Taking the psych out of psychometrics...
Thomas International is a global leader in the field of behavioural and psychometric profiling. Here Alan Brown gives an insight into the world of psychometrics and how they can help grow businesses by optimising individual and team performace.
What is psychometrics?
Psychometrics concerns the technique of psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, personality traits, and educational measurement. Your biggest resource is your people and there are some simple steps to enhance this resource.
Understanding behaviour
In 8 minutes PPA (Personal Profile Analysis) provides accurate insight into how people behave at work by answering the following questions.
- What are this person's strengths and limitations?
- How do they communicate?
- Are they self-starters?
- What motivates them?
- How will they behave under pressure?
- Will this person 'fit' with my organisation
PPA is underpinned by DISC theory, looking at Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance
These four behavioural characteristics shape a person's work style. PPA measures which mixture of these characteristics an individual has in their make-up, determining how the individual will potentially fit-in behaviourally within the organisation.
Ability and Aptitude
A GIA test measures a person's mental horsepower and gives you a prediction of their potential to grasp a new role or respond to training by answering questions such as:
- Can this person think on their feet?
- How adaptable is this person to change?
- Can they cope with the mental demands of the job?
- Could this person be a high flyer?
- Is this person a problem solver?
- To what extent can we develop this person using training?
To achieve this it assesses key areas of cognition covering reasoning, word meaning, spatial visualisation, perceptual speed, number, speed & accuracy.
With careful analysis of the areas of cognitive ability most appropriate for the specific roles, you are able to recruit and develop much more effectively.
Emotional expression and control
TEIQue tells you how well your people understand their emotions, react to pressure and manage relationships. It will answer questions such as:
- How aware is this person of their strengths and limitations?
- Do they modify their behaviour?
- How do they react to pressure?
- Can this person control their impulses when under stress?
- Do they excel at developing relationships?
- How self-motivated and adaptable is this person?
What internal values, beliefs and attitudes are required for specific roles within your organisation? Emotional Intelligence allows you to understand what drives an individual and how they will cope with other people, pressures and changing environments.
Psychometrics can be a valuable tool in the following areas:
Recruitment
The right hiring decision can have a huge impact on the performance of your team, function or line of business.Get it wrong and you are looking at a cost of up to 2.5 times the individual's salary. Get it right and you can develop teams that function well together so that the whole of the team is greater than the sum of its parts.
Retention
With one in five employees stating they intend to leave their employer in the next year, retaining staff is critical to delivering success in any organisation.Get it right and you're delivering consistently on your business targets with a happy, loyal workforce. Get it wrong and you're investing cash in new recruits and dealing with disruption to the business. The right psychometric assessments will help you:
- Motivate your people
- Ensure morale is high
- Create engagement
- Optimise performance
- Reduce attrition
Development
Employers say they need to focus on leadership and front-line people management in order to meet their business objectives over the next two yearsWith training budgets under more pressure than ever, how do you make sure your learning and development investment counts? The right assessments will help you to:
- Identify each individual's exact areas for development
- Give your training more impact
Management
On average, 80% of management time is spent on poor performers. But with so little attention directed at top performers, how do you ensure you're investing the right amount of effort to get the maximum results and how do you enhance the type of support for your strongest performers? Assessments will help you to:
- Very quickly get an in-depth understanding of your people
- Pinpoint why your people do and don't perform well
Thomas International works with you and will try to fully understand your business, your people and objectives. Contact Alan Brown on 0207 2572805 or alanb@thomas.co.uk for more information and complimentary assessment.
Created: January 12, 2012, 10:20 am
