Shave 2 years off your talent development cycle

CDR Assessment Group has created a a 3-Dimensional assessment test that has been proven to fast forward development up to 2 years by immediately showing a clear cut path to best leverage strengths, plan for development, and to neutralize risks and vulnerabilities

This assessment test can accurately pinpoint the individual traits that define performance, strengths, talent, gaps, risks, and motivation.

The key focus of the assessment include:

• Character Assessment which identifies leadership acumen (operational, strategic), strengths, best fit job roles, leadership, relationship preferences, energy and intensity, and talent advocacy
• Drivers & Reward Assessment helps one focus on the roles, tasks, and projects that match his/her personal drivers and motivators. This is important because:

1. doing the type of work we enjoy is rewarding and keeps one energized to perform well
2. helps to minimize stress and help us maintain balance
3. provides insight into career planning and development
4. pinpoints how we prefer to be rewarded and recognized most

• Risk Assessment looks at traits that can impede effectiveness, damage relationships and inhibit success

The key to success is building on and leveraging one's authentic strengths, neutralizing or minimizing risk behaviors, while honoring and reinforcing drivers and reward needs.

For more information on the 3-Dimensional Assessment Suite or other services provided by CDR Assessment Group, call us at 918-488-0722 or visit www.cdrassessmentgroup.com

Why Do Leaders Derail

Leadership derailment largely depends upon two factors:

1) the perceptions of others about your performance which includes your relationship with them, and

2) your contributions or results produced for the good of the organization

The first of the two is the most critical in terms of leadership derailment because a leader may have produced outstanding results, but if he/she has damaged relationships along the way, or has operated with a lack of integrity, derailment may be inevitable.

Some of the universal factors of leadership derailment are:

- Erosion or betrayal of trust

- Failure to deliver and be accountable

- Failure to adapt

- Lack of courage and decisiveness

- Creating or endorsing a dysfunctional work environment

- Failure to develop people and organization

- Lacks forward-looking and inspirational approach

- Lack of objectivity and broad-mindedness

Learn how to manage the risk factors that lead to derailment by attending multiple webinars hosted by CDR Assessment Group Inc. For more information or to schedule a webinar visit: http://www.cdrassessmentgroup.com/ContactUs.php

The 7 common mistakes employers make when recruiting and hiring

The following are 7 mistakes employers are making when looking to recruit and hire both internally and externally:

1. Relying too heavily on rigid educational and experiential criteria - don't be so black and white!

• HR departments are known for screening out top candidates who do not meet "exact requirements" to the letter. For example, one of our clients has an HR Director who is a stickler. If "7 years" is required for a given job and a strong candidate has merely 5 years 3 months, they are screened out without a thought.
• Or, maybe your firm is part of the exclusive club screening and only taking MBAs from Wharton or Harvard? Perhaps an MBA graduate from Arizona State University, University of Texas, or even Wheaton university may be the best candidate. Open your horizons.

2. Making decisions based primarily on interviews.

• Most socially skilled people can interview well in their sleep. Those who interview best often perform the worst. Conversely, many who stumble on interviews, or who lack polish or visible confidence, may be superstars that just need to be identified and supported a bit to shine.

3. Allowing management's personal bias and need to surround themselves with clones, replicas or 'feel good' types impact selection. Decision makers need to step out of their current comfort zones or restrictive paradigm and image of what a successful candidate looks or acts like. Exceptional talent is diverse, and yes, different.

• I've had a Sr. VP tell me, yes I can understand that this is undoubtedly the best fit candidate, but he just doesn't fit the executive mold here. What??? You can sign him up at Macy's with a wardrobe coahch: we can teach etiquette: we cannot re-hardwire inherent capability.

4. Interviewing or wasting time on non-fit candidates.

5. Conducting cursory reference and background checks.

6. Listening to the advice of head hunters (i.e. External recruiters)

• They can get you people to consider; but then you have to identify the talent. Don't rely heavily on recommendations made by recruiting firms. Many are like car salesmen, Albeit smoother in their communication skills. They sell and earn a commission. We've seen many hiring disasters because of following the advice of recruiters.
• It should be no surprise that recruiters resent what we do for obvious reasons. Many of the candidates they try to push on our clients don't make it in the door for an interview.

7. Using your current (leadership promotional) and succession processes that rely too heavily on ticket punching, political savvy, technical know-how and superficial performance results.

Visit our website to read more on how to prevent these costly mistakes.

www.cdrassessmentgroup.com

The Cynic's Tightrope: Healthy Skepticism vs. Harmful Mistrust

Do you consider yourself to be a realist or even a pessimist who is compelled to dig deep with lots of questions? Are you known for your sarcasm? Are you known for having an inquiring or investigative mind and for being one who is determined to unravel the mystery others fail to see? Do you prefer to shoot down ideas early to avoid wasting time because you know they won’t work? Are you proud of being a tough critic?

If you answered yes to two or more of the above, this “Cynics” webinar is a must attend for you.

Leaders and professionals who have “Cynic” Risk Factor tendencies are often people who are analytically driven and who enjoy solving puzzles and holes in logic. Unfortunately, Cynics tend to stifle or kill innovation, mistrust others, and can alienate others due to their negative assumptions and comments. Sometimes Cynics see themselves as humorous; the problem is that their colleagues may fail to see the humor and are often offended or demotivated by what they interpret as caustic remarks.

You will learn:

• The line between healthy skepticism and harmful mistrust
• The impact Cynics have on performance
• Ways that behaviors manifest for Cynics
• Tactics on how to build trust and improve relationships
• Ways to neutralize your Cynic tendencies
• Action plan ideas for development

To schedule your webinar session or to find out more on future webinars, please visit us as www.cdrassessmentgroup.com

CDR 3-D Assessment Suite: Going beyond the 360⁰ Leader Scan

For those of you who have been looking for the “get rich quick” scheme of becoming a successful leader, I’m afraid you will never find the answer. But, there are ways out there to determine your performance characteristics and leadership skills. For most people, the 360⁰ Leader Scan is a great way to understand how ones performance, behaviors, and communication affect others. This approach is used by nearly every Leadership and Executive coaching company out there.

CDR Assessment Group has developed a program that looks more in-depth and determines the WHY factor that the 360⁰ does not explain. The CDR 3-Dimensional Assessment Suite is a revolutionary approach that provides unique insight into a leader’s key strengths and development needs by looking at a character assessment, risk factors & derailers, and drivers & rewards.

The reasons why the CDR 3-D Suite is more desirable?

• Clients report shaving 1.5 to 2 years off of the talent development cycle time
• No other tool comes close to specifically identifying individual strengths, risks, and motivations
• Results are straight forward, accurate, and hard hitting with no sugar coating
• Results measure bottom line benefits, and
• There is no reason to EVER re-test because results can be used for multiple consulting applications

Although we do not claim to have the answer to becoming the PERFECT leader, our 3-Dimensional approach is as close as anything comes to predicting future performance.

For more information on the CDR 3-Dimensional Assessment Suite or 360⁰ Leader Scan visit our website at http://cdrassessmentgroup.com/

Dont Worry-Be Decisive: How worrying can affect productivity in the workplace

Do you ever over-think, worry, or delay decisions? Well, no more need to fret as Nancy Parsons and Kim Brinkmeyer Ph.D., of CDR Assessment Group, continue their “Risk Factors” webinar by discussing “Worriers”.

This webinar goes into detail on the following topics:
· Why worriers worry
· How worriers can derail their own success
· The cost of worrying
· The Top 10 tactics to fret no more
· Building your decision making skills, and
· Action plans for worriers

The presentation teaches listeners to understand what causes them to worry and how to stop the vicious cycle of worrying. By the end of the discussion, listeners have insight and tactics on how to overcome the “risk” of worrying, and become more productive in the workplace.

For more information on the “Worriers” webinar, or dates of future webinars, visit us at http://www.cdrassessmentgroup.com/ or call 918-488-0722.

Webinar Title: How Inherent Risk Factors Interfere with Your Success

Date: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 Time: 12:00 noon Eastern Time Webinar Duration: 90 minutes

Fee: $199

Introductory Session Description:

Did you know that everyone has inherent “Risk Factors”, or ineffective coping strategies, that can impede performance success or damage relationships? The fact is that Risk Factors are part of your inherent behavior tendencies and responses. Risk Factors are likely to show more when you are stressed, facing conflict, adversity, or once the honeymoon is over on the job.

This webinar is an introduction to the eleven inherent Risk Factors that can undermine performance and throw, even the most promising career, off track. The CDR Risk Factors include: PLEASER, CYNIC, EGOTIST, WORRIER, FALSE ADVOCATE, UPSTAGER, HYPER-MOODY, ECCENTRIC, RULE BREAKER, PERFECTIONIST and DETACHED.

What you will learn:

• How to spot Risk Factors in yourself and others


• The ways Risk Factors impact you and others


• Learn how Risk Factors can derail performance


• Quiz – making sure you can identify all eleven Risk Factors


• Ways to mitigate or neutralize your own Risk Factors


• Ideas for building effective, non-sugar-coated, action plans for development
  

email: cdrinfo@cdrassessmentgroup.com or call 918-488-0722 for enrollment information.

CDR Announces Webinars to Help You Manage Your "Risk Factors"

CDR has announced the launch of a series of twelve hard hitting and relevant Webinars to help leaders and professionals identify and manage their own inherent Risk Factors more productively.

The fact is that everyone has inherent “Risk Factors”, or ineffective coping strategies, that can impede performance, damage relationships, or cause even the most promising career to go off track. For the first time, leaders and professionals can do something about their own Risk Factors by participating in these live Webinars from the privacy of their own office.

For more information, go to www.cdrassessmentgroup.com or email cdrinfo@cdrassessmentgroup.com Feel free to call 918-488-0722.

Would You Hire Someone Without a College Degree?

Absolutely. College degree’s are NOT the most important factor at all for performance success. In fact, we helped a client with a redeployment and boot camp initiative where individuals who passed the assessment screening were sent to boot camp to be trained as IS professionals. Most did not have college degrees and were stuck or dead ended in their careers due to socioeconomic backgrounds.

All candidates who were screened in via the assessments passed the boot camp training and become successful professionals. In fact, the instructor said “a number of the assessed participants were at a better skill level and showed more potential and promise than many of the IS college grads he has worked with.” The bootcamp was taught by Stonebridge Technologies at the Texas Instruments facilities.


When people are placed in jobs that they are well suited to perform because of a good fit with personality characteristics and motivational needs, they perform best. When jobs are a poor match for one’s personality and motivational disposition, these roles tend to be highly stressful, disappointing, and performance success suffers regardless of the “degree” or educational background. To learn more about of this redeployment, boot camp training process and for insights on how to “grow your own” please see the full article titled: “Out of OZ – Finding Hidden Talent” at http://www.cdrassessmentgroup.com/News.php

The above was my response on linked in to the question about hiring someone without a degree.
.

Leadership Derailment

Do you agree that tolerance for inappropriate leader behaviors is a problem in most organizations today? We have found that some of the most “extreme” cases of leadership ineptitude are put up with year in year out. What has been your experience?

For an article on dealing with needed interventions when a leader is derailing, go to: http://www.cdrassessmentgroup.com/News.php and click on “Mixing Magic & Coaching - Leadership Derailment Intervention”

An Intriguing & Bold Case Study:

External Candidate for VP of HR position Screens “Hiring CEO” with Assessments


According to SIOP*, only about 13% of organizations reap the benefits of using scientifically valid personality and motivational assessment tools as an integral part of their selection screening process. However, one of our clients recently turned the normal assessment and screening process on its head.

To read this bold story, go to: http://www.cdrassessmentgroup.com/News.php

WSJ Women in Leadership Report

There is quite a buzz on LinkedIn today (ODNetwork Group) about the WSJ's special section on Monday, April 11 about lack of progress of women into senior executive positions. McKinsey suggests that a greater focus on developmental programs and coaching be deployed. Some disagreed.

Below my post in response to an OD Network discussion of the topic:

Actually, there is a great deal of investment in developing women in leadership; however, the investments are frequently as wasteful as those of their male counterparts. In fact, a DDI Global Leadership Forecast 2008/2009 survey reported that for leadership development initiatives HR leaders responses indicated that “only 29 percent rated the quality as high or very high.” Yet, around $40 billion was spent that year in leadership development investments (ASTD). Moreover, there is an abundance of studies showing that about 50% to 75% of leaders are not effective. The bottom line -- organizations are just throwing development investments out there, with good intentions, hoping something will stick.

Next, to the points Barry made. I agree. Structures of opportunity, particularly the informal influencing factors and biases, as well as, the need to retain power within traditional comfort zones, tend to dead-end many women’s careers and upward mobility.

On that point our research shows that with CDR Leadership Risk (derailment) behaviors, while there is usually a similar level of risk level scored on average by men and women leaders, the perceptions and negative consequences for women are often far greater and rather unjustifiable. Here’s an example: In a 2008 Pew Survey, respondents said that women (85%) not men (5%) are the more emotional sex. However, this is contrary to our CDR Character and Risk data (both personality based assessments.) In a recent gender study* we conducted, men leaders scored an average of 54% and women leaders 50% on Adjustment…. On the Hyper-Moody risk, men scored 56% and women 62%. There were no significant gender differences and this does not support the severe 85% rating assigned to women on “emotionality” in the Pew survey.

A couple of notes on this: 1) how emotionality is expressed varies; 2) for women, emotionality is often confused with “Interpersonal Sensitivity” or nurturing/caring and relationship building capabilities; 3) and, emotionality of male leaders is often associated with anger, impatience, etc., and is considered within accepted norms – from a social “perception” standpoint.

In the aforementioned WSJ article, I found a quote that illustrates the differences between actual risk behaviors and perceptions: “I can speak the truth. But I don’t feel as comfortable having a tantrum at the office. There are many men, particularly in financial services, who can scream, shout, throw things. Nobody blinks an eye.” Sallie Krawcheck, President Global Wealth & Investment Management, Bank of America, Wall Street Journal, 4/11/11, pg. R10

Great subject! Thanks for the discussion.
Nancy

*Study: “Risk Factors that Impact Women in Leadership”, data from 26 companies, men leaders n=120; women leaders n=110., 2008, CDR Assessment Group, Inc., Tulsa, OK.

Executive Development Retreat News

CDR Hosts Holistic Executive Development Retreat Zoëtry, a Wellness & Spa Resort in Mexico

Tulsa, OK (PRWEB) February 11, 2011

CDR Executive Development Retreat at Riviera Maya Resort Announced

We are pleased to announce the exclusive:

CDR Executive Development Retreat on July 7 -12, 2011 at

Zoëtry Paraiso de la Bonita, a Wellness & Spa Resort in Mexico


This CDR Executive Development Retreat is designed for those executives who are ready to rev up their personal energy, refocus, and renew their performance edge.

The Retreat host, global executive assessment and development firm, CDR Assessment Group, Inc., combines custom curriculum design and just the right environment to maximize each executive’s personal learning experience. Zoëtry is a luxurious all-inclusive boutique resort set on 14 acres perfectly situated along the Riviera Maya. It has a private beach and is just 20 minutes from Cancun’s International Airport.

This exclusive Retreat offers a holistic approach to executive development including in-depth assessment, executive coaching, strategic authentic leadership workshops, action planning, fitness or a health risk consultation, and a memorable spa experience. Then, of course, participants and their guests will find much more to do to rejuvenate at Zoëtry.

Getting started is easy – executives register and then simply take the CDR 3-D suite online and have their initial executive coaching session by telephone. Then, it’s off to the Retreat for a mix of half day workshops, one-to-one coaching, and time for to revitalize, refresh and reenergize.

Do not mistake this Retreat as unchallenging or light, for the CDR 3-D Suite and our coaches cut to the chase with straightforward, hard hitting and useful insights to fast forward the development process. At the first coaching session, each CDR executive coach will get to the root causes of their client executive’s performance behaviors, talents, skills, motivational needs, and risk factors. We respect the value of our clients’ time and our coaching approach is direct, unvarnished and productive.

To access more the Retreat brochure, FAQs and the Registration form, please go to: http://www.cdrassessmentgroup.com/retreat.php

Because of the personalized attention given to each executive, space is limited. The deposit deadline is March 4, 2011 so be sure to respond promptly to secure your enrollment.

• To learn more about registration, please contact: Rebekah Garrett at 918-488-0722 or email: rgarrett@cdrassessmentgroup.com
• For resort information and travel questions, please contact Penny Sheldon Travel at 888-336-8133 or email at: travelagent@cableone.net