Employees - The Most Ignored Resource in a Company

Most are familiar with the adage “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” While the maxim is generally meant to apply to financial, technical or other quantitative resources, it also applies to something frequently overlooked by business owners, and that is PEOPLE. One would argue that People are in fact a company’s most valuable asset and resource and whether they perform optimally or in a lackluster way, to a large degree determines the performance of the business they support.

• Do you have the right resources in the right leadership and management positions?
• Are they motivated to produce optimal results for your business?
• Do they understand your business model and are they aligned with your success?

You don’t make key financial decisions using subjective, feelings-based criteria. And you shouldn’t make key hiring, retention, role assignment and promotion decisions that way either.

High performing companies look to advanced assessment tools to align their human capital with the jobs and functions needed to operate the business. These tools quantitatively assess the employee across several key personality and capabilities dimensions, expose their strengths, weaknesses, vulnerabilities and behavioral predisposition, allowing the business owner or manager to make data based personnel decisions with a high probability of matching skills and personality with the requirements of specific business roles.

One of the most practiced assessments businesses use in evaluating employees or employee candidates is DISC, which assesses the participant for each of four styles: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientious. A DISC analysis will help you anticipate how a person will behave in response to the kind of situations they are likely to be faced with. More specifically:

Dominance – a high score will suggest strong leadership skills, but also may reveal traits which limit exposure to dissenting views. Other style results will reinforce one or the other.

Influence – includes both an ability to motivate – critical in any leadership role – and cognitive capability to use rational actions to bring people along to support their gameplan.

Steadiness – this is the “measure twice, cut once” analogy wherein a steady, methodical approach in business will always trump rash, impulsive actions which, in the end have to be unwound and corrected.

Conscientious – A lot can be said for a manager that is thorough, comprehensive and complete, creating clarity in the organization and a feeling like everything is under control.

Moreover, a DISC analysis creates guidelines for the manager to communicate with the tested individual so as to extract maximum value.

For example, within the Conscientious style pattern:

• If Employee: Needs to be right
• Then you should: Allow them time to find the best or “correct” answer, within available limits

Or in the Dominant style pattern:

• If Employee: Likes changes
• Then you should: Vary their routine

You can see that creating a clear behavioral “language” between a leader and staff can be a powerful tool to produce efficiency at the leader level, while at the same time build clarity and utilize staff resources optimally. And at the same time, you will end up motivating and tapping into the best each staff member has to offer, allowing them to productively contribute to the business while minimizing any friction. A staff DISC report literally provides you with guidance wherein, now that “I know the staff members’ style pattern is /this/, therefore I should do /this/ in the workplace to best utilize their capabilities.”

Overall, when many staff are working together in different functions, the DIS report will also tell you whether you have the optimal balance of resources within each work unit. For example, you may have too many creative thinkers in roles which are repetitive, or not enough high-steady individuals working with you on high level strategy activities for the business.

And finally, a DISC report of YOU as the Leader will expose to you a comprehensive analysis of traits which contribute to the way you run the business. Surprises are never good, but they are very frequent once you've taken the assessment. And the directions offered by the DISC report are invaluable in that they offer you a virtual implementation plan for how to accelerate yourself and your business.

Cultivating and better understanding your staff resources has a direct impact on the performance of your team or the business at large. Nothing can be more scary than working blindly with your most valuable asset. The DISC analysis and report is a priceless tool for the business owner to utilize each time new staff is brought on or existing staff is reassigned to new roles - and it's accessible here, right from our website.

And if you’re not sure yet about bringing this resource into your business, please speak with us. We will dive deep into your operating model and your staff resources and help you identify the specific areas where you might be having potential bottlenecks or resource weak points which, when remedied, can get you back on a solid performance footing and not only restore, but indeed accelerate your business.