How to Build a High-Performance Financial Services Team in 2020
Michael Gorman
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How to Build a High-Performance Financial Services Team in 2020
Business leaders are always on the lookout for ways to build high-performance teams and these days there is no shortage of recruitment techniques to choose from. Working day and night recruiting for some of Dublin’s top Financial firms I’ve taken a look at some of the tried and tested methods as well as some exciting new innovations that are showing some surprisingly positive results.
Psychometric testing
Candidate and Employee profiling can reveal significant insights not just about individuals but also the dynamics of the broader team and the leadership techniques best suited for high performance.
Engage People selected the McQuaig Psychometric testing platform following a strong recommendation from one of our clients. Myself and a few of my colleagues are trained and Certified in McQuaig testing and we’re now seeing the benefits for our clients as well as our own team.
In a recent example with a client, we were able to build out a Job profile for a new senior position. This survey not only helped define the type of profile best suited to the role but also helped senior decision makers understand where they differed on key elements of the position. Exposing these points of disagreement and working towards collective alignment we were able to identify and recruit the right high performing candidate and achieve buy-in from all Decision Makers in the process.
How does it work? Through short exercises such as word surveys and Job profiling companies can now build out what a high performing new hire would look like based on their personality, attitudes and behaviours. Comparing this to surveys then taken by prospective candidates you can quickly identify the right fit and where potential gaps may lie. Which each applicant.
The benefits include:
• Proven Job performance predictors
• Cultural fit examination
• Customized Job suitability assessments
• Tailored Interviewing techniques
• Personalized coaching strategies
Graphic from https://mcquaig.co.uk/
The Interview Scorecard
As old as interviews itself the Scorecard is a super way to drive out bias by building in objective measurement criteria. The scorecard in and of itself is a great way to drive out bias at the scoring stage however for most effective use bias must also be driven out in the interview itself. This means being careful not to ask leading questions and understanding what is behind the answers of the interviewee.
I’d highly recommend “Hiring for Attitude” by Mark Murphy as a resource for unbiased and highly effective interviewing.
Video Interviewing
Video interviewing quickly became an essential piece in the recruitment process during Covid-19. Most people who weren’t already using video surprised themselves with how effective they could be and in particular how effective they are for time management.
Moving on from here we introduced recorded video interviewing earlier in the year which turned out to be a timely move. We partner with Odro video interviewing here as we find their solutions versatile and importantly, they’re fully GDPR compliant.
The crux of this service is that we are now interviewing candidates on behalf of our clients. The interviews can be customized to client’s needs. It’s a huge timesaver as clients can watch the videos at their convenience and share internally with other decision makers. From the interviewee side, we can provide more flexibility to accommodate their busy schedule and they can interview knowing that they are presenting to a broader decision-making network than would be possible to accommodate in a live interviewing setting.
Check out this example of what a recorded video interview would look like. I play the role of the interviewee here 😉
Employer Value Propositions
The EVP is a project we have actively engaged in ourselves as well as with our clients. Our work on the Employer Value Proposition is focused on identifying the unique value that your team brings as it relates to team motivation. It provides a platform to attract similarly minded people as well as a template for deliberately growing the values of your team to build a highly motivated and high performing team.
If you are looking to build your own and want to see the difference it could make to current and future team-building, download our builder tool here: