Hybrid work is a blend of remote and in-office work, and it’s one many CEOs are eyeing as the workforce transitions back to “normal.” A PwC survey of over 650 CEOs, saw 78% agree that remote collaboration is here to stay long-term.

As the world moves to a remote or hybrid model, leaders are tasked with finding the best ways to hire, manage, and coach their remote workforce, wherever they might be. Let’s look at trends emerging today throughout the world as remote and hybrid models become necessary for many organizations.

Fully remote? Fully in-office? Somewhere in between? No matter your situation, here are some #coaching and #managing tips from @CaliperCorp, no matter your office environment.
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Is your office preparing to return to the workplace? @CaliperCorp has advice on how #leadership can make all the difference making sure employees #ReturnToWork safely and effectively. Learn more on the blog:
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Facilitating the Return to the Workplace

More so than normal, leaders must be present, communicative, and strong in order to facilitate employees returning to the office. There may be an excess of caution, some nervousness, and some uncertainty as to how things will have changed in the wake of the pandemic.

Before managers can effectively lead their teams, they need to take a moment to understand what’s ahead of them and the best way to address it. The Selection Report for the Crisis and Recovery Leadership job model details how an individual aligns with the core competencies required to successfully lead, while maintaining morale and productivity, especially when there are many lingering questions. The ability to anticipate and prepare for what’s in store will help leaders be more effective in a smooth transition back into the workplace. Important competencies that help employees feel safe and heard include:

• Active Listening
• Decisiveness
• Communication
• Planning
• Priority Setting
• Adaptability
• Composure

Recovering from Crisis

Good crisis leaders use empathy, active listening, and communication to identify the best ways to help employees feel comfortable, safe, and heard upon their return. When leaders build strong, trusting relationships with their employees throughout the crisis, their team is more likely to help them iron things out and build new processes as things return to normal.

Recovery requires leaders to see what was working before that needs to remain, what no longer works and needs to be replaced, and what organically occurred that can help them in the future. It requires perceptiveness, problem solving, and action in order to make it happen. They need to be agile, perceptive, organized, and remain composed as things may not always go according to plan. The ability to be adaptive without hesitating to make key decisions makes for confident leadership that employees can turn to for guidance and support during stressful and ever-changing situations.

What If They Don’t Want to Return?

Understandably, there will be some employees who are uncomfortable with returning to the office. Perhaps they have small children and no child care has opened yet. Perhaps they are the sole caregiver to an elderly family member. Perhaps they themselves are high risk. Perhaps they simply do not feel safe returning to the workplace. There are valid reasons why people would want to opt out of returning from work-from-home, and those employees should be heard.

What do you do when employees don't want to return to the office? @CaliperCorp has advice for crisis and recovery leaders who can help individuals #ReturnToWork safely, comfortably, and with confidence. Here's how:
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Examine the policies your company has put in place for returning to the workplace. Is there an opt-out option available to employees? Are there alternate accommodations that can be made for those under extenuating circumstances? Right now, listening to the concerns of employees is of the utmost importance. Be sure that every individual feels heard, understood, and that an agreement can be reached that is acceptable and beneficial to everyone involved. Leaders may be the go-between in this case, where they act as advocates for employees, which means communication and negotiation skills are critical at this time.

What If Another Shutdown Happens?

One of the largest challenges of this moment is that things can change quickly, and with little warning. As some states begin to reopen, others are halting their reopening efforts, and some may be shutting down once again. The only certainty is that there is nothing to be certain about. Plans put in place today may no longer be the plan that works tomorrow. Be sure leaders understand every contingency plan, every alternate accommodations possible, and which scenarios lead to which response plans.

Communication will once again be a critical need as situations change and the rules and policies fluctuate to ensure the health and safety of employees. Be sure to inform employees every step of the way, let them know what to expect given each contingency and every level of warning should cases grow in their region. Do they know what happens if there’s a spike in cases or an outbreak in their region? Do they know what happens if the state reinstates a shutdown? Do they know what happens if things continue to improve? Open communication, answering questions, and keeping employees informed and in the loop will be the top priority during the next few months as things are in flux.

Knowing which competencies to lean on in an unpredictable and unprecedented crisis can be a considerable challenge, but by better understanding your leaders and their behavioral strengths can help your organization better facilitate and manage the transition bringing employees from work-from-home back into the workplace. For more information about the Caliper Profile and how it can help shape your crisis & recovery leadership strategy, reach out to our experts today to get started.

One way employers can accomplish this is by leveraging their greatest asset: their people. If employers are hesitant to add to their teams without knowing the future of their revenue stream, getting to know the skills and talent that already exist within the company is an effective and economical way to get the make the most out of what you have, even when times are tight. A little creativity can go a long way. Now is the time to work smarter, not harder.

Looking for a way your company can get through hard times? @CaliperCorp says look no further than your people. The best asset is one you already have, and #PersonalityAssessments can help you leverage it better during a crisis.
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The Power is in Personality

Before you can get creative, you must first seek to understand your employees’ strengths, abilities, natural tendencies, and unique personality traits. Get to know what drives each person, where their interests are, and what motivates them. A motivated employee is one who can reach their full potential — even during times of adversity.  The more managers understand about their teams —  and the more employees understand themselves — the more accurately they can find the roles and tasks that make their people happy.

By targeting these things, managers can rearrange, reassign, and reorganize how work is approached, tackled, and completed. Teams may be smaller, but they’re working together and working effectively. When you understand how personality affects learning, behavior, and production, you can identify roles that work with those personality traits to cover any gaps during uncertain or stressful times.

Lean on Your Teams

Understanding the innate abilities and strengths of your teams helps managers manage better, coworkers understand each other more, and individuals do work that serves them. Consider your business goals and align them with the talent you have, and then determine how you can leverage your talent to accomplish what’s important. Some of the key competencies to look for and leverage during times of crisis include:

• Empathy: An empathic person considers how the things they say and do affect others, and in times of crisis, they consider what others are going through. Everyone is in this together, but everyone’s situations are unique. Some coworkers will have children or elderly family at home to care for. Some coworkers may fall ill. Whatever the situation, an empathetic employee knows that everyone’s experience is different, and they’ll handle change with grace and respect.
• Urgency: A person with urgency feels compelled to complete a task quickly and efficiently. When things can change dramatically and with little warning, an employee who operates with urgency knows that deadlines cannot be missed and tasks cannot be put off, and when things do inevitably change, they react quickly.
• Adaptability: The only thing we can count on in this moment, is that we can’t count on anything. Adaptable employees can accommodate shifts in priorities, facilitate changes, and work with flexibility. Being adaptable in an unpredictable environment is critical for keeping work flowing.
• Self-Management: Many of us will be working from home for the foreseeable future, so the ability to manage one’s own time, set one’s own priorities, and organize one’s own workload is the foundation of working successfully on a remote team. Managers need to know who can operate independently and provide them with the resources those employees need so that managers can place more focus on those who aren’t as proficient in self-management.

What the Caliper Profile Provides During a Crisis

The Caliper Profile was specifically developed to gauge what an individual is capable of – not what they’ve done in the past. It seeks to shed light on what they can achieve in the future and what motivates them today to get them there. When an employee is engaged, motivated, and inspired — and their personality is aligned with the role — the entire team is lifted. Right now, that’s exactly what organizations need.

@CaliperCorp discusses the power of personality, and how you can leverage it using #PersonalityAssessments to get your company through even the hardest times. Read more on the blog:
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So, how do you translate what the Caliper Profile reveals and how it applies to getting through the pandemic? Meet with your employees and ask questions about how they’ve handled adversity in the past, how they’ve recovered from mistakes, and what it is about their role that they enjoy doing (or what are they interesting in taking on)? What projects have they worked on that got them excited, and why? By being open and honest about what the company needs and how you envision their skills helping to make that happen, employees are more likely to be open and honest about what they believe they can accomplish and what they’re interested in taking on.

Unique circumstances require unique solutions, and getting creative with your talent can help your organization weather the storm while building skill sets from within. To learn more about the ways Caliper and our consultants can help your company find and harness the power of your people, reach out today to get started.

So, what will hiring look like now? We can’t call people into the office, we can’t get a read on them at the table. Employers everywhere need to take a second look at how they hire, what’s important to look for, and how they go about finding it.

How should you approach #hiring in a COVID-19 landscape? @CaliperCorp shows you how to find and leverage top talent in economic uncertainty.
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What’s more, in times of turmoil, we look to our current employees more than ever to see what can be accomplished with the talent we have and the resources at hand. Examining how to better utilize our existing staff to fill gaps, train others, and work more effectively together will be the key to weathering the storm.

What Does Hiring Look Like Now?

Most employers are moving to fully remote interviews. Bringing multiple people into the workplace can pose a safety risk for both interviewees and employees, so moving to a remote interview process is a way to still get face time and interpersonal interaction while keeping everyone safe.

But now, without being able to get the same “read” on a person that you would in person,  employers might feel as though they won’t be able to hire as effectively as they’re used to. But with the right questions and a good understanding of individual potential, hiring top talent can be just as viable in a remote setting.

Even if your organization still decides to implement the right safety precautions to bring candidates in, hiring the right person the first time is more important than ever. In a time of high unemployment, it’s critical to keep turnover down and ensure productivity remains steady.. As such, tools like personality assessments become especially useful in making sure you find the right person for the job.

Using the Caliper Profile for Selection

The Caliper Profile allows hiring managers to gauge an employees innate abilities and personality traits as they compare to the specific needs of the role they’re interviewing for. These insights help provide greater guidance on the right candidates for the role. Using a personality assessment, rather than gut feeling or experience alone, makes for a more well-rounded understanding of the candidate and their potential success both in the role and within the company.

Using tools like scorecards and personality assessments, and having multiple interviewers compare notes means the inherent risk of hiring is lower, and the likelihood of a high-quality hire goes up exponentially. At a time when turnover is especially costly, taking the extra steps during the interview process could make all the difference.

The Selection Report puts the results of an individual’s Caliper Profile into the context of the role you’re seeking to fill, meaning that you not only have a better understanding of a candidate’s core competencies, but you also understand how those competencies match up to the ones specifically needed to do the job well.

Should you starting #hiring? Or should you use #EmployeeDevelopment? @CaliperCorp shows you how to leverage personality to make more informed talent decisions in a COVID landscape
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Leveraging What Your Organization Has Now

It’s also important to remember, however, that hiring isn’t the only option for filling roles within the company. The Caliper Profile can be used for talent development beyond just hiring and selection. Having a better understanding of the innate skills and personality traits of your employees also provides an opportunity to see what they’re capable of. It’s a good way to build new teams, promote internally, or build new skills in order to take on new responsibilities. In some circumstances, a title change and pay increase is much more cost effective than hiring a new person. Thinking creatively can be the key to managing organizational needs while balancing costs and economic uncertainty.

Using the Caliper Profile for Development

The Caliper Essentials for Coaching Report applies natural strengths, inherent challenges, and individual behaviors to help better develop employees and work within their unique work styles in order to help them reach their full potential.

In a COVID workplace, developing your talent to help them be their best is an effective way to manage budget volatility while maintaining productivity and improving organizational performance. The Coaching Report helps hiring managers make more informed decisions about staffing and personnel needs and helps companies leverage their greatest asset in a time of uncertainty — their people.

To learn more about how the Caliper Profile can help your business make better hiring and talent management decisions as well as navigate the COVID-19 talent landscape, reach out to experts today and schedule a free consultation.

1. Hire the Right Talent

Finding the right people that are a perfect fit for your company is not a simple task. When it comes to hiring the right people, finding candidates with the right soft skills and competencies is just as crucial as possessing a specific hard skill or experience. For a well rounded team, managers should also pursue candidates with diverse styles, perspectives, and strengths. The challenge, however, is that finding soft skills is much more difficult than finding hard skills. But personality assessments like the Caliper Profile are a valuable tool to uncovering and understanding your employees’ inherent strengths and motivations.

Leveraging the Caliper Profile to build teams allows managers to assess a candidate’s attitudes, behaviors, and performance at work. Roughly 82% of companies use some form of pre-employment assessment test during the hiring process, but that doesn’t mean they don’t also prove to be worthwhile beyond hiring. By including these assessments in team-building efforts, managers can identify the best people to join their teams.

If you want to build better #teams, check out these 5 tips from @CaliperCorp on how to select the right people for your most successful teams yet:
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Some key characteristics to look for in successful team players:

• Goal-oriented: The most effective team players set, implement, and track goals to increase productivity and efficiency.
• Committed to their roles: Individuals working in roles based on their key strengths are often highly motivated employees.
• Open-minded: Finding candidates who can adjust roles and responsibilities due to the needs of a project or task are crucial to the success of any team. In addition, team members who are interested in challenging their skills are open to learning and growing their career.
• Diverse perspectives and experiences: Since diversity tends to encourage creativity and innovation, teams who possess a broad spectrum of experiences and opinions can perform to their fullest potential and lift individuals up along the way.
• Shared culture: Whether your candidates share a likeness in company culture or group culture, teams who share the same mission or set of values are often more motivated.
• Responsibility and accountability: When teams share a set of values and goals, each team member can be held to the same standard.
• Clear communicators: Good communicators are able to easily explain their ideas in ways that make sense to others. Also, good communicators can listen and receive feedback better to meet the goals and mission of the company.

2. Encourage Transparency

It’s essential to foster transparency in order to improve every layer of your team’s communication channels. This can range from how teammates distribute and discuss assigned tasks, to how others voice their opinions and thoughts in meetings. Encouraging a streamlined and open channel for collaboration and feedback will build trust, open up lines of communication, and identify any gaps or obstacles that need to be addressed.

In addition, encouraging constructive feedback within teams and managers allows communication to become a two-way street and helps to improve the overall function of the team. It creates a safe space for team members to speak up — both knowing they will be heard when they have a suggestion or concern, but also know that they won’t be harshly criticized by their teammates based on the communication expectations and guidelines that have been set.

3. Set Clear Goals

Once a manager selects the perfect teammates and sets communication standards, the next vital step in productivity and effectiveness is that managers must set clear team expectations and goals. Whether it’s a large project or small task, each team member should know exactly what their responsibilities are, which objectives they need to meet, and the end goal or desired outcome for the project or task.

Without setting systematic goals, teams can fall short of the intended outcomes because they aren’t able to see the bigger picture and decide how to best utilize their resources and most valuable assets to achieve their goals. Each teammate must understand how their work contributes to the overall outcome. Those who are uncertain about their role or how it serves the end goal won’t be able to perform their best work. It may help to prepare a detailed outline for each position on your team, for a project, or detail how the team should function together over time if they aren’t project-based but an ongoing task force or department. The key is that everyone knows precisely their responsibility and how it contributes to the bigger picture.

Trying to supercharge your #teamwork? These 5 tips from @CaliperCorp show you how to find the right people for the right roles, creating the best teams you've ever seen:
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4. Value Each Role

With each team member bringing something unique to the table, treating each role as an essential part of your operation is crucial to how your teams will operate. Each member should always feel like their job matters, without ever hesitating as to why they are on the team. By implementing a sense of purpose within each employee, performance and engagement increases.

On the flip side, when employees feel that their role lacks value or doesn’t make sense for the team, they risk disengagement and low morale. These things make it harder for them to complete their tasks and perform to their abilities. With a clear view as to why they’re vital to the success of the team, your team members can maintain the motivation and energy required to complete their work and perform to their strengths.

5. Welcome Strong Leadership

A successful team starts with an adaptive leader who can build bridges and distribute employees into positions that best match their strengths. Adaptive leaders have the ability to facilitate communication and help individual members align with the needs of their team and organization. By displaying a leadership style that focuses on shared values and encourages mutually beneficial interactions, any manager can help individuals unify into a dynamic, cohesive team.

Building the right team takes time. Selecting, organizing, and developing a team that is committed to working together to achieve both the goals of the group and organization is not easy, but with the right leader in place, each team can execute the organization’s strategy through values-based coordination, communication, and collaboration.

At Caliper, we want to help you build better, successful teams within your organization. With our dynamic expertise, we can help you come up with better solutions to build collaboration and teamwork, while meeting the goals of your organization. Get started today to learn more about the ways Caliper can help you build and develop your teams.

What’s the difference between assembling a group of individuals who have the right skills and assembling a group of individuals who can also work well together while leveraging each other’s strengths? Highly engaged and productive teams earn companies double the revenue than teams with low engagement.

Building a new team at work? @CaliperCorp shows you why #MentalToughness is key for effective and high-performing teams:
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Teams who work in simpatico while being able to overcome stress are ones built around key members who have mental toughness. But how do you find team members who are mentally tough and can also fill the specific roles you need?

The Caliper Profile is a useful tool which can uncover attitude and personality traits that are indicators of core competencies and driving personality traits. Using the Team Roles Report and the Caliper 4-Box, managers can assemble well-rounded teams that fulfill the key roles needed for an effective team: The Champion, The Implementor, The Creator, and the Facilitator.

Bonus Content: Download the Build Your All-Star Sales Team Guide!

The Champion

Every team needs someone to promote ideas, energize and motivate the group, and drive change as tasks meet new challenges. The Champion tends to focus on big-picture goals. Without a Champion there is no one to steer the group in the right direction to reach their vision.

The Champion sets events into motion, makes sure people are enthused about the project, and motivates them to take action. Where others may fear change, a Champion is the person who aims to shake things up and help their teammates get excited about making the change, too.

A Champion with mental toughness is a critical component to successful teams. A mentally tough Champion has the resiliency and ego-strength to keep pushing the team to stay optimistic and perform their tasks to their best abilities, even when the outlook may appear bleak. They know how and when to motivate and rally the team during stressful times in order to maintain the energy and positivity needed to work well together.

While your Champion is happy to facilitate change and get others on board, they are not, however, the one who is going to develop step-by-step systems, meticulous plans, or comb projects for the smallest details. You need someone else to help with that.

You need an Implementer.

The Implementer

When it comes to daily work, administration duties, and assigning proper task work, The Implementer is the team member focused on follow-through. These individuals have a strong sense of discipline, which is imperative to achieving team objectives. Implementers will roll up their sleeves and do whatever is needed in order to bring project plans to fruition. They have a close attention to detail, patience, and remain focused on the task at hand.

An Implementer with mental toughness has the thoroughness and self-structure to power through the grunt work with attention to detail and little need for oversight in order to accomplish the mundane tasks that help them reach the end goal. They are highly efficient, meticulously organized, and take pride in addressing even the smallest detail.

Implementers are not typically innovative thinkers or agents of change. They operate with practicality and procedure, and they follow the rules. In order to build a team that breaks barriers, sparks innovation, and blows expectations out of the water, managers have to find a Creator.

The Creator

Creators generate ideas, design solutions, and thrive on creative challenges. They are action-oriented, motivated to innovate, and like to think in big-picture terms. They are problem solvers. Creators work closely with Champions, attaching their plan to the motivation and moving the project to the next phase.

Where The Champion is people-oriented, The Creator tends to put more focus on the task. Once the team is energized, Creators like to lead the discussion on next steps, create an action plan, and push through production.

A Creator with mental toughness has the persistence to push things forward and push their teammates through the project step-by-step in pursuit of the end goal. Their energy to drive the work and challenge the status quo garners enthusiasm from their teammates and encourages others to get excited about pushing boundaries and forging ahead.

But pushing boundaries can sometimes lead to conflicts among teams — particularly with Implementers who like to play by the rules. So who will play the role of mediator? Managers need to look for someone who can communicate well and mitigate conflict.

Every team needs a Facilitator.

Do you have mentally tough people in the core roles of your teams? @CaliperCorp shows why #MentalToughness is something you can't miss when you want high-performing teams:
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The Facilitator

The best teams bring together a diverse group of people who have different mindsets and approaches — and sometimes diversity of thought can lead to conference. Facilitators are the glue that holds the group together. They communicate well, manage relationships, and provide support amongst the team. When teammates run into obstacles of any kind, the Facilitator is there to offer help and provide a tactical solution.

The Facilitator aims to achieve a cohesive group that can work harmoniously toward a common goal. A Facilitator with mental toughness is important to maintaining the group dynamic. These individuals have the level-headedness and stress tolerance to remain calm and keep the peace when the group feels overwhelmed or tempers run high. They help keep the group grounded, and are able to keep work moving forward even in times of stress by easing the tension between teammates.

While teams are often made up of more than four people, the key to success is ensuring that the 4-Box is complete no matter how big the team or how complex the project. Reach out to our experts to learn more about mental toughness and how the Caliper Profile can help identify individuals who are best suited to building your all-star sales team.

Sales is a stressful role, but a critical one to every business. Research shows that if companies place candidates in roles that don’t fit their personality, it often leads to lower engagement. Hiring the right candidates who possess strong sales effectiveness and core competencies that get results for the business is top priority.

Did you know? 22% of employers use #PersonalityAssessments during the recruitment process. Discover how they’re changing the way #HR managers hire qualified sales candidates in @CaliperCorp’s latest article:
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But how can you tell whether a candidate will succeed before they begin? Personality assessments like the Caliper Profile are an effective tool to understand future performance potential, providing a greater context than just an interview or resume alone.

Why Use Personality Assessments?

When used in conjunction with resumes, personality assessments help provide HR managers with a means to transform the way sales talent is screened, assessed, and hired within individual sales roles and team needs.

Personality assessments allow HR managers to obtain objective insights into which candidates possess the personality traits that signify potential sales effectiveness, while also getting an idea for how a candidate will fit into their particular sales culture. About 22% of employers use personality assessments to assess candidates’ personality traits. Traits such as persuasiveness, detail orientation, and conscientiousness are commonly useful to possess in a sales career.

Key insights from personality assessments also help HR managers understand specific strengths and weaknesses in areas like:

• Closing strengths
• Marketing abilities
• Assessing how individuals will set the tone throughout the sales process
• Level of aggressiveness
• Rapport, sensitivity, and the ability to connect with prospects or clients

By leveraging the insights culled from personality assessments, HR managers can build strong, effective sales teams, reduce turnover, and increase engagement.

What Are the Key Indicators of Sales Effectiveness?

How do you know if your candidates have what it takes to be an effective salesperson? Sales effectiveness isn’t something that you can identify immediately, but personality assessments help paint a picture of what an effective candidate might look like.

How do you know if your candidates have what it takes to be an effective #salesperson? @CaliperCorp goes in-depth on how #PersonalityAssessments are changing the way sales candidates are hired:
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Look for these key traits during your hiring process:

Problem-Solving

Tenacious sales candidates are creative thinkers and use their skills to be critical thinkers. They are always listening for opportunity, and they help prospects understand the impact that the product will have on the organization in ways that resonate.

Work Ethic

Look for candidates who go above and beyond what’s expected. Top sales candidates are enthusiastic self-starters who possess a strong commitment to completing the task no matter what. They push themselves to generate innovative ideas and accomplish individual and team objectives even when obstacles and stressors are present.

Preparation

Exceptional salespeople are meticulous planners. They know their product front to back, pay close attention to trends, anticipate objections and pushback, and have a understanding of their competitors. They have everything they need at the ready, and are prepared for every challenge.

Active Listening

Seeking advice on how to improve is a crucial indicator of success in sales. Effective salespeople seek input from their coaches, prospects, and teammates on how they can improve their communication. A successful salesperson will use their teachings and skills to help their peers whenever opportunities present themselves. With valuable insight at hand, they can help their colleagues enhance and deepen their own sales knowledge.

Process-Oriented

The right salesperson understands key elements in a sales cycle that lead to the final sale. Instead of focusing on the end result right away, they focus on each part of the process to ensure they aren’t missing any critical steps as they transition from one milestone to the next.

Track Their Progress

Effective salespeople measure their progress throughout the sales cycle to ensure they are receiving the best results they can. They see everything from process, activity, and results from metrics as valuable tools. By tracking progress, they know when to seek feedback and use the advice to adjust their course to achieve their goals.

Personality assessments can assist in selecting the right candidate for the job, but they also can help identify which type of sales role will be the best fit. When hiring for sales effectiveness, it’s not just about finding the right personality traits, but placing them in a position where they will work to their highest potential. This works on the team level, too. HR managers can use personality assessments to build out robust, high-performing teams with a diverse set of skills.

The Caliper Profile assessment identifies 21 traits among candidates and relates them to job performance. HR managers get an in-depth look into clear, concise, and scientifically-validated data to gain on an individual’s strengths, limitations, motivations, and role potential. Contact our consultants to see how you can hire top candidates to build an effective sales team.

Anticipate Workforce Needs

In order to create a hiring plan, you need to assess your current workforce. You want to consider both the quality and quantity of your workforce. The quality of the workforce is reflective of how your employees are rated on their current performance and future potential, whereas the quantity of the workforce measures the numerical impact of new hires, employee turnover, and internal promotions.

Did you know that 82% of companies are using some form of pre-employment assessment? Learn how @CaliperCorp assessments can support your #hiringplan and improve your quality of hire.
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There are a number of ways to get a sense of your current employees’ knowledge, skills, and abilities. You can reference old resumes to identify training and certifications that may not be utilized in an employee’s current role. You can discover your employees’ hidden talents, hobbies, and passions through simply having regular conversations with them. Performance reviews are also a great resource to find employees that are performing outside of their scope and are ready to take on more responsibility. In fact, evaluating performance and identifying career advancement opportunities for your employees is crucial to keeping them and creating long-term success.

Ask yourself: how many employees do you typically need to replace in a given year? Do you have a plan in place for turnover? Not only do you need to think about the new positions you anticipate needing to fill, but there will also be departures and promotions for which you’ll need to be prepared as well. Plan ahead of time, so you aren’t taken by surprise and are  rushing to fill critical gaps later.

Identify the Gaps

By now you should have a clear snapshot of how your company’s workforce will look throughout the year. But, there’s a second aspect that has a major impact on hiring plans: Annual business goals. Leadership will set a course for the year, whether that be to launch a new product, add a new department, or increase sales. Any major objectives for the year might have an effect on your talent acquisition strategy.

Key questions for the HR department when crafting a hiring plan include:

Does the company have the right talent for the year’s business strategy?

Where can I anticipate skills gaps in order to meet company objectives?

But, plan your talent strategy carefully. When putting together your hiring plan, focus on the activities and elements that aim to improve your quality of hire rather than to receive as many applicants as possible. Here are some examples of these types of activities:

• Revamp your job descriptions. Poorly written job descriptions can attract candidates that are the wrong fit and deter qualified candidates from applying. Effective job descriptions should be able to give a complete picture of what a candidate needs to possess to be successful in the role.

• Fine-tune your sourcing channels. Job boards and staffing agencies account for nearly half of sourcing spend but yield only 35% of applicants. Reevaluate that spend and strategy and shift your focus to the sourcing channels that are driving the largest pool of applicants.

• Implement an employee referral program. Employee referrals are not only the shortest time to hire and onboard, but they also improve quality of hire. Who better to know the best cultural fit for your company than your own employees?

By implementing these activities, you can attract applicants that have the right knowledge and skill set. You want to be able to confidently select the candidates that are the best fit for both the job role and your company.

Personality assessments are one of the best tools for determining candidate fit. After all, 82 percent of companies are using some form of pre-employment assessment. For example, Caliper’s assessment evaluates a number of competencies and behaviors including inclination to interact with peers and managers, attitude toward performance-related obstacles, and approaches to time management. The results are then measured against validated job models, which makes it easy for managers to see how well a candidate fits into the desired role and enables them to make better hiring decisions.

Resumes and interviews can give you a picture of how a candidate has performed in the past and the present, but they lack the clarity of how a candidate will perform in the future and for your company. Personality assessments are able to raise the predictability of success, which you can pair with resumes and interviews for a more well-rounded view of your candidates and can improve time to hire and quality of hire metrics.

Looking to hire smarter in the new year? @CaliperCorp covers the steps and elements that make up a strategic #hiringplan.
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Assess Your Acquisition Strategy

An important aspect of your acquisition and hiring process is to make sure those candidates you’ve selected will choose you in return. You’ll want to consider:

• Assessing your rewards and incentives programs. Is what you’re offering going to meet the expectations of your ideal candidates? If not, it could be difficult to attract and retain top talent.

• Implementing professional development plans. This is a key benefit that candidates search for in a company. Building professional development into your long-term success plan keeps employees on track and shows them that you want them to succeed.

• Evaluating your company culture. Having a strong company culture not only attracts highly qualified candidates, but also influences these individuals to stay with your company long term because they personally identify with the beliefs and attitudes. In fact, companies that actively manage their culture boast 40% higher retention.

The new year is a great time to assess your hiring plan and implement changes that will affect the long-term success of your company. However, it’s important to keep in mind that HR planning is an ongoing process and you should continue to evaluate your strategy as your organization and industry trends change.

For more information on the ways Caliper can help you find the best candidate fit for your company, reach out to our experts today to start building a better hiring plan.

We’ve put together the four necessary points you need to focus on when planning and building out your long-term success plan for your employees.

1. Onboarding & Training

Your plan for the long-term success and growth of your new employees starts with onboarding and training. Ensuring they have the necessary materials and tools to help them jump in and stay in is essential for overall employee success – and it all starts with onboarding and continues with training. So how can you plan for the best onboarding and training for new hires without falling into common traps? Below are a few common mistakes and how to avoid them so you can maximize your onboarding and training initiatives:

Plan for the long-term success of your employees using these 4 essential points the experts at @CaliperCorp put together:
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Common Mistakes In Your Onboarding Process – 

• Fast-tracking executives. Onboarding isn’t just for entry-level employees. Many organizations pass right by the onboarding process for their executive-level hires, but don’t assume that they don’t require proper onboarding. While they have more experience, every company is different and has unique needs that their employees have been hired to fill. By onboarding every level of new hire, you will be able to ensure success and continuous growth within your company.
• Relying on charts and bullet points for communication expectations. Take the time to actually show new employees where to go and who to talk to, and introduce them to members of their new team. Many companies fall into the trap of leaving new employees to fill in the gaps themselves. By creating this bridge of communication, you’ll have lines of communication open from the start. As a result, you’ll be able to help make your employees feel more comfortable reaching out to others, collaborate more effectively, and boost productivity.

How to Maximize Training and Onboarding: 

Multi-Device Learning: Maximize your new hire’s performance and potential with multi-device learning from the start. You’ll find your workers will be far more engaged with your training when they’re able to self-direct their education and are not forced to spend hours away from their desks to do it. You’ll also have a far more productive workforce, as they can use your learning platform at their times of need and immediately put their learning into practice.

Plan For The First 3-6 Months:

Frequently, companies end their onboarding after a month, sometimes even less, which can make your new hires feel disconnected and lost. Learning expectations and being entirely comfortable in a new role can take six months or more, and according to SHRM, only 15% of companies continue onboarding after six months. Take into consideration that nearly 90% of employees decide whether to stay or go within that first six months — those first few months make a significant impact on that decision.

2. Goals & Benchmarking

Do you and your new hire have the same understanding of the role and the expectations thereof? It’s crucial to start on the right foot. Start by collaborating with their team and supervisor to make sure goals and training align with team needs and how the new employee fits in. Building this into your success plan will help create a smooth transition into the employee’s new role.

Helping your new hire set goals with their supervisor and strategize a game plan to execute those goals will not only give insight and motivation for your new hire but will also provide the organization a better look at how each employee is impacting the business. This isn’t something you necessarily implement within the first few days, but planning for the next six months, or even further, can help them understand their overall path with the company.

Setting your new team members up with a tool like the Individual Developmental Guide will help direct them to take ownership of their own growth to reach their goals and keep them on track. Utilizing such a tool will help you and your new hire develop a strategic long-term training plan to maximize their performance and boost their engagement.

Tip for Success:
Have a mentor program – connecting your new hires with an experienced team member to bounce ideas off of, hold each other accountable, and give them a sense of support to push out those goals will build a strong foundation for your new hire. 

3. Professional Development & Continued Learning

Learning doesn’t stop after onboarding. Help each employee reach their maximum potential by going beyond traditional training by training self-awareness. The best way for employees to grow their own strengths is by understanding what they are. With the Individual Developmental Guide, your employees and managers can stay connected, and it allows management to take part in each employee’s continuous training. Setting, executing, and completing goals is just one small part of the guide. Your managers and employees can also practice and improve different skills and evaluate their own success.

Building a foundation for long-term success starts with these 4 crucial steps. Start planning with @CaliperCorp’s latest post:
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Professional development is one of the key benefits candidates often search for in a company. They want to know that they will be challenged and have the opportunity to grow, improve, and climb in their profession. Planning out and building this into your long-term success plan — and continuously building on it throughout an individual’s time with the company — keeps them on track and shows them that you want them to succeed.  The Individual Developmental Guide is designed to help employee’s understand their own personal traits, motivators, stressors, and behaviors, so they can work with their managers to build their success plan and utilize actionable recommendations for growth and development.

4. Promotion & Leadership

You’re spending a considerable amount of time — and possibly money —  to help your employees improve their skills. To get a return on investment, your employees need to be able to put those new skills to work in your company – and possibly in a new role – as they flourish.

Did you know 30% of employees feel undervalued in their current position? That’s a large portion of the workforce that doesn’t feel as though they’re being heard. Evaluating performance and identifying career advancement opportunities for your employees is crucial to keeping them and creating long-term success. Discover the collaborative nature of the Individual Developmental Guide, which keeps the lines of communication open and engaging, so you’ll be able to identify those employees who are ready for advancement and set them up for leadership. Given its unique perspective, the guide is often used in both the onboarding process of new employees, as well as later discussions about career aspirations, making it a valuable tool for employee performance management and development. Then aligning the Individual Developmental Guide with competency-based training modules from the Caliper Precision Series, you will be able to successfully close the loop for success when moving from onboarding to ongoing training and development.

For more information on the ways Caliper can help you create and manage long term success plans, reach out to our experts today to start building out a strategic employee development plan.