If you’re learning about the Hogan personality tests, you’ve almost certainly heard about the Big Five. And if that was the first you’d heard of the term, you probably wondered, “How big could the Big Five be if the concept was unknown to me before today?” Well, in personality psychology, it’s important, and it’s easiest to understand if we first review a little history.

In the mid-20th century, many personality tests were available, but they all measured different sets of personality characteristics.¹ Then, during the 1960s, two Air Force researchers produced an obscure report arguing that personality could be measured in terms of five broad categories, a concept that later came to be known as the five-factor model of personality.¹ By the 1980s, the idea of the five-factor model had reached academic circles, and most personality psychologists agreed that personality could be described with five factors.¹ Since then, this model has been studied extensively and has withstood much scrutiny by scholars.

Today, the five factors that form the basis for most new research on personality are commonly referred to as “the Big Five,” a term first coined by personality psychologist Lewis Goldberg, PhD, in 1981. The Big Five include emotional stability, extraversion, agreeableness, dependability, and openness to experience.

The Hogan Personality Inventory

The five-factor model formed the basis for the research behind the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), the first personality test designed to assess occupational performance.

Originally published in 1986, the HPI measures normal personality, a component of reputation that describes day-to-day strengths and weaknesses. When it was first developed, the HPI measured personality in five dimensions: adjustment (emotional stability), intellectance (openness to experience), sociability (extraversion), likeability (agreeableness), and prudence (conscientiousness).

The HPI has since been expanded to include seven scales and 42 subscales, which add additional nuance in understanding normal personality. Keep reading to learn more about how these five dimensions formed the basis for the HPI in its current form.

Emotional Stability: Adjustment

Emotional stability, sometimes called neuroticism, relates to the HPI’s Adjustment scale. As its name suggests, this dimension of the Big Five regards a person’s tendency to experience negative emotions. The HPI’s Adjustment scale measures confidence, self-acceptance, and stability under pressure. While high scorers tend to handle pressure well and expect to succeed, low scorers are less stress tolerant but also more likely to admit their shortcomings or mistakes and try to fix them.

Extraversion: Ambition and Sociability

The extraversion dimension of the Big Five forms the basis for both the Ambition scale and the Sociability scale of the HPI. Extraversion regards the degree to which people are either extraverted or introverted, as well as their assertiveness, sociability, and level of comfort with being the center of attention.

Hogan’s Ambition scale measures the degree to which a person seems socially self-confident, leaderlike, competitive, and energetic — or conversely the degree to which a person is laidback, flexible, noncompetitive, and a good team player.

Hogan’s Sociability scale measures the degree to which a person seems to need or enjoy social interaction. Low scorers on this scale tend to listen more than they talk, be task oriented, work well independently, and prefer structured meetings, whereas high scorers tend to be approachable and friendly, be busy and full of energy (sometimes to the point of distraction), talk more than they listen, and build relationships with a variety of people.

Agreeableness: Interpersonal Sensitivity

The agreeableness factor of the Big Five relates to the HPI’s Interpersonal Sensitivity scale. Tact, cooperation, empathy, and friendliness are all characteristics associated with agreeableness. The HPI’s Interpersonal Sensitivity scale measures the degree to which a person is seen as perceptive, diplomatic, warm, and considerate, or on the other hand, likely to confront poor performers, tough, and willing to take unpopular positions.

Dependability: Prudence

The dependability factor, also called conscientiousness, relates to the HPI’s Prudence scale. Personality characteristics such as preparedness and detail orientation are associated with this factor. Likewise, the HPI’s Prudence scale measures the degree to which a person seems conscientious and rule abiding. While high scorers on this scale tend to be orderly, reliable, and attentive to rules and details, those who score low are more likely to be comfortable with ambiguity, flexible about rules, and capable of quickly changing direction.

Openness to Experience: Inquisitive and Learning Approach

The openness to experience factor forms the basis for two of the HPI’s scales, both the Inquisitive scale and the Learning Approach scale. This factor regards creativity, abstract thinking, curiosity, and openness to new experiences and challenges.

Hogan’s Inquisitive scale evaluates imagination and problem-solving. People who score high on Inquisitive are often creative, adventurous, and open-minded, tending to think quickly on their feet and strategically about the big picture. Low scorers, on the other hand, are more likely to be seen as levelheaded, pragmatic, and process focused.

Hogan’s Learning Approach scale measures the extent to which a person seems to enjoy learning. While high scorers on this scale will seem to be goal focused and to value education for the sake of education, they might also be averse to working on tasks they deem uninteresting. Low scorers, by comparison, tend to prefer a more hands-on approach to learning and focus on applying existing skills, but they might also be unconcerned with learning new ones.

Conclusion

Human personality is complex. While thinking about personality in terms of only five factors might make it sound simple, know that the Big Five comprise a vast range of personality characteristics that — throughout history and across cultures — have helped people identify ways to get along with others in their social groups and get ahead in the social hierarchy.

In regard to the HPI’s seven scales, each is measured in percentiles based on decades’ worth of personality research — so high, average, or low scores on any of these scales can tell us a lot about a person’s strengths and shortcomings. Moreover, HPI scores should always be interpreted as part of a bigger picture. Hogan-certified assessment administrators are trained to look at a few different things when they interpret HPI results: (1) scores on different scales in combination with one another; (2) scores from Hogan’s other two personality tests, the Hogan Development Survey and the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory; and (3) the context of a person’s background and career. As a result, the potential social outcomes are completely unique to each individual.

Want to learn more about personality tests? Check out The Ultimate Guide to Personality Tests

Reference

1. Hogan, R, & Smither, R. (2008). Personality: Theories and Applications. Hogan Press.

Almost everyone acknowledges the importance of personality in distinguishing people from one another and making judgments about others. For example, when selecting a romantic partner, our research shows that 79% of men and 84% of women cite personality as their primary consideration. But what is personality, exactly? On a basic level, we can say it is a person’s disposition or core wiring and the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that stem from it.

Most of us believe that we are intimately aware of our own personalities, but this belief is only partially true. Indeed, we are experts on our personalities from an inside view, which can be defined as identity. Our identities are formed by the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and as with any good story, we tend to bend the truth. In the case of identity, the story is often overoptimistic.  

Others do not have access to the Pollyannaish stories of our identities. Instead, they experience our personalities from an outside view to decide the other major component of our personalities: reputation.

Identity Versus Reputation

A divide often exists between identity and reputation. We frequently misjudge ourselves, either being too hard on ourselves or, in most cases, inflating how our capabilities compare to others’. Therefore, we tend to have an incorrect understanding of our own performance, whether it be interpersonal sensitivity, leadership skills, ability to judge character, problem-solving, sense of humor, etc. Without reputational feedback, our identities can easily veer off into the realm of fantasized talent.

A great showcase for identity’s miscalculations can be found in the auditions phase of the reality TV show American Idol. Even if you have never seen this show, you are probably familiar with scenarios, either in fiction or real life, where a contestant either blew away the judges with the talent shown during the audition or the horrendous lack thereof. Let’s focus on the latter: the people who underperform in their auditions and are shocked, angered, and overcome by disbelief when judges such as Simon Cowell bluntly tell the hopeful contestants that they can’t sing.

What’s fascinating about these instances is that many of these unskilled singers do the auditions thinking that they are about to give one of the best performances of the season. Clearly, these contestants are hyperfocused on their identities and are crushed when they are told that others do not perceive them as they perceive themselves. Thankfully, instead of humiliating ourselves on national television, we can look to Hogan’s extensive database of personality research in order to learn more about the importance of our reputations.  

Reputation > Identity

Our data show that American Idol contestants are not unusual and that a significant proportion of people take identity-focused approaches to their careers in business.

This reputational ignorance is often consequential because occupational success is largely dependent on what others think about you, whereas identity is mostly irrelevant. In fact, it doesn’t really matter how well suited you believe you are for a job or opportunity because everything of occupational importance happens during social interaction, which takes conscious effort. Put bluntly, during every interaction we gain or lose a little bit of status and acceptance, and occasionally run a real risk of minor embarrassment and a slight risk of utter humiliation. Reputation is the cumulative result of these interactions.

Reputation — that is, how others perceive you — determines whether you will be hired for a particular job. After you are hired, it determines the results of your performance reviews, your opportunities for advancement, and more. Other people make and act on decisions about you all day, every day — and those choices are based on your reputation, not on your identity. All consequential decisions others make about you in life are based on who they think you are, not who you think you are.  

Furthermore, from a practical standpoint, reputation is the only observable and consequently measurable aspect of personality, which is why modern views of the structure of personality start with the Big 5 model of personality traits, which focuses on personality from the observer’s point of view. Identity, on the other hand, has no measurement base and no consistent measurement taxonomy, despite 100 years of discussion and research.

That does not mean that identity is totally irrelevant; it can be a very reliable means of predicting reputation. Hogan’s personality tests require self-reporting. Yet although we ask identity-based questions, we don’t use these directly to tell you about yourself because you already know a lot more about you than anyone else does. We will, however, tell you how others are likely to describe you based on how you describe yourself.

In summation, career success depends on people aligning their identities with their reputations. Inversely, career problems arise when people’s identities depart significantly from their reputations. Hogan helps people by showing them objective data regarding their reputations, offering a realistic view of how others perceive them, which they can then use to adjust their behavior. When contestants fight back on American Idol, Cowell says, “Go to an audition where they lie to you.” At Hogan, you might say we take a similar approach.

Want to learn more about personality tests? Check out The Ultimate Guide to Personality Tests

I hear so many managers and leaders talk about wanting to invest in team development. But in the COVID-19 era, with budgets under pressure, this sort of activity is often under the microscope, and it is easy to see why. Too often, leaders don’t focus on what a good outcome looks like or how it can be measured in terms of progress on both the team and individual levels. Having a clear purpose is necessary to achieve success with team development initiatives. What is the team intended to deliver, and what does the development initiative need to achieve?

The most effective results occur when people can provide a clear answer to the “so what?” question. Getting team members to understand their strengths, how they can be developed, how they contribute to team performance, and where the gaps are (both individually and collectively) is key.  

The Role of Personality in Team Development

Personality assessment should be an integral part of these development sessions to promote understanding of the culture of the team. Using an effective assessment tool, such as the Hogan Team report, will identify the team culture based on the individual team members’ personalities. This report can help leaders understand what it is like to work in a particular team environment, how well the team will bond, and what influences team decision-making.

Alignment among team members is particularly important when there are adjustments to organizational strategies and goals that require the team’s attention. Because values operate subconsciously, individuals’ self-awareness can be limited. The degree to which a person’s values align with those of his or her colleagues affects productivity.  

Creating clarity about the team’s behaviors, particularly those that arise when the group is under pressure, will help team members to work in sync. Who goes quiet when stressed? Who comes up with eccentric ideas? Who remains steady? Who becomes overconfident, overestimating the team’s ability to deliver on plans? These behaviors can serve as strengths, but in pressure, they can become overplayed. If not addressed and managed, they will impede the team’s progress and success. 

As you can see, this is not about typical “team building.” Instead, this is about taking a focused approach to understanding values, behaviors, and performance risks. By starting with defining the team’s purpose, leaders can steer the team’s focus to what needs to be achieved. Once a strong, clear purpose has been identified, teams can identify gaps in their performance, discuss solutions, and move forward collectively. When coordinating a team development session, think about the challenges the team faces — such as challenging objectives, demanding stakeholders, short timelines for completing projects, customer issues, and implementation of new projects, just to name a few.

What can emerge? Too many things to mention, but here are two quick examples.

Example No. 1

A team needed to step up and lead more effectively. We chose the Hogan Team report in this case, and it allowed the group to see that they were relationship focused, which they had already sensed. They had been saying yes to the demands of all the stakeholders because they didn’t want to damage those relations, so they were not challenging each other in the right ways. Due to their collective diligence, they were working hard and becoming overwhelmed. The outcome, among other things, was agreeing that they would all have permission to challenge one another and that they would work on sharpening their feedback skills so they could do so more promptly and effectively. With stakeholders, they identified the need to improve their questioning skills and agreed to support one another in saying no when required. This increased trust among the team members.

Example No. 2

A second example was a senior leadership group who wanted to see how they compared to other senior teams. We typically use the High Performing Team Assessment in cases like this. It allowed the team to benchmark and compare. They quickly identified several strengths and focus areas that formed the backbone of the team development session, driving more challenging conversations and allowing them to align on what was most important and how they were going to tackle the situation.  

With the right investment in time and resources, team development sessions can provide great results and certainly be time and money well spent.

Want to get a better understanding of the kind of insights a Hogan Team report can provide? Check out this case study: The case of the team that went nowhere

*This post was authored by Rob Field, learning and development director,
Advanced People Strategies.

Founded in 2002, Optimal Consulting Group has been a Hogan distributor since 2006. Headquartered in Singapore, Optimal has physical presence in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo, and serves the Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan markets. Optimal focuses on using Hogan to predict talent and leadership potential, for developmental interventions, and for successful team engagement.

Having sold 65,000 Hogan reports and certified 2,500 Hogan users to date, Optimal is a key distributor for Hogan in the Asia-Pacific region. Clients range across the public and private sectors and include local and foreign multinational corporations. Optimal helps them use Hogan for selection and promotion, succession planning and readiness, and predicting developmental gaps.

About the CEO

Wan Leng has served as Optimal’s chief executive officer since 2002. Educated in Kuala Lumpur and London, she gained rich consulting experience at Deloitte and Mercer Consulting before joining Dell as Asia-Pacific director, covering 10 countries, and later becoming global vice president for American President Lines, covering 50-plus countries.

As leader of Optimal, Wan Leng aspires to mentor Asia’s future social, economic, and political leaders. To date, she has assessed, coached, and mentored thousands of professionals and leaders, cultivated the potential of organizations and individuals for greater business success, and earned the respect and trust of top management in many leading organizations. A recognized expert in the HR industry, she frequently serves in an advisory capacity to boards, CEOs, and top HR professionals.

Her philosophy in life is “Be balanced: Work smart, play hard. Enjoy the moment, live the future. Optimize earnings, maximize giving. Embrace diversity, preserve identity. Be good to others, be good to yourself.”

Distributor Q&A

What do you think will be the fastest-growing industries in Asia over the next 12 to 24 months?

1. Healthcare: medical devices and technology, and health and well-being services
2. Technology: AI, smart robots, and assistive technologies
3. Gaming: game-focused platforms and e-sports
4. E-commerce logistics: online B2C
5. Energy: renewable energy    
6. Food: farming and manufacturing

How do you see the lasting impact of COVID-19 in your markets? When do you expect full recovery will happen?

We are still in transit to our new era, as 2021 will pretty much the same as 2020. Assuming the vaccines curb the spread of COVID-19 by Q3 2021, we will begin to see the end of this transit period by end 2021. Hopefully by Q1 2022 we will be in a new era.    

What should we expect from leaders in Asia in the coming decade?

In the last two decades, Asia has experienced high economic growth, low birth rates, and a quickly growing aging population. In the next decade, we will see younger leaders who have been fast-tracked into their roles. They will be highly ambitious (contrary to common belief), competitive, tech-savvy leaders, preferring to work as part of a team while pursuing individual goals (collective individualism). They are an information-overload and big data–driven generation and are likely to ditch social media (watch out, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn). They are also expected to be innovative and communicative. Above all, those who will stand out are those who are purposeful and have the right perspectives and priorities.

Hogan hosted 42 distributors for a virtual summit on December 3, 2020. Over three sessions, Hogan highlighted the unique projects and perspectives of nine of these distributors, and several distributors demonstrated how they used specific Hogan products to meet an organizational need.

Mobley Group Pacific (MGP; distributor in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) used Hogan’s Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI), along with qualitative data, to help a client organization better describe its organizational culture. MGP’s research helped the client select leaders aligned with organizational culture, leading to reduced turnover.  

Optimal Consulting Group (distributor in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore) layers business intelligence gleaned from the Hogan Business Reasoning Inventory (HBRI) on top of personality data to help organizations identify how a candidate’s personality can affect job skills. Optimal shared several case studies featuring organizations that found their ideal mix of thinker types for effective job performance using the HBRI and personality assessment. The presentation demonstrated how the HBRI can be used as a gateway to show clients the importance of using multiple data points for maximal predictive power.

A&D Resources (distributor in Benelux and the Nordics) uses the Hogan High Potential report and model to help client organizations identify high-potential talent opportunities throughout the employee lifecycle. A&D acts as an advisor to clients, providing solid advice for understanding the difference between emergent and effective leaders and for developing employees without the interference of politics.

HR Tools (distributor in Mexico) recently collaborated with a mining company, the world leader in silver production. The company was challenged with a highly traditional culture, so HR Tools created a profile with several critical competencies related to high-potential leadership. They found evidence that the recommended high-potential profile predicts performance and potential for the client. These results provide support for using the Hogan High Potential report to identify and select high-potential future leaders at the company.

Authentic Talent Consulting (distributor in France) highlighted the benefits of a tight-knit distributor network when it comes to competing for international projects. Authentic Talent shared a success story in which they won and successfully delivered an international assessment project by collaborating with distributors in Germany, Italy, and Spain to provide individual coaching sessions and administrative support in the local languages.

Another way that Hogan’s distributors are building and maintaining their networks is by supporting certified users. Threefish Consulting (distributor in India) is building a Hogan ecosystem within the India market. Starting with certification workshop participants, Threefish focuses on engaging users from the time they graduate by holding informational support sessions, providing opportunities to practice Hogan skills, and providing special one-on-one support sessions for users needing additional help. Threefish also holds weekly Hogan events, master classes, and other virtual sessions to build a strong and knowledgeable Hogan community in India.  

Peter Berry Consultancy (PBC; distributor in Australia) has been working since 2003 to develop a growth strategy by using diagnostics to identify lucrative clients and opportunities. PBC emphasizes building momentum starting with certification workshops and empowering users to order and use the assessments.

Although Baltas Grubu (distributor in Turkey) did not use the Hogan certification workshop to engage a prominent Turkish conglomerate, Baltas pursued the company for six years before getting the opportunity to work with the organization on its selection process. For the past nine years, this conglomerate has been Baltas Grubu’s biggest client and advocate. Baltas shared the experience of working continuously to strengthen the relationship and detailed the additional support that won over leaders who questioned the need for personality assessment. The presentation even included a quick video from the client’s HR director, praising Baltas and the Hogan tools.

JvR Psychometrics (distributor in South Africa) is a diverse assessment tool provider, supporting clients with different levels of scientific research solutions. Everything from test validation to data analytics to qualitative research options could prove to be valuable sales opportunities for other distributors as well. JvR recommends pitching research as an option for clients and partnering with other firms to add value to long-standing client relationships.

Hogan appreciates everyone’s participation and willingness to share their expertise. We look forward to what 2021 will bring for our distributor network!

The third annual International Coach Federation German Prism Award was granted to SAP, the largest European software company, during a virtual celebration of Coaching Day on November 12, 2020. Sponsored by RELEVANT Managementberatung (an authorized distributor of Hogan Assessments), the award honors special coaching offerings in organizations and recognizes the work of human resources professionals, as well as companies that embody a strong coaching culture.

The groundwork for the SAP Global Coaching Program was laid several years ago. The Prism Award 2020 is now the reward for many years of work by SAP’s dedicated team in human resources and organizational development. The SAP Coaching Team, which has already been awarded with an honorable mention for the ICF’s global Prism Award, is now delighted to receive the Prism Award from ICF Germany as recognition.

The dynamic HR team has been demonstrating openness to innovation and growth within the company itself for years. With self-reflection and sustainability, the SAP Coach Community is committed to “employee empowerment” and thus offers room for the development of a coaching culture within the company. SAP has high standards with regard to the development and further expansion of its offerings and is strongly committed to the training and certification of coaches.

In his laudation, René Kusch, PhD, founder of RELEVANT Managementberatung, expressed appreciation for SAP’s Global Coaching Program: “SAP is not only a pioneer in the development of software, but also in the development of employees, which started as a grassroots movement. You see coaching as an investment that can help to provide people with an interface for important questions. I am deeply convinced that support in crises and coaching of employees is increasingly becoming a competitive advantage.”

Dr. Kusch emphasized these special features of SAP’s Global Coaching Program:

• Coaches have a very high degree of self-guidance in their training and education with weekly training sessions, information events, peer consulting, supervision, and mentor coaching in some cases.
• Coaches have access to a global coaching community, along with an ambassador network for local support.
• The program includes a combination of trained internal line managers and external coaches.
• Employees with and without management responsibility can call on coaching.
• Coaches have an open-ended mandate to discuss private issues.
• Coaching is free of charge for employees.
• Quality control of external and internal coaches is conducted.
• A range of criteria is used for continuous development.

All who attended the virtual awards ceremony will have fond memories of the lively presentation by the SAP executives. In the very lively Q&A session that followed the presentation, the lighthouse function of the SAP Global Coaching Program became clear once again.

The values that drive our decisions are the most intimate part of personality. When we speak of values, we do not refer to universal moral principles, such as integrity, respect, or solidarity, but more specific qualities that are shaped by culture, upbringing, and more.

As pillars in our decision-making, our core values and beliefs determine the type of environment we strive to cultivate at work, the people with whom we prefer to associate, and the kinds of attitudes and behaviors we find distressing or dislikable. Hogan’s Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI) measures several highly influential values on 10 scales: Recognition, Power, Hedonism, Altruistic, Affiliation, Tradition, Security, Commerce, Aesthetics, and Science.

The Leader in Times of Crisis Program

As part of the Leader in Times of Crisis program, Hogan’s strategic partner Thuoper collaborated with the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce to study the personality traits of more than 200 CEOs in Colombia. The program’s main objective was to help leaders achieve a higher level of strategic self-awareness, understand how to manage the crisis, and emerge stronger than before.

As part of the program, the CEOs completed Hogan’s personality tests — the Hogan Personality Inventory, the Hogan Development Survey, and the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory — and attended a webinar during which Liliana López, CEO of Thuoper and expert in organizational leadership, explained the methodology and key personality characteristics for handling crisis effectively.

Subsequently, Thuoper’s research and development team analyzed the CEOs’ personality test results and found important patterns between their results and their companies’ economic sectors. This article, the third in a three-part series, will focus on how the CEOs scored on the MVPI.

Financial

In the financial sector, we found Power and Altruistic to be the CEOs’ main values ​​or motivators. The Power scale refers to the desire for success, achievement, and control. This is an unsurprising finding in a sector where status is valued. On the contrary, it was surprising to find Altruistic to be one of the top scales in this sector. The Altruistic scale refers to the desire to help others and contribute to the betterment of society. This finding refutes the general perception that the financial sector is one of the most greedy and least altruistic; its CEOs demonstrate interest in the well-being of others.

Industrial

What we found in the industrial sector was expected. Altruistic, Security, and Commerce were the main MVPI scales on which CEOs scored high. Many companies in this sector demonstrate a growing interest in care for the environment and dialogue with impacted communities, suggesting altruism in the sector’s leaders. Security is the scale that refers to the need for stability, safety, and the minimization of risks, which is totally relevant for this sector, since it poses greater risk to the physical well-being of its employees. Commerce is about interest in making money, making investments, and finding business opportunities. The industrial sector is one of the largest sectors and is among those hit hardest by the COVID-19 crisis, so the ability of its leaders to focus on financial results and generate new business to survive is vital.

Health

CEOs in the health sector, one of the most relevant at this time, scored high on Recognition, Power, and Altruistic. The importance of Recognition, which has to do with the desire for public attention, approval, and congratulations, is not surprising. In a sector where competition is high, the circumstances of the pandemic only increase the need for organizations to maintain good reputations. Like the financial sector, the health sector is characterized by high social standards, so that the CEOs tended to score high on the Power scale was not a surprise either. However, balance is maintained with the CEOs’ high scores on Altruistic, since the ultimate goal of a company in this sector is the collective good.

Services

In the services sector, CEOs tend to value Security and Commerce. This sector traditionally has been very conservative in its proposals to the market, hence the value for security. But obviously, this is also one of the sectors hit hardest economically by the pandemic, so the CEOs’ high scores on Commerce, in combination with Security, suggest a desire to stay in a known area but with the mentality of searching for monetization opportunities.

Technology

As for the technology sector, Altruistic and Security were the scales with the most high scores. This goes hand in hand with the widespread perception that companies in this sector are creating technology beneficial to society and vulnerable populations. The CEOs’ scores on Security are not a surprise, either — the leaders of this sector must be constantly alert to possible cyberattacks, which happen more often than we think.

Textiles, Transportation, and Tourism

The textiles sector did not offer any new impressions regarding CEOs’ highest values, ​​in general. Altruistic, Security, and Commerce represent the most recurring values ​​among the leaders whose results we analyzed. The same happened with the transportation and tourism sectors, although the latter showed an important and interesting difference: the leaders of this sector had Aesthetics among their highest values. The Aesthetics scale refers to the need for self-expression and concern for the quality and appearance of work products. Bringing this definition to the reality of this industry, we can conclude that one of the things that most interests the leaders of the tourism sector is keeping their hotels or tourist sites attractive, even during the pandemic.

*This post was authored by Sara Ruiz, Research and Development Talent Management Model Lead at THUOPER, Hogan’s authorized distributor in Colombia. 

Hogan’s distributor, RELEVANT Managementberatung, is partnering with the Germany chapter of the International Coach Federation to present the third annual German Prism Award.

The German Prism Award is awarded to companies making a difference in the coaching community through professionalism, quality, and data. The selection process and criteria were modeled after ICF’s International Prism Award, which is granted annually to companies that stand out by establishing a coaching culture with extraordinary results in difficult change processes. Those nominated are coaching programs that have innovative concepts or have made a significant contribution to achieving corporate goals. The nominees are tasked with providing insight into how their coaching programs contribute to the achievement of important corporate goals and advance the coaching profession.

“We are honored to be able to sponsor this prestigious award for the third consecutive year,” said RELEVANT owner, René Kusch, PhD. “Last year’s event was a huge success, and we look forward to replicating that again in the virtual world this year.”

The winner of the ICF German Prism Award for excellent coaching is certain: It is SAP, Europe’s largest software company.

The independent jury of experts — consisting of scientists, previous Prism Award winners, human resources managers and experienced coaches — spoke out in favor of the coaching program from SAP because its young and dynamic team has been open to innovation and growth for years. The SAP coach community is committed to employee empowerment through self-reflection and sustainability, thus providing space for the development of a coaching culture within the company.

As always, the award will be presented at Coaching Day during a festive gala, which will be held online this year on November 12, 2020.

Mindfulness has been around the world for centuries. For roughly 40 years and popularized by Jon Kabat-Zinn in the west, it’s been taught as a set of practices to increase insight, manage pain, and reduce stress. Also known as present-moment awareness, mindfulness has become a bright, shiny object in business literature and, to a growing extent, in research. Everyone is, to some extent, mindful. Hogan practitioner Chris Altizer, Hogan’s Brandon Ferrell, and PhD candidate Alessa Natale explored the question: Is trait mindfulness related to personality? Here’s the answer from their study recently published in Consulting Psychology Journal and covered by Forbes Magazine.

What We Did

This project began in 2016 with Altizer interviewing 17 Hogan coaches on the topics of mindfulness and personality, generating several hypotheses. In 2017 and 2019, we asked two sets of working adults to take the HPI, HDS, and MVPI and two commonly used mindfulness assessments, the Mindfulness Awareness Attention Scale (MAAS) and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ).

What We Found

We found eight scales significantly related to one or more of the mindfulness scales across the two samples. HDS Cautious had the strongest correlations across the mindfulness scales, followed by HPI Adjustment, HPI Ambition, HDS Leisurely, and HDS Excitable. We found other interesting relationships between Hogan scales and different facets of the FFMQ. We present a summary of the results below.

What It Means

We discuss potential ways to integrate mindfulness practices into the coaching of different personality profiles in the article. These profiles reflect themes of higher emotional reactivity, distractible attention, and a lack of awareness, including awareness of self, of others, and of self-on-others. For example

• Low Adjustment or high Excitable – and especially in combination – may benefit from practices designed to create a pause between perception and reaction.
• High Cautious, especially in combination with low Adjustment, may benefit from practices designed to increase insight and reduce anxiety.
• Practices designed to increase awareness may benefit moderate- or high-risk Moving Against cluster profiles, particularly for the highly Adjusted, whose confidence may increase their risk of dominating others with less concern.

We also suggest that different personality profiles are likely to be open to different mindfulness practices. Some may be inclined toward various forms of meditation, and others to forms of dialogue or breathing practices. Of course, some will likely reject mindfulness at face value but may be open to practices like journaling, deliberate movement, or intentional eating. A key to understanding the application of mindfulness practices is that they are developable competencies – there’s no magic, therapy, or religious conversion, as Altizer wrote inMindfulness: performance, wellness, or fad? published in Strategic HR Review (2017).

Summary

There is no “silver bullet” practice that suits all profiles or people, which will likely come as no surprise to Hogan coaches regardless of their knowledge of mindfulness. As to integrating mindfulness as part of a development strategy, just as we bring in experts to build certain skills, coaching a client toward mindfulness practices may be best done by recommending a formal course, such as Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, or, for the more adept, guided self-study on one of the many available device-apps. There are as many paths to mindfulness as there are different personality profiles. Coaches and consultants are encouraged to explore mindfulness practices as an option for developing leaders and choose based on what they learn on the journey. The journey is the destination – as challenging as that can be for some personalities, some more than others.

In August, Hogan published the first of a two-part blog series about accelerating team performance. If you recall, we shared the importance of adapting by creating new strategies or running the risk of having an ineffective, unproductive, and misaligned team as a result of our changing environment. In this blog, I will discuss common challenges that teams are facing today. In support of these challenges, Hogan has developed a framework to enable teams to navigate complex dynamics quickly and focus confidently on what will accelerate their performance. The Team Acceleration framework guides teams through a process of self-reflection, discovery, and shared accountability, so they can move through the challenges posed by our changing environment and achieve higher levels of performance.

Some common challenges teams are facing include the following:

1. Dispersal – Teams that were once co-located are now dispersed and working virtually.
2. New team composition – Teams have lost members or added new members due to layoffs and reorganization.
3. New priorities – Teams have been asked to put annual business plans aside and focus efforts on new priorities.

Strategies to Improve Team Function

At Hogan, we believe that Team Acceleration can accelerate your team’s long-term performance. If your team has experienced one (or more) of the common challenges facing team functioning, you may want to consider trying these strategies to improve team function.

Acknowledge the Impact

Reaffirm trust by having open and honest dialogue about the impact of the change.

Dispersed – Discuss the advantages and challenges of working virtually, personally and professionally. What have you enjoyed? What have you found to be difficult? What has been the impact on your team? What does the team need in order to continue operating effectively?  

New team ­- Discuss how work has been reallocated and how the team can ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities across team members. Share ideas on how to effectively onboard new team members. 

New priorities – Re-evaluate the work the team has been doing versus the work the team should be doing. Rethink and redefine the team’s value proposition: “Our team is here to accomplish [fill in the blank]. Our team is here to serve [fill in the blank].”

Revisit Team Values and the Culture Values Create

Identify team values and potential gaps in organizational culture, now and for the future.

Dispersed – Re-evaluate the needs of the team and strategies for how the team’s values will be fulfilled in the new working environment. For example, a high Affiliation team (one that values collaboration), might want to explore different approaches or technologies to support team-based tasks.

New team – Discuss how the culture of the team may have changed with the addition of new team members. What the team values now might not be the same as before. 

New priorities – Discuss alignment between new priorities and team values to ensure that the team is continuing to do work that is valuable for both the members and the organization.

Adjust Team Norms

Connect the impact of the change the team is facing with the team values and culture to inform effective team behavior and norms.

Dispersed – Focus on interpersonal norms, such as belonging, collaboration, and communication, to build and maintain strong relationships among the members of the team. Discuss how the team operates today versus how the team would operate in its ideal state.

New team – Spend time getting to know the new members of the team. Encourage an environment of belonging where team members understand how they fit into the team.

New priorities – Discuss the skills and abilities of the new members and determine how to leverage them according to the new priorities. Ask the team, “How can we work together in the right way to drive a higher level of team performance?”

Practice Adaptability

Respond to the changing needs of the business by rethinking your team’s goals and exploring behaviors that may interfere with the team’s ability to lead through change and proactively prepare for new challenges.

Dispersed – Identify opportunities to expand collaboration across transitional boundaries of expertise.

New team -Build in a regular cadence for the members of the team to discuss what they are working on and how their work fits in with the team’s goals and the organization’s business objectives.

New priorities – Encourage an open dialogue with your team and ask, “What do we need to start doing, continue doing, or stop doing?”

Regardless of the challenge your team is facing, spending time realigning the team’s values and norms, recommitting to desired behaviors, and remaining agile and adaptable can make all the difference in your team’s ability to remain effective and competitive in our constantly changing environment.

Now is the time to accelerate your team’s effectiveness and continue to raise its level of performance, even in the face of change. Using the strategies discussed in this blog and Hogan’s Team Acceleration framework, create new habits for yourself and your team so your team will be well positioned to achieve its goals, operate at its optimal level, and win in the marketplace.

*This post was co-authored by Hogan’s Erin Laxson, Holly Paine Magnuson, and Jessie McClure.