From the jobing.com news story: (http://sandiego.jobing.com/news_feature.asp?story=2658)
This vibrant 2-hour workshop will help you prepare to tackle employee retention issues in 2007. Learn how to avoid the sources and high cost of employee turnover by identifying the “best fit” from a list of eligible applicants. You will leave with fresh ideas and a proven tool that you can implement immediately.

Mary Kay Mason and Annina Lukiini-Johnson’s presentation is spiced with the wisdom and knowledge gained from many years of experience in high tech, science, finance and academic environments. They represent Catalyst Advancement, a local consultancy that specializes in creating high performing teams, building employee engagement strategies, and matching the right people with the right jobs.

A couple of telecommunications sages were commiserating that executives of high-tech companies loaded with top talents are tearing their hair out trying to fix their people-issues. When the costs of conflict, turnover and absenteeism add up, they pay attention. Is there an algorithm for human behavior that would help them deal with it? If there is, do they need a PhD in psychology (or math!) to understand it?

That might be very helpful, but most of us just would like to have some practical, easy-to-use “cure” to plug in and help us make things better. Employers don’t need to in find out the deep secrets of personalities, they just need to tackle behavioral issues at work that end up affecting their bottom line.

Getting “the best people” also seems to be all the talk – but it’s not as simple as comparing lists of degrees and employers, the “fit” needs to be right. What does that really mean? We may read a ton of books, but often are left thinking “well, that was interesting. So what can I actually DO about it?” Can a person’s fit in a team or job really be measured?

The good news for the less mathematically-inclined is that Dr. Meredith Belbin’s extensive research (which likely included a boat-load of algorithms!) produced a practical diagnostic tool that evaluates how people behave in a work setting. It sort of codifies the role a person naturally adopts at any job s/he undertakes. It is a concrete way to measure and predict how a person will perform in a given job, how effectively a group of people will work together – and you don’t need a psych degree to utilize it!

So it helps take the mystery out of it… Hey, maybe there could be a story plot for the young Mr. Eppes? I can see it now: “Insert Belbin: HR’s secret weapon.”

-Annina

I’m back from summer vacation, as are many friends, partners and clients. How was yours? Did you relax, or was achievement at the center of your holiday? Some people select their vacation spots so they can’t DO anything, just hang out. Others like to make sure they get the most bang for the vacation budget buck: they visit all the points of interest on the brochures, have a minute-to-minute program for every day, that sort of thing. Well, whatever it takes to charge your batteries, great! I do hope that you got to “be off the clock” though, so you felt refreshed upon returning to work.

My friend Eric told me a cute story about his boss Jim. Jim had been told that he’d better not drive his people and himself too hard, or they will all get burned out. After some time, Eric received a phone call from Jim who said “Guess what? I took the advice and I’m on vacation! I’m floating on a rubber mattress in the middle of a beautiful lake, the sun is shining …” Eric laughed and told me “he thought he was doing great, but not only was he out there with his cell phone, but a while later ANOTHER cell phone rang, and he ‘had to take the call’”… So much for work/life balance! What an image: a guy floating on a rubber mattress on a lake, with a phone on each ear…was he wearing shoes and a suit, too!?

On my vacations, I mix the relaxing and achieving … That approach is probably explained by my top Belbin Team Roles: Teamworker, Completer Finisher, Implementer….“Wanna hang out with people, but gotta get stuff done too!” It has been very liberating for me to understand my roles and how they explain why I am the way I am.

So needless to say, I was more than excited to spend part of my vacation in July at Cambridge University, participating in the Belbin conference. I attended presentations and workshops, and it was very exciting to learn how the Belbin Team Role Theory is used globally. Dr. Meredith Belbin said that understanding the team roles helps us “recognize the profundity of individual differences”…When people use their strengths and help others apply theirs, a workforce becomes more than the sum of its parts. Utilizing the Belbin Team Roles is a way to make individuals and businesses “world class”, to operate above the 96% level, and to beat the competition.

So that’s what I am back at work to do, with a charged battery and sharpened Belbin tools.

-Annina

P.S. Here I am with Dr. Belbin, who enjoys growth of both flowers and people’s minds.

The guy talked. He talked a lot. He gave an elaborate discourse on his qualifications and told stories about his colorful experiences in a variety of jobs. Not only did he meet the requirements for skills and qualifications, he was overflowing with impressive credentials! He talked, though, and he talked alot. Everyone knows a person like this, and knows the critical detail that they often dismiss: you can, indeed, talk too much. In the same vein, you can also be too eligible for a job.

My friend and I have talked in the past about the Belbin Team Role methodology and the many ways it can be applied in business, which we use at Catalyst Advancement. Our most recent workshops have focused specifically on how Belbin tools can be used to successfully recruit and retain the right people for the right jobs: the "best fits".Best fits achieve and maintain their highest level of performance because they are both eligible and suitable for the job.
Click thumbnail image: Belbin team roles and their suitability characteristics.

The talkative fellow whom my friend interviewed was highly eligible: he had all the skills, qualifications and experience necessary for the job. However, these factors, historical in nature, cannot predict future success, which is the role of suitability factors: A person's behavioral tendencies, natural motivations, and personal attributes. People are more likely to fit best if they are highly suitable but do not come with a resume jam-packed with credentials than if they are eligible but as unsuitable as a shark in a sardine can.

Within a few minutes of conversation, it was clear that the applicant was, in Belbin terminology, a Specialist. His previous ventures were all passionate pursuits of knowledge, he thrived on acquiring technical skills and in depth experiences. The mental image is of this Specialist talking for years about his passion, not concerned with the passage of time or, in this case, even the fact that he was being interviewed for a job where his passion would be unecessary and unheard of. He would be assigned specific computer programming tasks: what, how, when, where, and why to program. Belbin roles define a person's natural suitability traits, the strengths to build on and work with, instead of struggling with weaknesses. My friend knew that this outspoken specialist was much too unsuitable for the job, and he made his decision based on this. He was proud of making such a sound, informed decision, and I couldn't help but be pleased as well: the shark was released back into the ocean to pursue his passion, and the sardines remained, suitably, in their can.

-Emily 

Here we are at the NCPA summit. Pictured Catalyst Advancement Team members: Annina, Mary Kay, Paula, Emily, Barrie Watson(from CERT Consultancy), and Jerry.

Here at Catalyst we've also had a workshop on this topic, part of our Belbin for Business workshop series. We are planning new workshops, and details of those will also be explained here, comments & discussion welcome!-Emily