific guidance on what they can do to best work with their manager. For a sample report click here. A highly engaged and productive workforce Profiles WorkForce Compatibility™ solution allows managers to easily create a customised management strategy for every employee in their organisation to develop a highly engaged and productive workforce that will result in increased retention and productivity. Profiles InternationalProfiles International is the world’s leading provider of oline assessments, now in the UK. With 40,000 clients in over 100 countries, we help companies of all sizes to build and retain high performance workforces. We provide a comprehensive array of employee assessment tools used to put candidates in the right jobs, help managers and executives lead, coach, and motivate effectively, and help employees achieve greater productivity, profitability and job satisfaction. |
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