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Power play in performance appraisals
Written by John Berry on 3rd May 2017. Revised 25th April 2023.
7 min read
Performance appraisals are worthwhile. Manager and subordinate sitting down together to review performance over the past year provides huge benefit. But for many it’s a time of dread. Unless controlled, both parties will use their power to distort the performance appraisal outcomes in their favour.
Psychometric testing: a focus on aptitude tests
Written by Sue Berry on 31st May 2017. Revised 24th April 2023.
4 min read
When recruiting a new member of staff you want to select the best person for the job. But how? Use psychometric tools to test for aptitude. Managers should always use general mental ability tests comprising tests of verbal reasoning, numerical reasoning and abstract reasoning. Other aptitude tests can be assembled to evaluate each candidate's specific capability. Aptitude and other tests enable a good, evidence-based hiring decision to be made. Here's how.
Recruit like a punter: rationalise
Written by John Berry on 6th March 2018. Revised 24th April 2023.
6 min read
There are three approaches that humans take to make decisions - automatic, neuralistic and rational. Emma Beddington in The Guardian summarised those recently, asking, "...can you really wing it to the top?" As she describes, only one - rational - has any place in recruitment and selection. Automatic helps us survive. Neuralistic is fine for incident commanders. But only rational works for hiring decisions. Here's why.
Building a positive staff worldview under hybrid working
Written by John Berry on 21st August 2021. Revised 24th April 2023.
5 min read
The creation of the right staff worldview is critical to a firm's operations. Worldview requires that managers set up the right formal and informal communications for staff. A positive worldview within the firm heightens staff commitment and enables high performance. Here's how to think about worldview and how to set about managing the worldview for positive outcomes.
Lay people make statements like, “Hire for attitude, don't hire for competence". These people are right… and yet wrong. Actually, not wrong, just inaccurate. They recognise it’s not an ideal world. So in the real world, what does a manager 'hire for'? This blog illustrates how psychologists can help managers develop define foundation personal characteristics of ideal candidates. It shows they can then administer psychometric assessments to provide information to hiring managers to make rational decisions.
Building internal management training with BYPM3
Written by John Berry on 17th April 2023.0
2 min read
Training employees must, of course, be targeted to their needs – needs to take on new skills and learn new knowledge or needs to recover old rusty competencies. And determination of needs is a matter of analysis by managers.
But that said, there are many topics that we can identify as typical. And these are featured in our third edition of Because Your People Matter: a playbook for managers, entrepreneurs, and leaders. Here are some examples, with references to pages in the book.
