Building Your Brand on LinkedIn - the critical piece

This blog comes to us from Bob Lovely in our Kansas City office

We live in an era of high impact of social media in our daily lives, our careers and in our human relationships. Our use of social media defines us in the public domain. This definition then becomes our professional "brand" and our on-line identity. As such, we need to take great care of how we manage our on-line presence via information we share on social media such as value messages, talents, skills, data and past accomplishments. LinkedIn is the most popular venue for communication of these brand messages for professionals. Your "photo" can further define your brand message or detract from your brand credibility. This is why selection of the "right" photo to place in your LinkedIn profile becomes so critical to your on-line marketing and communications.

Your photo should accurately and favorably define you as professional, thoughtful, credible, friendly and approachable.  Such a photo serves two very important purposes in your LinkedIn profile:

• Establishes and reinforces your career brand message
• Inspires further professional connections from colleagues, former colleagues, recruiters, search firms and prospective employers

 If your photo is in conflict with your important brand messages your brand will be "diluted". Rather, your carefully created on-line brand messages need to be reinforced and strengthened by your photo. General guidance on creation and selection of the right photo for LinkedIn includes:

• Professional attire
•  High resolution photography
• A neutral background
• Flattering photo composition
• Warm, friendly and approachable facial expression

We have all observed photos of connections on LinkedIn that do not reinforce or strengthen the brand messages listed in the profile. Photos that are taken in social situations and then later cropped often suffer from issues such as low resolution, poor lighting, inappropriate attire, distracted background and less than desirable photo composition. Cell phone photos are rarely appropriate for LinkedIn. A high quality photo can be taken professionally or at home with a high quality camera. For a home photo session, several photos should be taken based on the guidance listed above. Then, choose the photo that best defines, communicates, reinforces and strengthens your critical brand messages.

A high quality photographic image will change how you are visibly perceived by your targeted audiences. When you create the right "photo" which supports your brand keep it posted in your profile. Your connections will then come to know you and your brand based on the "consistency" of this carefully taken and selected brand driven message.

Please remember - your photo on LinkedIn "is" your brand!

Using Assessments to Improve Selection and Development

Blog from our global partner:

At some point, most organizations realize that there is no shortage of applicants for the positions they need to fill; but rather a shortage of the specific skills and capabilities they need to grow their business. Good talent is still hard to find and even harder to place in the right roles for growth in the organization.   

The problem of finding, selecting, and developing good talent has only been exacerbated over these past few years as unemployment rates have hovered at historically high levels. The result has been an overwhelming number of candidates in the job market—those who are unemployed and those who are worried about becoming so. Given these circumstances, employers have increasingly turned to assessments to make better selection decisions and to better develop the talent they have and hope to keep.   

Many best-in-class organizations use validated assessments in the pre-hire stage of the selection process. Experts have found that companies outside the United States have a higher level of confidence in their selection decisions than those within the United States. Those organizations have focused on implementing a ‘system’ to eliminate bias and take the pressure off hiring managers. That system often uses a combination of assessments such as knowledge tests, personality inventories, and job simulations in addition to a structured interview process. Such a systematic approach provides these companies with more comprehensive profiles of candidates, leading to more informed decisions and fewer mistakes. Companies in the United States tend to rely mostly on the interviewing judgment of managers and more often utilize only a single assessment.   

Best-in-class companies also use assessments to focus their individual and collective development strategies. Specific assessments can be used to target the development needs of key talent. Some organizations use specific tools or instruments that gather feedback on-line. Others allow outside coaches to interview individuals selected to provide feedback. Each has its place depending on the organization, its culture, and the needs surrounding the situation.

New and innovative assessments are developed all the time. One example is The Advisor, a 360 instrument designed by the Leadership Research Institute to measure executive emotional intelligence. More specifically, The Advisor identifies the abilities of executives to “read” people (including themselves) and situations, and then “lead” those people and situations. Naturally, it also covers blind spots, hidden strengths, leadership effectiveness, development challenges, and behavioral perceptions. Like most instruments of this kind, it is strong on the comparison between self-perception and the perception of others.

The Advisor is an effective instrument to help organizations identify behaviors that need to be sustained, those that need to stop, and those that need to be added. In positions of high leverage, like leadership and executive positions, slight improvements in attitude, behavior and situational awareness can have a much larger positive impact in the organization, especially on the morale and productivity of other employees. 

Armed with the additional information that assessments like The Advisor can provide, companies can reap substantial benefits, including financial improvements, from making far better selection and development decisions. After all, what would be the impact - financially and organizationally - of having an ‘A’ player in a key role supporting a critical business strategy versus someone who is merely average or even a mismatch in the role? Assessments then help companies improve the return on their investment in people. The key is to find those that best fit your company’s needs.

What assessments do you find most helpful in the selection and development of talent in your organization?

Assessments - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Blog from our global partners:

The GOOD news is that there is no shortage of assessments for the workplace – we have cultural, 360°, personality, competency, leadership, and team assessments, to name a few.  The list goes on and on.  Assessments can be a cost-effective way to improve your selection processes, enhance leadership development, and help create dynamic and positive discussions about commonalities and differences between people at work. If turnover really costs 15x the annual salary, well administered selection assessments are well worth the investment.  They can be easily administered either through web-based applications or face-to-face data collection methods. 

Unfortunately, the BAD news is that assessments are often used inappropriately.  Assessments have been created for many different reasons – selection, development, communication, etc.  It’s important to know how the instrument you plan to use was created and its purpose, how it was validated, and how to use it in the way it was intended.  Assessments are not a universal solution.  They are designed for specific purposes and often represent one data point as is the case with assessments used in the employee hiring process.   

The UGLY of assessments comes best through examples.  I’ve heard stories of recruiters asking for a handwriting analysis before meeting with candidates, demands of employees to take the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) without a clear understanding of the purpose, and requests for physical assessments such as those taken by firefighters to demonstrate their physical ability to do the job. (Note: There’s quite a bit of controversy regarding physical assessments these days.) Additionally, stories have arisen from people feeling “labeled” because people or organizations used the assessment results in a derogatory manner.  One executive I coached thought he lost his job because his MBTI was not what his manager wanted. Using any assessments, even the best assessments validated for their specific purpose, inappropriately can lead to extremely challenging situations for employees and organizations. These challenges can include legal issues, something everyone wants to avoid.  

So…what can you do to minimize risks and maximize returns on the use of assessments? 

First, be clear about why you are using the assessment. What’s the ultimate goal or objective and how will the assessment help to achieve that?  Second, work with a professional to select an appropriate assessment that makes sense for your objective and your organization.  Construct your assessment process in a thoughtful way.  He/She can also help you create and integrate the process for using that assessment into your overall talent management practices.  Third, consider the legal risks of using the assessment. Ensure the administration and feedback is performed by those who are qualified and the results will be used in a meaningful manner for the employee and the organization. Of course confidentiality must be respected.   The advice of well-trained assessment professionals will help you get the most from your efforts and help you avoid legal risk.

Using Assessments to Improve Selection and Development

Blog from our global partner:

At some point, most organizations realize that there is no shortage of applicants for the positions they need to fill; but rather a shortage of the specific skills and capabilities they need to grow their business. Good talent is still hard to find and even harder to place in the right roles for growth in the organization.   

The problem of finding, selecting, and developing good talent has only been exacerbated over these past few years as unemployment rates have hovered at historically high levels. The result has been an overwhelming number of candidates in the job market—those who are unemployed and those who are worried about becoming so. Given these circumstances, employers have increasingly turned to assessments to make better selection decisions and to better develop the talent they have and hope to keep.   

Many best-in-class organizations use validated assessments in the pre-hire stage of the selection process. Experts have found that companies outside the United States have a higher level of confidence in their selection decisions than those within the United States. Those organizations have focused on implementing a ‘system’ to eliminate bias and take the pressure off hiring managers. That system often uses a combination of assessments such as knowledge tests, personality inventories, and job simulations in addition to a structured interview process. Such a systematic approach provides these companies with more comprehensive profiles of candidates, leading to more informed decisions and fewer mistakes. Companies in the United States tend to rely mostly on the interviewing judgment of managers and more often utilize only a single assessment.   

Best-in-class companies also use assessments to focus their individual and collective development strategies. Specific assessments can be used to target the development needs of key talent. Some organizations use specific tools or instruments that gather feedback on-line. Others allow outside coaches to interview individuals selected to provide feedback. Each has its place depending on the organization, its culture, and the needs surrounding the situation.

New and innovative assessments are developed all the time. One example is The Advisor, a 360 instrument designed by the Leadership Research Institute to measure executive emotional intelligence. More specifically, The Advisor identifies the abilities of executives to “read” people (including themselves) and situations, and then “lead” those people and situations. Naturally, it also covers blind spots, hidden strengths, leadership effectiveness, development challenges, and behavioral perceptions. Like most instruments of this kind, it is strong on the comparison between self-perception and the perception of others.

The Advisor is an effective instrument to help organizations identify behaviors that need to be sustained, those that need to stop, and those that need to be added. In positions of high leverage, like leadership and executive positions, slight improvements in attitude, behavior and situational awareness can have a much larger positive impact in the organization, especially on the morale and productivity of other employees. 

Armed with the additional information that assessments like The Advisor can provide, companies can reap substantial benefits, including financial improvements, from making far better selection and development decisions. After all, what would be the impact - financially and organizationally - of having an ‘A’ player in a key role supporting a critical business strategy versus someone who is merely average or even a mismatch in the role? Assessments then help companies improve the return on their investment in people. The key is to find those that best fit your company’s needs.

What assessments do you find most helpful in the selection and development of talent in your organization?

The Job Search - A Family Affair

A blog from our global partner:

The range of emotions that come following an unexpected career change are not just felt by the person experiencing the loss. The change and job search are most definitely a family affair. Such a transition impacts everyone that the job seeker holds dear to them. This includes their spouse/significant other/partner, children, parents, and close friends. Sometimes this major change hits the loved ones harder than the person who experienced the unplanned career transition.

The job seeker’s family often feels anger, lack of control, frustration, fear of the unknown, and loss of identity. It can be tough for the person in transition to move forward with a job search when these concerns exist. Moving forward can be further compounded by the perception that this person possesses “extra” free time now. And, as time lingers on in the search, the question “What are you really doing with your time?” becomes prevalent among the family.

In actuality a job search is a full time job and until someone goes through this experience, especially an unexpected job search (one day you are here and the next day you are gone), it is difficult to understand. A typical 40 hour work week or more is critical to finding the right work and environment. Home and hobby-related chores need to wait until the weekend or the usual time the job seeker previously fit it into their regular work schedule. With this in mind, the support of the people who are closest to the job seeker becomes paramount.

What can you do if someone close to you experiences an unexpected career change?

1. Talk about what both of you want and check in with each other to confirm that you are still aligned in your goals and moving in the same direction.

2. Involve children, depending on their ages, in a family meeting to discuss what has happened and how it affects them.

3. Collaborate and decide how each member of the family should respond to questions or statements from well-meaning relatives and friends such as:

• Does ___ have a job yet?
• Oh, no!  That’s awful.  What are you going to do?

4. Make a list of the positive opportunities and events that can come out of this experience. Think and talk about these instead of allowing negativity to creep in.

5. Encourage and support the person during this transition phase. Ask:

• What can I do to support you during this time of change?
• What was the highlight for you this week?
• What experience surprised you the most this week?
• What action do you want me to take in readjusting our family budget?

6. Catch your loved one doing well.

7. Encourage a career search routine.

8. Identify ways to substitute a family tradition that may cost too much money right now:

• Instead of eating out at the regular place, try a new restaurant that is less expensive and offers a new experience, or host a potluck dinner at your home.
• Replace a trip to an amusement park with a trip to the zoo or museum on days with special rates.

9. Identify people who believe in your significant other.  Seize opportunities to engage with these people more often.

10. Engage in volunteer activities together.

11. Take care of your own health.  Watch for and treat signs of anxiety or depression.

12. Celebrate the moments of success.