At WorkWave, our Talent team prides itself on one key belief: people are our greatest asset. Our team is dedicated to recruiting, retaining, and developing all employees at all levels.
For our company to grow, our employees must grow too. We recognize the need to invest in our people, from the moment they walk through our office doors and continue as they progress throughout their careers.
The Human Resources field as a whole is shifting from solely relying on just a “gut feeling” and moving towards a data-driven function. This need to be analytic, smart, and dynamic in efforts to grow and maintain our talent pool, led WorkWave to partner with Caliper.
Caliper is a scientific employee assessment that measures an individual’s motivations in order to predict on-the-job behaviors and potential.
So, what does all that mean?
I like to tell our employees or candidates to think about Caliper in the sense of what gets them out of bed in the morning. It takes a look at the natural inclinations that are really ingrained in someone and what makes a person who they are.
As an integral part of our hiring process, candidates who are in the final interview stage are invited to take Caliper. While the Caliper assessment is not the deciding factor in our interview process, it provides us with extra insight to aid in our hiring decisions. Our Talent team and the hiring manager are then debriefed by a Caliper representative with the results from the assessment.
The Caliper Profile measures traits that are key to organizational performance such as time management, communication, and problem-solving, as well as strengths, limitations, motivations and workstyles. We provide our Caliper representative with a job-description and a person-profile, outlining exactly who we need for the job.
Just like pieces of a puzzle, our ideology for recruiting is based upon fit. The candidate’s results and the person-profile are compared, so our Talent team and hiring manager can easily see how well the candidate fits into the desired role and their potential for success.
Culture fit is a huge component for WorkWave as well. We have such a distinct, fun culture, where we take our work seriously but not ourselves too seriously. Our employees are the bones of our company culture and it’s imperative that an individual will be able to live our company values and integrate into our company culture seamlessly.
Managing different personalities in the workplace is an art. And since motivation and personality go hand and hand, managers can also use the information from Caliper to equip themselves to better manage their new direct report and their personality. Perhaps, the manager needs to change their communication style, or have daily check-ins, or provide deadlines in advance. We want to set our employees up for success, and these small, but key changes can help do so.
Additionally, the results from Caliper allow us to ensure we build better teams that have a solid blend of skill sets, assets, and even weaknesses. Team members can capitalize on unique talents and rely on each other to fill in any missing gaps, which in return generates full team optimization.
Once we have found the team’s missing puzzle piece, we use Caliper for professional development. Caliper is a great tool for self-assessment purposes. We promote a mindset of being self-aware because we believe in an environment of constant improvement. Employees receive their Caliper results for their review and see how naturally motivated they are in comparison to several attributes that are tied to success in their role.
When employees are reviewing the data, we ask them to evaluate the results and analyze whether it is an accurate representation of themselves and their natural inclinations. We educate employees that there is potential they have learned how to navigate some areas that aren’t their natural inclinations, but there is also potential for these to be the first areas to suffer if they are stressed or not at their best.
We also highlight key strengths and areas the employee should be mindful of. Not only are the results fascinating to employees, but outlining these developmental areas and providing ways they can improve makes a big impact on their overall performance. In partnership with the hiring manager, our Talent team can help create a developmental plan for the employee, in efforts to accelerate their career progression and get them to that next level.
It is this holistic view of talent management that ultimately propels us as a company to reach our full potential.
For our company to grow, our employees must grow too. We recognize the need to invest in our people, from the moment they walk through our office doors and continue as they progress throughout their careers. This collaboration with Caliper helps us improve performance and close talent gaps; while simultaneously providing all WorkWavers with the opportunity and encouragement to be the best version of themselves. It is this holistic view of talent management that ultimately propels us as a company to reach our full potential.
