Personnel management can have anything to do with hiring, developing, training and motivating employees in order for the organization to strive. It also involves the more strenuous tasks of settling disputes, conflict resolution and performance evaluations.
Part of personnel management is not only finding the right person for the job but keeping them, thus decreasing turnover rates.
Although you might think that an employee’s paycheck is the main reason he/she will remain in a position longterm, you’d be surprised to know that job satisfaction has a tremendous amount of influence. According to Nik Kinley and Shlomo Ben-Hur (2013), there are several reasons why employees leave.
Here are a few ways AtmanCo can help with your personnel management in relation to some of these reasons.
Mismatch between job and person
One of the main reasons an organization will use a psychometric test like Atman is to find out if a person’s personality traits and/or natural reflexes are aligned with the position in question. What better way to manage your personnel then to select a candidate that naturally has what it takes to succeed in the tasks and responsibilities required for the job?
Of course, experiences, knowledge and organizational culture are important factors to consider before hiring, a psychometric test can give you a sneak peak at the innate potential that you might not have spotted prior to testing.
And when it comes to personnel management, you will gain insight on what motivates your employees in order to keep them happy. And happy employees means performing employees.
Feeling devalued or unrecognized
The Atman test can also help detect the differences between those who are motivated by recognition, for example, if they are ambitious and attracted to monetary reward, promotions, commission, as well as big challenges, versus those that prefer more job security, a sense of belonging, and stability in their work.
There are also employees that may feel devalued because they are simply not being recognized for their efforts, or who need more encouragement, reassurance, and constant positive reinforcement. A simple “great job” and a pat on the back can go a long way with these individuals.
Some may also value a competitive environment and winning over others while others put a lot more importance on being of service and helping internal and external clients. But in order to manage your personnel more effectively, you will need to detect these needs among your peers.
Find out what they need to stay motivated within your organization. It can differ from one employee to another, and may be quite different from what drives you to perform.
Stress from overwork or work-life imbalance
When it comes to the well-being of your employees, the Atman test also has a resistance to stress section that can help you detect those who:
- have a harder time detaching at the end of the day
- have high nervous tensions and may be on the verge of a burnout
- are more sensitive to criticism and may take comments personally
- have a harder time dealing with frustrations
Similarly, those who are constantly struggling, perhaps doing tasks that demand a lot more energy and time because they are not aligned with their natural strengths, may also experience high levels of stress.
Personnel management means understanding potential stressors at work and offering a support system for your employees. This can help prevent high anxiety among your workforce instead of having to take more time and energy trying to manage and resolve it.
Too little coaching and feedback
Managing personnel is an ongoing process. To be successful, employees need systematic feedback and managers that are aware of their teams’ developmental needs in order to grow.
The Atman test provides a report that is already in a coaching mode and can help create a coaching and/or training plan specific to the employee. It also gives insight on how a person learns, for example, if one will need methodical, concrete training on the field through trial-and-error, or on the contrary, if one will prefer stepping away from the operations in order to handle more abstract and conceptual data.
There are also some managers that may dread confronting and/or initiating feedback with their employees for fear of offending or bringing up that uncomfortable discussion on poor performance. We’ve all seen it before: supervisors with a lot of drive, strategy and dedication, but when it comes to asserting themselves or handling a difficult employee face-to-face, they become uncomfortable.
As you would expect, postponing these important feedback sessions can lead to an employee making the same mistakes over and over again, but can also make you lose control over your personnel management, therefore putting the company’s success at risk.
With Atman’s psychometric test, you can uncover one’s management style, for example, if a manager’s tendency is to utilize a more directive, authoritative style, or if a more democratic, non-menacing style is their approach, in which case making unpopular decision may prove to be more difficult for them. Either way, there are strengths and areas to improve attached to each style, it just depends on which one is more suited for your organization.
For added support, you may also want to generate AtmanCo’s complementarity report, which helps two people (ex. a manager and his/her employee) understand each others strengths and character traits and how their similarities and differences can have an impact on their working relationship. When delivering feedback, it helps to know the best way to approach a person and communicate effectively.
Effective personnel management starts, but does not end, at hiring the right person for the job.
There are certain aspects you need to consider, as a manager, to make sure your personnel management is efficient.
Some tools, like the Atman test, will help you clearly see if there is a person-job fit, which employees needs feedback, etc.
Improve your personnel management skills now by learning to optimize people’s natural tendencies!