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Hiring Better With Kolbe Assessments
Accrue Performance Marketing is hiring. While sharing my goals and challenges in hiring key people with a colleague, he told me "he would not even consider hiring anyone without first completing a Kolbe Assessment". I had never heard of Kolbe but I have a lot of confidence in my friend so I looked into it.
I began by completed the Kolbe A survey on myself. Over the years I have completed many self-assessments and have usually learned something about myself in the process. It was not expensive so I thought, "what do I have to lose"? I figured if nothing else I'd be able to compare and contrast Kolbe to my past evaluations.
Turns out the Kolbe Assessment is quite unique. Rather than classifying my personality, motivations, values and communication styles like DISC or Myers Briggs, it described how I do things. The tool categorizes people based on a "Conative" framework . How we approach getting things done is another way of saying it.
The Kolbe A Index accurately pegged my way of working into four categories - Fact Finder, Follow Through, Quick Start and Implementor, each of which are scored on a 1 to 10 scale. Turns out my Modus Operandi is Specifying, Adapting, Improvising and Restoring which they claim makes me an ideal fit for Entrepreneurship. Their results are hard to dispute since that is how I work and what I do.
The main premise of the index is that by understanding my natural tendencies and working in positions that take advantage of my natural traits, I will be happier, less conflicted and more productive. This premise is similar to that posed in the Strength Finder 2.0 book I like and reviewed previously.
The next step in the process was to complete a Kolbe C Index which is a tool to help define an ideal pattern of doing for the job I was hiring for. I completed a 20 minute survey and received a report defining what I was looking for in a candidate for the job in question. The report was surprisingly accurate in detailing who I was looking for in behavioral terms. Now I was intrigued. I had already been interviewing and had a short-list of candidates for the position. I had the leading candidates complete a Kolbe A index as well.
Kolbe compared the candidate's A Index, with job fit (the C Index) as well as fit with me and my management style (using my A index) and delivered a report showing overall fit. One candidate was a close match and the other much less so. In my interviews, I had an inclination of fit but nothing but my gut reaction to go on. The assessment helped put into words what my intuition was trying to tell me. That was useful.
Next we developed C-indexes for each of our job descriptions and A indexes for each of our staff. The results were very interesting. The reports accurately pegged our team and highlighted the reasons for some existing communication challenges. When all the results were shared we could see where we needed to spend more time structuring our communication and where team members had different styles and needs.
After less than a week the Kolbe system helped us resolve two significant communication issues, supported a successful hire, and defined our position requirements for the next year in a set of hiring profiles. As a team we had developed a better understanding and appreciation for each other and had a framework for working together more proactively. Our total investment was under $1,000.
Given the inherent cost and risks associated with hiring people the Kolbe A and C indexes provided us with real value. I now have a tool to help me accurately define what I am looking for in a person and a means of evaluating fit quickly, consistently and affordably. Of course it is still up to me to assess competence, and experience but Kolbe provided us with a new way to make hiring and working with people easier.
John Watson is the president of Accrue Performance Marketing Inc. and is the author of Being Profitable™ : the earnings growth program. John has been consulting since 1993. He helps entrepreneurs Design Build Grow™ market leading companies with strategic internet marketing, social media and sales lead generation programs.
