It’s perhaps quite natural to believe that the Chinese personality is so different to others that it requires a special psychometric test to assess it. What better way to sell your new Chinese personality test than to state that it is “high time a test for the Chinese” were developed. However, this throws doubt upon the utility of rigorously developed international psychometric tests of personality.

Given the above, we embarked on a research program to assess whether Chinese people differ significantly comparied to others in terms of personality structure and whether personality tests that purport to assess Chinese Personality are able to predict any more work performance than internationally developed tests have already been proven to do!

You can read our research findings it: personality.cn, our Chinese Personality at Work Research Site.

No time to read the whole site? Here’s a quick summary:

Locally developed psychometric tests which purport to assess “indigenous” aspects of Chinese Personality were found to be less reliable than reputable internationally developed tests of personality. Furthermore, there is a big question as to whether so-called “indigenous” traits are Chinese-specific. Issues such as traditionalism or face also exist in other cultures! Moreover, the research has demonstrated that whatever we choose to believe about Chinese Personality, locally developed (Hong Kong) tests of “indigenous” personality add nothing to the prediction of performance at work that is not already accounted for by reputable internationally developed personality tests.

We present this research in a free HRM webinar which you can watch here. We held a vote at the beginning and end of our webinar whereby we asked attendees if they believed that Chinese Personality is so different that Chinese people need their own personality test. At the beginning of the webinar, the majority of the attendees said yes! By the end of the webinar only one attendee still believed this to be the case! We recommend choosing well designed psychometric tests with high reliability and validity. Personality is a universal construct, thus locally developed tests may have little benefit to the hiring manager!

I’m thrilled to share with you a feature article in April 12 issue of Fortune magazine: Motivate without Spending Millions.”

The article discusses employee recognition, fully capturing our position that frequent, smaller rewards across the vast majority of employees is the best approach towards creating the most effective recognition program. This stance was validated in the article by Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor Hayagreeva Rao and the Corporate Executive Board, with additional narrative about our client Intuit’s employee recognition program.

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Singapore and Hong Kong based award-winning PsyAsia International offers 360 Performance Appraisal via the Saville Consulting Performance Culture Framework. The company has recently set-up a new site dedicated to easy understanding of the 360 appraisal process. It’s easy to set up and the cost is very reasonable. Optional services such as feedback from a psychologist consultant or team building and development services can be added to the package.  The online performance appraisal system can be used by any organisation worldwide. 

The Saville Consulting Wave is based upon a validation-centric scientific framework known as the Performance and Culture Framework. As part of this framework, Saville Consulting offers the Wave Performance 360 (multi-rater) online assessment of performance at work. Wave Performance 360 online assessment enables a range of relevant individuals to rate a colleague’s performance at work. How an individual perceives themselves and how this compares to other people’s perceptions of them is a powerful feedback tool. 360 assessment enhances self-awareness and provides a great platform for personal development. 

Wave 360 provides a unique report where the dual reporting lets the individual being assessed understand on one profile exactly how they were rated and how this benchmarks externally. 

The report combines quantitative rating scales with qualitative comment. All raters have the option of contributing narrative text on areas they think the individual does well, could do less of and could improve on. As a further option, Saville Consulting provides a very detailed development report for the individual based on all ratings. 

This powerful 360 appraisal can be used on it’s own or in conjunction with Saville Consulting Wave® Styles. When used in combination it can help individuals understand the gaps between their performance and potential as a platform for utilising unused potential and realising critical areas of potential.

Further details at the special site: http://360-appraisal.com

Today’s elite athletes are performing at levels few can hope to achieve, yet with each race, each competition, they consistently demonstrate the capacity to push themselves and reach heights once thought unobtainable. In the business world, it should be the goal of every leader to emulate world-class athletes. This is a reachable objective and we see examples of exceptional adaptability and agility as chief among common traits shared by leaders of high performing organizations.

Outstanding leaders have traditionally been associated with coaches rather than athletes. They guide, teach, motivate and inspire. But they are not usually thought of as demonstrating the dynamic, heroic effort of sports figures in the course of leading companies. But that’s changing quickly.

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Kevin Daniels and Jan De Jonge recently explored the notion of `match’ in occupation settings. In the context of job design, this is congruence or correspondence between two or more job characteristics (e.g. cognitive demands and cognitive control). This congruence is thought to benefit health, well-being, and performance. The origins of the match concept lie in buffering models of work stress, where resources such as workplace social support and job control are thought to attenuate deleterious effects of adverse job characteristics like excessive job demands. In their paper, they outline the historical developments in work stress research that has led to notions of match, contrast match with the related concept of person-environment fit, explore current conceptualizations and operationalizations of match, and outline how the concept of match can be developed.

To view the article, click here

In an environment of rapid technological advances, economic turmoil and changing consumer behaviors, most companies recognize that to be successful, they have to be adaptable. And yet, fewer than half of companies say they are good at making changes, according to a new research report on leadership agility by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp).

The Organizational and Leadership Agility Survey asks business professionals to report on the stability of their business environment, the ability of their leaders to adapt to environmental changes and the extent to which executive leadership culture has a negative influence on organizational agility.

Over 75% of respondents reported that their business environment is changing or rapidly changing, which is no great surprise. However, only 44% of companies reported being adept at identifying and making needed incremental changes to a high or very high extent, while a scant 40% said their organizations are adept at recognizing and responding to strategic challenges in a timely manner. And less than a third (32%) said their organizations were proactive in anticipating and initiating the changes needed for sustained high performance beyond their immediate strategic challenges.

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The American Management Association (AMA), in conjunction with the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), is conducting a study to examine leadership initiatives that organizations have taken to coordinate actions across global locations. We’re looking for your input on the topic. In return, you’ll receive the preliminary results report once available. Please take this survey now.

Estimated survey length: 5 minutes

You’ll receive: Preliminary results report

Survey closes: Wednesday, March 17

Receive a complimentary results report

In exchange for completing the survey, you’ll receive a copy of these valuable results, which otherwise are exclusive to i4cp members. Thank you for your participation.
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Ten years ago – heck, five years ago – few people worked on teams with geographically dispersed members. Today, this is very common. Every manager needs or will need to learn how to manage and inspire team members they regularly see “live.”

Pal and witty guy Wayne Turmel (a.k.a. The Crank Middle Manager) has written this helpful white paper: 3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail- and How To See it Coming. You can down load it for free by clicking on the link. A couple interesting quotes from the paper:

• “70% of managers above 1st-level supervisor now have at least one team member who is not co-located with them.”
• “Technology and online tools are great but they are effective only if they are used to create context and human connections. Mere data transfer will result in short-term time savings and long term communication problems of the project.”
• “A good project requires a mix of synchronous (people can talk at the same time) and asynchronous (people use them at different times) tools to be truly effective.”

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A derailed executive is an previously-named high-potential employee who has reached the middle management level, only to find that there is little chance of future advancement (as previously thought) due to a misfit between job requirements and personal skills. Thus, the executive either plateaus or leaves the organization altogether. That is the original CCL studies definition. Sometimes the term also refers to leaders who experience big failures after reaching the executive spot and, more recently, those involved in ethical scandals.

Whatever your definition of a bad leader is, most have several of the following 10 leadership shortcomings:

Lack of energy/enthusiasm: OK so some people are less visibly enthusiastic than others, thanks to a personality trait called introversion. But there’s an effort to be made, no matter what your personality style, to covey and inspire energy and enthusiasm in your team. And there is NEVER an excuse for complaining. Either do it, change it, or leave it.

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Technology has made it so that I can email you much more easily than I can call you. We can communicate virtually just as well as we can connect face-to-face. With the recession cut-backs, many companies have taken advantage of that. Workers have been treated as disposable. Cost-containment is important. It’s the most important part, in fact, if your business is struggling financially. But what is creating disposable workers doing to your company?

Temps, freelancers, contractors, and interim executives are easy to get rid of. What kind of culture is having temporary workers creating? First, the bright side…

You get better talent.
The more ’stable’ jobs are the ones that are sought after by high potentials seeking the executive track. Since there are fewer of these positions available, competition is increased, and you can be more selective. Yet, the temps, the contractors and consultants feel the competition as well, because you are their ‘client.’ You can hire experts when experts are needed and generalists where generalists are needed. Consequentially, the bar is increased and you have your pick.

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