The Employee Life Cycle

Recruitment

Since this profile picks up the actual thinking pattern of the candidate, it allows the organization to determine whether or not the decision style will fit the job requirements. For example, if the position requires the individual to stay in an office alone all day crunching numbers, this report will point out someone who needs to be interacting with others more.

Process: The candidate takes the profile including additional forms to be filled. Interviewers receive a special recruitment report that suggests interview questions to ask based on the decision making pattern of the candidate as described in the report. The report will also show strengths of the candidate and where they may need development if they do get hired.

Employee Development, Coaching and Counseling, Mentoring

Several different reports are available depending on the position and the level of the employee. These include Sales, Customer Service, Management, Work Skills, and Flow and Interference Factors. The Customer Service Report, for example, picks up willingness to serve the customer, tendency to document, patience with customer demands, and ability to listen. These are just a few of the traits included in the Customer Service report. Strategic thinking ability, personnel assessment, results orientation, and ability to relate to others are just a few of the traits included in the Management report. These reports indicate strength and development areas and offer suggestions for development.

Process: The employee takes profile and a confidential report is reviewed with them. It is also recommended that the supervisor and the employee have a joint session where decision styles can be compared and communication impact explored.

For example, in one company, the entire sales force took the profile as well as the Sales Manager and the VP of Sales and Marketing. The VP and Sales Manager sat down together, discussed their points of similarity and dissimilarity and how that might affect their working together, and they agreed on ways to make their working relationship even better than it was. The Sales Manager then sat down with each of the Sales people and did the same thing. This process helped affirm the strengths of the sales team and also paved the way for some positive development plans.

Team Building

This profile is able to identify overall decision-making patterns. In a team it is important that there is diversity: that there are conceptual planners as well as action-oriented doers. The mix for each team will differ according to the function of the team. Understanding one another's style leads to better relationships among team members and more productive functioning.

Process: The team members take the profile. Everyone receives a debrief of their style and discusses goals for the team building session with the facilitator. The facilitator meets with the entire team to build a group picture of the decision styles of the team, implications for team effectiveness, and impact on team mission and goals.

Succession Planning

Since this profile recognizes that people can and do change, it is excellent as a tool for identifying future talent and making sure individuals are prepared to take on higher level positions.

Process: Targeted individuals or entire levels are profiled. Future job requirements are identified. Individuals are identified as desirable candidates for the position by considering their decision style and other variables. If other variables recommend a candidate whose decision style is not appropriate for the position, a development plan to accommodate that position is created.

For example, in one company, a plant General Manager was targeted as a likely candidate for VP, Operations. Profile information as well as behavior history indicated a decision style that was impatient with time spent in planning, a requisite for VP level. Using their unique decision style as a guide, the individual engaged in a well-planned development process including experiences in strategic planning, and week-long seminars, both experiential and theoretical. Follow-up profiling and subsequent behavior indicated an increased interest and skill in strategic thinking and appreciation of the importance of planning.

Dr. K.T. (Kate) Connor, Ph.D.
(Master Consultant)

Dr. K.T. (Kate) Connor, Ph.D. is an organization development specialist dedicated to helping people work together better. She heads the Center for Applied Axiometrics, a network of consultants trained in axiological applications to organizational issues. She received her degree from the University of Southern California in Communication and Management. In addition, she has degrees from Case Western Reserve University and D'Youville College, acclaimed for its innovative community-centered real-world programs.

Dr. Connor uses the profile to help people appreciate first, themselves and then, those they work and live with. She has been applying Hartman's work to individuals, teams, and entire organizations for more than 17 years. She has been proficient in Myers-Briggs, 16-PF, DISC and other assessments, but she and her clients were never quite satisfied with the level of information those assessments provided. She continued to search for what she finally found in Hartman. Dr. Connor's work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the National Award from the American Society for Training and Development, Distinguished Leader Award given by Creative Problem Solving Institute, Project Equality Award for supporting women in management, and regional and state recognition for founding and directing the Center for Women in Management.

She is a Master Consultant for Axiometrics International, Inc., and is associated with the Hartman Institute, the OD Network and The Product Development & Management Association. She is a Past President and Board Chair of the Creative Education Foundation (CEF), a past National Board member of ASTD and current VP for Business Applications for the Robert S. Hartman Institute.

Dr. Connor is also the author of Rethinking Work: Making Work as Need-Fulfilling as a Tropical Vacation. (CPS Press, 1999), "360 Feedback: Watching Your Front, Back, and Sides," (Chronoscope, SUCB Creative Connections, 1998 State University College at Buffalo), "16 Styles and What Do You Get?" (Proceedings of the 10th Annual Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Conference, 1996. Small Business Administration), "White Collar TQM: Measuring the Purchasing Function" (Proceedings of the 77th Annual International Conference on the World Marketplace, 1992. National Association of Purchasing Management)

The Thinking Pattern Profile™ reports are easy to comprehend and construe for individuals. The need for a consultant arises when one wants to work on the findings of the reports to become, not only a better individual, but a better professional as well. The more complex reports are quite like a medical diagnostic report which tells you about your current health status but to improve your health with the help of the diagnostic report you need an expert medic.

Several reports, such as the Personal Pathways report, are quite useable without prior training. Others yield more fruit if the consultant or coach understands to a deeper level the background behind the assessment process. Of these, some reports benefit from a basic understanding, others are enriched by a deeper analysis.

The Thinking Pattern Profile™ is an excellent tool to use for consultants for the accuracy of the reports. Mathematics and Science are intricately involved with this tool; therefore for making the best use of the tools it is mandatory that consultants undergo certifications which help them use it most effectively and responsibly as they help identify and groom talent.

For this reason we have two levels of certification.

Basic Certification provides the learner with an overall understanding of the history and fundamentals of axiometric assessment logic and a review of the reports available and how to read them.

The Basic certification is a 6 hour training that covers the elementary aspects like Axiology, Hartman Value Profile, validations, three types of thinking etc. This program talks in detail about the basic concepts and sciences about Axiology, its history and evolution. It also helps professionals learn how axiometric methodology is different from other behavioral studies and how it focuses on core underlying competencies - those elusive competencies responsible for sustainable development and performance. This certificate is recommended for HR professionals and consultants both. The benefits are huge when an HR executive of an organization using the Profile takes up the basic certification. It provides an excellent ROI as most of the facets associated with The Thinking Pattern Profile are covered and without any external help organizations can deploy the profile to great use.

The Basic certification also trains people on successfully using the profile for:

• Selection and Recruitment
• Employee Development and Coaching
• Team Building
• Succession Planning

Advanced Certification builds on this knowledge to provide an experiential practicum in interpreting the depth of information inherent in the reports.

The training program covers 20 hours of intensive training covering all aspects related to Axiology, Hartman Value Profile, Thinking Pattern and the use and deployment of the instrument in areas of:

• Selection & Recruitment
• Coaching and Development
• Team Building
• Succession Planning

The advanced certification will help professionals:

• Learn critical differences between Axiometric assessments and conventional assessments
• Become familiar with select recruitment and coaching reports.
• Explore how to use the reports to accelerate their consulting and coaching practice
• Understand the theory behind the reports
• Gain facility in understanding and reading into the reports on a deeper level
• Identify key patterns in thinking and decision-making competency
• Develop a plan for applying Axiometric assessments to their consulting practice

For more information on the programs please write to us at contact@armezosolutions.com