Author: Jordan Birnbaum
—
Compass is a development tool that was created by ADP in 2015. In constructing the product, the Compass team has identified more than 75 distinct leadership and collaboration behaviors to measure and coach.
This blog is devoted to those behaviors. With each story, we’ll identify one behavior from the Leadership Assessment, and one behavior from the Collaboration Assessment. We’ll offer an explanation as to why these matter, and what we try to coach around each of these items.
Leadership — I Feel Understood When I Speak With my Manager
Helping people feel understood is a crucial component to being a great manager. The human brain literally releases different chemicals, depending on whether the individual feels understood (pleasant) or not (unpleasant). Not surprisingly, this has a huge impact on how people feel at work and, by extension, their levels of engagement with their jobs.
It is important to articulate that helping someone feel understood doesn’t necessarily mean agreeing with them. Managers who understand that distinction have a much easier time in this regard.
To help managers understand how best to accomplish this, they can practice a technique known as “active listening.” Active listening involves repeating back what one has heard and understood, literally providing tangible evidence that a person has been understood. In addition, active listening involves demonstrating concern, asking questions (specific and open-ended), and disclosing shared experiences.
But, like with many things, the real challenge isn’t in teaching people what to do, but in encouraging people to care sufficiently.
Collaboration — (My Colleague) Delivers Work I can Use
Delivering usable work is probably the most obvious expectation in any collaboration, which explains why the consequences are so significant when that expectation isn’t met. Having to re-do the work of a colleague takes as much of a toll on employee engagement as it does on productivity.
In fact, the Gallup Q12 (the list of the 12 most powerful predictors of employee engagement) includes this statement: My associates (fellow employees) are committed to doing quality work.
The good news is that issues around work quality can often be solved by improving the clarity around expectations. Very specific discussions, frequent check-ins and unambiguous questions can help collaborators ensure that individual contributions serve the needs of the entire group’s objectives.
—
Jordan Birnbaum is VP and Chief Behavioral Economist at TalentX, an ADP Venture.  In his role, Jordan is responsible for the integration of behavioral economics into software design and marketing communications of new talent-based products. Jordan has more than 20 years experience as a start-up specialist and entrepreneur, as a Founder / Senior Vice President at Juno Online Services and Founder / CEO of The Vanguad, Los Angeles.  Jordan holds a BS from Cornell University and a Master’s degree in I/O Psychology from NYU.
