Horizon Point Consulting

Author: Mary Ila Ward

  • Tua’s Performance Shows You What You Need to Consider When Assessing Leadership Skill

    Tua’s Performance Shows You What You Need to Consider When Assessing Leadership Skill

    It was the debate across college football leading up to opening weekend.  Or least in my house it was.

    Who would start at quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide?  Tua or Jalen?

    Jalen led the Tide to one national championship and touts a 26-2 record as a starter.  Tua came in and saved the day to help the tide defeat Clemson in the national championship last year when it seemed as though Jalen just couldn’t get it done.

    They are obviously both exceptional players and leaders, but what would make the difference in Saban’s decision making on who would start in the season opener against Louisville?

    Across this debate, Kirk Herbstreit may have summed up the decision of who to play best on Gameday:

    “…you have a quarterback in Tua that has an ability to process information quickly… and when you have a quarterback that sees things quickly, that can get the ball to the receiver, tight end or the running back….(tennis racket interruption, if you haven’t watched Gameday, the tennis racket stuff was pretty hysterical)…. But deep down he (Nick Saban) has to know that Tua gives him a better chance…”

    Basically, Herbstreit is saying that Tua’s cognitive processing speed gives him the edge.

    According to Cognfit.com cognitive processing speed can be explained as:

    Processing speed is one of the main elements of the cognitive process, which is why it is one of the most important skills in learning, academic performance, intellectual development, reasoning, and experience.

    Processing speed is a cognitive ability that could be defined as the time it takes a person to do a mental task. It is related to the speed in which a person can understand and react to the information they receive, whether it be visual (letters and numbers), auditory (language), or movement. In other words, processing speed is the time between receiving and responding to a stimulus.

    Processing speed implies a greater ability to easily do simple or previously-learned tasks. This refers to the ability to automatically process information, which means processing information quickly and without doing it consciously. The higher the processing speed, the more efficient you are able to think and learn.

    Processing speed is the time that lapses from when you receive information until you understand it and start to respond.

    Tua started the game.  You can simply watch the highlight clip (especially the first touchdown pass) of Alabama’s 51-14 victory over Louisville, and you will see what superior cognitive processing speed looks like.  Tua processes a variety of inputs/information rapidly and “without doing it consciously” to make the best decisions about where to put the ball.

    Leadership in the business world isn’t much different than quarterback leadership on the football field.  There are a variety of inputs coming at leaders quickly that need to be distilled down rapidly in order to make the right decisions- to put the ball in the right place.

    This ability can be measured.  It is measured in a variety of ways in kids in educational settings.  And there are also tools that measure it for selection in the business world.

    Here’s a short test from psychology today: Mental speed test
    You can also check out: Pyrometrics

    Work samples can also be a good way to throw a lot of information at a candidate at one time and see how quickly and how well they come up with a solution.  Make sure it includes information in work samples that is irrelevant.  Can the person discern what is and isn’t important and get work done in a quality manner.

    In addition, there is a potential relationship between cognitive processing speed and time management skills, so this might be another assessment avenue to consider.  Include in your work sample the requirement to prioritize a variety of tasks/decisions and then ask the candidate to explain their logic of prioritization.

    And for those of you that could care less about SEC football, maybe Michigan lost because of a lack of cognitive processing speed on the part of their coach.  Check out the first part of Jim Harbaugh’s interview on GameDay.  A paper baggy? What the heck???

    Next time you go to hire a leader take cognitive processing speed seriously.  The presence of it in your leaders may help you win a national championship.  The absence of it may cost you the game against Notre Dame.

  • 4 Advantages to Hiring Workers Over 50

    4 Advantages to Hiring Workers Over 50

    In writing about how to increase your candidate pool,  multiple LinkedIn comments cropped up related to hiring workers over 50.   For example, one comment read:

    “Don’t practice age discrimination or you could miss out on some rock steady workers. Those who give thumbs down to the over 50 crowd really do miss out on some great employees.”

    Through these comments, it was obvious I should have added a 5th way to increase your candidate pool in the article:  Include Older Workers.

    Also through these comments, there were reasons included as to why hiring workers over 50 is a good idea. Overall, hiring “older” workers can:

    1. Allow you to take advantage of skills and attitudes that are only really acquired over time.  So much of what we learn is through experience and that can only be gained over time.   Hiring those with 25-30+ years of workplace experience brings skills that are only gained through 10,000 plus hours of practice.   Read Outliers for more on 10,000 hours of practice.
    2. Provide mentoring relationships.  Mentoring relationships can go both ways but having older workers mentor younger workers can allow for the dissemination of things learned through experience (#1) without a mentee having to experience the setback and heartbreaks of bad decisions.   Not to mention the meaningful relationships that add value to any organization.
    3. Help with perspective.  I mean this in two ways.  I have experienced workers that are older than I am that can best be described as “wise”.  Meaning, they have a perspective that helps me, well, get some perspective.   Teaching and demonstrating not to sweat the small stuff, enjoying the stages of life and acting with patience and perseverance are qualities older workers can instill in the workplace.  And that brings me to the second view of bringing perspective in the workplace. In the larger context of diversity, hiring workers of all ages helps a workplace innovate.
    4. Help you understand your customer.  Chances are your customers are in all different ages and stages of life.  Having a workforce that is pigeon-holed into just one demographic limits your ability to see multiple markets and angles, thus limiting innovation and revenue possibilities.

    What advantages does your organization gain from “older” workers?

  • Forget the 401K Plan, Does Benefit Package Address Getting Rid of Debt?

    Forget the 401K Plan, Does Benefit Package Address Getting Rid of Debt?

    “According to Make Lemonade, there are more than 44 million borrowers who collectively owe $1.5 trillion in student loan debt in the U.S. alone. The average student in the Class of 2016 has $37,172 in student loan debt,” sites a June 2018 Forbes article.

    Furthermore, check out the consumer debt picture (this is separate from student loan debt) in America from Business Insider:

    The debt issue is a problem on so many levels, but for employers, it is impacting thoughts and decisions about what a desirable benefits package looks like in order to recruit and retain employees.

    Is the savings piece of your benefits plan, most likely in the form of a 401K, even desirable anymore?  Can your employees even think about saving if they don’t ever see a way out of debt?

    In addition, the financial stress your employees face is costing you money.   According to Forbes:,   “Across all generations — Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers — financial matters were the top cause of stress. Forty-six percent of workers spend three hours or more during the work week thinking about or dealing with financial issues, and 47 percent said their finance-related stress has increased over the last 12 months. And according to a new survey from Bankrate, which interviewed 1,003 adults earlier this year, 57 percent of Americans don’t have enough cash to cover a $500 expense.”

    So what should you do?  There are three routes/benefits I would suggest you consider to address the debt equation in your overall benefit plan:

    1. Student Loan Repayment.   Offer your employees the benefit of paying off their student loans. Some companies do this as a simple benefit with no strings attached, but most require some length of service requirement in order to be eligible to receive this benefit.

    Here is a list of some companies that are doing it and how they are doing it: Nerd Wallet.

    A company that facilitates this benefit for employers and that I have heard good things about is gradifi.

     

    2. Acting a money lender/payday advance.   Companies are cropping up that help employers act as lenders to their employees through payroll advances and other arrangements.  Some arrangements charge the employee a flat fee while others charge an interest rate on the money borrowed.

    Wal-Mart is advancing employee’s wages in this way through a company called PayActiv.

    More on this subject from the Wall Street Journal can be found here.

     

    3. Offering Financial Wellbeing Training.  While the first two options are designed to offer access to capital to pay off debt, many employers are focusing on training employees to be better managers of their finances in order to reduce and eliminate debt.  This seeks to solve the problem in the long run by changing behavior instead of putting a band-aid on it.

    If this interests you, check with banks and/or credit unions in your area. Many offer free classes. In addition many employers offer the popular Dave Ramsey Financial Peace training to their employees at no charge.

     

    How can you improve your benefit offerings to address the debt issue?

  • Take a Lunch Break

    Take a Lunch Break

    “You want me to pick you up a biscuit for breakfast?”  One colleague asked another on his way into the office one morning.

    “No, Mary Ila is coming today.”

    “Gotcha.” he replied back.

    The HR Manager I work with regularly was the one refusing the biscuit because she knew if I’m there for the day, I am going to take her (make her go) to lunch.   This is such a given that now her collogues know when I’m there not to count on her to be there at lunch time.  Her friend/co-worker with the biscuit didn’t need any further explanation as to why she didn’t want a big breakfast.  Mary Ila here = a good lunch.  He’s gotten in on the lunch breaks with us at least once before too.

    The lunches started out, in her view I think, as me just trying to be nice.  And of course, I am taking her to lunch to be nice, but also because I’ve got to eat too.

    But she’s come to realize that I have bigger reasons for taking her to lunch.  She needs to get OUT of the office for a bit.   The lunches help us both recharge, have more casual, but still work-related conversations.  I can visibly see her relax a little once we get in the car and we are headed to what is most often our favorite-Mexican- meal.

    I had a purpose for the lunch breaks with her because intuitively I know she needs it.  Little did I know that there is a lot of science to back up lunch (not breakfast- see she didn’t need that biscuit!) as the most important meal of the day.

    In When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink,  Pink writes:

    “For example, a 2016 study looked at more than eight hundred workers (mostly in information technology, education, and media from eleven different organizations, some of whom regularly took lunch breaks away from their desks and some of whom did not.  The non-desk lunchers were better able to contend with workplace stress and showed less exhaustion and greater vigor not just during the remainder of the day but also one full year later.

    ‘Lunch breaks,’ the researchers say, ‘offer an important recovery setting to promote occupational health and well-being’- particularly for employees in cognitively or emotionally demanding jobs,’”

    Pink goes on to describe two things that need to be present for lunch breaks to have this positive outcome:

    1. Autonomy- Exercising how, when and whom you do it with.
    2. Detachment- Being both psychologically and physically detached from the work place (and the phone, etc. that may connect you to it).

    I do make her go to lunch and go with me, so I’m not sure how much autonomy I’ve given her in this.  However, we do practice detachment.

    I hope that the value she sees in the lunch breaks will help her be more autonomous in taking them.  Also by engaging others in the practice of breaking for lunch, she can model the way to detach from the workplace and work activities at some point during the day to recharge and refocus.

    Do you regularly take a lunch break?  If not, what would help make you start?  Call me- I’m always up for lunch if you need an accountability partner.

     

  • 4 Ways to Increase Your Candidate Pool

    4 Ways to Increase Your Candidate Pool

    My LinkedIn Daily Rundown feed started out today with “Jobs are cutting experience requirements….” Reporting that, “an extra 1 million jobs were opened up to candidates last year with “no experience necessary.’”

    There is a lot of buzz about the hot job market now with the unemployment rate at a pre-recession low.

    But what do you do to fill jobs in this economy?

    As the Daily Rundown suggests you can:

    • Lower requirements.Whether it be experience, education or skill requirements, lowering them can increase candidate pools. I often find that job descriptions have qualifications in them that really aren’t “required” to be successful in the role.  Do a job analysis and figure out if you can and should lower your requirements. Some more food for thought on this can be found here.

    In addition, we suggest:

    • Eliminating requirements. Doing a job analysis may show you that you not only need to lower requirements, but eliminate them all together. One thing I’m finding more and more employers considering eliminating a totally clean criminal history. Opening yourself up to hiring ex-offenders may be a wise move. To learn more about the Second Chance Initiative targeted at helping employers and communities navigate through the advantages and also challenges of hiring ex-offenders, read more here.

    Lowering and/or eliminating requirements may require more skills-based training for new hires, but if you focus on hiring for fit and diversity (will dimensions instead of skill dimensions), you may end up with better employees anyway.

    • Raising your wages. More on that here.
    • Sourcing better. Pursue passive candidates instead of posting and praying.Pick up the phone and call people, do a search for potential candidates on LinkedIn, send an email to your professional contacts.  It isn’t rocket science. Attract interest by creating interest beyond your job posting on Indeed.

     

    All of these efforts lead you to be able to fish out of a different pond than one(s) you’ve been fishing in.  And sometimes the best catches can be found in the ponds that aren’t overfished.

     

    How do you increase your candidate pools to make better hires?