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Opinion: Tight labor market needs custom assessment, accommodation

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The first weekend in May is always one of my happiest. That’s when I plant my summer flowers. This has been my tradition for 23 years. Yet, it’s only been the last 10 that my flower garden has flourished.

I learned I was overestimating the amount of sunlight in my yard, and frankly, I planted the flowers I liked rather than the flowers that would naturally thrive in my space. Once I started to plant and cultivate based on the natural strengths of my flowers, it took off.

The right job and working conditions for the right person is no different. Yet, we tend to disproportionately emphasize acquired skill and education over natural personality and strengths of our candidates and employees. Skills and education in most cases are nonnegotiable minimum expectations. Understanding how an employee is naturally inclined through their personality or talents is helpful to better determine how to coach and train. In this tight hiring market, employers need to access every tool possible to hire and manage for employee satisfaction and retention.

Talent tips
There are two assessments that I think are particularly useful. Each is best utilized to understand self, but also have applications to understand others’ communication and behavior styles. These assessments are not predictive of performance, and it is inappropriate to use them as reasons to eliminate a well-qualified candidate. Both assessments are available online, but there also are local certified professionals to help you fully implement a program.

DISC assessment is my personal favorite because it is a simple model. You can learn the hallmarks of the four styles: dominant, inspiring, supportive and cautious. Through observation, you can have a decent idea of a person’s primary style, allowing you to adapt to how an individual prefers to communicate and work with others. A formal DISC assessment provides a nuanced report.

CliftonStrengths, an assessment from Gallup formerly known as StrengthsFinder, ranks an individual’s top five natural talents, of which there are a total of 34 categorized into four themes: strategic thinking, relationship building, influencing and executing. This tool has several book accompaniments, and it’s a great way to assess not only position fit but also overall team mix and committee roles.

Also knowing if someone is introverted or extroverted, which is determined by whether someone gains energy internally or externally, is important. Both types can cope and adapt to situations, and they should be expected to. However, sitting an extrovert in quiet isolation or an introvert in high-interaction noisy situations full time will not yield high productivity or employee satisfaction.

First step
Start with yourself. If you haven’t already, take the DISC and CliftonStrengths assessments. Begin exploring what helps you be most productive and satisfied.

Then, begin implementing ways you can do that for your employees.

Right now, there are more jobs than there are people to fill them. Individualized assessments, attention and accommodations with intentionality will go a long way to help you retain those most likely to flourish with your company.

Mar’Ellen Felin is CEO of Springfield Business Journal video media outlet sbjLive. She can be reached at mfelin@sbj.net.

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