Earlier this week, our CEO Caitlin MacGregor joined Ben Eubanks on the HR Tech Talks livestream to talk about how Plum is using psychometric assessments at scale to reimagine talent management.
They talked about the talent data that every organization needs that only Plum has, and how taking a more human-centric approach to talent management sets both employees and companies up to thrive.
Here are some highlights from their discussion:
“Everyone is exceptional in their own way,” said Ben. “There isn’t a right or wrong answer, but it’s about finding what your strength is, what your value is, and where you fit into the bigger puzzle.”
When managing talent, Caitlin stressed that it’s important to learn about what drives employees and what drains them, so that they can focus on the activities that give them energy. If they’re focusing a lot of their time on activities that are physically or mentally draining, they’ll feel like their batteries are drained. Instead, she said that it’s important to give people opportunities to spend their time on activities in their jobs that energize them and give them a sense of fulfillment.
She added that psychometric assessments, which are typically used for executives and high-volume hiring, are the key to understanding and unlocking the exceptional qualities that exist within each employee. “Once you have this data on your people,” she explained, “you can apply it to every talent decision.”
As we face constant disruption in the world, Caitlin talked about the importance of aligning talent to business needs, and how assessments are they key to making that happen. “You need to understand your talent and you need to understand the business needs,” she explained, “and you need to map them together.” She emphasized that Plum’s Talent Resilience Platform leverages assessments to empower organizations to do both, so that they can align talent to business needs at speed and scale.
Another benefit of understanding people as individuals are the insights it gives leaders about how to manage their teams. “In order to effectively execute as a team,” Caitlin said, “you need to be aligned with what the goals are and how you’re working together to get the work done.” She explained that giving leaders insight into each employee’s talents allows them to figure out how the team can best work together, and that Plum’s platform gives every leader in an organization those valuable insights to help their team thrive.
Caitlin talked about how important it is to see employees for more than what they’ve done in the past. Using an analogy about picking apples from a barrel, she told the story of an employee who went from being an underwriter to a product manager because she had the behavioral competencies necessary to succeed in the job.
“That’s an incredible story,” Ben replied. “When you’re reaching into a barrel of apples to find the next one, the bottom of the barrel doesn’t mean they’re bad, it just means they’re not near you.”
Caitlin explained that Plum helps organizations see talent differently, focusing on opening up their talent pools to include people they might not have considered before. She emphasized that it’s all about screening in people for opportunities based on what they can do, if given the opportunity.
Want to hear more insights from Caitlin and Ben?
Check out the full episode below.
Chat with our team about how we can help your organization reimagine the way you manage talent this year.