GreatWork Blog

Building better workplaces through compliance, culture, connection

While the Behavioral Assessment is a fantastic coaching and professional development tool, it can also be used with PI’s Job Assessment to ensure that organizations hire individuals that are a natural fit for the role they need to fill. And with the Cognitive Assessment, a tool that measures how quickly someone learns, PI makes it much more likely that people will be successful (and stay longer!) in their new roles.

It was three years ago that a casual kitchen table conversation turned into an adventure, an adventure that gave me the opportunity to live on an island in Alaska and relearn some lessons that workplaces have been teaching me now for decades.

In my experience as a coach, a consultant, and a trainer, the number one saboteur of workplace relationships is that we make assumptions as to why someone is acting a particular way and those assumptions are almost always negative – and incorrect.

Years ago I conducted an experiment as a project for my psychology class where I literally gave every participant the exact same results to an assessment and then asked how accurate the reading had been.

If you are like most, you are especially conscious of weaknesses in yourself and others. It’s built in our wiring, our insecurity. But we get much further by focusing on strengths. 

We did it again. Cascade Employers Association has just earned recertification for the coveted EarthWISE Certification from Marion County. What’s an EarthWISE Certification and Why Does it Matter?

We all have them. Weaknesses, that is. Things we just are not good at. Skillful managers put themselves and their employees in positions that maximize our strength zone so that these weaknesses become irrelevant—they just don’t matter anymore. 

Employee relations has a reputation for being a catch all for anything HR related. I agree there is a lot that is included under the umbrella of employee relations, but I also believe it’s really only about three VERY IMPORTANT things: relationships, meaningful work and strengths.

We are so excited today at Cascade! Thank you to all of our Members for allowing us to be a part of your journey towards excellence.

What makes employees want to do their best? Right at the top of motivators is positive reinforcement, i.e., people who thoughtfully listen to our ideas, recognize our strengths and reward our efforts with appreciation. There are plenty of managers and executives with weak people skills who think beautiful buildings, snazzy perks and fat paychecks will bring out the best in people. They don’t.

Are you a leader or a follower? We all need to be both. Sometimes we know what has to be decided or accomplished and we can influence others to get moving. Other times, we accept others’ influence. While authority is sometimes important, sharing good sense is more central to personal, team and organizational success. That’s collaboration.

Before we talk about what employee engagement looks like, there is one thing you need to know. Employee engagement and employee satisfaction are not the same.

Document, document, document. The importance of documentation is typically associated with employee coaching, counseling, and discipline. In theory, employees are judged by their overall work record, but documenting only when employees are not at their best can create a distorted perception.