I can think of few more noble/worthy causes than breaking the cycle of poverty through improving childhood educational outcomes. Here in Oklahoma, much of that work is being done through an organization called Tulsa Educare, a research-based program that brings the best early childhood practices to underserved and at-risk populations. Tulsa Educare is the first program of its kind to be implemented on such a large scale, and as such has been making news – the New York Times recently featured Tulsa Educare and suggested it as a model for a nation-wide program.

Like an organization, Educare’s success comes down to its leadership and its teachers, and for the past three years, Hogan has had the great fortune of working with the organization on a philanthropic basis to provide tools to help them select teachers and train their management teams. And, we are currently working on a criterion study that will help pinpoint the personality characteristics typical of an exemplary Educare teacher.

Personally, the Educare program strikes a chord. It aligns with my background in educational psychology and my prior work with the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Human Services. And, as a new father, I understand the desire to provide our kids with every advantage. Hopefully someday access to free early childhood education will be available to every family in the U.S. Until then, we at Hogan are happy we're able to help.

Five words: Online, interactive, competency development report.

These words have never been used in the same sentence to describe any type of personality assessment output, ever. To that end, Hogan is proud to announce the launch of GMAC Reflect. Over the last 2 years Hogan (myself included) has worked alongside the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) to create Reflect, a self-directed customized learning experience for MBA students.

GMAC, as you may know, is the power behind the business school GMAT exam for prospective MBA students. However, Reflect was created in an effort to provide self development programs to their core market. Reflect is also very affordable because we know students will be buying it directly. A Reflect ID/login is valid for 3 years, so you can log back in and see the newest learning resources and text.

Reflect measures graduate students across 10 business competencies that aim to enhance professional interactions, job performance and career prospects. GMAC conducted a wide variety of focus groups and corporate surveys to solidify the key competencies that cover over 80% of existing corporate competency models. Ultimately, the differentiator here is that the assessment and the personal development tool are online and can be used without a facilitator or coach.

Each individual competency offers detailed information based on a person’s score as well as related learning resources that are meant to enhance your skills and behaviors. There are also targeted actionable tips to improve your performance. In true Hogan speak, Reflect also provides a list of 12 behaviors to start, stop, and keep doing based on your scores. Students can then add learning resources, recommended actions, and tips from the report to a customizable work plan. Lastly, Reflect offers a career benchmarking section where an individual can compare their own competency scores against high-performing professionals in 14 business careers. This feature is aimed at the competitive MBA student to fully understand how their own behaviors might be measuring up.

My colleague Kevin Meyer and I recently returned from a visit to India and our distributor there, Sierra Alta Consulting. Sierra Alta launched in 2010, and started working with us as a Hogan distributor in 2011. I can’t begin to say enough great things about their firm and the people working there.

Before my trip, I tried to read as much as possible about Indian business practices, especially when it comes to using personality assessment. From what I read, and what I experienced, India is a nation on the move, and is a key opportunity for HR providers. Here are some key demographics:

• 1.21 billion people
• 75% younger than 35
• 50% younger than 25
• 100 million internet users
• 1 billion mobile users by 2015
• 14,000+ colleges, 389 universities, 1500 research institutes
• Second largest pool of scientists, doctors, and engineers in the world

In short, India has a large, young, and extremely talented and educated professional class that could prove a challenge for HR practitioners.

I was fortunate to experience a number of things on this trip I haven’t before (including pick-pocketing monkeys). Oddly, though, one of the most unexpected learning moments for me was observing how respected and culturally relevant Hogan’s tools were in the local market. The consensus among Sierra Alta users was that Hogan’s assessments capture something specific to India’s culture, despite being considered a Western tool.

Over the course of several feedback sessions, I’ve noticed that the vast majority of individuals prefer the euphemism over-used strengths to derailers when speaking about results on the Hogan Development Survey. I hadn’t really put much thought to this phenomenon until I came across an article in Talent Management magazine by Anthony Gigliotti. He presents the literal analogy of over-used strengths to weight lifting; further, too much lifting or over-exercise can be detrimental to our muscles which are the mechanism to achieving performance. Gigliotti argues that a break-even point occurs when using strengths that, when exceeded, quickly become unfavorable. Achieving a balance between maximizing strengths while mitigating the harmful effects is the obvious challenge. This article continues with several coaching techniques for talent managers to support strong leaders, which I have adapted into a model closely resembling behavior analysis:

Gigliotti’s first set of techniques are largely situational. Tasking a leader to focus on contextual clues or others’ reactions to gauge positive or negative impact is asking a lot. This could add complexity to an already overwhelming feedback session. When interpreting the HDS, a light-bulb moment can occur if you draw the connection to various antecedents that trigger derailers such as specific groups of people (i.e. boss versus direct report), or simply provide examples of when, where, or what setting the leader has received feedback they have been excitable, diligent, etc. This modification also controls for perceptive ability.

The second technique is largely the same. In a Hogan example, the excitable scale starts out as energetic and intense means to an end; however, becomes over-used when yelling or volatile reactions emerge. Keep in mind there are situations that never quite cross the line into derailing behavior…think of the Wall Street trading floor or an effective prosecutor.

Finally, the last strategy of behavior modification through strategic self-awareness is hinged on accurate results, a willingness to change and a strategic coach who can tie all these pieces together. The reason a 1:1 model doesn’t completely shake out in this instance (consequence ? coaching) is due to: leaders failing to see the impact of their derailing behaviors on others, actor-observer bias, and/or negative reinforcement via their office ‘bulldozer’ reputation.

Gigliotti effectively states, “Regardless of the excuses, effective leadership requires constant reputation management. If over-exercised strengths are damaging productivity, effectiveness or working relationships with others, then it’s time to consider a modified approach.”

November 1 was the official kick off to the month of Movember. For those unaware of the meaning behind this portmanteau, simply substitute the popular abbreviation for moustache “Mo”, with the first two letters of November. Some of you may already be familiar with Movember’s distant November facial hair movement “No-Shave November.” However, there are several distinct differences worth noting which make Movember (aka: Novembeard) a much worthier contender of your attention. On a facial hair spectrum, Movember is exclusively reserved for the moustache. But, ultimately, what lies behind the scenes of Movember are truly altruistic efforts through charity for cancer research and men’s health awareness.

Movember was started in Australia in 1999 as means to raise funds for local animal shelters. This original unshaven union, “Whiskers for Whiskers,” started what has now transformed into a multi-million-dollar fundraising event designed to increase awareness of men’s prostate cancer, depression, and testicular cancer.

Like any effective management strategy, it’s worth noting the ground rules that constitute fair play in this season of ‘staches, or month of the Mo’s:
1.    Once registered, each bro must begin the month with a clean-shaven face.
2.    For the entire month of Movember each bro must grow and groom a moustache.
3.    There is to be no joining of the mo to the sideburns (that is considered a beard)
4.    There is to be no joining of the handlebars to your chin (that is considered a goatee)
5.    Each bro must conduct himself like a true country gentleman.

The FAQ on the website clarifies that shaving a beard to provide a ready-made moustache is cheating and not in the spirit of Movember. A small growth of hair under the bottom lip (aka a tickler) is permitted as long as it is not connected to any other region.

As if you didn’t need yet another reason to hair up, the official end of Movember is always marked by a celebration for Mo Bros and Mo Sistas at a local party or the national ‘Stache Bash held this year in Chicago (the most moustache-friendly city in the US).

Although Movember is a light-hearted movement, the amount of money raised globally through Movember donations is approximately $175 million, which makes it the largest funder of prostate cancer research in the world. This is a vital statistic considering that 1 in 6 men will get prostate cancer and 1 in 36 will die from the disease (American Cancer Society). Please JOIN  or DONATE to our Hogan (aka: MOgan) team in our quest to raise money for cancer research and men’s health awareness!

Dozens of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) occur on a daily basis in the business world. A vast majority of these deals are strategic plays designed to reduce costs, increase competitive advantage or simply buy out the closest competition. Many M&As go relatively unnoticed by the public unless an interest piece is published showcasing a $ billion headline paired with a well-known company. Unless you track these events, or their impact on everything from your cell phone bill to your investment portfolio, they can be easy to miss.

 Here is an abbreviated list of the largest global M&A’s from Q1 of 2011:
1. AIG: $59 billion
Acquirer: Preferred Shareholders

2. TMobile USA: $39 billion
Acquirer: AT&T

3. Progress Engery Inc.: $26 billion
Acquirer: Duke Energy Corp.

4. Fiat SpA-Auto Business: $18.5 billion
Acquirer: Shareholders

5. ProLogics: $15.2 billion
Acquirer: AMB Property Corp

In the last few months, M&A’s have also been a recent topic of conversation with multiple individuals from a consulting standpoint. Unfortunately, these have been negative experiences from the ‘acquired,’ citing example after example of poorly-managed and poorly-implemented transitions.

Regardless of the financial purpose behind M&A activity, there are still corporate citizens (aka: people) that are dramatically affected by such deals. It is only natural that employees may feel alienated in their role or fear losing their senior position to an individual with marginal experience in their area of expertise. Said differently, an acquired employee is likely to view this situation as something closely aligned with a hostile takeover rather than a merging of shared I.P. and capital in which a new more competitive company can emerge. Senior executives must then lead this transition rather than manage reactions or mitigate attrition.

Deanna Hartley, in an article from Talent Management magazine, proposes that leaders must clearly communicate the intentions behind M&A activity, expectations of value-added processes, and potential risks and opportunities to all staff members. Hartley goes on to say that a key process in communication with M&A is ensuring your message matches what employees hear or interpret. She suggests numerous top-down meetings, roundtable discussions, and exposure to leadership from both sides of the deal. Ultimately, clarity and security should be a target in the minds of upper management while stabilizing the merging of two distinct companies. As long as new business relationships form with frequent, open dialogue, there should be reduced chance for productivity to suffer.

It would not be a surprise to say that there is little emphasis on aligning corporate culture in the boardroom during M&A negotiations. Be that as it may, companies should still involve employees to gather opinions or ideas on the transition as soon as a deal is reached. Early intervention, in the form of open communication, is crucial to quiet the fears of employees on both sides of the table.
 

Last month, Hogan celebrated its annual Hogan Game Day competition, a team-based version of the popular game show “Minute to Win It” that is a much-anticipated event at our Tulsa office.

In the week leading up to Game Day, and the week that followed, the halls were alive with spirited banter (and sometimes outright trash-talk). Our elite marketing team, which planned the event, kept the list of games close to its vest, and for good reason. There are those competitively spirited individuals at Hogan who would have mastered each challenge before Game Day actually took place! Needless to say, Game Day is a big deal around here. And even though my team took last place, my experience far outweighed earning a trophy.

To kick off the event, each employee was randomly assigned teams and tasked with generating a team name (we were Hogan’s Heathens) and deciding who would participate in each event:

Game 1: Stick To It – Two team members, a thrower and catcher, bounce ping pong balls across a table and catch them with a pair of lint rollers. Three balls per roller, one minute to win it.
Game 2: Hanky Panky – One team member pulls out an entire box of tissues, one at a time, in one minute.
Game 3: Breakfast Scramble – One team member solves a puzzle consisting of the front of a box of cereal cut into perfect squares in less than one minute.
Game 4: Dizzy Mummy – Two team members, a holder and turner, wrap a roll of toilet paper around the turner in under one minute.
Game 5: Triple Pong Plop – One team member bounces ping pong balls on a plate and into a fish bowl.
Game 6: Face the Cookie – One team member places an Oreo on their forehead and, without using his/her hands, moves the cookie into his/her mouth.
RELAY: Five team members push a lemon across a 10-yard section of the parking lot with chopsticks. The first team with all members down and back won.

Some would suggest such team-building activities are wasteful, but consider the employee whose only workplace social incentive or team-building event is a break room birthday party or casual Friday. Now consider workers at Apple, Google, Facebook, or other unconventional workplace where a shift in corporate culture – the addition of office game rooms, flex time, office pets, happy hours, or casual dress codes - makes their work lives more enjoyable.

And these initiatives aren’t just to attract quality employees – though applicants are beating the door down to work there – they are examples of low-cost agendas that seriously drive engagement and pride through higher employee satisfaction.

It wouldn’t be appropriate for every business to install a basketball court in its offices, but that doesn’t mean it can’t do something for its people. Creating creature comforts at work not only increases satisfaction, but it also motivates employees to work harder. It’s common to see workers at many of these workplaces voluntarily burning the midnight oil. What motivates your staff?
 

You may not have realized, but March happens to be a very eventful month. Some noteworthy festivities this month include Mardi Gras (8th), St. Patrick’s Day (17th), Spring Break, Easter (some years), and the vernal equinox or first day of Spring (20th). Some lesser known, albeit random, contenders for March dates are: If Pets Had Thumbs Day (3rd), Multiple Personality Day (5th), Ear Muff Day (13th), Extraterrestrial Abduction Day (20th), and finally a holiday that seems to capture the theme of this blog, National Make up your own Holiday Day (26th).

Today March 15^th, or the Ides of March, denotes the first day of the Roman New Year and first day of spring (also Roman). Historically, the Ides of March is also associated with the stabbing and subsequent overthrow of Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.E. If you remember back to your high school English course, or visit Wikipedia, you may recall that Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate in a coup d'tat led by Brutus.

It is not a far stretch to correlate this story to a modern corporate organization. While there may not be physical acts of violence in the boardroom, the rules and players remain the same; specifically, Chairman is to Caesar as the C-Suite is to the Senate. Corporate culture in many Fortune 500 companies mirror this ruthless style and are defined by such mentality as “kill or be killed”; therefore, it is no surprise that organizational failure is driven at the top by self-interested leaders.

As a manager, or leader at any level in the business world, it is crucial to understand how specific individuals in your organization will compete in the corporate game. To this end, Hogan assessments can describe an individual’s day-to-day behavior (HPI), stress-induced derailers (HDS), and core motivators (MVPI). This comprehensive profile of an individual’s personality characteristics relate to business potential, organizational effectiveness, and the ultimate ability to predict job performance.

So the next time you are curious when an employee stumbles in the office late on March 9^th or 18^th, you can look to their Hogan assessment results to determine, with a high degree of certainty, whether or not they celebrated excessively (i.e. Hedonism, Mischievous, Tradition, Sociability). Unfortunately, for characters like Julius Caesar, there is no specific scale that captures propensity to overthrow as would have proven beneficial 2,054 years ago today. However, there are numerous scales that indicate if and how a person will make it to the top and that information can be just as invaluable.