General

Frequently asked questions(FAQs)

Many a times the subjects of training emerge from feedback during performance appraisal session. When employees’ developmental gaps are measured at function or organizational level, some themes emerge that help you decide learning focus, for example : Communication skills, Personality development and executive grooming, managing teams, becoming an emotionally intelligent manager etc. Assessments, especially psychometric testing gives an insight into competence gaps at individual and group level. This enables organizations plan developmental opportunities, as well help trainers focus on content development and choosing effective methods of training delivery. At the end of the training, trainer is able to give detailed feedback about the participants, give ideas to management as to how to take forward the learning, what can be done beyond formal training inputs so that the learning can be sustained. We are experts in assessments plus giving research / data based inferences that help organizations take their HRD agenda forward. At times we begin with training / developmental gap analysis by conducting full spectrum assessment / development centre, arrive at gaps and priorities, feedback to participants, developing IDPs (Individual Development Plans, also called PIP – Performance Improvement Plan), prepare training calendar, execute the same, establish ROI on training.  In fact this expertise is our major differentiation as well.

The following graphic will answer your question:

That’s why our clients fondly use adjectives like …

Responsive
 
Insightful
 
Remedial
 
Ethical

However, some of most celebrated and opted themes are …

1) Personal Mastery programs encompassing: Personal and interpersonal effectiveness, emotional intelligence, Building self-awareness and enhancing self-management etc.

2) Team Mastery programs: Synergy building, Teaming and interpersonal collaboration, Conflict management, Relationship management skills on the professional and personal front, leading and motivating teams, managing meeting and interpersonal dynamics in decision making etc.

3) Performance Mastery programs: Managerial effectiveness, goal communication and goal achievement through teams, assertiveness skills, the art of crucial conversation, Receiving & giving feedback, persuasion and influencing skills, problem-solving and decision making, Execution skills etc.

1) Understand the genesis / provocation / need for training from the client, preferably visit the client and experience the ethos
2) Suggest assessment as suitable / required. (Skip this step as per the context)
3) Collate the research / database in developing content
4) Deliver the training, spot feedback
5) Discuss observations from training, collate with the research / data base, present a management report to key stake holders of the company
6) Suggest the next actions that may include training / other initiatives
7) Partner with the client for HRD initiatives as needed / move on

FAQs for Assessment & Profiling Solution:

We master Extended DISC (Upto level 3 – CEDaN – Certified Extended DISC Analyst), MBTI (up to Level 2 plus – Advance Applications of MBTI in OD), FIRO B, 16 PF and a host of other tools. You may down load the details from our resource section.

Skill audit / management audit is a process to verify readiness of talented manpower for future business needs. The process of audit is also called Assessment / development centre. We partner with the client as per need as per the following process

-> Get buy in from top management, line departments
-> Facilitate defining competence model
-> ducate line managers about reaping the benefits
-> Let the client choose the participants
-> Validate tools/process/methods of observations for assessing the defined competences
-> Conduct the talent mapping/skill or management audit/Assessment centre exercise
-> Collate observations, prepare management summary, discuss with the stake holders
-> Debrief & feedback to the participants – assist in developing Individual Development plans
-> Suggest next learning and development journey for individuals as well as teams
-> Serve L&D agenda of the client as need be

1) Decide the level of position in the hierarchy. There are different levels of hierarchies and different types of assessments that can be offered for assessing job –man fit.

2) When online assessment is possible, pass on logins.

3) The candidate goes online and takes the assessment.

4) When paper pencil version is necessary, the client is handed over the tool and answer sheet. We ask for JPG file from the client and process the assessment in one business day.

In both the cases, we offer recommendations. Our clients find great value in recommendations, hence they follow the same religiously.

Many of them say that they overlooked the recommendations and have burnt their fingers badly, hence their trust level in our recommendations have strengthened firmly over a period.

Processing time : We try and deliver the report with recommendation within the same business daif y we receive the report till 4.00 pm. We ensure that paper pencil version reports if within small numbers are delivered on the same day. More number of reports may take one business day. We plan the delivery time requirements with our clients, understand their urgency and prioritize the same.

Psychometric assessments are faceless assessments. We do not need to know who the respondent is. In fact, this brings credibility to the instrument and our expertise in recommending the candidature.

What are the different kinds of reports generated from various assessment tools?

Individuals strengths are scanned and developmental gaps/job/role fitment related decisions can be facilitated.
Some assessments are more versatile hence work pair reports/team reports can be generated.

Extended DISC offers complete assessment system – meaning it offers individual personal analysis, work pair analysis, team analysis, leader vs. Team analysis, inter team analysis – synergy and conflicts in the team, organizational climate / culture insights / peculiar trends at organizational level that are productive or counterproductive etc.

The Extended DISC assessment system also provides 360 degree feedback analysis and direction to leadership grooming initiatives, large team surveys etc.

As assessment expert we understand your concerns first and then offer solutions – one go / phase wise solutions.

FAQs for Extended DISC Certification:

Individual Assessments are Self-assessments that identify the strengths and development areas of an individual. What makes Extended DISC different from others assessments is that it is able to measure the hard-wired behaviors to exclude the impact of the environment.

In practice this means that the results show who the individual actually is and not what the person thinks he/she needs to be in the existing envionment. As a result, the report identifies the true strengths and development areas to allow for real performance improvement.

Extended DISC Individual Assessments have several options available to ensure you have the information you need:

-> Sales Assessment
-> Management Assessment
-> Leadership Assessment
-> Customer Service Assessment
-> Administrative Assessment
-> Team Member Assessment
-> Information Technology Assessment
-> Project Assessment
-> Administrative Assessment
-> Training Assessment

Extended DISC individual Assessments are very easy to use. The online questionnaires take only 10 minutes to complete. The results are available within minutes!

Extended DISC is the world renowned, one of the top 3 psychometric assessment system in the world, benefiting a million plus people & thousands of teams & organizations every year.

Today, as one of the top three companies in the field, Extended DISC International has spread to over 50 countries, translated in 55 languages. Extended DISC is headquartered in Finland, Europe & was introduced in India in 2010. It is available in five Indian languages English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi and Kannada.

Extended DISC provides customized and powerful reports on individuals, teams and organizations. It provides us a framework to help us to make necessary adjustments at the individual, work pair, team and organizational levels to achieve our objectives. The framework is easy to learn, use, and it enhances performance

Extended DISC assessment results show who the individual actually is and not what the person thinks he/she needs to be in the existing environment. The assessment therefore carries unique ability to measure the hard-wired behaviors to exclude the impact of the environment. The report thus identifies the true strengths and development areas for real performance improvement.

Extended DISC does not brand people into “boxes“. The philosophy is based on the premise that there are no good or bad people – there are only different people. We all have the opportunity to improve ourselves by learning to recognize our personalities’ strengths and weakness, by accepting their existence and by searching for new ways to capitalize on them

a) Extended DISC knowledge helps gaining a better understanding of yourself as well as those around you.
b) You will be able to understand your style of coping with events and people. You will learn quick insights into others’ styles, predicting their responses and adjust your course with them avoiding / addressing differences / conflicts effectively.
c) Your ability to manage your own self, your responses, your behaviour can improve significantly. You will see that your interpersonal effectiveness also enhances significantly.

On the professional front…

a) You are able to build and work through people more effectively

b) Your coaching skills improve significantly

c) Your functional and dysfunctional aspects of leadership style will become more clear and will give you motivation, clarity and direction for personal change.

As an Extended DISC certified professional (CEDA), apart from the above advantages, you will be able to guide people about the direction of personal change as well as explain the magnitude of issues at the individual/team/organizational level. Hence direct the course of organizational change.

Extended DISC helps you with awareness, acceptance and adaptation to change for enhancing individual, team as well as organizational effectiveness.

As an HR professional, trainer, change agent, behavioural therapist, Extended DISC offers full range of knowledge, techniques, tactics and skills, insights to instil change, development and empowerment for your clients.

First you will undergo the on line assessment yourself, experience the tool yourself. Your assessment report will be shared with you prior to the certification workshop. The certification workshop is build in such a way that you need to bring open mind and learning attitude along !!
For the certification, you need commitment to learn and apply the principles in practice, focused participation, zeal to read, write, discuss, and imbibe the captivating ideas, learn from other participants, games and exercises during the workshop.

Extended DISC certification workshop prepares you to understand & interpret the report, diagnose areas of strengths / concerns, prepares you to offer valuable feedback to clients.
Certification certifies your proficiency for the same. You will be undergoing a thorough assessment after the workshop that qualifies you to be proficient in the above skills. You can practice Extended DISC world over and the certification is uniformly recognised for your proficiency where ever Extended DISC offices are spread world over.

May we encourage you to pl. ask for the brochure if you don’t have one. Pl. go through the brochure in detail. It gives session by session flow and all relevant details.

The Mentors & Enablers is authorized by Extended DISC India to conduct level 1 certification. We have helped a number of organizations and more than 1000 of managers understand challenges of change on their professional / personal front. We are helping them through training / coaching / mentoring processes. Our clients trust us for our diagnostic expertise, giving insights into organizational culture, climate, team concerns, synergy related challenges. We in turn roll up sleeves and have been contributing to building collaboration, build on their strengths & agility to grow faster and better.

Sure ! Jukka Sappinen is the principal developer of the Extended DISC® System and the president of Extended DISC International. He has over 20 years of experience in research development in the area of human and organizational assessment and measurement tools. Mr. Sappinen has a MS.C. (International Business) degree from Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration.
Before engaging in developing the Extended DISC® System, Jukka worked several years as an independent consultant specializing in team building, organizational development and top management coaching. He worked mainly with top and medium management of large companies.
As the CEO of Extended DISC International Ltd, Jukka’s passion is in product development, with the aim of keeping the Extended DISC® System the most advanced organizational information system for years to come.

FAQs for Consulting in Strategic HR & OD :

1. Structuring of organization – levelling/layering/gradations / refine existing structure as needed.

2. Defining/redefining Job descriptions and critical performance metrics. This makes the job search easy for the client’s recruitment partner
3. Pre Recruitment fitment scan and recommendations to ensure that the candidate is a good fit for the job/role (Our assessment solutions range from non-management to top management level). We have 80 + clients who regularly use our pre-recruitment fitness assessments.
4. Training of line managers in enhancing interviewing skills, specially Behavioural Event Interview / Competence-Based Interviewing (BEI / CBI)
5. Conducting Assessment centre at the stage of recruitment – offer recommendations

Many a times OD assignments may start with a diagnostic survey or a training program. When the experiences are shared as developmental gaps with the client, it opens a new vista for the client. The client is able to appreciate how addressing HR matters can solve business problems. We take up from there when the client is willing and is ready to introduce the changes.

OD initiatives require excellence on three counts:

1) The consultants should be subject matter experts, should be able to pinpoint the pain areas for redressal, should skilful in managing resistance
2) Management should be committed to introducing and going through the change phase, having clarity that things will be upset, people will resist and the process will be tough.
3) Managers / critical mass in the organization supports the change process – takes ownership in facilitating the change

Our experience says that the first two conditions when are met, getting line managers’ buy-in is comparatively easy. We become partners in the process, rolling up sleeves and working hand in hand with the managerial fraternity of the organization. When intentions precede the method, people are able to see through the process, then trust develops faster and lasts longer.

Tell us more about your performance management solutions …

The fact that employers release employee salary month after month is actually payment against attendance and not performance. Surprising ??!! Yes, you have understood right. The need for a robust performance management system arises from the fact that expectations/deliverables from employees need to be defined, explained, mutually agreed upon, its alignment with the company’s performance has to be acknowledged, reviewed periodically, realigned to suit business needs, resources to be provided to facilitate performance, finally the performance is acknowledged and rewarded. It is a joint venture of line departments and HR to facilitate business growth.

1. Defining job descriptions – ensuring organizational levelling and layering are in alignment with system requirements and people placed rightly on the structure

2. Defining deliverables/performance metrics: KPAs / KRAs and KPIs for said positions based on organizational goals for a given period
3. Documentation of achievements/shortfalls
4. Managerial dialogue – formal and informal with respect to progress
5. Realignment of goals as per management mandate
6. Training managers as to how to conduct effective PRDs – how to give feedback – how to use the performance dialogue as an opportunity to develop trusting, mature relationships
7. Performance rating and overall impact landscaping
8. Extending Innovative rewards/career growth opportunities
9. Feedback documentation, satisfaction level measurement, Offering mechanism for grievance expression and resolution, rework on the system based on employee feedback
10. Again go back to step 2

Generally, end to end projects on PMS continues for a period of 2 to 3 years and handholding support thereon as per the need. We just don’t do it…We empower our clients by teaching them the process so as to take ownership of the system. The client experiences confidence in being “able to handle independently”…

Depending upon the client requirements and the phase of Mentoring project, we offer our expertise.

However when we need to establish end to end Mentoring project, here is a typical method of system establishment : 

Mentoring process (end to end) generally takes about 1.5 to 2 years to complete the full cycle. If our engagement is for a particular phase, we work accordingly.

FAQs for Executive coaching:

Coaching: As one starts climbing ladders in the organization, one needs to also grow in cognitive and interpersonal skills because they work that people handle at senior levels is not just handling information but also draw quick solutions for problems, harness people energy for problem solving and encourage creativity. This calls for coaching opportunities to perform well in the given role.

A Coach: is a trained professional through professional bodies, have track record of successful change and meeting organizations / individuals developmental gaps. Coach is an expert on human behaviour, has knack for influencing people through reflective techniques.