I have worked in different positions in various companies for years. I have been working at Ankara Patent Office since 2012. I have been the general manager of the same company since the beginning of 2016. We received consultancies on many topics throughout my working life. I have received services from many respected people and organizations, each specialist in their own field, such as management consultants, communication consultants, financial consultants, quality consultants, human resources consultants, process consultants, legal consultants. Each and every one of them contributed a lot to the companies I worked with. They spent many working hours at the company. They worked one-on-one or as part of a team with many people from many levels. At the end of their contract, they each produced flashy reports. They presented it to senior management and explained our needs to us. Each looked good on paper; they were paid the money they rightfully deserved and moved on to another company that needed them. We had no idea how to apply the thick (!) report we had received and were left to stare after them bewildered. Yes, they informed us of our problem, and what we should do to fix the problem, but believe it or not, we had no idea how to do it.
The point of these consultancies, in essence, changed. We had to make changes as a company. Change either the organizational structure of the company, the way of conducting business, or both. The difference was frightening, there was resistance, and it was costly. For this reason, all the consultancies, training, and reports that we paid a lot of money for went to waste. Company employees saw this as a waste of resources, and day by day, they became less and less cooperative with the consultants.
I can't lie; the typical consulting experiences crossed my mind when they suggested conducting "a working climate analysis" of the Ankara Patent Office. I said to myself that this is another consulting project that will be left incomplete. "What good will this do?" I asked. They informed us that: "The most important feature of modern and strong organizations is that they can create a climate that is compatible with their employees. To create this climate, a series of analyses are carried out through understanding the expectations of employees. These analyzes include shared responsibility for development both within the organization and for each unique individual. Road maps are determined for a harmonious environment within the organization as a whole, with every employee voicing their opinion on key issues related to career prospects." So I said, "how will you accomplish this?" Their reply this time was, "We will try to analyze your future expectations, not your satisfaction with the past, through the "Climate Analysis" study we want to implement by reaching out to you via your e-mail addresses. Your responses will shed light on the future goals of our organization."
To support your work and increase your work satisfaction in the mission you are carrying out within our organization and in line with the cooperation we have established with Harrison Assessments Turkey, we are sending you a questionnaire. This is not a survey. Please fill in the job preferences questionnaire by clicking on the link that will be sent to you. There are no right or wrong answers to these questions. It will take around 20 minutes of your time to complete once you receive the Harrison Assessments Job Preferences Questionnaire link through your e-mail address. Please complete it in an environment where you will not be distracted. "
My immediate response was, let's see what this "Harrison Assessments" is all about. I researched both the English source (www.harrisonassessments.com) and the website of E & E Group (www.eande.com.tr), the Harrison Assessments sole representative in Turkey. This was their reply; "Our aim is to evaluate the suitability of the person for the job. It includes the person's suitability for the job just as much as the job's suitability for the person. Our Measurement and Evaluation system can be tailored to meet the specific needs of the job. We focus on the behaviors that are required to succeed in the job. Our Measurement and Evaluation system is business-oriented, not just behavior-oriented. It's about behavior measurement and evaluation about certain jobs."
According to the paradox, a characteristic to be considered reasonable depends on the other characteristics that accompany it. For example, if openness is one of your characteristics, for transparency to have a positive meaning, being diplomatic and graceful should accompany it. No characteristic alone is considered positive; only if other characteristics balance it out can it be considered positive."
In the meantime, they had mentioned employee commitment to me. How do we assess that? They said that was easy: "What people want, what they care about, and what can support them is what lies at the core of understanding employee commitment. Commitment is actually an internal, psychological process. Even if you approach commitment externally, such as individuals making an effort to reach their mission, what matters internally is that individuals do what they love and that their interest areas and needs are met. The system will provide you with the data you need. Commitment is a phenomenon on an individual level. Therefore, one's commitment factor will differ from the others. What both sides need are dialogue and communication. Once you achieve this, you will ensure commitment."
So in other words, if we understand people's expectations from life and their jobs, why they like it, what they enjoy doing, and if we find out to what extent these exist or are catered to in their current jobs, companies, will the probability of their commitment be revealed? Their reply was, "Yes, exactly." Well then, let's do it, but still, the same skepticism persisted in me. Fortunately, I was more optimistic than a skeptic.
A link was sent to our e-mails towards the end of 2019. When we opened this link, we were asked to rank the statements listed one after another from the most valid to the least, in our opinion. They had explicitly warned us; there were no right or wrong answers. Everyone's answer is correct; the statements define you. Everyone's truths, principles, and tastes are different. We went through the list according to our own truths. Our consultant Candan Akkan shared the personal results one by one with our unit and department managers, and senior management. This exchange was so successful that our executives stated that they were highly enlightened. They got to know themselves again and clearly became aware of their strengths and characteristics that were open to improvement.
This consultancy, which we had at first approached with prejudice, opened new doors for all of us. We understood both ourselves and each other better. By examining our paradox graphics, we became aware of the balanced characteristics and the ones that were not. We became aware of how our unbalanced paradox scattered us about when under stress. Not only did we perceive it, we pondered about it, and said "yes, of course! It's really true," and we acknowledged it as accurate.
In addition, we examined our priorities in life, persistence and commitment factors, interests, work environment preferences, behavioral abilities, and those characteristics that we should avoid according to the position we held in the organization. Ms. Candan coached all of us on these issues.
Now we will learn how to reflect our strengths at work, utilize them to improve our performance and eliminate those characteristics that need to be avoided. Of course, personal coaching will be necessary at this stage.
In my opinion, Harrison Assessments was by far the best consultancy we have ever received. This report, which sheds light on not only our business life as well as our private life with our family and friends, in my opinion, was very successful. It would be of great benefit for corporate companies to have their employees participate in such analyses from time to time.
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