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Teams
That WorkTM
Executive
Management and Team Leads
We were having difficulties
in a critical area with hiring people that fit and then forming
a cohesive team that worked together well. Between the Lines helped
us tighten up our job specs, brought in some metrics, helped us
evaluate existing employees and model some new jobs we needed to
add. Then they helped us hire the right types of people to fill
the positions and got them in synch with some team-building and
communication work.
The result :
people have a much-improved understanding of each other. They're
getting much more done with a lot less trauma than before. Meri's
help has been of great value.
-
Jim Oliver, General Manager
Texas Windstorm Insurance Association
Meri's an expert at how
people communicate. She stimulates new perspectives and different
ways of looking, different ways of holding things. This has been
extremely valuable to my partners and me. She's helped us obtain
clarity and vision and articulate the right strategic directions
for our companies.
- Jim Hoover, Venture
Capitalist and Managing Partner
IDM Partners, Inc.
Our
TeamsThatWork experience gave our Utilities leadership team a common
language to discuss issues and challenges we face and raised our
individual and team awareness of our natural strengths and opportunities
for improvement. Meri's focus on solutions instead of problems is
the most basic -- and most powerful -- thing I've learned. And the
most enjoyable. The result has been improved relationships within
our team and with other work groups.
The greatest gift for me has been the team's greater awareness and
appreciation for the possibilities that exist by improving relationships
and communication. I'm grateful for Meri's guidance and leadership
throughout the process.
- Jim Riley, Director
for Utilities
Texas A&M University
In our team consultation,
we learned a lot about fellow team members and about ourselves.
How others are motivated and what their strengths are. The workshops
helped the most and they were fun. I think the things we learned
will help each team member better build his or her workteams. A
lot of this information has helped open our eyes so we can better
assist each other.
- Charles
Kuder, Superintendent of Utility Distribution
Texas A&M University
ProScan® Assessed Participants
It was hard to believe that such a short test could result in so
much information that was dead-on accurate. It was like seeing your
personality reflected in a mirror, even the parts you thought no
one else noticed. It was truly remarkable.
-
Connie Cornell, JD, PHR, Employment Attorney
Founder of Cornell, Smith and Mierl, LLP
I am usually skeptical
about tests like this, but was amazed at the accuracy of the results. I
took the test seriously in hopes of getting accuracy. It identified things
about me that I subconsciously know, but never think about
much. What I enjoyed most was the follow-up readback conference.
It summed up the results of the test, especially the charts,
and helped me see some situations in a new light.
-Reggie Warren, Director
of Claims
Texas Windstorm Insurance Association & Texas Fair Plan
Association
I was genuinely surprised
that such a short and simple survey could reveal so much about a
person's make up. The information was precise -- not some kind
of generic/horoscope kind of information. It really made me stop
and think. The results put some things in a different perspective
for me and showed me how I can enhance my success on the job and
at home.
I very much enjoyed the
readback session, which provided clarification and meaning to the
data. The experience has helped me become more productive
-- partly because of receiving information about myself,
but perhaps more because it was an exercise that the entire management
staff participated in and now understands. I'll cut to the chase
much quicker now.
-Lou Cusano, Director
of Servicing Carrier Operations
Texas Fair Plan Association
I would say that I was
skeptical about the survey and did not think it would tell anything
about me. I was wrong. The survey told a lot about me
and my feelings. The readback conference was very informative
and helped me understand the reports.
I liked that the survey
was short and to the point. It didn't take all day to complete. I
also liked the way the results were presented. Because of the information
I received, I have become more aware of both my triggers and my
motivators.
-Susan Renshaw, Controller,
Texas Windstorm Insurance Association
The ProScan® lets
you find out about yourself -- what you're made of. It helped me
identify what I need to work on. I most enjoyed the way Meri presented
the results. I'm going to try not to drive people as hard as I have
been. I see I need to be listening more to others' concerns and
asking how I can help them succeed.
-Charles Kuder, Superintendent
of Utility Distribution
Texas A&M University
I have taken other assessments,
but the ProScan® really seemed to nail it. It helped me understand
how my life experiences have shaped me and impacted the way I prefer
to lead, communicate, and collaborate with others. I've used the
findings to discuss with my manager how I can use my strengths
to best support her as a leader.
Because I'm both high
energy and quite allegiant, I need a clear understanding of vision
and mission to be a fully participating team member. I need to see
where we're going. When I can see this, I can go full steam ahead
and give my leader my strongest support. When I shared my new understanding
of these traits with my manager, she got a much better understanding
of how she could use my strengths to better help her lead.
-Lisa Votti, Clinical
Network Educational Coordinator
Seton Healthcare Network
My experience began as
a skeptic. I filled out the questionnaire and predicted that
little insight into my personality could be determined for the number
of questions asked. After receiving my ProScan® report,
I was intrigued with all the details of my personality reported. During
the readback session, I was impressed with the insight into my personality
and the ability Meri possessed to understand what motivated and
de-motivated me at work and the current state of my feelings.
The entire process was extremely helpful to me as it identified
positive actions I could implement to improve my satisfaction at
work.
Meri made me feel at ease, which allowed me to speak truthfully
about my personality and my feelings as they pertain to my work
life. The experience has enabled me to feel better about myself,
both personally and professionally, and has helped me to better
understand my co-workers.
-Homer Bruner, Energy
Manager
Texas A&M University
The ProScan® report and
readback process was amazingly comprehensive. A positive experience!
It is surprising how much information is gleaned from so few questions
and that these few questions can produce an on-target readback.
For me, it confirmed much
of what I knew about myself, which makes it possible to think about
what I need from others, and ask for it. Getting the report in written
format first allowed me to think about questions to address during
the personal readbackconference.
Knowing how I am different
from others helps me to understand my strengths and what I need
to feel comfortable in the world, aswell as the areas I'm likely
to gloss over and ignore, which lead to stress.
-GH, Chief Information
Officer
Global IT Consulting Group
Job Modeling
Services
As a board member, I participated
in modeling a new position as a way of hiring new staff for Leadership
Austin. Between the Lines' approach was very helpful and had high
face validity. I would like to use it at AMD and maybe for
career counseling.
I believe the process
helped us figure out that we had been a bit unrealistic in specifying
requirements for the job. It helped us clarify expectations
- the organization's and the Executive Director's - in a way that
I predict will be helpful to everyone involved.
I believe the organization
now has more realistic job expectations for this new hire.
I also believe that he and the Executive Director will avoid some
'issues' working with each other that might otherwise have compromised
the success of the position.
-Bill Gardner, Director, Corporate
Growth and Development
Advanced Micro Devices
We recently used Between
the Lines' job modeling services to help us draw a composite of
the role requirements and the critical success factors for adding
new resources to Leadership Austin's executive staff. By including
the input of people familiar with the organization, and the role,
we were able to get a well-rounded profile. This can be especially
important when the hiring decision involves roles that the hiring
manager may or may not fully understand.
What I liked most about the approach was the way it made the "getting
to know you" stage less of a mystery than is typical during
the first few weeks of employment. All parties knew what
to expect of the key players immediately and could begin a dialogue
about how to work together, knowing the others' styles and tendencies.
I think this necessarily reduces the stress level of trying
to guess about the situation and avoids the errors inherent in a
trial and error method
I am a believer in the
process, the firm, and in Meri.
-Lisa England, Board Member
Leadership Austin
Between the Lines' job
modeling services helped our organization do three important
things:
• think more
deliberately and clearly about the job requirements and personal
qualities we needed for a newly created executive position,
• create a
more thoughtful and relevant selection process, and
• better understand
the strengths and challenges that the selected individual would
bring to the organization.
Then, the on-boarding
process helped establish an environment where the selected individual
and the supervisor could be more mindful about both the opportunities
and the challenges to being optimally successful in reaching the
goals of both the organization and the selected individual.
What I liked most about
the whole process was the way it enabled all participants
to talk more candidly and fruitfully throughout the
selection and on-boarding process. The candid and
goal-oriented environment that was created throughout both the selection
and the onboarding processes has been carried forward into the working
environment with the new employee -- for good results!
-Lee Thomson, Executive
Director
Leadership Austin
ProScan® Assessed
Participants
Rarely have I received
such a comprehensive survey that was so closely aligned with my
own reflective awareness of my personal style, and I have been 16PFed
and MBTIed and DISCed and BENCHMARKed for years! This was both
eye-opening and SPOT ON!
The readback conference
was more than a 'reading.' It was an interactive analysis of how
I might take this information and become even more productive in
my relationships with it. I sincerely appreciated having my supervisor
there with us, comparing her understanding of my results with her
own, and suggesting ways that we might better work together. Knowing
BOTH of our styles, Meri was quick to point out things that BOTH
of us might not be aware of and need to work on.
This was one of the most
useful surveys I have ever had 'done' on me. A quintessentially
positive and meaningful experience! I was learning so much about
myself (and I have the privilege of already knowing a lot about
myself!) that I didn't want the readback conference to end.
The language has already
entered the daily interactions with my supervisor, and lodged in
my conscious awareness, so that I really do 'think' about my style
as I am approaching my work.
-Tom Sechrest, PhD,
Curriculum Manager
Leadership Austin
The ProScan® assessment
is just the best instrument I have seen! Many people are familiar
with the Myers-Briggs. Well, this is MUCH better! It's richer and
more in-depth. The way it profiles your natural state versus your
"should-be" state helped me clarify and bring focus to
my own desires and goals.
-Charles Knickerbocker,
Process Consultant
Knickerbocker and Associates
The ProScan® data
and readback experience are helping me own, claim and use my natural
strengths to create the work I want to do. They're making it easy
for me to let go of old beliefs that I have to be/act/show up in
the world in ways I do not enjoy, ways that drain my energy and
keep me from creating what I want in mywork and my life.
I'm noticing more and
more when I can be getting what I want by using a natural strength
and just asking for what I enjoy. So I can receive it! I'm seeing
polarities as both/and opportunities to enrich my life. And, I'm
referring continually to my true motivators as I envision my day,
activities, and intentions for what I want to manifest.
What's really important
about all of this is how liberating it feels to show up more fully
in life for who I am and to make space for and invite others to
do the same.
-Carol Connolly Bruce,
Personal and Professional Development Consultant and Trainer
Communication Creates Connection
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