Recently I was playing golf with a friend of mine and we were paired with a father and son we didn't know. After a couple of holes I asked the son, engineer or accountant? He smiled and said, Mechanical Engineer. As a certified professional behavior analyst I recognized fairly quickly that his behavioral style (or personality style) was consistent with someone you would expect to be successful in engineering or accounting, and I guessed correctly.
I began using DISC in my hiring process in 1997. Before that I was a skeptic. Personality profiles were hocus-pocus and a waste of money. Plus, it was obvious to me that the people I hired could have done a good job if they wanted to, they just chose not to and I had to fire them. It was their fault, not mine. But I couldn't ignore that my turnover rate was stubbornly high and that my business unit was not performing as well as some of my peers' business units. At the urging of my CEO, I began incorporating DISC into my selection decisions.
The results were almost instantaneous and within two years my turnover rate had dropped to among the lowest in the company and my branch performance had risen to among the top as well. Was it all because of DISC? No, we made some other adjustments too, but DISC was a big contributor.
We observe contrasting behavioral styles all the time. Some people are naturally outgoing, others are more reserved. Some people are more detail-oriented, others are more achievement-oriented. Some are animated, some have a poker-face. Some are sensitive, others are more about getting the job done even if people get their feelings hurt. It only makes sense that people who are in a job that rewards a certain natural behavior style are going to perform better if they share that style.
The problem I had prior to using DISC was that I judged candidates on the combination of their technical skills and their interviewing skills. But I eventually figured out that we could train technical skills and that interviewing skills weren't that relevant to nor predictive of performance in most jobs. I began to focus on finding people who were trainable, had a demonstrated work ethic, and had a DISC profile that was compatible with the natural demands of the job. That proved to be the combination that lead me to start hiring winners.
If your good hire percentage is lower than you'd like it to be and you're not utilizing DISC in your selection process, contact me and I'll show you how easy it is to benchmark a role in your company so that you can hire more people who have a chance to be great and hire fewer people who are likely going to hate the job.
Friday, April 1, 2016
Bruce, Caitlyn and Transgender Restrooms
NC Governor Pat McCrory recently made news by signing into law the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act which basically stops localities like Charlotte from passing ordinances that allow transgender individuals to use public restrooms that align with their gender identity, not their birth gender. The ACLU has quickly gotten involved and a lawsuit has been put in motion to declare the NC law unconstitutional.
All this will certainly play out in the political arena and in the courts. The purpose of this article is not to take sides in the dispute, rather to provide guidance to organizations like yours if faced with this dilemma in the meantime. Let's say "Bruce" joined your company a couple of years ago and has been a solid contributor. But Bruce has recently decided to reveal to his co-workers that he really identifies himself as a female, begins wearing female clothing to work, and asks the company to begin referring to him as "Caitlyn." He has also asked to begin using the women's restroom. How do you respond?
This story is becoming more common. The Social Security Administration reports that in the 2010 census some 90,000 Americans had changed their name to reflect the opposite sex and over 20,000 have actually changed their sex in the official record. This, however, is a small percentage of the reported 700,000 Americans who consider themselves transgender according to a study by the Williams Institute. If the Williams Institute is correct, it is only a matter of time before your organization faces this question, "what do we do about Caitlyn?"
The NC statute may give a sense of cover to those traditional employers in NC who may feel that an individual should really use the restroom that matches their actual plumbing rather than what they wish their plumbing to be. But I would caution against rushing to judgement over Caitlyn's request, expecting the NC law to protect you.
It is wise to consider that both OSHA and the EEOC have gotten involved in this debate. OSHA published a guidance on the topic last year in which it recommends that employers allow employees to use the restroom with which they identify. And while it is fine to offer unisex alternatives, it is not fine to require the transgendered to use them. The EEOC also made it clear in its Lusardi v. McHugh decision in April 2015 that it considers transgender rights to be covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, so employers who choose to discriminate against LGBT employees are doing so at their own risk. Personally, I wouldn't want to stand in front of the EEOC depending on the NC law to justify my employment actions, and I definitely recommend you confer with an attorney before deciding to take a hard line stance on this issue.
Bruce becoming Caitlyn is one more example of a circumstance when a small business owner might benefit from having an HR Business Partner on speed dial.
All this will certainly play out in the political arena and in the courts. The purpose of this article is not to take sides in the dispute, rather to provide guidance to organizations like yours if faced with this dilemma in the meantime. Let's say "Bruce" joined your company a couple of years ago and has been a solid contributor. But Bruce has recently decided to reveal to his co-workers that he really identifies himself as a female, begins wearing female clothing to work, and asks the company to begin referring to him as "Caitlyn." He has also asked to begin using the women's restroom. How do you respond?
This story is becoming more common. The Social Security Administration reports that in the 2010 census some 90,000 Americans had changed their name to reflect the opposite sex and over 20,000 have actually changed their sex in the official record. This, however, is a small percentage of the reported 700,000 Americans who consider themselves transgender according to a study by the Williams Institute. If the Williams Institute is correct, it is only a matter of time before your organization faces this question, "what do we do about Caitlyn?"
The NC statute may give a sense of cover to those traditional employers in NC who may feel that an individual should really use the restroom that matches their actual plumbing rather than what they wish their plumbing to be. But I would caution against rushing to judgement over Caitlyn's request, expecting the NC law to protect you.
It is wise to consider that both OSHA and the EEOC have gotten involved in this debate. OSHA published a guidance on the topic last year in which it recommends that employers allow employees to use the restroom with which they identify. And while it is fine to offer unisex alternatives, it is not fine to require the transgendered to use them. The EEOC also made it clear in its Lusardi v. McHugh decision in April 2015 that it considers transgender rights to be covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, so employers who choose to discriminate against LGBT employees are doing so at their own risk. Personally, I wouldn't want to stand in front of the EEOC depending on the NC law to justify my employment actions, and I definitely recommend you confer with an attorney before deciding to take a hard line stance on this issue.
Bruce becoming Caitlyn is one more example of a circumstance when a small business owner might benefit from having an HR Business Partner on speed dial.
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