We’re Going Hybrid. Should You?

Corexcel has focused on workplace trends for years, but we’ve never seen anything like this. The pandemic has brought about a workplace shift that’s becoming as widespread as the virus itself. Last spring, businesses, and organizations scrambled to establish work-from-home arrangements for employees. Now, nearly a year later, businesses throughout the U.S. are embracing hybrid work style and fully remote work options.

For a change of pace, we’re sharing our own work experience as it might serve as a useful example for other businesses.

Our Hybrid Experience

At Corexcel we went fully remote in 2020, and we recently transitioned to a hybrid work arrangement. We’re still ironing out the kinks, but for now, our team is working remotely on Mondays and Fridays and in the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. So far, we’re finding the three-days-in-the-office-two-days-at-home arrangement to be a good balance.

woman on her laptop sitting on couch wearing a headset

We decided to try a hybrid format to:

  • Provide flexibility for employees
  • Reduce our rent expense
  • Lower the company’s carbon footprint

Before going hybrid, we polled the Corexcel team and, interestingly, no staff members indicated a preference to work virtually every day. While that might not be the response at every business, we’re finding that our team members aren’t missing a beat. In fact, our employees are comfortable and working effectively with the new arrangement.

We asked why they like the hybrid arrangement and received these comments, among others:

  • “It’s nice to skip the commute sometimes after being on the go with the kids.”
  • “I can work more at my own pace.”
  • “I appreciate the mix. I get quality time with the kids, but I also get time in the office with no kids and no dog.”
  • “Hybrid is so flexible. We can start a project in the office and finish the work at home at night if that works best with our schedule.”

These benefits would resonate with employees at other organizations as well.

Why Hybrid Instead of Fully Virtual?

As we see how our hybrid work arrangement plays out, we might decide to go virtual; who knows. For now, we like coming in part of the week to get a sense of normalcy. Our time in the office works well for meetings, too. Employees who might be hesitant to speak during a Zoom call are often open to speaking at an in-person meeting. For us, the hybrid model seems to be the perfect mix.

A Trend That’s Here to Stay

From our own experience, though brief, as well as input from other businesses, we believe a hybrid workplace could be the wave of the future. We’re hearing that business owners feel hybrid work styles widen the hiring pool. Candidates who might find the commute too much on a daily basis based on their location might be willing to travel two or three days a week. In addition, if a hybrid structure makes employees happy, they’re going to be loyal to the company. Hybrid workplaces could lead to less employee turnover, and in turn lower costs.

Going Hybrid?

If you’re going hybrid, there are several factors to consider. SHRM’s article, “What to Consider When Moving to a Hybrid Work Model,” is a good place to start. If you’re concerned about hiring when your team isn’t in the office full-time, we recommend using a hiring assessment tool to screen candidates. PXT Select™ lets you assess candidates on thinking style, behavioral style, and interests—from wherever they are. If you’re thinking of going hybrid, please let us know!

Email us at learn@corexcel.com to learn more.

Are you Hiring? Be Sure to Hire Right

What a year we just had; businesses and organizations across the board scrambled to revise operations, workers went remote, and hiring in many sectors came to a halt. As we enter a new year, hiring freezes are beginning to thaw. If you’re fortunate enough to be hiring, be sure to hire right with these best recruitment practices.

woman typing on the computer with the word assessment on the screen

Employing the wrong candidate comes at a cost. It costs you money. It costs you time. In fact, the cost of a bad hire is considered to be the equivalent of an employee’s first-year salary*. According to surveys conducted by John Wiley & Sons, which questioned 2,000 individuals, hiring practices are a common problem:

  • 39% of hiring managers do not always align job requirements with candidates.
  • 54% say candidates are not always assessed with a structured interview process.
  • 65% of hiring managers rely on their instincts rather than data.

To help ensure that you bring the right individual(s) on board follow these best hiring practices:

Establish a consistent hiring process. This ensures that hiring is fair, and it makes it easier for you to compare candidates. Consider creating a checklist that keeps the position’s requirements and the qualifications you seek front and center.

Use data in the hiring process. We use data to make lots of decisions these days, so why not use it for hiring? While the impression the candidate makes during the interview carries considerable weight, going exclusively with your gut is so yesterday. Data offers valuable input.

Use PXT Select™. This online assessment is designed to help you select the best candidates for your organization. Candidates take an assessment, and PXT Select generates a report that provides insight into their behaviors and interests. It also tips you off to their verbal and math skills so you can see if they’re a good fit for the position.

PXT Select lets you compare candidates to one another and a single candidate to multiple positions. In addition, the reports have ongoing use as they provide tips for an individual’s onboarding, training, and development.

After the year we’ve had, focusing on 2021 is a welcome development. If your organization is growing, congratulations. We’re here to help you do it right.

Email us at learn@corexcel.com to learn more.

* Source: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

So You Want to be a DiSC® Trainer? Earn Your Certification!

DiSC-based Live Training CourseConsultants, human resources specialists, and internal corporate trainers interested in facilitating Everything DiSC Workplace® workshops: We get it. The Everything DiSC Workplace® profile is a phenomenal tool that helps improve employee communication and relationships in any workplace. Earn your certification, and you’ll be on your way to running DiSC training sessions—and launching an exciting new chapter in your career!

Earn DiSC Certification Online
Our online DiSC certification program lets you become DiSC-certified from the comfort of your home (or wherever you like). The comprehensive four-week program includes three, 90-minute live training sessions. In between these instructor-led classes, you have self-directed work. At the end of the program, you take an exam that leads to certification.

Not only will you learn how to facilitate professional training sessions using the power of DiSC, but also how to customize the standard presentation to make it your own. Once you’re a certified trainer, you will be able to incorporate your own style as you present the material!

DiSC in the Workplace Matters
Every organization—big, small, corporate, nonprofit—has employees with distinct personalities and behavioral traits. There’s sure to be conflict and communication challenges. The beauty of Everything DiSC is that it provides insight on individuals’ primary and secondary behavioral styles across a variety of business functions. Whether it’s Workplace, Management, Sales, Productive Conflict or Work of Leaders, Everything DiSC helps people gain knowledge and understanding, which can improve workplace camaraderie.

Corexcel President and CEO Don Bowlby said, “We’ve found that our customers who use Everything DiSC and integrate it with their culture often experience exceptional team performance and rising stock prices. Helping that happen is extremely rewarding for us.”

To bring the benefits of Everything DiSC Workplace® to your workplace or the workplaces you support, earn your certification through our online program.

Email us at learn@corexcel.com to learn more.

How DiSC Profiling Empowers Your Team to Work Together

An effective way to maximize the potential of a group of coworkers is to identify their individual personality styles through DiSC profiling and establishing communication about how different dispositions relate to one another.

Members of a successful team must become adept at engaging in healthy conflict, committing to a vision, maintaining trust, becoming personally accountable and following protocols that achieve results.

DiSC training breaks down human personality types into four major distinctions that identify people who have a natural inclination for taking charge and making quick decisions (D style) along with others who are more prone to go along with a plan when a sense of team spirit is found in the workplace (i style).

Similarly, DiSC also identifies people who are careful decision makers and will weigh out all of the variables before committing to a course of action (S style) as well as those individuals whose minds are influenced by objectivity rather than intuition or emotion (C style).

DiSC training then elaborates on how the different personality types can be expected to interact in a work environment that encourages trust, healthy conflict, commitment, accountability and results.

Trust is a Must 

Establishing trust between coworkers requires that people transform two-dimensional relationships into deeper bonds. The DiSC training assessment system helps coworkers understand one another by identifying individual strengths and weaknesses and making all parties privy to that information.

This way, if a “D” type personality is on a team with someone who is a “S,” that first person will know that it is OK for them to take charge of making split-second decisions. Meanwhile, the “S” personality can be delegated to assimilate large quantities of information to determine the long-term scope and direction of a project.

Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of those you work with mean that you can be better trusted to interact with them accordingly.

Creative Tension

Conflict between coworkers can be healthy when it involves two or more people presenting opposing ideas based on their individual expertise. Rather than avoiding confrontation, as most people prefer, coworkers who have built trust tend to embrace a tense situation because it forces people to express themselves.

With DiSC training, after your team members have expressed themselves and listened to opposing opinions, they can then come to a mutually agreeable compromise based on a strategy that will result in goals being met.

This can also be described as a passionate presentation of solutions to problems. Through this process, all are encouraged to share their opinions and propositions so that goals can be identified through the collective knowledge of the group. The saying, “none of us are smarter than all of us” applies to the process of teams becoming more empowered by learning to understand one another’s ideas.

All Aboard

DiSC profiling allows for the efficient alignment of different personality styles once a team directive has been set and goals have been established. This stage of teamwork is possible after healthy conflict has revealed the best way to move forward based on the collective strengths of the team.

For instance, the “D” type personalities may have been ready to choose a course of action immediately, while the “S” individuals insist on gathering more information before committing to a certain path.

Understanding the personalities of your teammates from square one affords you the insight as a “C” personality to know that once you are on board with an idea, the “i” personalities in the group are more likely to commit to a plan.

Accountability

Holding your teammates accountable for their actions, or lack thereof, is an integral part of realizing success as a team. The information provided to you by the DiSC profiling system allows you to tailor your approach to a teammate according to their personality type.

When talking to a “D” person, you’re going to get the best results with a straightforward delivery. Whereas people with an “i” personality are going to respond best to feedback that has something positive to say in order to offset the sting of anything critical in nature that needs to be pointed out.

Meanwhile, if you call out a “S” personality, it’s best to be considerate yet direct. When holding a “C” person accountable you’re going to want to speak in honest, logical terms that validate conclusions with specific, tangible examples.

The Bottom Line

The entire reason behind orchestrating a team effort through DiSC is to render results that are not possible through the work of just one person. Yet, too often team members can get caught up in the details of communicating and the tunnel vision of task-oriented thinking.

As this is occurring, focus on whether or not results are taking place due to the efforts of the team. This may become lost as individuals within a team can purposefully or inadvertently shift their intention from a group-based mindset to selfish thinking.

The collective goals of the team can also be overridden by personal goals for career advancement or desire for individual recognition. This is why the practice of accountability is important as well as using the DiSC profile to help deliver the proper feedback to your team members to keep them on track and create results.

Teamwork is a complicated undertaking because, in order to be successful, people with vastly differing personalities and working styles have to learn how to get along; by learning to trust one another, engaging in healthy conflict, committing holistic vision, being accountable, and maintaining focus on the creation of tangible results.

Contact us at Corexcel to learn more about how the DiSC profiling system of human resource management can create effective teams that produce real results.