Three Steps to Getting the Most from Career Assessment

If you're in a career change right now, be sure to take advantage of the advice offered in our latest white paper: Three Steps to Getting the Most from Career Assessments. This white paper shows where formal career tests and assessments fit in the overall process of planning a career. It provides an introduction to best practices for tests and assessments in a career counseling environment. It is based on the actual experience of Dr. Wendy Alfus-Rothman, of Wenroth Consulting, and one of her clients, David Fabricant of Stryker Spine. The article also quotes the president of the National Career Development Association, Judith Hoppin.

Read the complete Three Steps to Career Tests article.

Download the PDF.

Tests & Assessments for Career Direction: An Overview

Formal career assessment has become very popular and, when used judiciously, provides reliable information in a concentrated timeframe to support career changes and job searches. There are four major categories of career tests: interest inventories, motives and values inventories, personality tests, and ability tests. Each addresses a different part of the puzzle. This paper provides a tour of career tests and assessments and what some have to offer. It is intended for a general business audience, but it is not an exhaustive review of all career-related tests. Career coaches and counselors may offer it to their clients to help them understand the range of options. Others may find it helpful in seeking out the right kinds of tests for themselves.

Download the white paper on Career Tests in PDF format.

New Research on Leadership Versatility

When it comes to leadership competency, more is not always better. Research shows that the most effective leaders know how and why to balance their skills--and to avoid overreliance on their comfort zones. At a December 15, 2008 webinar, PPI hosted author and researcher Rob Kaiser in a presentation of his work on Leadership Versatility. Kaiser explained why the ability to switch gears and exert different leadership skills at different times results in better business outcomes. You can view the Leadership Versatility webinar on our web site.

Rob Kaiser, coauthor of the book, "The Versatile Leader" (Pfeiffer, 2006), studied top leaders for more than ten years with Bob Kaplan of the consulting firm Kaplan & DeVries. Their work resulted in the Leadership Versatility Index® (LVI) a 360-degree assessment tool with a radically new rating scale. Not just cosmetic, the features they developed were awarded a U.S. patent and hailed as revolutionary by MIT's Sloan Management Review. Rob Kaiser is a partner with Kaplan DeVries and a thought leader with over 100 publications and presentations on leadership.

The webinar discussion includes:

1. An up-to-date leadership competency paradigm that you can put to work in your development programs.

2. The ways that traditional measurement scales can lead executives to counterproductive behaviors and a new alternative measurement scale.

3. Research that shows the relationship between leadership versatility and positive business outcomes.

4. Practical application of the leadership versatility model to reduce executive derailments.

We hope you find the webinar interesting and look forward to talking with you about how this research fits into your executive development efforts.

Importance of Understanding Work Values during Career Transition

Values Assessment Different from Interest Inventories, Personality Tests

Recognition, power, tradition, security, fun, pleasing surroundings, money--these are the values that often make the difference between a job that someone can do and a job they really, really want to do. In the human resources assessment world, we often look at interest inventories and personality tests. But I feel there's a source of information that is mostly overlooked in placement settings--values. This is especially important in more experienced adults, such as the ones so many of our clients and consultants are encountering in a "career transition" setting during these turbulent days.

Values Assessment vs. Interest Inventories vs. Personality Tests

Measures of motives, values, and interests are somewhat different from personality measures.

Values and motives inventories tell us what a person wants to do, shining a light on their inner conversation about their wishes. To quote the technical manual for the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory, published by Hogan Assessments, “Personality measures ask about a person’s typical response in various situations, but interest measures ask about a person’s preferred activities, roles, and associates." Values measures allow people to describe themselves as they would like to be.

Personality tests tell us what a person may do in certain situations and how their behavior is likely to appear to others. Personality reports describe such characteristics as sociability, inquisitiveness, confidence, ambition, interpersonal sensitivity, cautiousness, and curiosity.

Motives and values are more fundamental than interests. Your interests are likely to move over time, but they are always an expression of what you value. For example, you might have once enjoyed an extreme sport such as mountain biking (an interest). Over time you may have become bored with this activity, and turned your attention to rock climbing (another interest). The core values that tie both of these interests together, and which have not shifted, are love of physical activity, the freedom of the outdoors, and more than a hint of physical risk. Your interests have shifted; your motives and values have not.

This is why we're now emphasizing the Career Compass report from Hogan Assessments. It helps shine a light on the elusive and hard-to-articulate nature of work motivations. It is a comprehensive survey of the 10 key values found in every culture throughout history. The only commercially available measure of values that has been developed, validated, and normed for business contexts.

We now offer Career Compass along with an exclusive 20-page interpretive guide that helps you and your client take action on the report. Career Compass OnLine is only $49. It is based on the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI), a scientifically validated values inventory, developed and published by Hogan Assessments. MVPI is validated for individuals over 21.

Learn more...

New Coaching Tool Illuminates Your Blind Spots

by Kathleen Groll Connolly

Clearing Away the Jargon

After more than fifteen years as an executive coach, Claudia M. Shelton had used all the well known assessment instruments. “With each one of them, the feedback recipient had to make an investment in learning the framework and nomenclature that went along with that instrument. I found that it slowed the process considerably.”

Not finding a plain-language feedback report on the market, she developed her own.

Over the past several years, we’ve had the opportunity to work with her in bringing a series of “Blind Spots” profiles to market. At the same time, Shelton’s new book, Blind Spots: Achieve Success by Seeing What You Cannot See, was published in April, 2007 by John Wiley & Sons.

Hartford Insurance Company Senior Vice President Stephanie Bush recently used the Blind Spot Profile Plus for a strategic planning off-site meeting with her direct reports. She says, “It’s simple to understand but deeply insightful. In 10 minutes you can understand the framework without having to learn a lot of jargon. In an hour an individual or a whole team can understand their strengths and blind spots and apply that understanding to key strategic problem-solving.”

Shelton is addressing the same issues that others call unacknowledged weaknesses or cognitive distortions—all of which are widely accepted as sources of career derailment, managerial ineffectiveness, and team dysfunction. She explains: “That's why I needed an instrument that would help an individual move rapidly. Where it might have previously taken three sessions to help them see a troublesome blind spot, I now can communicate it effectively in one session…”

Shelton has used the Blind Spots system for several years with about 1000 clients. Now, it is online and report delivery is fully automated. A free trial version called the Blind Spots Snap Shot is available to the public. The upgrade, called Blind Spots Profile Plus, is available online for $34.99.

Shelton is also developing a package for other coaches, including certification training, a workbook and the ability to obtain copies of feedback recipients’ reports— to be available in June 2007. There is also a 360-feedback coming in the Blind Spots Profile series. Shelton will offer the first certification training this summer.

The Great Derailer: Cognitive Distortions in the Workplace

by Israel Helfand, Ph.D.

We've noticed a lot of interest lately in the topic of career derailment. We thank our associate, Dr. Israel Helfand of Corporate Quest, for the following article.

Cognitive distortions happen when we think that our feelings are a direct result of our life events, rather than a result of our personal judgments and perceptions regarding those life events. While this thought is hardly news in the field of psychology, most people are either unaware of it or find it difficult to incorporate its implications in their work lives. Yet dynamic environments, such as the modern workplace, are full of landmines that can trip even the most talented individuals into a distorted state of mind, where they can become frozen. Managers and leaders need deep insight into their belief systems and cognitions if they are to avoid the dreaded outcome of career derailment.


In my opinion, constructive self-awareness is the single most important asset any business leader can acquire. Managers all too often relax into their most comfortable style of dealing with people and are surprised when they are either passed over for a promotion or get derailed soon after their latest promotion. The type of humility needed for constructive self-awareness is only guaranteed when the manager or CEO in question is emotionally able to objectively evaluate his or her personal belief system.

Here’s an example from our coaching practice. “Greg” grew up a success against all odds. The events in his life were contrary to grooming for success. Greg’s cognitive development led him to believe that adversity begets success. His personal story contains a liberal dose of the “No pain… no gain” style of thought. His motto is that if life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. Greg is an upwardly mobile manager and has come to believe that his perseverance against adversity uniquely qualifies him to be a strong leader.

When he was promoted to manage a staff of individuals from high profile schools and successful, well known business organizations, he became prone to thinking that they “had it easier” than him and that they didn’t know how to struggle for success. He developed feelings of superiority. After a brief honeymoon period, his comfort with his position became precarious, and then deteriorated along with his relationships with the staff, his team’s morale and, eventually, their performance.

His cognitive distortion blinded him from the fact that his staff is skilled despite their different life stories. This self-defeating behavior is expensive for Greg, his team and his employer.

He was on his way to becoming yet another example of a person rising to his level of incompetence.

Ambitious, motivated managers must be able to accept the fact that they are vulnerable to cognitive distortions—and they must learn to handle feedback from their bosses, peers and subordinates. They must harmonize their beliefs about themselves with the world of their employment.

Finding balance need not be a precarious act. It can be a predictable, trustworthy and well-modeled approach when honest self awareness and evaluation are in place. Leaders with constructive self-awareness see themselves as part of a living organization where a multiplicity of life stories are brought to bear. They are open to assessing their own strengths and weaknesses and challenging their own belief systems.

Want to help your clients become more aware of the danger of cognitive distortions? Here are three “ABCs” any of us can place on a sticky note that never leaves the space beside phone or keyboard.

A. Activating event: What happened that challenges you or makes you uncomfortable?
B. Beliefs: What are your beliefs about the event? Are the beliefs based on fact?
C. Consequences: What we tell ourselves about the event causes us to feel something, whether it be anxious, sad, peaceful, happy, or any other emotion. The emotion is the consequence and it can lead to defensive, frozen states of mind if we are not aware of our beliefs. (Acknowledgement: Derived from work by Albert Ellis)

For a good list of ten ways that cognitive distortions perpetuate themselves, see the Wikipedia.

Dr. Helfand runs camping retreats for individuals and small business groups, as well as on-site organizational consulting with his wife, Cathie. He can be reached at info@corporatequest.org

Personality Tests, 360 Feedback Help Executives Avoid Career Derailment

No amount of training can “change” our personalities. Why, then, are personality tests and other assessments a part of many executive developmental programs these days?

The answer may lie in the power of self-awareness—a commodity that some would-be fast trackers have in short supply, according to our sources. “At some point in their professional lives, the more successful people have already rationalized why people react to them they way they do,” says Gary D’Lamater, Ph.D., a 20-year veteran of executive education and coaching based in Corrales, New Mexico. “I provide them feedback, but they’ll say, ‘That’s interesting stuff, but I’ve been successful in spite of it.’”

That's the fallacy. What they “got by” with in the past may prove to be their undoing in the next position. “Much of my work is done with individuals who are stuck and can’t move or who have been moved up too quickly and are floundering,” says D’Lamater. These are people whose careers are at risk of derailment.
Frank Shipper, Ph.D., is Professor of Management in the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business at Salisbury State University in Salisbury, Maryland. He has studied career derailment, working primarily with validated 360-degree feedback instruments. “Research has shown that poor self-awareness can be related to career derailment, particularly among executives,” he says. “Our studies suggest that assisting managers to see themselves as others see them on specific skills could either prevent derailment or aid recovery. The fatal flaw for would-be fast-trackers, based on our research, is a lack of self-awareness.”

While there is no straight line between personality tests and executive excellence, Shipper’s work makes a very convincing case for providing upwardly-mobile professionals with validated information that shows them how others may be perceiving their attitudes, words, and most importantly, behaviors.

“It’s another lens on the assessment camera,” says Christine Fahnestock, whose 30 years of assessment work has made her a firm believer in the value of personality testing. Fahnestock is president of Fahnestock & Associates in Glastonbury, Connecticut.

Same Skills, Traits May Not Fly at Higher Levels

Fahnestock works frequently with high-potential individuals who are being considered for higher-level positions. “I explain to people that awareness is the first step. It’s even more important for people who are upwardly mobile. In terms of personality tests, they are often very high on adjustment, ambition, and confidence. The flip side is they don’t listen much to input about themselves. They can be full of themselves about what they’re doing right.”

She gives the example of a young female executive who is currently being considered for high-level management. “Until now, she’s been golden. She is so bright and so fast to provide insights. She’s also extremely competitive and has been seen as a star up to now.”

Fahnestock’s challenge is to help her see that some of the personality traits that brought her this far may be her undoing at the next level. “If she goes to the next level, it will be a liability if she doesn’t learn to build strategic relationships. [At the next level] it will be all about sharing in the success of moving this company ahead—not about standing out. She won’t be able to play that card anymore.”
Fahnestock uses a “triangulated” assessment in much of her work, combining behavioral simulations, cognitive testing, and personality tests. “I’ve been amazed at how well the personality tests reinforce what we see behaviorally and cognitively,” she says. “But the real grabber is that the candidates are amazed at how accurate it is. It reinforces their belief in the fairness of the selection and development processes.”

Using 360-Degree Feedback to Improve Self-awareness

D’Lamater thinks that personality tests may have their greatest value for the executive coach. “Personality tests help me understand the person’s motivation,” he says. But to help his clients see themselves as others see them, D’Lamater often uses 360-degree feedback instruments. These surveys are usually based on strictly behavioral observations from bosses, peers, direct reports, and clients, plus a self-assessment on the same questionnaire. They address issues such as a person’s skill in communications, planning, praising subordinates, and other areas for which specific training can be provided.

“I find people very receptive to 360 feedback,” says D’Lamater. “Personality tests show me, as the coach, whether the individual has the motivation and energy to get through the difficult process of changing their behaviors. It helps me find an effective approach to the individual.”

Both D’Lamater and Fahnestock noted that personality tests and 360 degree feedback can help someone quickly come to grips with their developmental needs. “If a candidate is motivated to succeed, the combined feedback can arm him or her with a level of self-awareness that would be difficult to achieve in other ways,” says Fahnestock. “They get past the idea that they need to ‘give up’ some behavior or that their personalities are flawed.”

“It gives my clients a fuller and more predictive assessment,” Fahenstock adds. “It also allows them to back off from some of the more time intensive and expensive approaches to assessment.”

The message from these two coaches is clear: While personality tests cannot change personalities, they can help motivated individuals change behaviors that impede their career progress. That’s the power of self-awareness in a management career.

For more information, visit www.performanceprograms.com