research paper: r. satish chandra relevance of harrison assessments in executive coaching

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  • 7/29/2019 Research Paper: R. Satish Chandra Relevance of Harrison Assessments in Executive Coaching

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    Research Paper Relevance of Harrison Assessments in Executive Coaching

    Name : R. Satish ChandraDate : 12 October 2012Student ID : 265848Email : [email protected]

    Complete your coaching model in the space below. Then email this document asan attachment [email protected]

    mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]
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    Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd.

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    Introduction

    Executive coaching is designed to help facilitate professional and personal

    development to the point of individual growth and improved performance.

    Coaches need to have a strong understanding of individual differences in a work

    place as well as the ability to adapt their coaching style or strategies.

    Executive coaches work their clients towards specific professional goals triggered

    by situations like

    Wants to decide on which career to choose from after having travelled

    many years in their current vocation.

    Joins a new firm or starts a new career or a new role. Is promoted to new level

    Develop on competencies highlighted in their appraisals.

    Wants to improve their performance.

    Organizations use Executive coaches to help the executive find their core issues

    and help them overcome these issues. Some organizations also support their

    executives by the use of psychometric assessments and give them access toqualified empanelled Executive Coachs.

    Different types of Psychometric Assessments

    The word psychometric is formed from the Greek words for mental and

    measurement.Psychometric testsattempt to objectively measure aspects of an

    individualsmental abilityorpersonality. There are different kinds of

    Psychometric Assessments catering to different needs of an executives career.

    http://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-tests-introduction.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-tests-introduction.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-tests-introduction.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-aptitude-tests.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-aptitude-tests.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-aptitude-tests.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-tests-personality-questionnaires.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-tests-personality-questionnaires.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-tests-personality-questionnaires.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-aptitude-tests.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-tests-introduction.htm
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    Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd.

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    There are two main types of psychometric tests:

    Ability Tests Measure an individuals ability to perform or carry out

    different tasks.

    Personality Questionnaires- Measure an individuals way of doing things,

    and specifically the way they interact with the environment and other

    people.

    Some assessments are called type models, which classify tendencies and

    preferences, with no good or bad types, per se. DISC and Meyers Briggs fall in

    this classification. Meyers Briggs and DiSC are described as assessments, rather

    than tests. They are used to measure behavioral patterns or tendencies, with no

    right or wrong answers.

    Other assessments are diagnostic, designed to point out problems and

    weaknesses. 360 assessments fall under the diagnostic label. Emotional

    Intelligence has been described as a way to measure both strengths and

    weaknesses.

    These tests vary on the fundamental premise on which the tool is built and also

    what it intends to serve. Some tests provide perspectives which are relevant to

    an individual as a complete personality, while some tests are very specific to the

    executives Professional life only.

    Relevance of Psychometric assessments inExecutive coaching

    Psychometric testing is now used by over 80% of the Fortune 500 companies in

    the USA and by over 75% of the Times Top 100 companies in the UK. Tests are

    used by many employers across most sectors, including IT, engineering, energy,

    http://www.psychometric-success.com/aptitude-tests/aptitude-tests-introduction.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/aptitude-tests/aptitude-tests-introduction.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/personality-tests/personality-tests-introduction.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/personality-tests/personality-tests-introduction.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/personality-tests/personality-tests-introduction.htmhttp://www.psychometric-success.com/aptitude-tests/aptitude-tests-introduction.htm
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    Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd.

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    Last updated Feb 2006

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    banking, consultancy, accountancy, the civil service and other public sector, fast

    moving consumer goods and retail.

    In such scenarios it may be mandated to Executive coaches by the clients to

    work with these reports to help the individual executive chalk out their path.

    Executive coaches may also choose to bring in their own psychometric tests as

    they find it appropriate to the situation.

    Usage of the right psychometric tools would aid the Coach to understand the

    executive much faster. These tools also help the executive to draw his own

    linkages and conclusions based on the reports. These would also help the

    executive gain perspectives of how one aspect of his behavior impacts which

    aspect of performance.

    As per Sherpa Coaching Survey 2012, there has been a trend toward the use of

    assessments among executive coaches. A couple of years back, 8% of coaches

    reported they did not use an assessment at all. Last year, that number dropped

    to 4%. This year, 99% of coaches reported using an assessment.

    In this paper, an introduction to Harrison assessments and its application is

    made.

    Introduction to Harrison assessments

    Dr. Dan Harrison founded Harrison assessments in 1990 with a vision to help

    individuals and companies select and develop top talent. Dan Harrison with his

    background in Mathematics, Personality theory, Counseling psychology, Human

    Potential psychology and organizational psychology has been able to weave his

    diverse knowledge to create a powerful assessment tool.

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    Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd.

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    Last updated Feb 2006

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    Being a mathematician himself, Dr. Dan Harrison has been able to create a smart

    questionnaire which is able to gather information in about 30 minutes, what would

    have taken a full day of multiple choices testing equal to 2701 multiple choice

    questions.

    Foundations of Harrison assessment methodology

    Some of the key foundations that Harrison assessment is built on are:

    Enjoyment Performance Theory

    Four core principles of Employee Development

    Paradox theory

    Enjoyment Performance theory

    As picture depicts, our performance

    improves as we do activities which we

    enjoy doing.

    It also means that a right job for us, is one

    which we enjoy doing. And if we are in jobs

    or roles which require us to do a lot of tasks which we do not enjoy doing, our

    performance can dip.

    Four Core principles of Employee development

    The 4 core principles of any strong employee development plan of an

    organization are

    Ensure the right placement.

    As development takes a long time, it is prudent to focus on developing

    people who are in the right jobs. It may not be worthwhile to spend on

    developing people who are not in the right jobs.

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    Consider technical and behavioral competencies

    Focus on building both technical as well as behavior competencies as

    both play their roles in the final performance of an individual.

    Consider all relevant Job suitability factors

    This reveals all the behavioral factors that affect job performance, work

    satisfaction and retention.

    Discover, acknowledge and utilize strengths

    This provides encouragement and motivation for individuals to develop.

    Paradox Technology

    Harrison Assessments is the only tool which harnesses the power of paradox.Paradox is the result of integrating two seemingly contradictory behaviors that

    both contribute to an individuals success. Individuals with balanced paradoxes

    are more likely to succeed.

    This figure, shows the result of integrating two

    contradictory behaviors of Frank and

    Diplomatic. This paradox has 4 conditions

    which are actually new traits.

    Good communicator as in Balanced Versatility

    Poor communicator as in Balanced Deficiency

    Blunt as in Aggressive Imbalance

    Evasive as in Passive imbalance

    Balanced Versatility People who are strong in both traits are versatile and can

    exhibit either behavior as appropriate to the situation. Such people rarely

    exhibit the other 3 traits even under stress.

    Aggressive Imbalance People who are strong in the dynamic trait which is

    represented on the Y-axis tend to exhibit aggressive behavior. Such aggressive

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    behavior often masks an underlying vulnerability. For example, bluntness is

    often used as a means of evading or deflecting attention from oneself when one

    feels vulnerable.

    Passive imbalance - People who score low on dynamic trait but high on the

    trait along X-axis fall under passive imbalance. Such passive behavior could be

    an area to explore with the individual to identity improvement areas.

    Balanced Deficiency People who score low on the dynamic trait and the

    passive traits could be probed to check whether they are in the right jobs which

    are in line with their life themes. Executive coaches could also probe on how

    these counter productive behaviors are coming in the way of performance

    12 Paradox Pairs

    Harrison Paradox assessment includes an analysis of 12 main paradoxes, which

    are

    Certain : Open/Reflective

    Frank : Diplomatic

    Analytical : Intuitive

    Risking : Analyses Pitfalls

    Self-Acceptance : Self-Improvement

    Self-Motivated : Stress Management

    Enforcing : Warmth/Empathy

    Persistent : Experimenting

    Authoritative : Collaborative

    Assertive : Helpful

    Organized : Flexible

    Optimistic : Analyses Pitfalls

    These 12 paradoxes result in 12 ideal paradoxical behavioral competencies as

    follows.

    Be confident and clear about ideas while openly considering all issues.

    Respect oneself while striving to improve

    Be straightforward and direct while being respectful of others.

    Express your needs while being helpful and conscious of others needs.

    Be highly self-motivated while managing stress and respecting others.

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    Be persistent in overcoming obstacles and trying new things.

    Be logical while at the same time value intuition.

    Be organized while at the same time adapt to changes.

    Be willing to take risks and carefully analyse the risks for pitfalls

    Enforce rules and guide performance while maintaining positive

    relationships.

    Be responsible for decisions while collaborating with others.

    Maintain a positive attitude while being mindful of potential problems.

    Benefits of using the Harrison Assessments

    Some Benefits of using Harrison Assessments for coaches are that they can

    quickly gain rapport and trust, facilitate core values and easily overcome

    resistance for development.

    Additionally, this also helps the executive to understand their unique strengths &

    identify key areas for development

    Paradox Technology analyzes and determines a broad spectrum of potential

    counter-productive traits without the person having the slightest idea it is

    happening. This is vitally important since negative traits usually account for 60-

    75% of the factors that determine job success

    Approaches to using Harrison assessments inExecutive Coaching

    There are different approaches to use Harrison assessments depending onwhether the client organization is using Harrison assessments or not.

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    Organizations using Harrison assessments

    In these organizations, as part of Harrison assessment implementation, the

    organization would have

    Defined Job Success Factors for all key roles.

    Employees who take the assessments get a complete set of 9

    developmental reports.

    Coaches can use

    Job Success Analysis report to understand how well the executive is fitting

    the current job success factors.

    Development for Position report to further explore with the Executive thevarious opportunities to improve and help them implement a feasible

    action plan.

    How to manage, develop & Retain report to identify the essential,

    important and other factors which the executive needs to focus on to

    improve his performance.

    Paradox graph the coach can go an exploratory conversation with the

    executive to better understand themself.

    Traits and Definition report provides the Coach an insight into the primary

    work preferences and personality factors which the executive has. This

    report also shows the Life themes, Strengths and Preferred focus and

    traits which the executive does not prefer to use.

    Organizations which do not use Harrison Assessments

    In such situations, the Executive coach can use the Paradox graph and Traitsand definitions report only to help the executive. It may not be prudent for the

    Executive Coach to suggest creating Job Success factors for the role which the

    executive is playing currently and then go about using all the reports which this

    step can enable.

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    Copyright 2006 International Coach Academy Pty. Ltd.

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    Last updated Feb 2006

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    Challenges in using Harrison Assessment

    Some of the potential challenges could be

    - Educating the executive about the basic premises of Harrison

    assessments. If the Executive does not seem to appreciate this tool, then

    it can lower the trust on the Executive coach.

    - Harrison assessments works on the basis of work preferences only and at

    times an executives performance at office can be impacted by factors

    outside professional lives. Executive coaches have to be aware of this

    and factor them in their probing agenda.

    - Executive coaches have to be certified to assess the executives reports

    and the experience of the executive coaches in using this tool only

    improves over time. So in the initial few reports assessment, the coaches

    may miss recognizing certain pertinent information.

    - Executive coaches may be unable to get themselves certified due to cost

    or timing or distance issues. In such cases, executive coaches may have

    to leverage on other trained interpreters.

    Conclusion

    Executive coaching in a scenario where many organizations use psychometric

    assessments, it is advantageous for Executive Coaches to equip themselves with

    relevant skills to understand and interpret many different kinds of tools. Harrison

    assessment, being one of the leading workplace Preference inventories

    addresses the area of Job Success. Executive coaches can build this into their

    practices and also their Self development plans, depending on the target clients

    that they work with.

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    Last updated Feb 2006

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    References:

    1. Training material from Harrison Assessments International Limited.

    2. http://www.psychometric-success.com

    3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaching#Executive_coaching

    4. http://www.sherpacoaching.com/2012-executive-coaching-assessments.html

    http://www.psychometric-success.com/http://www.psychometric-success.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaching#Executive_coachinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaching#Executive_coachinghttp://www.sherpacoaching.com/2012-executive-coaching-assessments.htmlhttp://www.sherpacoaching.com/2012-executive-coaching-assessments.htmlhttp://www.sherpacoaching.com/2012-executive-coaching-assessments.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaching#Executive_coachinghttp://www.psychometric-success.com/