XBInsight Blog

Virtual Hiring: Why Talent Assessments are More Vital Than Ever Before

Posted by KGL on Nov 16, 2021 9:54:35 AM right

Even with mass vaccinations and a slow return to traditional face-to-face interactions, the swift adoption of virtual recruiting and hiring brought on by the pandemic looks anything but temporary. In fact, 70% of talent professionals say virtual recruiting will be the new standard going forward and 89% of organizations have shifted to virtual recruiting since COVID-19. 

Organizations have increasingly turned to technology to improve the hiring process, from applicant tracking systems to automated candidate engagement platforms. However, leading companies are adding a powerful component – talent assessments – to their hiring process that not only helps them adapt to virtual hiring, but also streamlines the screening process, identifies best-fit candidates from the start, meets diversity and inclusion objectives, and promotes the human experience at work.

In a recently published report, Charles Handler, founder of Rocket-Hire and contributor to XBInsight’s assessment technology, states that assessments support the ability to adapt and thrive in the new normal as “COVID-19 pushed many companies to evolve and redefine their businesses, requiring them to staff up with new skill sets, provide an automated way to stack rank job applicants, remove bias, and ensure new hires share a sense of purpose and values with their employers.”

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Topics: assessments, hiring, Recruitment, recruiting

Four Keys To Evolving Your Sales Organization

Posted by KGL on Oct 1, 2021 8:45:07 AM right

If 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic have a legacy of disruption, then 2021 will be known as the year of transition – a bridge between old consumer buying patterns and sales delivery models to new and shifting approaches. According to research from the Technology & Services Industry Association (TSIA), more than two-thirds of sales organizations say they don’t think sales practices will ever return to the way they were. 

Even before last year and the pandemic, more buyers were moving toward more digital, self-service approaches to sales. It is likely the convenience of virtual selling for buyers will prevail long after the lockdowns and quarantines are over. Meanwhile, research from Gartner shows that buyers are only spending about 17% of the sales cycle with sellers – and that time is split among competitors, leaving less time than ever to develop a trust-based relationship and an urgent need to make that limited time more productive. 

These market dynamics and many others have illuminated the fact that many organizations’ sales capabilities have not kept up with the changes in the markets they serve, leaving leaders questioning whether a pre-COVID-19 sales organization can succeed in a post-COVID-19 world. Sales transformation will be critical to success moving forward, and greatly hinges on evolving sales talent management in three crucial ways.

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Topics: improve sales performance, sales teams, hiring for sales

Onboarding Senior Leader's Checklist

Posted by Kathi Graham-Leviss on Nov 8, 2020 12:41:43 PM right

A detailed executive onboarding strategy is key for integrating new-leader hires into an organization. Newly hired executives clearly want support. While each organization is different, an effective executive-onboarding program includes several vital elements: clear performance expectations that are routed in strategic priorities, helpful operational overviews, realistic descriptions of the company’s culture and how decisions are made, stakeholder “maps,” coaching and more. Download our checklist for onboarding senior leaders.

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Topics: Succession Planning, onboarding

XBInsight's Succession Planning Process

Posted by Kathi Graham-Leviss on Nov 1, 2020 2:17:38 PM right

Utilize a scientific process with validated data by benchmarking what success looks like and identifying the critical thinking skills, culture/values of successful leaders. Download XBInsight's succession planning guide here.

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Topics: Succession Planning, onboarding

Identifying Your Next Generation of Strategic Leaders

Posted by Kathi Graham-Leviss on Oct 7, 2020 7:48:08 PM right

Most companies have leaders equipped with the strong operational skills required to maintain the status quo. However, in today’s increasingly complex and disruptive business environment, many organizations face a critical deficit – a lack of strategic leaders. In fact, a study by PwC of 6,000 senior executives found only 8% of the respondents turned out to be strategic leaders, or those effective at leading transformations.

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Topics: change management, What Change Agents Value At Work, 5 Key Indicators Of Effective Change Management

Are Your Executives Paving the Way for the Next Generation

Posted by Kathi Graham-Leviss on Oct 7, 2020 7:38:48 PM right

Why Leaders Must Begin Developing Leaders

Executive and leadership development has risen to the top of most companies’ priority list over the past decade, with the realization that in the fast-changing, innovation-led business landscape organizations must have exceptional leaders to navigate it. In fact, studies by McKinsey & Company and J.P. Donion have found a close correlation between the skills of a company’s leaders and market performance. However, research by Deloitte and the U.S. Federal Reserve show that return on assets (ROA) and productivity growth – both key measures of leadership success – have shown a steady decline since the 1960s.

This exposes a real challenge facing organizations today – implementing effective leadership development to build stronger capabilities. This issue is particularly urgent given the youngest of the Baby Boomer leaders will turn 61 this year, raising the importance of replacing the departure of these older leaders. As a result, organizations are realizing that if they don’t start to prepare next generation leaders for future roles now, they will face an uphill battle filling them in the future. In short, top executives will need to aggressively find ways for leaders to develop leaders.

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Topics: assessments, competency assessments, talent integration, Talent Assessments, hiring, Performance Management

What Change Agents Value at Work

Posted by Kathi Graham-Leviss on Oct 7, 2020 7:35:32 PM right

When it comes to change management, half the battle is making sure you have the right leaders in place. And that means looking carefully at their competencies, behavioral styles, and values.

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Topics: change management, What Change Agents Value At Work, 5 Key Indicators Of Effective Change Management

Don’t Rely on Luck When Building Your Executive Team

Posted by Kathi Graham-Leviss on Sep 1, 2020 11:03:01 AM right

What does luck have to do with building your executive team? Nothing really, except as an analogy to illustrate how many employers approach their leadership selection today – often relying on gut feel or “luck” as opposed to careful planning and the use of data to guide them. Meanwhile, moving valuable talent into executive team roles is a strategic and imperative goal, one that can have substantial impact depending on your success or failure.

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Topics: Don't Rely On Luck For Your Executive Team

The Solution to Talent Shortages Facing Life Sciences Companies

Posted by Kathi Graham-Leviss on Aug 27, 2020 11:01:47 AM right

A recent study highlights a pervasive challenge facing the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry, and that is a lack of talent. The study found that 51 percent of CEOs of life sciences and pharma companies admit to greater difficulties attracting and retaining the right people, more than any other industry in the study.1

In fact, one of the greatest challenges on the horizon for pharmaceutical and life science companies is filling vacant positions and decreasing the time-to-fill for those positions. On average, pharma hiring decision-makers report they are currently 14 percent understaffed and have roughly 212 open positions at this time. Additionally, they report that it takes an average of 105 days, essentially 3 ½ months, to recruit and hire non-executive positions.1

These lengthy vacancies are quickly eating away at corporate profits. In fact, companies lose $500 a day for every job that stays vacant.2 given the average time-to-fill among pharma decision-makers is 105 days, and that amounts to $52,000 per vacancy. 

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Topics: Succession Planning, Performance Management, Recruitment

Developing Healthcare Leaders

Posted by Kathi Graham-Leviss on Aug 27, 2020 10:53:44 AM right

While the nursing and physician shortage has been well-documented and widely-discussed, there is a far more challenging aspect of healthcare talent management today – attaining a deep pipeline of executive-ready talent equipped to lead amid a complex and chaotic healthcare industry. In fact, strong leadership is arguably the single most important driver of overall organizational performance, and well-constructed talent management and succession planning remain critical to developing a deep bench of strong leaders. 

Facing unprecedented pressure to navigate new laws, regulations, care coordination and payment models, new leadership styles need to be implemented to effectively lead and manage in the new paradigm. Simply said, healthcare organizations need to simultaneously address an impending shortage of leader-ready talent while developing the competencies and behaviors of existing leaders to match the requirements of an ever-evolving landscape.

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Topics: assessments, competency assessments, talent integration, Talent Assessments, hiring, Performance Management

The New Age of Leadership

Posted by Kathi Graham-Leviss on Aug 27, 2020 1:12:04 AM right

Companies are continuing to abandon top-down, formal reporting hierarchies and silo-based organizational models in favor of flatter, team-based structures as a means of adjusting to new demands for innovation and growth. In fact, 38% of all companies have moved away from traditional functional structures towards dynamic networks of teams, according to a recent Deloitte study

The adoption of new organizational models alongside the growing cohort of Millennials in the workplace is making waves across the enterprise, driving changes in job roles and responsibilities, reshaping how goals are set and people rewarded, and altering the role of leaders – namely driving a need for more and different leadership skills at all levels of the organization.

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Topics: assessments, competency assessments, talent integration, Talent Assessments, hiring, Performance Management

Is Your Leadership Team Full of Change Agents?

Posted by Kathi Graham-Leviss on Aug 27, 2020 12:53:02 AM right

 The rules and requirements to remain competitive in today’s marketplace are evolving so rapidly that leadership is struggling to stay ahead of the course. While change used to be slow and incremental, organizations today face a whole new breed of change – one that is fast, disruptive, and unpredictable.  As such, businesses are acutely aware of the need to be agile. However, to be agile you need agile people because in the end, organizations don’t change – people do.

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Topics: Succession Planning, Coaching and Training, Performance Management

Leading in an Ever-Evolving Healthcare Industry

Posted by Kathi Graham-Leviss on Aug 27, 2020 12:41:36 AM right

Leading Courageously and Bringing Others Along

Optimizing leadership skills and building a deep pipeline of executive-ready talent is more critical than ever, given a fast-and-ever-evolving healthcare environment. With the introduction of new laws, regulations, care coordination, and payment models, new leadership styles need to be implemented to effectively lead and manage in the new paradigm. However, alongside the need for modern leadership competencies is the need to address an impending talent shortage of leader ready talent. In fact, executive turnover is expected to increase due to a high number of leaders eligible for retirement, combined with a shortage of senior leader ready talent.

To survive, and thrive, healthcare organizations must take advantage of all its institutional talent. Yet, this can only be achieved if leaders widely embrace the need to address the issue of leadership development. Healthcare organizations, like many, are slow to invest resources to identify and develop next generation talent. This is problematic in light of our research that shows a significant gap between what directors do well and what is needed to be a successful executive. This is a classic case of "what got you here, won't get you there".

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Topics: talent integration, Coaching and Training, talent development

The Key to Building a Coaching Culture

Posted by Kathi Graham-Leviss on Aug 17, 2020 4:56:49 PM right

When organizations invest in leadership coaching, they make giant strides in building a culture of coaching throughout the company. One of the many beneficial outcomes for leaders who engage with coaches is that they are encouraged to use and transfer their learned skills to their peers and direct reports throughout the organization – creating a coaching culture that can be a game changer in the way people work together and perform. 

A study by the Human Capital Institute and International Coach Federation found organizations with strong coaching cultures report revenue growth well above their industry peer group (51% compared to only 38%) and significantly higher engagement (62% compared to 50%). And, organizations with robust coaching cultures are over 60% more likely to have senior leaders engaged with coaching.

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Topics: assessments, competency assessments, talent integration, Talent Assessments, hiring, Performance Management

Why Executive Coaching Is a Critical Part of the Leadership Journey

Posted by Kathi Graham-Leviss on Aug 17, 2020 4:49:45 PM right

We are living in uncertain times. While we may not know how long this new normal will last or what the world will look like when it’s over, the one thing we do know is that the organizations that evolve, adapt, and turn obstacles into opportunity will be the ones who thrive. We also know that leadership is a differentiator and that the leadership development journey should never stop. 

Now, more than ever, it is crucial for organizations to invest in coaching for their executives and high-potential leaders in critical roles. In times of rapid change or disruption, the responsibilities and duties of executives become even more challenging. But, through these unstable, uncertain, and complex times, inspiring leaders are needed the most. Meanwhile, high-level leaders often find they have few trusted sounding boards given their unique pressures and often confidential challenges.

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Topics: assessments, competency assessments, talent integration, Talent Assessments, hiring, Performance Management