ELIMINATE FIRST DATE BEHAVIORS | 2021 Talent Sequencing Success Series

FACT #5: Interviewing & assessing executive candidates in 2020 got a whole lot more difficult when forced to do so remotely  
For many, it felt like 2 out of 3 legs of the interviewing stool got cut off, leaving the interviewer precariously teetering on one spindle, off balance and unable to trust what they were seeing through a video camera on the other side of the now virtual interview table. How is the interviewer to get beyond “first date best behavior” and more clearly see how a candidate might behave a week, month or even a year into their new role? As if it isn’t hard enough to assess for this in the physical , companies and hiring authorities in 2020 were forced to do virtually all of their interviewing by video, replacing physical with digital, replacing 3 dimensions with 1. And—since our 5 senses were now reduced to 2— the question arose around how to bridge over that loss, and if/what tools could be used to replace

Resolution #5: Find, test & deploy a psychometric assessment instrument to help identify personality “derailers” that may exist within a candidate’s behavioral profile. 

What is a psychometric assessment? 

Based on the “5 Factor Model” and accompanying body of more than 50 years of data & research, Talent Sequencing’s Team Fit Analysis— https://talentsequencing.com/talent-sequencing-toolbox/team-fit-analysis/ — is the best tool we’ve been able to create, and is also administered & interpreted by a credentialed PhD psychologist to ensure executive candidates aren’t trying to “game the system.” For more on the history and development of the Big 5, see (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits).

Interested in testing a 5 Factor Model? Test drive the Little Big 5 at Talent Sequencing at no cost. https://talentsequencing.com/

FOLLOW THE RESEARCH | 2021 Talent Sequencing Success Series

For our latest, we’re letting the experts at Vistage handle the 4th resolution as presented by their Chief Research Officer Joe Galvin and simply recommending that you “follow the research”.


FACT #4: Hiring and Recruiting will be the #1 decision the C-Suite will have to face in 2021  
According to the Vistage Organization and its Chief Research Officer Joe Galvin, hiring, recruitment and sourcing is the most important challenge facing executives in 2021. 

Resolution #4: Prioritize your talent strategy for 2021. A well-crafted strategy will tackle the challenges of virtual recruiting, selection and onboarding, incorporate a comprehensive assessment for skills as well as culture fit, and a keen understanding of which are the right people for the right seats. Finally quantitative and qualitative data points will help keep your hiring success on track if you acknowledge the critical importance recruitment will have on 2021.

DIGITIZE ONBOARD MONITORING | 2021 Talent Sequencing Success Series

FACT #3: Onboarding new talent in 2021 just got a whole lot harder.  
In May of 2020, Harvard Business Review felt it important enough to feature this important issue in that month’s issue, https://hbr.org/2020/05/onboarding-a-new-leader-remotely. 
Not far behind, Forbes picked up the thread in August, https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2020/07/12/onboarding-during-the-pandemic-how-to-give-new-employees-a-running-start/

Resolution #3: Deploy a digital onboarding monitoring progress tool like the Executive Integration Assessment to gather monthly input from key stakeholders around the executive new-hire. The goal? To facilitate discussion and direct any course corrections to improve speed and success of executive transplant. For more, go to https://talentsequencing.com/talent-sequencing-toolbox/executive-integration-assessment/

MEASURE COMPANY CULTURE | 2021 Talent Sequencing Success Series

FACT #2:
Company cultures during Covid-19 in 2020 was a “tale of 2 cities”—some companies actually IMPROVED their cultures across the pandemic. Yet others saw massive deterioration (see article and analytics of 1.4 million employees and their sentiments around their company’s cultures by MIT Sloan Review published in October 2020, https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-companies-are-winning-on-culture-during-covid-19/ ). The difference between companies who were perceived to have improved their cultures vs. those who didn’t?  

During times of crisis the quality of communication is central to how employees evaluate corporate culture. The other big factor behind company cultural erosion during Covid? 

“Employees Give Companies Low Marks for Agility During COVID-19” as defined by 12 depressions from down 7% to down almost 40% in areas including slowness of speed in responding to changes, lack of strategic consistency & level of bureaucracy. 

Resolution #2: As the management adage goes, “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Start MEASURING your own company’s culture. Light, quick, and frequent culture health monitoring pulses can make the difference between being in the “good city,” or the “bad”. For more on Talent Sequencing’s tool for culture pulsing, learn about the Distributed Culture Heatmap, https://talentsequencing.com/talent-sequencing-toolbox/distributed-culture-heatmap/

ENGAGE EXECUTIVE PERFORMANCE | 2021 Talent Sequencing Success Series

FACT #1:
Going into the 2018 season, the average number of coaches on an NFL team staff is 22.3. Five years ago, the average was 21.5 – a subtle difference, but the trend is clear: In 2013, two teams had as many as 24 coaches on staff. In 2018, 11 teams had at least 24 coaches, including five that have more than 24. If coaching is proactive in athletics, consider its role in other industries.

So why do most companies treat coaching as a “last resort” for the troubled executive who is underperforming and is on the path to perdition and ultimate termination? Meanwhile, relatively few engage coaches to propel top talent further in their expertise and performance.

Resolution #1: Engage executive performance coaching for high potential talent to fuel company performance. 

STATE OF THE MIDDLE MARKET & PRIVATE EQUITY, PRE-COVID (PC) TO JUNE 2020

The annual ACG Intergrowth conference is a “must attend” for our Principals every year. As is the case still sweeping the world, this year’s late spring event was cancelled due to COVID-19. The Association for Corporate Growth (www.acg.org) quickly pivoted and introduced the ACG Member Summit, a virtual 3-day event, held during the week of June 23rd. This event leveraged innovative new technology which allowed for presentations, one-on-one meetings, as well as networking. Overall, given the first time effort and the venture into the unknown, sincere kudos all around to the ACG organizers for pulling off a great event… from the comfort, convenience, and safety of our own living rooms, studies, dens, and home offices.

(more…) “STATE OF THE MIDDLE MARKET & PRIVATE EQUITY, PRE-COVID (PC) TO JUNE 2020”

Mental Toughness Webinar Recap

Our Wartime Leadership Series cultivates the most relevant and helpful information to bring to you as videocasts, webinars and more.

  • Thanks to the more than 180 who registered for our first webinar in our Wartime Leadership Series. The first topic was about mental toughness, and had as panelist noted psychometrics expert, Dr. Ryne Sherman from Hogan Assessments. The recording is available here.
  • A key takeaway from Mental Toughness is that there is science that can reliability assess an individual’s “mental toughness” quotient.
  • Talent Sequencing’s Dr. Dan Squires has built this into a diagnostic and prescriptive application that can be easily administered to an individual employee, team or broader sample set of company staff.
  • Mental toughness can be coached up.
  • If an employee was lower than optimal target range for mental toughness, Fahrenheit Advisors’ Jeff Ertel has built a coaching protocol to take the prescription and help drive adherence to a coaching plan that is tailored to each individual’s specific growth areas.

Next up:

The BSG, Talent Sequencing and Farhenheit Advisors joint team presents the next in our webinar series,

“Wartime Leadership Series:
How to assess, maintain, and strengthen company culture in times of  increased virtual workplace” – Register Here