Sara Sheehan introduces us to The Predictive Index’s Talent Optimization strategy in this episode. More than just an introduction, however, Sara explains exactly why talent optimization is so critical for businesses right now and unpacks how The Predictive Index and talent optimization assists companies in driving business results.
The “people tax” is defined as increased turnover, lower engagement, lower productivity, and more. What Sara presents is the ways in which talent optimization aligns you with your people and your people with your business goals. She details the big four questions that talent optimization seeks to answer about your organization.
In this episode, Sara Sheehan breaks down how she guides clients through talent optimization via illustration or using real data garnered from their team, she reveals the top three people dynamics impacting business results, and she lays out some statistics that provide compelling reasons to pursue talent optimization sooner rather than later. She understands the modules within Predictive Index’s talent optimization strategy and can guide clients to tangible people actions for bettering business outcomes.
Resources discussed in this episode:
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Contact Sara Sheehan | Sara Sheehan Consulting:
Transcript:
Hi there, I’m Sara Sheehan and welcome to my podcast, Transformational Thinkers with Sara Sheehan. Today I’m talking about The Predictive Index and how talent optimization assists companies in driving business results. If you would like to learn more after listening to today’s discussion, check out the show notes for a link to book a meeting with me. Have a great day.
Sara Sheehan: [00:00:00] Hi there. My name is Sara Sheehan and welcome to Transformational Thinkers with Sara Sheehan. And today I want to talk to you a little bit about talent optimization. And in today’s conversation, I want to make sure that I am sharing with my listeners that I am a Predictive Index certified partner, and I’m extremely aligned with Predictive Index’s approach and their solutions. It’s statistically reliable and valid, and it takes an incredibly small amount of time to complete the behavioral or the cognitive assessment. So it’s an extremely low time investment and it’s extremely cost effective for clients. So bearing all that in mind, I want to be very upfront that from a talent optimization perspective, Predictive Index is who I am aligned with. And today I would like to talk a little bit about what talent optimization is and why it is so important. In terms of the conversation today, I just want to start out with the fact that every business leader bears the weight of executing a business strategy that drives results. They are charged with helping their people to execute on the mission of the business. This is harder than it seems. It’s an extremely heavy weight. It can be overwhelming and stressful. People are extremely complex. Leaders are often forced to rely on their gut and finally abdicating to HR Doesn’t help business leaders because HR is even further from the business strategy and they are guessing too.
Sara Sheehan: [00:02:33] So it’s quite a quandary. All of the guesswork that comes in to the decisions that leaders make, creates a people tax in increased turnover, lower engagement, lower productivity, just to name a few. The people tax puts the business strategy at risk and leads to missed business targets. When there are people issues, they will show up as a people tax, an execution risk, or missed business targets every time. No organization out there is immune to this situation and the messy part of the people side of the business, but it doesn’t have to be a mess. So with a talent optimization expert, you can have a clear path forward. The Predictive Index approach takes a little bit of a different point of view. It provides a lens into your business with the practice of talent optimization, allowing you to align your people with your business goals. They provide the ability to answer four big questions. Are you designing to deliver on the goals? Rather, do you have the players on the field in the right position to score in your business? Are you hiring with intentionality to support and drive the needs of the business context? Third, are you motivating your people in the ways that motivate and boost engagement? And finally, are there trouble spots under the surface that could pose as a risk to the business? With that lens, it provides you the ability to understand the whys behind the people tax, the execution risks that you have, and the missed business targets.
Sara Sheehan: [00:05:14] There’s not a business out there that isn’t experiencing at least one of these issues somewhere in the business. So considering all of that, let’s take a look at an example. As a talent optimization expert, given that all business problems, both internal and external, are solved and navigated by people, I ground my clients to ask one multi million dollar question, Who can help me solve this? Who can help me solve this problem? Is it the people in the room who are on the team that can help me move this forward? Is it the people in the building? So are there other people in the building, in the organization that we can leverage, either through internal promotions or moves, or is it someone on the street? Are there folks on the street who can deliver on this for us, or is it some combination of the three above situations. I can provide a scenario, a demonstration that’s illustrative using demo data, or I can meet with potential clients and really have a true detailed one on one talent strategy session where we’re looking at real data based on your team’s behavioral assessment in the system. And you can understand the Predictive Index world of work, where your team sits, what their key behavior styles and needs are, and really begin to create a tangible action plan with real data. Either scenario can provide a very insightful conversation about who’s on your team and the business results that you are getting.
Sara Sheehan: [00:07:54] Considering all of this, considering that I could do a demo session or a customized one on one talent strategy session, at the end of the meeting you would understand your top three people dynamics impacting your business results. You would have a personalized course of action to close the gaps, and we can develop a plan with quick wins and a key path forward in one meeting. It’s pretty compelling. A very little amount of time is required on a very high return on investment. And so why does all of this matter now more than ever? 69% of companies restructured their teams during the pandemic. And by the way, this is based on the Predictive Index’s CEO benchmarking report from 2021. Secondly, 25% of employees will quit post-pandemic. 97% of CEOs are allowing some degree of remote work moving forward. And an incredibly large number of companies are dealing with the return from remote right now, trying to determine are they going to remain remote, are they going to be hybrid? Are they going to return to an office culture with commutes? There’s a lot at stake right now.
Sara Sheehan: [00:09:43] And considering all of that, the Predictive Index SVP of Talent Optimization said when asked, What’s the number one threat coming for organizations in 2022? She said retention. So the sooner the better. You want to have an eye on your people. On their needs, on their behavioral styles, and the business results that you’re getting. It is an amazing conversation that can yield tremendous benefits. Now, I’d like to transition into talking a little bit more tangibly about the essentials in talent optimization. And the essentials in talent optimization are grounded in four key things. Number one, in every talent strategy conversation, it needs to be based on the business context, because if it’s not, you will not deliver business results. Secondly, all talent strategy conversations need to be data driven. If they are not, they are based on whimsy, intuition, and gut feeling. And that is not a sound fact based strategy. Third, there needs to be more leaders at more levels of the organization. I’m stating that because talent optimization really is not the job of HR. While HR can be a tremendous and valuable business partner in the process, the business needs to own it. They absolutely need to own it. All of the decisions need to be business oriented and purposeful. Fourth, the fourth major essential in talent optimization is to recognize the forces of disengagement. These are the points in time the forces that cause a person to opt out of employee engagement. This might force them to decide they’re going to quit. These are the things that we want to have our eye on in talent optimization. First of all, what’s the nature of the job and the role, and does it fit the individual? Second, the manager/individual relationship. That is one of the most important aspects of an individual’s happiness is their manager relationship. Third, the team and the team dynamics, the relationships that each team has with others as well. Whether it’s in a process or an enterprise. Team dynamics can have a tremendous impact on business performance and success. Fourth, culture fit. The fit between the individual and the greater organization overall. Is the relationship one that supports success for the organization? Those essentials and talent optimization really ground what Predictive Index is looking at.
Sara Sheehan: [00:14:03] There are four major modules within Predictive Index. They are taking a look at design. So the actual organization design. Who the people are. Leadership style and fit. Based on the world of work, they are looking at two processes that are done every single day. Hire and inspire. In hire you’re clearly taking a look at designing new positions. Taking a look at behaviors or cognitive abilities that are a fit for that position. Preparing the interview team in advance. Making sure that the individual candidates are a fit not only for the team, the manager, but also the organization. All of those considerations are in hire. In inspire, that’s where we get to engaging employees, and you’re able to really start to understand where they are relative to career paths. And is a career path motivating for a particular person that’s in a particular position. We are looking at things like job redesign. And what skills and abilities might be more competitive in today’s marketplace. We are looking at team dynamics and reinforcing the culture. The final piece that Predictive Index looks at is diagnosing. So they are actually diagnosing issues or problems. They are measuring employee engagement with an employee engagement survey. You can use that survey to actually measure the four forces of disengagement and see where your organization actually is on those four forces of disengagement. You can also analyze data after you’ve measured it, and then finally, you can prescribe actions that are tangible and will help you meet your business goals with results. If any of this conversation on talent optimization is of interest to you, by all means, I encourage you to reach out. And let’s talk about having a one on one talent strategy session for your organization. I would love to hear from you and I would love to help you drive better business results through your people.
