17/05
Category: Sue's Blog

In his regular column, Reg Garters (The Press, 04/02/2012) talks of the benefits of regularly reviewing one's personal and working life in the key areas of: physical, mental, family, spiritual, financial, social, community and business. He suggests after completing the review, to jot down the findings in an annual report to oneself. It's a great idea, as it encourages us to check the balance in our lives and to see where and what we are spending our energy and time on. It can show us where we may be excessive or deficient in some areas. The analysis can encourage us to make any changes we need and want to make.

10/05
Category: Sue's Blog

Applications for next year's fellowships are invited by 31 July 2012. The Winston Churchill Trust enables a small number of Fellows each year to travel overseas and pursue ideas that will have a benefit to them and the wider community. For details contact Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, P.O. Box 805, Wellington. Phone 0800 824 824  Email: trusts@dia.govt.nz

03/05
Category: Sue's Blog

Another natty assessment is the Birkman Method® which examines aspects of behaviours and the motivations that influence them. The Birkman Method® questionnaire contains a total of 295 questions (!) and elicits success factors intrinsic to each individual and provides information that illustrates how people interact with one another. Moreover, the assessment predicts how people can effectively contribute to an organisation's goals. This assessment can be completed online or through a paper questionnaire.

 

26/04
Category: Sue's Blog

The PIA&V assessment (Personal Interests, Attitudes and Values) used today is based on research done in 1928. The assessment measures the ‘why' of behaviour and helps individuals discover their personal motivators by identifying their attitudes, beliefs and values. It is a person's attitude, beliefs and values that move them into action, so the PIA&V focuses on why people act in the way they do.

19/04
Category: Sue's Blog

I'm often struck by the numbers of different assessments employees are put through as part of recruitment processes and then, once in an organisation, as part of ongoing team building processes or self development initiatives. Assessments are great tools to understand why we are as we are; and the conditions that enable us to be at our best or worst. It's great for teams to know the different ‘types' within the team and how to use the strengths of everyone's different personalities, to best advantage. The important thing once individuals or teams are assessed is to do something with the learnings so they're talked about, applied, reflected upon and talked about some more. This way, the return on the original investment increases, for individuals and the organisation.

12/04
Category: Sue's Blog
FIRO-B stands for Fundamental Interpersonal Relationships Orientation - Behaviour. It is an assessment designed to see how an individual's personal needs impact on their behaviours towards other people. The measurement is in two different dimensions: expressed behaviour and behaviour desired from others. In essence, this assessment measures how we would usually behave with others and how we expect others to behave towards us. It's designed to help us see ourselves, based on our own interpersonal needs. It provides feedback in assessing our needs for inclusion, control and affection.
05/04
Category: Sue's Blog
Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung observed human behaviour follows identifiable patterns that develop from the structure of the mind. Jung believed that when the mind was active, people were doing one of two things: perceiving (as in, taking in information) or judging (organising and prioritising the incoming information, to arrive at decisions). He believed everyone uses these mental processes and people are born with preferences for how they use them. Moreover, he identified two very different ways that people perceive and judge: perception may be by sensing or intuition; and judgement may be by thinking or feeling. What does this really mean for us? Our underlying preferences for one way of perceiving and one way of judging information influences the kind of information we are most likely to pay attention to and the process we use when making decisions. Jung also identified two opposite orientations that we take toward the world - namely, introversion and extroversion.
29/03
Category: Sue's Blog
I hate to disappoint but this battery isn't a measure of your firearm skills in the Scottish Highlands but rather, it is an assessment that measures one's natural abilities including: inductive and deductive reasoning, spatial abilities, visual and musical abilities and learning channels, as well as personal style factors. It is one assessment, amongst many, designed to support individuals in their career development; and it enables managers to compare individuals with the known characteristics of a successful team and see how individuals and groups may behave under stress.
22/03
Category: Sue's Blog

There are hundreds of assessment tools available now to individuals, recruiters and human resources personnel, thanks to some early work that started in 444 BC. At this time, Empodocles, the founder of the school of medicine in Sicily, categorised behavioural elements in terms of earth, air, fire and water. About 100 years later, Hippocrates determined that four ‘humours' of blood, yellow bile, phlegm and black bile were each thought to be responsible for a different type of personality. Over the centuries some of these descriptors have changed, however the work to understand people and how they tick, continues. Carl Jung, in 1923, described people's ‘types' in terms of Feeler, Intuitor, Thinker and Sensor - the foundation for the Myer's Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The basis for the DiSC assessment emerged from William Marston and his research on the emotions of people, in 1928.

15/03
Category: Sue's Blog
According to Joyce Russell (The Press, 03/03/2012, p.F1), "career resilient workers are more employable because they have positive and flexible attitudes; are adaptable to change; are willing to take risks and they engage in continuous learning". Russell suggests the key to being career resilient is for people to take control of their own career; to keep their skills relevant; be prepared to undergo a career makeover and be prepared to periodically reinvent themselves if they're looking to make a career transition or switch. It's all great advice, so how career resilient are you? How do you stack up to her list?