Taking the Sting Out of 360 Feedback Profiling

Feedback UnderlinedEvery thriving organization relies on honest feedback. For leaders, input is crucial not only from their bosses, but also from subordinates and colleagues. To solicit input, many organizations use 360-degree performance feedback profiles. However, with the way these assessments are structured, the comments can sting—and even cause damage to morale. Fortunately, there’s a better way. Let us explain.

A Traditional 360 (The Old Way)

In typical 360-degree performance assessments, leaders assess their own performance. Their peers, subordinates, and managers assess them as well. Challenges arise because:

  • Free-form comment sections give reviewers free rein to say whatever they wish. With input provided anonymously, the comments can be mean-spirited and demoralizing.
  • In small organizations, leaders can figure out who commented. This can make people hesitant to provide honest feedback. It also causes resentment when people are brutally honest.

So how can you get the information you need to help your leaders excel? Use Checkpoint 360, a revolutionary, online feedback profile!

360 (The New Way)

Why Checkpoint 360?

  • It produces a detailed report that conveniently highlights key points in a top section. This presents leaders’ greatest strengths and their top development opportunities, so leaders can start to improve their results right away.
  • It replaces a section for free-form comments with carefully crafted questions to produce instructive, informative comments for leaders. The focus is on constructive feedback that reduces the sting!
  • It uses the DiSC® model, so it looks at behaviors and delivers detailed, easy-to-understand data—with helpful graphs.

Here’s an example. A traditional 360 assessment might ask, “Does this leader clearly communicate team opportunities?” Meanwhile, Checkpoint asks, “Do you think this leader needs to be more active about finding new opportunities for the group?” with multiple-choice answers:

  • Yes, a lot more
  • Yes, a little more
  • No

Reviewers then select additional, pre-populated comments, such as “Their passion for finding new opportunities encourages the rest of us to show initiative” or “They already do a good job of finding new opportunities.” This allows for useful, sting-free actionable feedback that your leaders need for positive development.

We’re here to help you revolutionize the way your organization delivers feedback. Email us at learn@corexcel.com to learn more.

5 Ways Style Impacts Culture | Webinar

According to recent studies, culture remains a top issue of concern to business and HR leaders across the globe.

What is culture? Culture is a combination of behaviors, values and attitudes that many take for granted and have major implications in the workplace. It affects such things as the pace work gets done, attention paid to details, how outsiders are treated or the risk that your group or organization takes.

Join us to explore five ways that the personality style of individuals and behavior style of your group influences their workplace and their success in meeting goals. You’ll gain an understanding of areas in your culture you want to reinforce and those you may want to change.

Date: March 27, 2019Office Culture

Contact Us for More Information

 

Planning a DiSC Workshop? Set Yourself Up for Success

DiSC WorkshopAs an employer, you likely know about the power of DiSC profile tests for assessing your employees’ personalities, learning about team dynamics, and taking action based on the results. Hosting a DiSC workshop is a fantastic way to educate your team on what DiSC offers and how to use it for your organization. To ensure a successful DiSC Assessment Training workshop, ask yourself these questions:

Who is your audience?

This affects not only who should participate, but also how the workshop should be structured. Are you looking to teach first-time managers? Employees who started in the last quarter? Senior management? An entire department? You’ll want to adjust the workshop’s content and approach accordingly.

What is your goal?

What do you want participants to know or do as a result of the DiSC workshop? For example, do you want to: pinpoint the cause of an ongoing problem, improve communication, reinforce sales skills, or boost customer service? This determines which DiSC assessment to use-and how to tailor your workshop.

What is your schedule?

Can you dedicate the three or four hours typical of a workshop that includes participant exercises? Would a 90-minute workshop on two different days work better? Or would incorporating DiSC training into an existing workshop be best? Your schedule affects the workshop’s design.

What is your trainer preference?

Is someone on your staff willing and able to conduct the workshop? There are excellent facilitator kits to guide those who are comfortable in that role. If you would rather hire an experienced DiSC facilitator, we can point you to local experts.

Do you prefer an in-person or virtual workshop?

There are advantages to each. A virtual workshop lets you train employees across multiple locations. However, for some folks, nothing compares to an on-site facilitator interacting with your team.

Whether you’re using DiSC to resolve issues with individuals, improve your workplace culture, or enhance any other aspect of your organization, you should host a DiSC Training workshop to properly educate your team. Prepare yourself with these questions ahead of time, and you’ll be off and running.

Six Essential Steps to a Great Hire

Essential Hiring StepsWhen your organization has a job opening, you want to hire the right person. You also want the hiring process to be as smooth as possible. Whether you’re filling a new position or replacing an employee, follow these steps:

1. Update the job description or create a new one.

Clearly state the education, experience, and skills that you seek. Include the job’s compensation.

2. Publicize the job

Post the job opening on LinkedIn, Indeed, or other job boards. Also, post it on your internal job board, so that your current employees have an opportunity for career growth. Spread the word through your network of contacts as well.

3. Screen and narrow your pool of candidates

Review the applications/resumes for experience, education, and work history. Does the candidate’s experience match what you’re seeking? Are there unexplained gaps in job history? Has the candidate jumped from job to job? The answers help narrow down the pool to those most qualified.

4. Conduct phone interviews

Phone interviews help you gauge each candidate’s energy. If you’re filling a customer-facing job, assess the candidate’s speaking ability. If you’re hiring for a solitary job, the individual’s enunciation on the phone is less important.

5. Use a hiring assessment tool

Now that you’ve spoken with a candidate, you’ll want to “look under the hood.” We recommend using PXT Select™, an online tool that measures behavioral and thinking styles, interests, verbal and numeric skills, and even assertiveness. Importantly, it helps set apart candidates who otherwise seem equal. With PXT Select, you can compare an individual’s results with the job’s performance model—and with other candidates’ results. This adds a layer of objectivity to the hiring process.

6.Conduct in-person interviews

Interview your final, select group of candidates. PXT Select provides personalized interview questions designed to clarify discrepancies identified in the assessment.

Now you have the information you need to select the best candidate. Once your offer has been accepted, you can use PXT Select’s onboarding tips. Happy hiring!

3 Ways Unconscious Bias Can Hurt Your Workplace

People Greeting Each OtherThe Wall Street Journal recently ran a fascinating article, “Why We Stereotype Strangers“. It stated that we all have unconscious biases, even if we don’t want to. We form perceptions from childhood, based on what our parents tell us, what we see on television, and even what we observe in strangers. It’s not our fault that we’re biased–but we must understand the workplace implications.

Implicit bias directly affects your workplace. Interviewers, for instance, might be unconsciously drawn to candidates similar to themselves. Bias can hurt your organization because:

You can pass up talent

Finding good people is hard enough. It’s a shame to rule out excellent candidates because of bias.

You can miss out on your team’s expertise

If a team member’s race, sexual orientation, or religion is the root of a manager’s implicit bias, the employee’s valuable input might not be heard.

You can create an insular culture

If your organization lacks diversity, decisions can be made by a group of people not reflecting the diversity of your clients.

Thankfully, you can work around bias by having a goal. Where is your organization now, and where does it want to go? This includes revamping your hiring process:

  1. Describe the open position.
  2. State the competencies and traits necessary for it.
  3. Match candidates’ qualifications to desired competencies and traits without knowing their name, gender, race, age, etc.
  4. During interviews, be mindful of potential bias.

Perhaps the best way to work around implicit bias is to use an objective hiring tool, such as PXT Select™. This hiring assessment helps you select the best candidates by producing reports with objective data. PXT can’t tell if a candidate is male or female, black, white, or purple! With PXT, qualified candidates shine on merit.

To learn more about this topic or PXT Select, send an email through our contact form.

 

“PXT Select” is a trademark of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

New Everything DiSC Productive Conflict Video

We’re excited to share the new Everything DiSC Productive Conflict video. Are you interested in learning more about productive conflict? We think you will enjoy the new video so click on the image below to check it out:

Conflict is an issue most of us encounter with regularity. Everything DiSC Productive Conflict is used by organizations to improve the workplace and to make conflict a productive piece of their workflow. The assessment helps people increase their awareness in conflict situations. When awareness is non-existent, destructive behaviors often take over and they impact the employees we rely on. But did you know conflict can be productive? It absolutely can. When you promote the behaviors that turn conflict into a productive situation, positive results will follow. Learn more about Everything DiSC Productive Conflict.

Enable JavaScript for Online Courses

Many of our online courses such as Medical Terminology, Anatomy & Physiology and Medical Coding require JavaScript to be enabled to access all of the intended functionality. The instructions below describe how to enable JavaScript in a variety of web browsers.

Enable JavaScript – Google Chrome

  • Click the Menu in the upper-right corner (3 vertical dots) and choose Settings
  • Towards the bottom of the page click the word Advanced to expand the settings list
  • At the bottom of the Privacy & Security section click on Content Settings
  • Click the section titled JavaScript
  • If it says Blocked move the slider on the right so that it says Allowed (recommended)

Enable JavaScript Google Chrome

Enable JavaScript – Mozilla Firefox

Starting with Firefox 23 the option to disable JavaScript was moved from the Options window. Follow the instructions below to enable JavaScript.

  • In the address bar type about:config and hit Enter
  • If a screen that says something like This might void your warranty displays, click the I accept the risk! button
  • In the search bar type javascript.enabled
  • If it has a value of True, you don’t have to do anything
  • If it has a value of False, double click anywhere in the highlighted section to change the value to True
  • Close the about:config window as JavaScript is now enabled for Firefox

Enable JavaScript Firefox

Enable JavaScript – Internet Explorer

  • Open the Tools menu (in IE version 9+ the tools menu is a gear icon in the upper-right corner of the browser)
  • Select Internet Options
  • Go to the Security tab and click the Custom Level button
  • Scroll down the list to find the Active Scripting heading (directly under the Scripting heading)
  • Make sure Enable is selected
  • Click the OK button to close that window
  • Towards the bottom of the Security Settings window, click the Apply button
  • Close the Internet Options window by clicking the OK button

Enable JavaScript Internet Explorer

Enable JavaScript – Microsoft Edge

At the time of writing, Microsoft Edge does not allow users to enable or disable JavaScript. While JavaScript is enabled by default, we recommend that users who wish to use a Microsoft browser, use Internet Explorer. Directions for enabling JavaScript in Internet Explorer can be found above.

Enable JavaScript – Apple Safari

  • On a Windows computer, press [CTRL] and [,] at the same time to open Preferences
  • On a Mac computer, press [Command] and [,] at the same time to open Preferences
  • Click the Security tab
  • Under Web content make sure Enable JavaScript is checked (Java and JavaScript are not the same)
  • Close the Preferences window because you are finished!

Enable JavaScript Safari

Enable JavaScript – Safari on iOS (iPad, iPhone)

  • Open Settings
  • Scroll down the list and choose Safari
  • Towards the bottom of the Safari settings select Advanced
  • Make sure JavaScript is turned on

Enable JavaScript iOS Safari

Enable JavaScript – Android

These steps are for Microsoft Edge for Android; they may vary slightly if you have a different browser installed.

  • Open the Edge app
  • Tap the three dots in the lower right corner
  • Go to Settings
  • Go to Site Permissions
  • Go to JavaScript
  • Ensure JavaScript is allowed

Enable JavaScript Android

Enable JavaScript – Chrome for Android

  • Open the Chrome app
  • Tap the three dots in the upper right corner
  • Go to Settings
  • Go to Site Settings
  • Go to JavaScript
  • Ensure JavaScript is allowed

Enable JavaScript Android

While there are many other browsers and operating systems available, unfortunately we cannot support them all. In this post, we’ve done our best to cover the most widely used browsers and devices. Browsers not listed here are not recommended for use with Corexcel’s online courses. Check the system requirements for the course you would like to take.

If you’ve attempted to work through the instructions above but are still having trouble, please call our offices during business hours at 1-302-477-9730, Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. EST. Our Customer Service team is happy to help. If you prefer email, send your request through our contact form. A representative will respond within one business day.

Enabling Adobe Flash for Online Courses

Some of the interactive features in Corexcel courses require the use of Adobe Flash. To enable Flash follow the directions below for the browser you plan to use with the course. In this post, we cover how to enable Adobe Flash Player in Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge on Windows 7, 8 & 10.

Enabling Adobe Flash Player

The first step is to install the latest version of Abode Flash. You can skip this step if you’re using Internet Explorer on Windows 8 or Windows 10. Flash is integrated and should update automatically when you run your Windows Update.

Enabling Flash – Microsoft Internet Explorer

  • Open the Tools menu and choose Manage add-ons
  • Under the Add-on Types choose Toolbars and Extensions
  • In the Show drop down choose All add-ons
  • In the list on the right, click on Shockwave Flash Object (you may have to scroll through the list)
  • Click the Enable button in bottom right corner of the Manage Add-ons window (If the button says Disable it means Flash is already enabled)
  • Click the Close button

Internet Explorer Flash Settings

Enabling Flash – Mozilla Firefox

  • In Firefox, click F10 if you do not see the menu bar with the Tools menu
  • Select Tools then select Add-ons
  • Select Plugins from the menu on the left and then select Shockwave Flash (listed on the right)
  • Select Always Activate from the drop down menu displayed to the right of the Options button
  • Close the Options tab

Firefox Flash Settings

Enabling Flash – Google Chrome

  • Click the Menu in the upper-right corner (3 vertical dots) and choose Settings
  • Towards the bottom of the page click the word Advanced to expand the settings list
  • At the bottom of the Privacy & Security section click on Content Settings
  • Click on Flash
  • Click the Add button appearing to the right of the word Allow
  • Enter [*.]corexcel.com and click Add
  • Click the Add button again to add another website to the Allow list
  • Enter [*.]cengage.com in the Site field and click Add
  • Close the Settings tab

Chrome Flash Settings

Enabling Flash – Microsoft Edge

  • Open Edge and click the three-dotted button in the upper-right corner
  • Click Settings
  • Click Advanced Settings at the bottom of the Settings sidebar
  • Make sure Use Adobe Flash Player is set to On
  • Close the Settings sidebar

Edge Flash Settings

Enabling Cookies for Desktop & Laptops

Many of Corexcel’s online courses require cookies to be enabled. They are used primarily to improve performance and functionality within our courses. This post contains directions for enabling cookies on desktop and laptop computers. If you plan to take a course using a tablet or mobile device, see our post on enabling cookies on mobile devices.

Follow the instructions for the browser you intend on using for the course.

Google Chrome

  • Click the menu button (3 vertical dots in the right corner of the browser)
  • Go to Settings
  • Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the word Advanced (additional settings should display)
  • Scroll down and click Content Settings
  • Click Cookies
  • Make sure Allow sites to save and read cookie data is enabled

Chrome Cookie Settings

Firefox

  • Click the “hamburger” menu in the upper right corner of the browser (3 vertical lines on top of each other)
  • Choose Options from the menu
  • Select Privacy & Security
  • Under the Cookies and Site Data heading make sure Accept cookies and site data from websites is selected

Firefox Cookie Settings

Internet Explorer

  • On the Tools menu choose Internet Options
  • Click the Privacy tab
  • Under the Settings heading click the Advanced button
  • You may have to check the Override automatic cookie handling box, if your version of Internet Explorer has that option. (not depicted below)
  • Make sure Accept is selected under First-party Cookies and Third-party Cookies
  • Click OK and then OK again

Internet Explorer Cookie Settings

Safari

  • Click the Settings button in the upper-right corner of the browser (gear icon with an arrow to the right of the image)
  • Choose Preferences
  • Click the Privacy icon
  • Under Block cookies make sure Never is selected
  • Close the window

Safari Browser Cookie Settings

If you are having trouble please do not hesitate to contact us by phone or by email using our contact form. We are happy to help. Normal business hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. EST.

Enabling Cookies for Mobile Devices

Many of Corexcel’s online courses require cookies to be enabled. They are used primarily to improve performance and functionality within our courses. This post contains directions for enabling cookies on mobile devices. If you plan to take a course on a desktop or laptop computer see our post on enabling cookies for the desktop.

iOS (iPhones/iPads)

  • Open the Settings app
  • Click on Safari (you may have to scroll depending on how many apps are installed)
  • Ensure Block All Cookies is set to the off position

iOS Cookie Settings

Android Browser (find Chrome directions below)

These steps are for Microsoft Edge for Android; they may vary slightly if you have a different browser installed.

  • Open the Edge app
  • Tap the three dots in the lower right corner
  • Go to Settings
  • Go to Site Permissions
  • Go to Cookies
  • Ensure Cookies are allowed

Android Cookie Settings

Chrome for Android

  • Open the Chrome app
  • Tap the three dots in the upper right corner
  • Go to Settings
  • Go to Site Settings
  • Go to Cookies
  • Ensure Cookies are allowed

Chrome for Android Cookie Settings

Microsoft Edge for Windows 10 Mobile

  • Open the Edge app
  • Go to the More Menu/Settings
  • Go to View Advanced Settings
  • In the Cookies drop down ensure that Don’t Block Cookies is selected

If your device is not listed, or if you’re having trouble, we are happy to help. Call the Corexcel offices at 1 (888) 658-6641 between 9:00 a.m. & 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you prefer, you can also send an email through our contact form. Representatives will respond during normal business hours.