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.

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.

Hogan Assessments is proud to introduce the official Hogan WeChat account. Used by most companies with a footprint in the China market, WeChat is a multipurpose app developed by Tencent with more than one billion active users who span the globe.

Hogan’s WeChat account will feature unique articles, written in Simplified Chinese, about Hogan and personality assessments with the goal of educating the China market and Chinese audiences about the Hogan’s talent management solutions.

In addition, Hogan will also use the WeChat account to support China-based distributors — including Optimal Consulting, Mobley Group Pacific, Empower Leaders, Edge Consulting, and Infelligent — by linking to their WeChat accounts, publishing their contact information and certification workshop dates, and by republishing and linking to their unique Hogan-focused articles.

Hogan is committed to supporting distributors in the Asia-Pacific markets and will continue to provide education about Hogan and personality assessments across the region.

To follow the Hogan WeChat account, please scan the QR code in this post or add the Hogan WeChat ID: HoganAssessments.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 became a serious health threat all over the world and everyone was forced to lock up at home in self-quarantine, it was clear that everyday routine – going to work included – was abruptly interrupted for an indefinite period of time.

In this moment of discontinuity and need to forcedly reorganize our own daily activities, many of us have started reading, studying, participating in trainings – activities that until this very moment have been frequently neglected – to fill up all that time that suddenly is free.

Everyone at Awair thought of what their extended community must have been feeling and the need to do something to virtually shorten the distance grew stronger. A webinar series was eventually born to share some knowledge on psychometric tools and Hogan Assessments with a focus on the uncertainty and the stress that comes with it, packed with practical tools to cope with the emerging crisis.

Awair’s series of webinars aims at taking a pause within the pause, to breathe and grow awareness of what is happening around and within us; to reflect and to equip ourselves to cope with the crisis and get ready for the future.

With the support of the Hogan tools, this series represents an excellent starting point to learn more about our own personality, or how we handle stressful circumstances, or how we can re-focus on our deepest values to realign ourselves with our motivations to go on. However, it is also a valuable opportunity to learn new methods to keep “hanging on” in complex situations, or to develop our own way to make sense of an experience and tell the “right” story.

The first episode of this series is “Personality 101”

Dimitra Kakaraki, Senior Consultant of Awair, Psychologist, and Cognitive Behavior Therapist, gives us an overview of Awair’s leadership and potential assessment model based on Hogan’s assessments. She shares the principles of Hogan’s personality analysis applied to the organizational context with strong emphasis on the concept of reputation. This is the kind of evaluation that facilitates growing self-awareness and a deeper understanding our own individual journey.

The second episode is “The Dark Side of Personality: Self-Analysis at the Time of COVID-19”

Andrea Facchini, Partner of Awair, Business Psychologist, and Executive Coach, guides us through the dark side of our personality. Using Hogan’s HDS model, he highlights and illustrates behaviors that emerge in stressful situations that respond to the primal instincts of flight, fight, and freeze and that might derail our business relationships and impact our careers negatively. The COVID-19 pandemic is currently a significant source of stress, and it is good to have someone who helps us navigate them and grow more self-aware.

The third episode is “What Really Matters: The Relevance of Values and Preferences”

Andrea Facchini, Partner of Awair, Business Psychologist, and Executive Coach, gives us a compass so that we do not lose sight of what matters the most to each one of us. Using Hogan’s MVPI model, he facilitates the understanding of what gives us satisfaction and energy or, on the contrary, takes the wind out of our sails and demotivates us.

Under pressure and in wearing times such as these, we might give more importance to basic priorities and to survival instincts, pushing our values and preferences to a far-off corner of our mind, but these represent the beacon that guides the decisions of our lives and wellbeing, of our careers and our relationships, helping us make a sense of everything.

The fourth episode is “Mental Toughness & Resilience”

Andrea Facchini, Partner of Awair, Business Psychologist, and Executive Coach, explores two concepts borrowed from sports “mental toughness” and “resilience.” They echo that kind of attitude that helps champions emerge exactly when everyone else is “slacking off.” He shares some practical tools to develop a mindset able to keep the performance level high, even in the most unfavorable circumstances.

The fifth episode is “Storytelling: A Journey to Self-Discovery”

Alberto De Biasi, Executive Consultant of Awair and Learning and Leadership Expert, starts from an interesting premise: from new challenges, we can always learn something about ourselves, the others, and the world. These times are accelerating the collective process of learning and discovery that needs words to really sink in. Yet, it is not always easy to name emotions, to shape thoughts, to straighten them up, and express them in a clear, engaging, and memorable way. He provides insights on storytelling principles, elements, and techniques to help us tell our stories.

A new season is currently in the making, with more episodes available soon on Awair’s website and social media accounts.

All the episodes are available on Awair’s YouTube channel.

*This is a guest post provided by Awair, Authorized Hogan Distributor. 

For the fourth year in a row, the Financial Times compiled with Statista, an independent research company based in Germany, FT 1000 – the annual list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies. This list includes European companies that achieved the highest compound annual growth rate in revenue between 2015 and 2018. The ranking suggests that the most nimble and innovative companies are thriving.

Competition at the top was tougher this year, with companies requiring a minimum growth rate of 38.4% to make the list, compared with 37.7% last year.

The ranking reflects the growing importance of technology, which dominates the list with 189 entrants. Most winners come from Germany, closely followed by Italy, the UK, and France, with these four nations accounting for about 70% of the overall ranking. Although London retains its lead as the city with the greatest number of fast-growing companies, Paris and Milan follow closely, while Warsaw and Vilnius make the top 10 for the first time.

Landing a place halfway through the ranking comes shortly after achieving the 89th place in the Italian 400 fastest-growing companies list, a ranking compiled by Il Sole 24 Ore, the Italian financial newspaper of reference, in collaboration with Statista. This list includes small/medium companies with the highest compound annual growth rate in revenue, led by organic business development supported by robust organizational skills and execution.

In the words of the Co-Founders and Partners of Awair, Gianfranco Gennaro, Francesca Antonini, and Andrea Facchini, “it would be unfair to celebrate this milestone without acknowledging the outstanding support that Hogan Assessments has given our company since day one. When we became a Hogan Authorized Distributor in 2015, Italy was yet uncharted land, but organizations and Independent Consultants have fallen rapidly in love with such a broad range of science-based, data-driven, and highly predictive tools.”

The FT 1000 list demonstrates that despite the array of obstacles to growth in recent years in Europe stemming from economic uncertainties in the Western Markets, growth is still possible. Customers reward trusted business partners such as Awair when they recognize clear thought leadership, outstanding quality of services and products, flawless execution, as well as client service.

*This is a guest blog post authored by Giulia Sacchi, marketing & communications coordinator at Awair.

Hogan distributor, Authentic Talent Consulting, hosted a conference titled “Recruiting Leaders: Why do we make bad hires?” on October 15 at The Opera Patio in Paris featuring Dr. Robert Hogan. Speaking to an audience of 60 leading HR professionals, Dr. Hogan’s talk focused on the importance of humility in leadership.

In his presentation, Dr. Hogan pointed out that the reasons organizations have traditionally promoted charismatic individuals into leadership roles is because there has been a false vision of leadership since the 1970s. We have lived in a culture where charisma is the desired quality when it comes to leadership. However, what organizations fail to understand is the difference between leadership emergence and leadership effectiveness. Although charismatic employees tend to emerge as leaders in their organizations, new studies show that humble individuals are much more effective, which results in stronger employee engagement and organizational performance.

Prior to Dr. Hogan’s presentation, Chloë Touati, co-founder of Authentic Talent Consulting, spoke to the audience about how organizations make mistakes in hiring and identifying leaders because they focus too much on competencies and not enough on values. She outlined three primary ways companies can find the right match between a candidate’s values and their own:

• Organizations need to develop a strong understanding of their values and be honest about them with candidates. Just because a company has its values listed on its website or office walls doesn’t mean it’s the truth. Organizations need to truly know their values and be open and authentic when communicating with candidates.
• Companies all over the world use personality assessments to predict performance, but it’s also important to use assessments that measure values.
• Organizations should stop recruiting people who are all alike. Instead, they should hire people with the values that match the desired organizational culture.

Also speaking at the event were two clients of Authentic Talent Consulting. Their session focused on how they use Hogan’s assessments for leadership development and identifying leaders who are a good cultural fit for their organizations. They also spoke to the audience about the importance of derailers and how they can negatively impact organizational and team performance.

Overall, the event was a huge success, and those in attendance got an in-depth look at how using Hogan the right way can have a significant impact on organizations all over the world. Here’s a video recap of the event:

A&D Resources, the authorized Hogan Assessments distributor in Denmark and Benelux, is expanding its business operations into Finland, Norway, and Sweden, making it the premiere Hogan distributor in the region.

Specializing in the assessment and development of individuals, teams and organizations, A&D is considered the leading assessment firm in Denmark. This expansion into the Nordics can largely be attributed to the organization’s history of success in the surrounding region and also because of its work globally.

“We are fortunate to have a strong reputation within our industry, whether we’re in Denmark, Benelux, or beyond, and that’s because we deliver results,” says Hans Ove Dahl, A&D’s managing director. “We’re firm believers that if you build a talented team using Hogan’s assessments, which are widely considered the most predictive assessments for workplace performance, you’ll have a competitive advantage that other organizations simply can’t match.”

A&D partnered with Hogan in 2002, and has since experienced rapid growth, both in the size of the organization and its geographic footprint. Originally operating only in Denmark, A&D made the strategic move to expand its offerings into Benelux in recent years. This new expansion into the Nordics further solidifies its presence in northern Europe.

Scott Gregory, CEO of Hogan Assessments, believes this new development will be mutually beneficial for both Hogan and A&D.

“At Hogan, we have a robust network of distributors all over the globe, and A&D has been there with us since the very early days,” says Gregory. “As that relationship developed and strengthened over time, we began to find new and innovative ways to help each other grow our businesses. This is another example of our collaborative efforts to improve the global workforce through the use of valid, scientific assessments for employee selection and development.”

A&D plans to be operational in all three Nordic countries in the coming weeks and expects this to be a seamless transition.

“Our expansion into the Benelux countries helped to prepare us for entering into new markets,” says Dahl. “It’s obviously a very exciting time for our organization, and we look forward to working with our new friends in the Nordic region.”

For years, organizations across the globe have notoriously and foolishly promoted charismatic individuals into leadership roles, only to see these clever office politicians fail time and time again.

In response to this global epidemic, RELEVANT Managementberatung and Hogan recently collaborated on a new article titled “Our View on New Leadership: How to Grow Humility in Charismatic Leaders.” The article, which will be accessible to RELEVANT’s newsletter subscribers first, was co-authored by RELEVANT Founder Dr. René Kusch, RELEVANT Senior Consultant Annette B. Czernik, Dr. Robert Hogan, and Dr. Ryne Sherman. It provides an in-depth look, backed by years of data, at why humble, driven leaders are more successful than their charismatic counterparts. Here’s an abstract of the article:

Emergent leaders, the ones that get noticed, promoted, and pampered in their organizations, typically exhibit strong self-confidence, decisiveness, and visionary thinking – which are not bad things. These characteristics are related to charisma. Too much might be as unacceptable as too little, though. Charisma has a dark side; it is linked to narcissism, and narcissism comes with disastrous side effects. 

Multiple studies have revealed that it is humility in leadership that ensures results, productivity, and effectiveness of an organization. Humility is a personality trait that is not glamorous at all, and often overlooked. Yet, it seems what many companies are missing in their endeavors to face and cope with the exigencies the 4^th industrial revolution is presenting. According to their conversation on leadership 4.0 at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting of the new champions, working with millennials, leaders say humility works better than bossing around (Vanham, 2019). Today, there are fewer possibilities for dysfunctional narcissistic leaders to mask or coat their misconduct. It is a huge opportunity for HR departments to make identifying humble leaders and developing humility in charismatic leaders a priority.

The article outlines in great detail the reasons why charismatic leaders fail at an alarming rate, and how humble leaders are critical to organizational success. Click here to access the full-length version.

Hogan is proud to officially announce the addition of RELEVANT Management Consulting to the Hogan International Distributor Network. Hogan has an intense focus for helping individuals, teams, and companies across the globe be the best they can be, and we are so happy to have RELEVANT improving our reach throughout Europe and beyond.

Leading this charge is RELEVANT owner, Dr.René Kusch, a renowned psychologist that is known for being a go-to Hogan Expert in German-speaking countries. Dr. Kusch has been working with Hogan Assessments since 2008 and is also a member of the global Hogan Coaching Network. He exemplifies the hardworking, but still hedonistic spirit of Hogan with his workplace mantra of “Relevance arises where goal-orientation, effectiveness, and fun come together.”

Together with Sarah Asskamp, Head of Operations, and their 10 consultants, RELEVANT consults global German organizations, but also supports consultancies, coaches, and trainers to develop, offer, and implement solutions for their own customers. Additionally, RELEVANT has already been working with other Hogan partners, distributors, and clients from all over the world for many years.

“Their contributions and experience have led to the implementation and execution of a wide range of projects,” said Dustin Hunter, Hogan’s Practice Manager of the Hogan International Distributor Network. “I’m proud of our team’s hard work in securing more world-class distributors like RELEVANT every year. It’s incredible to know that we are making a huge difference for companies all over the world from our global headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma.”

RELEVANT is also extending Hogan’s collaboration with the International Coach Federation with the German Chapter and together we are sponsoring the first German Prism award for a coaching program with outstanding effectiveness and sustainability.

In addition to providing consulting services that leverage the predictive power of Hogan’s assessments for individuals and teams, RELEVANT also facilitates Hogan Certification Workshops throughout Germany, with 10 already scheduled from September 2018 to July 2019.

Sarah Asskamp, who directs the training program, says: “The impact we can have on the European workforce is far greater if we are able to educate and train HR practitioners, talent management professionals,coaches, consultants, and trainers to implement Hogan’s assessments.”

Kusch agrees: “As the saying goes, ‘give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.’”

For more information about RELEVANT Management Consulting, visit http://www.relevantmanagementconsulting.com/hogan/.