Gone are the days of an organisation being in the drivers’ seat and holding all of the decision making power in a recruitment process.

Attracting the best talent is business-critical – and it’s more competitive than ever before.

Great candidates will have a number of options – and how you conduct your recruitment process will have a direct bearing on how they feel about your organisation – and whether they’re likely to accept a job offer from you.

Just as the recruitment process has evolved, so too has the job interview.

Effective interviews don’t need to follow a strict Q&A format – and the hiring manager/ organisation shouldn’t be asking all of the questions.

Many leaders believe that a great interview is more like a conversation than a Q&A style ‘test’. Just with any conversation, both parties have questions to ask – and it’s important to listen to the answers you receive.

It’s also important that you don’t perceive candidates asking frank or direct questions in a negative light. Asking questions as a job seeker isn’t being confrontational – it shows that someone is highly engaged and pragmatic.

Approaching the Interview Process

If you’re committed to finding the best possible person to join your team, how you approach an interview is very important.

The first thing to remember is that great candidates will ask questions. And some very valuable insights can be gained from these questions.

As a hiring manager, you need to be prepared with clear, comprehensive answers – and practice active listening during your interviews. Coupled with an open, inquisitive mindset, active listening can enable you to learn so much more than simply a person’s work history and technical skills.

Given the opportunity at the end of an interview, most candidates will ask about the recruitment process and when they can expect feedback. This is a great sign and shows that they are engaged and interested in your role.

Some might ask about the team or organisational culture and perhaps about standard working hours and employee benefits.

Beyond those standard ‘what’s in it for me’ questions, really great candidates will ask ‘bigger’, deeper and perhaps unexpected questions. At first you might feel like the interviewee (rather than the interviewer), but remember – this process is a two way street.

Consider this – someone who asks frank and fearless questions in a job interview could make an exceptional employee.

The questions a candidate asks you will arguably reveal more about them than their answers to your questions.

Types of Candidate Questions to Expect

Here are some examples of candidate questions and what you might learn from them. It’s important that your recruitment partner is prepared to answer these questions.

Feedback-based Questions

Towards the end of the interview, if someone asks for feedback on their interview and suitability for the role, they are showing not just a keenness for the opportunity – but a healthy appetite for self-reflection and a level of self-awareness.

Challenge-based Questions

If they ask you about the biggest challenges in this role and facing the person who performs it, they are probably a realist who appreciates an honest/upfront approach. Perhaps they love to be challenged, perhaps they’re concerned about their ability to perform the role. Listen and watch carefully when you answer this question – there might be non-verbal cues to show their appetite for challenge.

Development-based Questions

If a candidate asks you about career development and progression opportunities, they are likely an ambitious/driven person with a growth mindset. If that’s what you need in your team and you can offer progression, great! If there are limited growth or progression opportunities in the role and team, it’s best to address this from the outset.

Fulfilment-based Questions

If you’re asked a question about what you enjoy most about your job and employer, you have a candidate who values job satisfaction, a high level engagement in their work and strong employee morale.

Management-based Questions

And finally, if a candidate asks you about your management style, they’re probably someone who enjoys some autonomy at work – and wants to make sure you’re not going to micromanage them.

It’s important to see candidate questions during a job interview in a positive light. These types of questions often come from intelligent, highly engaged professionals who are likely to be high performing employees.

Even if some of the questions challenged you or were unexpected, remember that the best recruitment outcomes are achieved when both parties are actively engaged in the process and motivated to work together for the right reasons.

Treating the interview as an honest, open conversation between two equal parties is the best way to achieve a positive, sustainable recruitment outcome.

If you’d like to talk interview strategy you can contact us here

The post The surprising things leaders can learn during job interviews appeared first on Kingston Human Capital.

Engaged employees have high levels of job performance, motivation and well-being.

Leading global engagement research firm Gallup states that engaged employees work with passion and feel a profound connection to their company. They drive innovation and move organisations forward.

Yet Gallup research shows that only 15% of employees across the world are engaged in their jobs.

Engaged employees are emotionally invested in committing their time, talent and energy to their work, adding value to their team and advancing the organisation.

When it comes to employee engagement, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) research suggests that there are two types of employee engagement – transactional and emotional.

Transactionally engaged employees are engaged with the job at hand. They are focused on earning a living and meeting the minimum expectations of their job.

These people believe they must come to work – and they see spending time at work as something they do in exchange for a paycheck.

On the other hand, emotionally engaged employees want to come to work. They have a profound connection to the organisation, are engaged with its vision and mission, driven by their own passion and they get a sense of joy and non-monetary reward from their job.

What does emotional engagement look like?

Aside from higher job performance, emotionally engaged employees:

• Have higher levels of well-being
• Are less likely to be stressed
• Are more likely to have a positive work-life balance
• Are likely to remain engaged through good times and bad.

Emotionally engaged employees are the people who will drive innovation and move your business forward.

According to Gallup, emotionally engaged employees are in roles where they excel and their talents are truly leveraged.

Because of this, these people come to work wanting to make a positive contribution every day. They put in extra effort, go the extra mile and have lower levels of absenteeism.

It’s easy to see why improving emotional engagement in your team should be a priority.

Before we get into some practical ways you can do this, let’s start with this question:

How does a leader or manager know who is emotionally engaged at work?

As part of their research and leadership in the area of employee engagement, Gallup suggest that am emotionally engaged employee can confidently agree with all of these statements:

• I know what is expected of me and my work quality
• I have the resources and training to thrive in my job
• I have the opportunity to do what I do best – every day
• I frequently receive recognition, praise and constructive criticism
• I trust my manager and believe they have my best interests in mind
• My voice is heard and valued
• I clearly understand the mission and purpose and how I contribute to each
• I have opportunities to learn and grow personally and professionally.

If reading this list leaves you feeling nervous about your employees’ emotional engagement, here is some practical advice to get you on the right track.

How to improve emotional engagement in your team

70% of the variance in a team’s emotional engagement is related to management. As managers and leaders, you create the conditions for engagement – primarily through the relationships you establish with your team.

Are you an engagement-creating coach or engagement-destroying ‘boss’?

Below is a list of suggestions to drive employee engagement in your team:

• Define and communicate a powerful vision
• Demonstrate how everyday tasks align with and contribute to this vision and mission
• Hire and develop emotionally invested managers
• Empower your managers with the resources they need to build great teams
• Ensure you have people in the right roles
• Understand peoples’ strengths
• Empower people with opportunities to use their strengths
• Give people the training, resources and support they need to do their jobs well
• Communicate regularly and with transparency
• Give regular and genuine recognition and appreciation
• Create social connections and enable healthy personal relationships in your team
• Ask for opinions, ideas and feedback
• Listen and act on the above
• Provide opportunities to serve others ie through social responsibility initiatives that bring purpose and meaning.

If you’d like to talk about further strategies to emotionally engage your team, you can contact us here

The post How to get your team emotionally engaged at work appeared first on Kingston Human Capital.

Perhaps you were starting to get itchy feet at the end of 2019.  Maybe you had time to think over the Christmas break or while you were sitting on a beach or floating in the pool.

In any case, you had an epiphany – you need a new job.

Or do you?

In our fast-paced, ever-changing world, people are switching jobs more often than ever before. We’re stressed, restless, dissatisfied and hungry for change.

But as the old saying goes, you should always look before you leap.

In the case of your career, think before you leap.

Before you jump on the new year new job bandwagon, consider what’s behind your desire to find a new job.

While we’d all like to think that we are rational and make decisions based on facts, the truth is that we are emotional beings – we often ‘think’ with our hearts before our heads. What motivates us is crucial in understanding how we feel about our work.

Work is about so much more than the paycheck. Each of us has own unique motivations and things that are important to us but research shows that salary is not the top motivator for job seekers.

Here are five important factors to consider before you start clicking that ‘APPLY’ button.

Check on your growth mindset

For many people, the most important factor in job satisfaction is career progression and advancement opportunities. Remember that this goes much deeper than your job title and salary. Ask yourself:

Am I still growing and learning at work?

If you are, you could consider staying in your role to make the most of these growth opportunities.

If the answer is no and this is important to you, this is a key conversation to have with your manager before you start looking for a new job. There could be a new role or project just around the corner that could give you the growth you’re looking for.

Most employers would rather offer you a new challenge and opportunity (and retain you as an employee) than hire a new person.

Prioritise happiness

If you’re unhappy in your job and this is what is driving your desire for a change, it’s important to understand exactly what is making you unhappy.

Is it the environment, the people, the location, your manager, your hours or something about your day to day tasks? Are you stressed, under-resourced or perhaps bored?

Make a list of what is making you unhappy at work. Consider if a new role will be able to make the things on this list disappear. If you can’t be sure of this, don’t be too fast to jump ship.

Think about a few things you’d like to change about your current role and if this list isn’t too outrageous, considering talking to your manager about making some changes that might make a difference to you.

Think about your strengths

What are you good at and what do you love to do? Does your job allow you to utilise your strengths?

Feeling a sense of accomplishment is important for all of us. If you have more to offer at work and could be using your skills or strengths more, have a conversation with your manager about this.

Most of the time there will be an opportunity to get more involved in the things you enjoy, which could increase your job satisfaction.

Think long term

What are your long term career and life goals? And how does this job fit into them?

Think about what you had hoped to achieve when you started your current job. Are you still on that journey?

If your current responsibilities and the skills you’re developing are aligned with your medium or long term plans, there could be some benefit in staying put. Especially if there are growth opportunities available to you internally.

If your current job isn’t building towards your future goals or your goals have changed, this could be a contributing factor to suggest a change is necessary.

Consider the commute

If the location of your workplace and your commute are factors in thinking about a change but you’re otherwise happy with your job, consider talking to your manager about flexible working arrangements.

Most organisations have a flexible working policy that enables employees to vary their start/finish times, work from home on occasion and even work part-time.

Could flexible working be the answer to your commuting concerns, rather than finding a new job?

The post Why the new year might NOT be the right time to change jobs appeared first on Kingston Human Capital.

Talent acquisition, engagement and retention are critical issues for any organisation. Many do an excellent job of recruiting and onboarding new employees but there are often significant gaps in an organisation’s ability to retain the top talent they’ve worked so hard to recruit.

While employee turnover is a completely normal part of any workforce, high levels of turnover can be costly and disruptive.

But when an employee leaves, it’s not all negative.

Effective employee off-boarding offers a significant opportunity for your organisation.

Why are exit interviews important?

An organisation’s ability to attract and retain the best and the brightest talent is directly linked to business performance.

If you invest a lot of time and resources in identifying, engaging, recruiting and onboarding talent – when talent leaves, you need to understand why.

We’ve recently been working with a number of clients on their exit interview strategy.

Understanding employee turnover is critical for organisational performance –  and exit interviews are the key source of data about employee turnover.

Collected, analysed and leveraged over time, exit interview data plays an important role in improving employee engagement, reducing turnover and boosting business performance.

Exit interviews can also be used as a diagnostic tool to solve key issues in your organisation.

Let’s assume your organisation can easily and effectively attract top talent, then invests time and effort in onboarding and training etc.   suggests that it takes 1-2 years before an employee is ‘fully productive’ ie as productive as the previous employee.

If your average employee tenure is only 18 months, your recruitment/hiring ROI isn’t great.

An effective exit interview strategy and the process will ensure you uncover the relevant information about each employee’s departure and ensures that common assumptions are inappropriately weighted.

Your employee exit protocol

Most organisations have an established off-boarding process for employees following a resignation. It might look something like this:

• discussion about retaining the team member if they are high value
• if retention is not an option, establish a handover plan
• complete handover
• final meeting with manager/team
• return company property
• arrange a send off lunch.

An effective exit interview should be part of this off-boarding process.

Designing your exit interview strategy

There are several key considerations in designing your exit interview strategy to ensure it’s effective.

What information do you need?

This can depend on the role, employee or other organisational context. It could be different for each interview. It’s important to have a plan of what information you need to gather from the exit interview so you can design the interview questions to elicit the best data.

Who will run the interview?
Think carefully about who is the most appropriate person to conduct the exit interview.  It’s important that the information gathered in these interviews is real, candid and useful. Who is in the best position to collect the most useful data? In some cases, it may be the line manager. It could also be HR or even a neutral third party.

How will you best capture the information you need?

Quality data captured over time leads to the greatest insights. To get quality data, you need to consider your capture mechanism. Talk to your business intelligence team about this, they likely already have some great insights and can potentially leverage existing systems to assist with exit interview data capture.

Great questions collect strong data

Crafting effective exit interview questions is essential. These need to link back to what information you need and can vary depending on the role, employee and issues affecting that them. If there are particular ‘pain points’, challenges or issues impacting this employee, team or role, make sure your interview questions cover this.

After the interview: Review and reflect but don’t react

When conducting these interviews, it’s important to be prepared for what you might hear and learn. An exiting employee might:

• be disenchanted with the organisation
• be unhappy with management and/or their peers
• have personal circumstances affecting their decision and state of mind
• have simply outgrown their role and want more than your organisation can offer.

Each of these scenarios are perfectly normal.

It’s important not to react to the information and feedback gathered in an interview. Remember that the exiting employee may be emotional at the time. Exit interviews are not about trying to immediately fix or change things that have come to light immediately – remedial action is not the goal.

It’s also important not to get into a management or leadership ‘beat up’ session as a result of feedback received in exit interviews. Instead there is an opportunity to use the data gathered to coach your leaders and enable growth and positive change.

A long term commitment

To be impactful, exit interview data must be collected over time, reflected on and reviewed before it’s leveraged in your organisation.

It’s not useful to look at each and every exit interview singularly and respond to each issue raised. What’s more useful is to analyse the data over time and pick out the key trends and common issues and points of discontent.

Once you’ve reviewed and reflected, only then can you make a sound decision on what trends or issues are the most important to address.

Retention is not the goal

When it comes to employee exit protocol and exit interviews, retention is rarely the goal.

In fact no organisation should ever aim for 100% retention. Having no staff turnover would be unrealistic, unhealthy and could impact growth. All organisations can benefit from new ideas, knowledge and experience and a healthy flow of new people can bring this.

Exit interviews should not be designed to gather data that leads to 100% retention rates. These interviews are a long-term data capture mechanism that enables you to leverage insights from a valuable source.

Exit interviews can also be a great employer brand and PR exercise in the final stage of a person’s employment with your organisation. An effective, professional and respectful exit process will send them off on a positive note.

We help great leaders build great teams.  Good luck with your exit interviews.

If you’d like to talk exit interview strategy you can contact us here

The post Exit interviews – standard process or significant opportunity? appeared first on Kingston Human Capital.

Are you naturally drawn to people who have similar experiences or opinions to you?

Are you comfortable making decisions based on ‘gut instinct’?

Most people would answer ‘yes’ to at least one of these questions – because we’re all human.

What is unconscious bias?

Unconscious bias are learned stereotypes that are automatic, unintentional and able to influence our behaviour and thinking. These learned stereotypes can have a significant impact on our thinking and decision making. In a workplace context, unconscious bias can impact the employee experience, organisational culture and overall performance.
It’s very important for hiring managers to understand how unconscious bias can impact the recruitment process. Aside from the obvious impact on equality and fairness, biased hiring decisions result in less diverse teams.

The importance of diversity in the workplace can not be underestimated. Research shows that diverse teams are more productive, motivated, creative and engaged. Diversity and inclusion have been shown to improve business and organisational performance.

5 common unconscious biases

First impression bias

While first impressions are important – you can’t judge a book by its cover.

First impression bias happens when a candidate looks and sounds great – and makes a great first impression.

Because of this positive first impression, we automatically assume they are great – and this can affect our recruitment and selection process.

The halo effect

The halo effect sees us focus our attention on one great aspect of a candidate that positively influences everything else we observe about them.

The ‘halo’ could be how they communicate, an exceptional skill set in one particular area, a previous job with a blue-chip brand like Apple or Google, or the latest qualification relevant to the role.

The horns effect

The horns effect happens when our judgement is impacted by one ‘bad’ or negative thing about a candidate.
It could be how they present themselves or speak, something they say during the interview or something about their employment history.
It’s always important to look at the bigger picture and not let the horns effect cloud your judgement.

Affinity bias

Affinity is an essential part of human nature – we are naturally drawn to people who are like us. The affinity bias causes us to see similar people in a positive light.
This is where hiring managers and recruitment professionals need to be extra diligent with hiring for ‘cultural fit’. Cultural ‘fit’ doesn’t mean hiring people who are similar to you and the rest of your team. Affinity bias can have a negative impact on diversity.

Some examples of affinity bias to look out for include:

• You studied at the same university as the candidate
• You worked at the same company as the candidate
• You share hobbies, interests or life experiences with the candidate

Affinity bias can mean we place too much importance on the things we have in common with the candidate which can make us less diligent during the recruitment and selection process.

Confirmation bias

Confirmation bias is a tendency to interpret new information or evidence as confirmation of your existing beliefs.
In an interview context, this bias influences us to only seek information that supports our assumptions or beliefs about a candidate. When we are affected by confirmation bias, we tend to:

• Not listen deeply
• Stop probing for more information, examples or explanation
• Skip or move on from crucial interview questions
• Undervalue or ignore information that might conflict with our assumptions or beliefs.

How to avoid unconscious bias

Left unchecked, each of these biases can impact the recruitment and selection process.

It’s important to understand that unconscious biases are deeply ingrained, which makes it difficult to recognise and overcome. Here are some tips to help you.
Accept. We are all human, no one is perfect – we all have biases.

Be aware. Understand that these biases exist so you can begin to be aware of when they come into play in your interviews and recruitment process.
Look for evidence. During an interview, focus on the evidence that is presented to you (not what you’re expecting or hoping to find).

Recruit in a team. Interviewing with one or more colleagues is a great way to avoid bias. If you don’t share the same affinity biases with your colleagues, you’re likely to have more diverse impressions and opinions of the candidates you’re considering.

Challenge yourself. If you recognise that bias is affecting you, talk to one of your colleagues about it. Having a sense-check with someone is a great way to build awareness and ensure you don’t make a biased hiring decision.

Take your time. Try not to make quick judgements about people. Look at the bigger picture and don’t allow yourself to skip interview questions – stick to your interview plan.

The post How unconscious bias affects your hiring process (and what to do about it) appeared first on Kingston Human Capital.

This is possibly one of the most important challenges facing today’s leaders.

Employee engagement is about your people’s psychological investment in their work. The degree to which their positive or negative feelings about their job, colleagues and employer influences their willingness to perform and learn at work.

According to the famous 2018 Gallup study, less than a quarter (24%) of Australian employees are engaged at work. In case you haven’t seen that statistic before, here it is again:

Only 24% of Australian employees are engaged.

Research shows that employee engagement fuels productivity, efficiency and business performance; reduces turnover; drives profits and also has a positive impact on customer retention.

Highly engaged employees tend to stay longer in their jobs. They’re also advocates and will say positive things about their employer and workplace. Critically, they’re more motivated and likely to strive to help the organisation succeed.

Engagement and motivation are closely linked.

Perhaps one of the most interesting and impactful perspectives on what motivates us is that of bestselling author and speaker on business, work and human behaviour, Daniel Pink.

Pink writes that human motivation is largely intrinsic and has three main drivers: Autonomy, mastery and purpose.

Autonomy is the urge to direct our own lives.

Pink says people don’t engage when they are being ‘managed’. Of course, he’s right. People engage when they are given the opportunity to be self-directed. If you’ve worked with a leader who has a true coaching style, you’ll know the joy and powerful impact of autonomy.

Mastery is our desire to get better at something that matters.

Think about it. Every interview or performance review you’ve ever done has probably featured one or more of the following phrases: Career development, progression, learn, grow, next step, new skills. This is human nature – your employees want to feel a sense of mastery.

Purpose is the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

Pink talks about two types of purpose.
 The type with a capital ‘P’ is about making a difference in the world, while purpose with a little ‘p’ is about making a contribution. Both types of purpose are motivating.

Although Pink first wrote about purpose a decade ago, it’s only recently that the concept of purpose has come into clear focus as part of the talent recruitment and engagement landscape.

While the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of
 our work is important, the ‘why’ could be 
the difference between a happy, motivated employee and someone who’s just plodding along.

3 quick tips for leaders to improve employee engagement

1. Your employees don’t want you to ‘manage’. They want to have a degree of freedom and the opportunity to determine their own outcomes (otherwise known as autonomy).
2. Don’t make your people wait until annual appraisal time to feel a sense of mastery. Give continuous feedback and offer new/greater opportunities and scope (even if in small doses) as often as you can.
3. Purpose and meaning matter – and is not something reserved for charities and social enterprises. Share the ‘big picture’ with your people as much and as often as you can. The more they know about the ‘why’ of what they’re doing, the more motivated and engaged they’ll be – which is good for them – and good for business.

Kingston Human Capital specialises in helping great leaders recruit and build great teams. If you would like to learn more about how we can help you, contact us today.

The post Three keys to employee engagement appeared first on Kingston Human Capital.

It’s been five years since the infamous case of Andrew Flanagan, his ‘fake CV’ and the negative publicity that followed for one of Australia’s largest retail businesses.

In the age of AI, bots and data matching technology, would Flanagan have got to the stage of being offered the job – let alone commencing his employment – without being found out?

While faking an entire job and era in your career is well beyond the little ‘white lies’ that many people tell on their CVs, the days of being anything other than 100% honest in your CV are over.

Inaccurate dates, embellished job titles and misrepresentation of incomplete qualifications are among the most common ‘white lies’ job seekers tell on their CVs in an attempt to get that all-important interview.

However with sophisticated Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and AI-powered data matching and fact-checking in play throughout the recruitment process, the truth is out there for recruiters and hiring managers – and it’s easier to find than ever before.

The upshot? Make your CV the ‘single source of truth’.

After all, our digital footprints are here to stay and while you can ‘cleanse’ your online presence of some things when you’re job searching, you can’t disappear completely. (And if you do, that in itself will raise alarm bells – ‘ghost’ candidates (ie those without a digital presence) tend to make recruiters a bit uneasy).

Recruitment superpowers: Big data and AI

Just as leaders use data and insights to make business decisions, candidate data provides recruiters and hiring managers with useful insights to assist in making hiring decisions.

Much of this data is automatically checked, extracted and highlighted when you submit your CV – your contact details, previous employment details, keywords, social profiles, referee details, location and even the personal interests listed on your CV.

Between AI technology and good ‘ole fashioned due diligence, you can be sure that the following checks and balances are happening when you are being considered for a job:

• Your CV is matched to your LI profile
• Your current CV is matched to previous versions
• Your qualifications are verified
• Your previous employment is verified
• People are Googling you
• People are looking at your LI profile.

Job seeking in the age of big data and AI: 10 tips to help you

Remember that your job search, your CV and your digital presence is exactly that – yours.

So while it’s impossible to ‘hide’ – you can own these things and their role in your job search.

Here are 10 tips to help you:

1. Identify the keywords related to your ideal job. AI in recruitment is based on keywords.
2. Use these keywords: Ensure the description of your experience and achievements in your CV and LinkedIn profile includes these same keywords (but don’t stretch the truth!).
3. Follow 1 and 2 above for each role you apply for.
4. Be up to date: Make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date (and consistent with your CV).
5. Be comprehensive: Include as much experience as possible in your LinkedIn profile, including volunteer work, internships etc.
6. Keep it simple: Use a simple CV format (Word or PDF are best).
7. Google yourself (so you know what others see when they Google you).
8. Do a ‘spring clean’ of your digital footprint ie images and content connected to you.
9. Check your social media privacy settings – make sure they are as secure as possible.
10. Leverage LinkedIn: Start posting quality content on LinkedIn – and engage with others’ content.

While it’s important to be honest on your CV and ensure a consistent profile on and offline, the impact of big data goes beyond AI-powered applicant tracking.

Tune in next month to learn about how digital data and social media can enhance your job search.

The post The single source of truth: Technology and the job seeker appeared first on Kingston Human Capital.

Recruitment is about finding the person with the best skills and experience…or perhaps it’s not.

That’s traditionally the way it’s been done – but that approach won’t guarantee your organisation success in the future.

We are living and working in a time of unprecedented change. People and organisations need to be highly adaptable. Leaders can’t simply hire for skills – they need to hire for behaviours (and train for skills). This concept isn’t entirely new – but it’s coming more into focus.

In 2017, the World Economic Forum published the whitepaper Accelerating Workforce Reskilling for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This included a projection that around 35% of the skills required for jobs across industries will have changed by 2020.

It’s easy to see why we need to look beyond skills and experience to things like adaptability, flexibility, a customer/client/stakeholder focus, team working, and most importantly – a desire to learn and grow.

A culture of learning will be an essential ingredient in the most successful organisations of tomorrow.

That’s where agile learning comes in.

While the agile framework originated in technology, it is now applicable to many different areas, including learning and development.

Leaders and HR professionals should move away from the idea that learning happens through coursework. Learning should be embedded in every day.

Agile learning is continuous, collaborative, flexible and fast. It happens in teams, with peers and managers, informally and formally – and on platforms that can be accessed anywhere, anytime (and at your employees’ convenience). Agile learning also offers continuous feedback.

A recent Harvard Business Review article quoted Patty Woolcock from the California Strategic HR Partnership as describing the future of learning is about the three ‘justs’: Just enough, just-in-time, and just-for-me.

Some of the features of an agile learning culture include:

• Team-based and peer learning
• Technology-supported learning
• Collaboration between customers and providers to boost learning (and benefit relationships)
• Learning investment in the whole team (including freelance and contract employees)
• Learning motivated by development (not a deficiency).

The last point above highlights the importance of learning at work being about employees’ professional development (not simply fixing skills gaps). A recent Deloitte research survey found that millennial professionals value ongoing development over all other employment benefits.

A culture of learning, enabled by agile learning, includes embracing risk-taking and mistake-making as positive parts of the learning – and essential to facilitate growth and success.

In the future, continuous employability won’t be about what employees already know – it will be about their capacity to learn, adapt and grow.

The same is true for organisations. Success will depend on your ability to develop your employees’ skills AND your ability to identify and hire talent with strong agile-learning capabilities. If this is not already a central part of your talent acquisition strategies, it should be. Move fast. Don’t get left behind.

We help great leaders recruit and build great teams. Please reach out if we can assist you.

The post Why agile learning is critical for your people and your business appeared first on Kingston Human Capital.

Effective leadership is evolving.

The world of work has changed – and will keep changing – in ways we don’t even know yet. While many of the foundations of good leadership remain, what makes a great leader is not the same as it once was.

Once upon a time, leaders executed organisational strategy and delivered results through their teams using a command-and-control model. The manager/employee relationship played out as a supervisor/subordinate situation with an ideas/execution workflow.

Today, there are very few workplaces and teams that resemble that model.

Today’s workplace is characterised by flatter structures, highly cross-functional working, agile and technology-enabled processes and a high degree of collaboration and partnership – across all levels in an organisation.

Effective leadership is about relationships – and how a leader can motivate and inspire people.

As Simon Sinek puts it:

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader”.

While all leaders need experience, technical skills and cognitive intelligence; emotional intelligence is an important quality that sets a great leader apart.

What is emotional intelligence – and why is it important?

Emotional intelligence (or emotional quotient, often referred to as EQ) is our capacity to be aware of, control and express our emotions.

Emotional intelligence is the ‘other’ type of intelligence – quite distinct from IQ or general intelligence – which is much more tangible and measurable.

While IQ is generally accepted as a measurement of our ability to process information and come to sound decisions, EQ is our ability to process emotions.

Neuroscience tells us that our emotional brain overpowers our rational brain ie emotional responses are faster than cognitive (thinking) responses. Quite simply, humans are ‘hard-wired’ for emotional response.

Emotional intelligence plays a significant role in interpersonal relationships. People with high EQ are more likely to stay calm under pressure, resolve conflict effectively and respond to co-workers with empathy.

EQ is a strong indicator of performance and success in all aspects of life and has been linked to increased sales, productivity and bottom-line results.

It’s no surprise that recent research suggests that employers value EQ over IQ.

The term emotional intelligence was coined in 1990 by psychologists Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer before science journalist Daniel Goleman wrote extensively about this topic. Goleman’s work popularised emotional intelligence and described EQ as having five key elements:

1. Self-awareness
2. Self-regulation
3. Motivation
4. Empathy
5. Social skills

In 2004, Goleman told Harvard Business Review:

“It’s not that IQ and technical skills are irrelevant. They do matter.. but they are entry-level requirements for executive positions.

The most effective leaders are alike in one crucial way: They all have a high degree of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence”.

According to Harvard Business Review, emotional intelligence accounts for nearly 90% of what sets high performers apart from peers with similar technical skills and knowledge.

7 ways great leaders can improve their EQ

Building emotional intelligence is completely different from improving other skills. It’s a subtle, ongoing process. While our IQ doesn’t change significantly during our lifetime, EQ can evolve with our personal growth and development.

In the workplace, consider each person in your team, each stakeholder, client, situation and challenge as an opportunity to test and develop your EQ. Here are some practical tips to get you started.

1. Observe and examine

Self-awareness is a key element of emotional intelligence. This starts with observing and reflecting on your feelings and how you react to these feelings, as well as people and situations at work. Really examining these things will build awareness of how you handle stressful situations and how your actions and reactions might affect others.

2. Evaluate

This is about understanding yourself and your own behaviour. Take time to understand what you’re doing – and how you feel about it. No one is perfect. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is an important part of EQ. Working to improve yourself takes courage and can be incredibly powerful. Ask yourself: What are my emotional strengths? What are my weaknesses? How does my current mood affect my thoughts and decision making? When I am triggered, how does my behaviour change? Self-evaluation can yield valuable insights.

3. Pause and regulate

Once you have built some self-awareness and you have an understanding of your own thoughts, feelings and stressors, you can strive to control them. This can be as simple as:

• Pausing and thinking before you act or react
• Choosing to respond rather than react
• Learning to channel emotions
• Taking responsibility for your actions and reactions
• Being open to feedback

4. Be positive and motivated

A positive attitude and energy will have a ripple effect on the people around you. Great leaders are motivated and resilient in the face of challenge and see feedback and criticism as a chance to learn. A motivated leader will naturally create motivation in others.

5. Practice humility

Great leaders don’t seek recognition or attention for their own accomplishments, they give praise and let others shine. As a leader, when you commend the work of others, you’re making an important connection and building trust. ‘Seeing’ and acknowledging others will inspire them (and their teammates) to be the best they can be.

6. Practice empathy

Strive to see things from others’ perspective. Not only is empathy key to effective problem solving, but recognising emotions in others shows emotional strength (not weakness).

7. Focus on your social skills

Emotionally-intelligent leaders have very strong social skills. They’re approachable, authentic and clear communicators. Here are some ways you can focus on your social skills:

• Smile
• Listen to understand
• Ensure you understand before you respond
• Be mindful of how you communicate and your vocabulary
• Give helpful feedback
• If you are in a meeting with someone, put your phone away
• Always keep your word
• Apologise (emotionally-intelligent leaders know that saying sorry doesn’t mean you’re wrong – it means you value your relationships more than your ego).

Emotional intelligence is the ‘other’ type of smart.

Not only is it a key leadership trait – it’s what sets a great leader apart from the rest.

We hope you found these practical tips useful to improve your emotional intelligence – and help take your career to the next level.

Kingston Human Capital specialises in helping great leaders recruit and build great teams.

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How to hire for Culture Fit

The result of hiring someone who doesn’t match your organisational culture can stall productivity, create conflict, and affect your customer’s experience. Hiring a candidate with the right culture-fit for your business is often one of the most challenging parts of any recruitment process.  But the good news is that assessing for cultural fit is not as difficult as many would think.  Here are some ways you can get started.

What is culture fit?

First, we need to understand what culture fit is.  We see culture fit as the alignment of the prospective employee’s wants, core values, normative behaviours, fundamental needs, attitudes, and goals – with the company.  This means that there is congruency in values, behaviours, attitudes and goals between both parties.

Think of it like this, when you bring someone into your team, you want that person to be a long-lasting, value adding part of your work-family.

These people need to share (or have similar) values and goals so that they work well with your existing team. While it is easy to teach a skill, it can be hard to encourage someone to align with a core value, that they may not value.

Three steps to help you hire for culture fit;

1. First, identify the core-values that map back to your company or team mission.
2. Secondly, identify what attitudes and behaviours work within your organisation (Think of the attitudes and behaviours as the ‘how’ or ‘way’ that your group goes about achieving its mission)
3. Finally, create interview questions that elicit information about your prospective hire’s values, attitudes and behaviours. Then use these questions to match the candidate to not only your role but also to your cultural fit.

Warning:

Its important to remember what cultural fit is not;

Forbes summarises this well; “It’s important to remember where diversity fits into this equation. Don’t risk overlooking different cultures and lifestyles and backgrounds.

On the surface of things, a father of three might not fit what you think is the “culture” of your young, single team who are willing to work late into the evening — but he likely brings some of the best historical knowledge of where the industry has been, or a better sense of what customers actually want.

Managers should regularly ask HR to review their culture fit questions (and decisions) to ensure they are not accidentally building a team of people who all think, look and act the exact same way.  If you don’t review this regularly, you’ll run the risk of building a team that suffers the negative effects of groupthink and lack of cognitive diversity.

You want your people to be united by your company’s shared mission.  You can leverage cognitive diversity and varying backgrounds to help your team to actually achieve it — tackling problems in new ways, thinking outside the box and ultimately bringing your culture to life.

 To get you started, we’ve put together a range of questions to help identify your prospective employee’s values! 

Fill Out the Form Below to Immediately access these Value-Based Questions.

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