A Well-Oiled Machine:
Utilizing an Integrated Approach
With so many diagnostic assessments on the market, how can HR managers and consultants put together a program that has the most impact. Do they pick and choose from a variety of providers and assemble a unique, a la carte menu of diagnostics, or do they choose one model and stick with it?
While it might be tempting to try and “cover all the bases” with a variety of assessments, programs that do this usually interfere with the learning process. Even if the selection includes only valid and reliable assessments, by attempting a “mix and match approach”, you risk introducing conflicting ideas or concepts or confusing participants.
However, when you utilize multiple levels of the same set of integrated diagnostics, you’re providing your participants with a common language. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but by utilizing a visual diagram such as the circumplex you’re allowing participants to be able to actually see their results. This not only solidifies their knowledge, but it also gives them a common framework to use throughout all levels of the organization. Developed over 50 years ago, the circumplex was a ground-breaking innovation, and continues to be refined and updated to maintain it’s normative data.
Click here to discover more about the circumplex and how it works through every level of your organization.
By providing participants with a clear, consistent message throughout all areas of their development, you avoid wasting valuable time learning new concepts with every assessment you introduce. Keep in mind that as an HR professional you are likely well versed in the theories, concepts, and ideas behind culture or leadership, but your participants may not be. Allow them to focus on what they do best, whether it be accounting or marketing, and you can spend your precious time to focus on what matters most — Impactful and sustainable change.
When you engage multiple tools that utilize the same diagnostic framework, you’re building a holistic program where one product builds on another. While on their own, HS products are well researched, statistically valid and reliable, and insightful; where they really shine is when used in tandem with each other. Research shows that effectiveness at an individual level is linked to leadership skills, team interactions, and organizational culture – and vice versa. It is only logical then to view these levels through the same perspective, rather than shifting gears every time you want to do training.
Your organization is expected to run like a well-oiled machine, so shouldn’t your training and development program do the same thing?
By incorporating multiple levels of diagnostics, your program flows easily from one level to another, allowing participants to seamlessly shift perspectives all within the same framework. It’s easy to pick up where you left off with culture when you pivot towards the leadership team, and again when you focus on team building or individual development. This holistic approach proves time and again to retain more significant and longer lasting results than piece meal work, and each assessment adds more depth and value to the one before creating strong programs rather than spread out and watered-down ones.
Perhaps the best way to highlight the importance of an integrated approach is to step back and identify the true purpose of the program in the first place. Whether your goal is to improve the culture of an organization or just develop the leadership team, all programs should hope that the changes made will be effective, long lasting, and impactful. Because organizational culture and leadership are so intertwined, it only makes sense that if you are measuring and developing one, it is logical to measure and develop the other. This allows participants to see how their thinking style influences groups they are a part of, or the individuals that they manage, as well as how the leaders can impact the culture of an organization and vice versa. Organizations that use multiple level diagnostics consistently have more significant, and longer lasting change for the better.
Whether you’re an internal HR director or an independent consultant, building a holistic program using an integrated approach is to your advantage. Not only are you providing your participants with a common language and framework for their development, but your efforts will be rewarded with longer lasting and more significant change, giving your programs a competitive edge. When you factor in the strength of Human Synergistics assessments, with their rich history of thoroughly researched data, you’re building a program that will help you help us “change the world, one organization at a time”