Nonprofit Leaders More Skilled than Corporate Counterparts

Nonprofit Leaders Rate Higher in 360 Feedback

Never assume anything.

It’s an old warning—and one that proved true again when we studied leaders of nonprofit organizations in partnership with Community Resource Exchange during 2007. CRE, a 27-year-old New York City consulting organization, provides high-value capacity building services to nonprofit leaders and organizations.

"Leadership in for-profit endeavors is widely studied," says our associate Jean Lobell, a Managing Director at CRE. "The same is not necessarily true for nonprofits, but the lack of data never stopped people from assuming that nonprofit leaders are less skilled than their for-profit counterparts."

"Imagine our delight and surprise," she says, "when our study showed that nonprofit leaders, as seen by their managers, direct reports and peers significantly (alpha > 0.05) outscored for-profit leaders on 14 out of 17 skills." The study is based on Clark Wilson Group’s validated Survey of Leadership Practices™, a competency-based 360-degree feedback instrument.

The strength of the findings was a surprise to both CRE and PPI, as well as to a group of nonprofit leaders who had participated in the study. While it is premature to declare that nonprofit leaders are clearly more effective, this study challenges the assumption.

Want full details? We were pleased to have the study featured in the Nonprofit Quarterly, a highly respected magazine that focuses on themes of critical importance to leaders in the nonprofit sector.

Read more!

Fast Track to Intepreting Personality Tests

Free of Charge for Certified Users of Hogan Assessments

We were recently pleased to get a new tool to help interpret Hogan Personality Inventory reports. Called the "Dyad" Training Tool, it allows you to pair scales (see below for example) in test results and click to a suggestion of what that pair might mean. For example:

Question: What do you get when you have high ambition and high adjustment in the same personality profile?

Answer: You are likely to find a person who is calm, poised, self-confident, and eager to be in charge.

The new tool will help people who are involved in large-scale hiring or training projects make quicker interpretations. It's also fun to use and helps build your knowledge of the how different personality characteristics interact with one another.

DYAD is written in PowerPoint and is available free of charge to individuals who have attended the Hogan Certifications Workshop. If you are certified, get your free copy by contacting us and putting DYAD Training Tool in the subject line. We'll send the PowerPoint file as an attachment.

Read more!

Women Execs: Entrepreneurial or Corporate?

Using Personality Tests to Predict the Best Track

You’re a woman aiming for the executive suite. The question is: Are you best suited to a spot in the E-Suite or the C-Suite? Using first-of-its-kind research with high achieving women in business, The Suite Spot Report points women towards the "suite" where they show the greatest potential: Entrepreneurial or Corporate.

"The Suite Spot Report came about through my work as an executive coach," says Wendy Alfus Rothman, Ph.D., the study’s lead author, who has tested and delivered feedback to hundreds of women and men during her career as president of Wenroth Consulting. "There is a great deal known about the characteristics that differentiate high performers in many fields. But little or no research has been done on the differences among high achieving women themselves." She adds, "Over the years, I saw there was a difference among women who thrived in entreprenuership and others who moved up in corporations. It seemed like a difference well worth understanding."

She initiated an investigation that resulted in the new Suite Spot report. Study participants took three validated personality tests from Hogan Assessment Systems. The 72 study participants were recruited from the Committee of 200 (C200), an organization for pre-eminent women presidents, CEOs, and senior executives, and from the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO).

Corporate high achievers in this study manage a P&L of $250 million or more. Entrepreneurial achievers have driven businesses to at least $5 million in revenue, or, if they inherited, changed focus or direction significantly. "These definitions of achievement do not pertain to job or career satisfaction," Alfus-Rothman says, "but it is unlikely a person can sustain the energy needed to achieve so much outward success without experiencing a high degree of personal satisfaction."

See a sample Suite Spot Report

Performance Programs was a research partner and developer of the Suite Spot Report.

Read more!

Fun at Work … a Big Predictor of Job Satisfaction

Over the past five years, we’ve had almost 100,000 people complete the short version of the Full Engagement Profile, a work/life balance and stress management measurement. Lately, we’ve been looking for trends in the data gathered from this popular assessment, which is based on the widely read 2003 book, The Power of Full Engagement, coauthored by our associate, Dr. Jim Loehr. He is also the author of the 2007 book, The Power of Story.

One of the single biggest predictors of a high score on job satisfaction for both men and women, we’ve learned, is a high score on the statement, “I have fun at work.” Two items were of even greater importance: “I feel a sense of purpose and meaning in my work.” and “I feel more challenge and opportunity than frustration and aggravation at work.”

Employers take note: A few opportunities for a good chuckle may go a long way towards increasing employee job satisfaction.

In a separate inquiry, we looked at the scores that predict a high score on the question: “I feel fully engaged at work.” We found that high scores on the following predict a sense of full engagement:

“I have a high level of positive emotional energy at work.”


“I feel my work is personally fulfilling.”


“I am mentally alert and sharp at work.”

The question of personal fulfillment showed up on both lists, an item that many employers feel challenged to address. But it may be of use to look at the elements of personal fulfillment and find ways to address them. The word “personal” means what it says: specific to the person. Praise, recognition, and a consistent attention to the work of individuals may go a long way towards increasing an employee’s sense of being valued at work. The word “fulfillment” speaks of completion, something that can be gained when people have a sense of the whole work product. These are both old principles in workplace psychology, but apparently still the ones that make a difference.

As we learn more about the results of this fascinating survey, we’ll keep you posted.

Our company, Performance Programs, is a coauthor of the Full Engagement Profile, along with Dr. Jim Loehr’s company, Human Performance Institute of Orlando, FL, and the Wenroth Group, New York City.

Read more!

Success in Cross Cultural Business Settings

Measure Your "Globe-Ability"

The Global Assessment Inventory (GAI) measures ten attributes crucial for successful adaptation to multiple cultures, particularly in your work environment. GAI is now available online from Performance Programs. The price is normally $55 per individual, but the 17-page report is currently free of charge while we continue our norm study. Global Assessment Inventory reports on the following attributes:

1. Change Tolerance : Willingness to meet challenges and cope with change.
2. Initiative: Ability to take charge of new or challenging situations.
3. Respect for Beliefs: Receptiveness to new ideas and other political or religious beliefs.
4. Patience: The extent to which you believe you have influence over your life events.
5. Risk Taking: Willingness to try new approaches and ways of doing things.
6. Sociability: Extent to which you enjoy being with other people.
7. Openness: Willingness to let others know you.
8. Global Sensitivity: Clarity of the job tasks.
9. Travel Flexibility
10. Travel Expectations

The GAI is especially good at measuring the attributes necessary for work that involves international business travel. Visit the Performance Programs shopping cart and complete the check out process. No charges will occur. All data is confidential. No individual's responses will be identified in the norms. GAI is proprietary and created by Prudential Relocation's Intercultural Group; Performance Programs is a research partner and distributor.

GAI is based on the Overseas Assignment Inventory (OAI), a 30-year-old measurement from Prudential Relocation's Intercultural Group. The OAI is an online assessment designed for expatriate candidates that measures nine attributes and six context factors crucial for successful adaptation to living fulltime and working in another culture. It is provided for both the expatriate job candidate and his or her spouse or partner. PPI establishes local norms and conducts ongoing validation studies of the OAI. OAI is proprietary and created by Prudential Relocation's Intercultural Group.

Read more!

Lack of Sleep Is the Culprit, Say Survey Respondents

Lack of sleep raids our energy stores, robs us of peak performance and destroys work/life balance, according to almost 100,000 individuals who completed the short version of the Full Engagement Self Profile, which provides a customized view of a person’s energy management strengths and challenges. Lack of exercise and lack of time management skills also earned a spot among the top three energy bandits. The Full Engagement Profile is based on a bestselling 2003 book, The Power of Full Engagement, coauthored by our associate Dr. Jim Loehr. The book shows how to achieve optimal performance by managing energy, not time. Loehr is also author of the 2007 book, The Power of Story.

“The sleep, exercise, and time management scores in this large group are, on average, about 60% of what we consider optimal,” says Dr. Loehr. “By any measure, that is a serious deficit.”

Loehr is a performance psychologist who has worked with world class athletes and top performers from the high stress occupations of military special forces, law enforcement, medicine, and commerce for more than 30 years. The Full Engagement Profile is used with all Human Performance Institute programs.

To find out how you score, visit the free trial. The trial offers a short customized report. There is an upgrade version available at the end of the trial for $49. The upgrade provides a 16-page report with a full set of norms on 15 areas of energy management plus a variety of other measures. In addition to sleep and physical fitness, the report covers nutrition, interpersonal relationships, self-esteem, management of adversity, creativity and curiosity, focus and concentration, solution-based thinking, mental preparation, self-awareness, commitment and passion, principle-centered ethics, vision, and the ability to recover. For more information about Energy for Performance Training, contact Human Performance Institute.

Read more!

Executive Leadership Competencies Mapped to "FYI" Competencies

Many organizational coaches and HR departments rely on Lombardo and Eichinger's For Your Improvement: A Guide for Development and Coaching. Performance Programs recently mapped the 4th edition of the book, popularly known as FYI, to all the items on two validated 360 feedback surveys: Survey of Leadership Practices and the new Executive EQ. Both are published by Clark Wilson Group.

This is an effective way to bridge the compentency-based 360 feedback into developmental action plans. For more information about these maps, please contact Paul or Sonya at 1-800-565-4223.

Read more!