At McQuaig, we know that people are the most valuable asset of any organization. That is why it is our mission to help our customers make better people decisions. We help our customers hire, retain, and develop their employees, and because we know how important the people decisions are that we help our customer make every day, we take our job very seriously. McQuaig operates under a set of beliefs that we apply to the use of our products and that guide every product decision that we make.
We Believe That Defining the Roles Within Organizations is Foundational to All Talent Management Activities
Every organization is unique, every team is unique, and every role is unique. If you’re looking to fill a role, you need to find someone that aligns to your special uniqueness. If you’ve already got that person, you need to play to their uniqueness and help them grow, develop, and thrive within your organization.
Defining each role within an organization is the foundation to success in any talent management activity. Most organizations do a great job of defining the training, skills, experience, and credentials required for different roles, but they fall short when it comes to defining the things that really matter. Rarely does an employee succeed (or fail) based on training and skill. Rather we tend to chalk success or failure up to the elusive “fit” or so called “soft skills”. At McQuaig, we don’t think fit is all that elusive. It just tends to be a bit more difficult for many managers to put into words and to assess. “Fit” comes down to qualities like attitude, motivation, persistence and determination, character, aptitude and intelligence, and temperament. These are the qualities that have the highest level of impact on performance.
At McQuaig, we help our customers build strong benchmarks that take all of these factors into consideration, and we equip them with assessments and other tools to assess these qualities in candidates and employees alike. Armed with rich information relating to fit, our clients are able to confirm alignment and explore gaps in the interview process and develop current employees accordingly.
We Believe That Better Interviews Result in Better Hires
Although intuition may tell many managers that hiring based on “gut decisions” has led them to successful hires, the actual data tells a completely different story. The traditional, unstructured interview is only slightly more effective than flipping a coin to make a hiring decision. Making the wrong hiring decision isn’t only potentially very expensive, it can also have catastrophic consequences for your team and your company. That is why at McQuaig, we strive to empower hiring managers to conduct better interviews.
Better interviews start with strong benchmarks (see our first belief). We know that hiring managers are not always trained on how to conduct an effective interview. And that is why we’ve developed comprehensive and actionable tools and content to support the interview process.
We Believe That Strong Onboarding Leads to More Successful Employees
New employees usually make the decision to stay with or leave a new organization within their first 90 days. While they may well stay beyond that 90-day window, the decision has been made and it requires considerable more effort to change a mind than to get it right in the first place. Even the most qualified candidate may struggle to perform well in a new role without proper training and support. Inadequate onboarding can lead to frustration, confusion, decreased productivity, and in many cases, ultimately the departure of the employee.
Most people are all familiar with the Golden Rule: Treat others how you would like to be treated. At McQuaig, we prefer the Platinum Rule for onboarding: Treat others how they want to be treated. We encourage our clients to consider a new employee’s personality, learning style and preferences when it comes to working with others and incorporate all of that into onboarding plan. Our products deliver deep insights into these areas so that managers will be prepared to provide the right support and training to get their new hire up to speed and performing well quickly.
We Believe That Self Awareness Is the Biggest Contributing Factor to Individual Success
It is rare that one achieves sustained success without a healthy amount of self awareness. At McQuaig we believe that supporting all employees through their journey towards greater self awareness creates happier, more engaged, and more productive employees. Our founder, Jack McQuaig, a world renowned industrial and organizational psychologist said that “Developing yourself is a game of inches – major breakthroughs are almost always a result of many small steps that progressively lead you towards your goals.” This is why McQuaig has developed assessments and content to deliver candid personal feedback that can be transformed into meaningful action plans for development. We know that managers play a crucial role in employee development, and we strive to help people leaders identify high performing and high potential (there is a difference) employees and to structure and support effective development plans.
With strong benchmarks and self aware, committed employees, leaders can align employee skills, abilities and temperaments to future roles and work to train and develop employees accordingly.
We Believe That Understanding Others is Key to Maximizing Team Effectiveness
Our belief at McQuaig is that diversity drives successful groups and organizations. When teams are diverse, each member’s unique approach and contribution can have measurable influence on the success of the whole team. When different styles, temperaments and view points come together though, there is also potential for conflict. This brings us back to the platinum rule. We strive to deliver insight to teams that allows them to understand each member’s preferences, strengths, blind spots, motivators and working styles. By doing this, teams can effectively apply the platinum rule and maximize their effectiveness as a collective.
We know that if we continue to be guided by these beliefs, we can make the lives of our customers easier. Our solutions will always be accessible and understandable with minimal implementation burden. Our 5 guiding beliefs are at the heart of every decision we make at McQuaig. We strive to empower customers to make better people decisions through our scientifically validated and reliable assessments and methodologies. Our world class Customer Success team seamlessly guides customers through onboarding and implementation, and we’re always here to support our customers when they need it.
Contact us today if you would like to learn more about how McQuaig can help your organization make better people decisions!