We use the Birkman Method® to help organizations identify profiles for high potential future leaders and offer coaching and training to bring out their greatest potential.

Distinguishing Factors of The Birkman Method®

Companies often hire on characteristics that are "believed" important by interviewers, but which later prove to have little to do with actual on-the-job performance. These characteristics are often subjective to the interviewers and often not based on substantive data. Selection profiles that measure general factors for success do give an accurate description of an individual's personality and motivations and how they might influence performance in a general work environment. Many organizations, however, require more tailored information and measurements. This requires validation.

Research has proven that the most valid factors will differ according to position product/service produced or sold, types of customers, and market environments. A statistical validation process identifies those factors predicting success for a specific position. These factors are validated to performance criteria of the organization. Individuals measured against a validated profile will have a higher prediction for success. Data analysis assessment results along with performance criteria will typically validate a range of critical success factors for performance in a particular position. Top performers may have a different mix of important characteristics which account for their success. Thus, even within the same company, two successful people performing the same function may have different skill sets. Yet they both will have the same overall average across the critical skills.

Once the validation analysis is complete, a specific profile for success within a specific position is established. New candidates can be measured against this profile and an accurate assessment made of their success potential.

To improve selection accuracy, the validation process provides several other significant benefits:

1. To help meet legislative and legal guidelines for fair employment practices, validation provides statistical proof that a selection technique is actually related to job performance.
2. The statistical techniques used in a validation can demonstrate the absence of disparate impact based on age, gender and race.
3. The validation process establishes an empirical data base to monitor productivity gains and facilitate modification of future selection criteria as business needs change.

How The Birkman Method® Improves The Selection Process

When you consider that organizations say that to lose one employee can cost them two-to-three times that employee's fully loaded annual salary, making wise hiring choices is imperative and good for the bottom line. Turnover costs add up quickly. For an employee who makes $50K, it cost $100,000 to $150,000 to replace him because of the time it takes to find a replacement, training the new hire and getting them fully up to speed, expertise lost, and "X" factors such as the customer relationships with clients and co-workers that will be lost. The higher up the ladder the more damage that can be done. Assessments validated to an organization’s specific situation (i.e., a profile based on relevant organizational performance data) can predict with more accuracy the potential of success for a given job candidate.