Daniel
Daniel’s business is one of the top 10 dental labs on the west coast. In addition to seeking continuous business growth, He wanted to increase the productivity of his personnel and managers by hiring the right people as well as matching them to the right job. He also wanted to give priority to his family members and siblings to find a place in the business. Daniel planned his growth by experimenting with new technology, new case delivery systems and also with the acquisition of dental labs in other cities. IDAK provided for Daniel’s company a standardized approach to aptitude assessment applied to screening new hires, especially identifying lab technicians who had the talent but lacked previous experience. IDAK also completed a management audit to assess each manager to ensure the right job fit. For his older family members, IDAK provided individual assessments to determine their compatibility with the company’s work culture and values as well as best job fit. For each prospective corporate acquisition, IDAK provided an evaluation of the business owner and his/her projected compatibility with Daniel’s standards of quality and time efficiency. IDAK provided for Derrick a solid foundation to evaluate new hires, to grow each person to their fullest capability and also to provide a fair process for family members to join the business.
Patti
Patti’s Northwest division of an international computer hardware company was hit with a plant closure. Approximately 200 employees, many with over 15 years with the company were to be terminated. Patti had contracted IDAK’s assistance in previous projects. She called and asked if we would help each person find a new home, she wanted the very best for each of her loyal personnel. She wanted assistance over a 6 month period. IDAK structured multiple levels of job transition and career advancement outplacement services, including a job posting drop-in center, continuous resume and interview prep seminars along with individual coaching sessions. For some individuals, the desire was to make a major career change to another field where the person lacked any work experience. IDAK’s team of professionals provided the technology, materials and staff needed to make a smooth transition for every person.
Bob and Fred
Bob and Fred owned a national distribution company which sold and shipped welding equipment and supplies. Their business was build to self starter sales personnel. For years they had struggled to find a way to predict successful sales talent for a very competitive market. Bob and Fred contacted IDAK to inquire about our new hire screening process. After a pilot screening of a key new hire, IDAK’s services became the standard for all final hiring decisions. Over time, the home office general manager requested retirement. IDAK was contracted to screen finalist candidates to identify the best person who would fit the corporate home office culture as well as continue to be the head coach for the national sales team. IDAK’s aptitude assessment helped make a difference for the strength and continuity of Bob and Fred’s company.
Matt
Matt was the HR director for a workmen’s comp. insurance company. A new president was hired and given the mandate to lead a major overall of several departments including the sales department, IT and claims departments. Matt contracted with IDAK to assist with this large corporate re-organization project spanning over 9 months. IDAK provided the assessment services for individuals in the named departments to determine who would be a good fit for the future restructuring plan. Over 50 sales personnel, sales managers and claims employees were individually assessed and coached for new job descriptions. Each individual and manager was awarded the very best of assistance to compete for the new positions being designed. Those who did not continue with the company were provided with IDAK outplacement assistance to find new employment in their field of choice. IDAK’s service equipped Matt with the tools he needed to take care of the long term employees who were being displaced by the company’s reorganization.
David and Bill
David and Bill developed an unusual partnership in their thirties. David was a genius in designing plastic inject mould tools, Bill was a master at selling refrigerators to Eskimos. The two together built an incredible and profitable international business. As time evolved, both began to look for additional management talent to help run the company. Each had attempted to find their own style of department head, but were frustrated with the results. Bill couldn’t find quite the right sales talent to do the job just the way he did. Dave struggled to clone his genius for tooling design. IDAK was contracted to assist in establishing a norm for hiring and for identifying management talent. After completing a management audit, Dave and Bill better understood the key department heads which they needed to affirm and those who needed to be replaced with managers better suited to the job of a growing and dynamic company. Over time, a new general manager was hired and new sales personnel. IDAK provided the shoulder to shoulder support for David and Bill to ensure that all key hires met the same standards of job performance expectations. IDAK also assisted in helping resolve job performance conflicts for key personnel. For Dave and Bill, IDAK help give them a trusted screening process for their key hires to grow their business.
Ron
Ron was a pastor of a large church which he had founded over a 20 year period. His entrepreneur zeal was causing several of his pastoral staff to feel run over. They asked him if there could be a way to evaluate their team to be sure that all team members were suited for their jobs, including the lead pastor, Ron. IDAK provided a Church pastoral audit to assist Pastor Ron and his senior pastoral team. Aptitudes and job duties were evaluated and for each person a recommended match was provided. Over a period of several weeks the staff met to discuss and make the necessary adjustments. The IDAK assessment provided a timely help to avoid future confrontations and a possible church split.
Don
Don was a new district superintendent of a large church denomination. Don’s desire was to ensure that each churche under his care would be staffed with the right pastor for the right church. Jim contacted IDAK and arranged for a combination of group training meetings as well as individual sessions to assist his large team of leaders to be on top of their ministry. Over a period of months, Jim was able to follow up the IDAK assessments to help each pastor and his congregation make the appropriate changes to ensure optimum team cooperation.
Phil and Greg
Phil and Greg formed a partnership and started a new software engineering firm. Phil was a software development genius and Greg had corporate management experience. After three years with moderate growth, Greg began to be concerned about Phil’s heavy handed leadership style. Phil , on the other hand, complained that Greg spent a lot of time doing things which didn’t contribute to the bottom line. Each had a different perspective of the other which was detracting from a true team of Trust and Respect. Phil and Greg requested a business owner’s assessment in order to help each one determine the strengths of the other and what could be done to resolve their differences. IDAK provided a safe and through assessment to assist both come to an honorable perspective about their future working together as a team. After several weeks of discussion, Greg requested a voluntary transition agreement which provided a win-win way to find a new job while continuing to serve his company. The transition gave Phil and Greg an amiable way to move ahead with their lives and minimize the emotional as well as financial disruption to the company.
Bill and Jeff
Bill and Jeff had grown their engineering contract company to a substantial size with five offices in three states. Each operated in a different office and while they grew their company, developed a different work ethic. Of the two, Bill’s office was the largest and showed the most profit. Jeff’s office was also profitable but the other three offices were not pulling their weight. The dilemma was how to evaluate the job fit for each of the three less profitable offices and continue to grow the company to set up even more offices. After trying to develop an internal assessment process of their own, Bill and Jeff turned to IDAK for assistance. After completing a management audit, it was clear why Bill and Jeff had different perspectives on hiring and managing personnel. Each was playing to his strengths. This was an asset for the company overall, but a real problem for the senior corporate officers and department heads. Following the management audit, IDAK assisted in designing job descriptions to assist in the best application of the highly experienced labor pool. IDAK also assisted with recommended transition plans for those who did not fit the re-organization activities.
Harold
Harold was a city manager of a 155,000 sized city. He had gained a nationwide reputation for being one of the best city managers in terms of longevity and creative innovation. Harold continually sought ways to provide the best team support services for his department heads and personnel. IDAK was contracted to assist Harold, his department heads, police/fire chiefs, to develop the very best assessment systems to ensure good job fit and maximum productivity. Over a 10 year period IDAK help support the continuous personnel growth, restructuring, conflict resolution as well as outplacement needs of this very progressive city. The city’s commitment to each person’s career growth was successfully supported by IDAK’s team and technology.
Dan
Dan was Chairman of a college president search committee. He requested help in evaluating finalist candidates recommended by his committee members. Dan wanted his search committee to do the interviewing rather than contract with IDAK to do the interview screening and testing. IDAK coached Dan as to the steps involved in establishing aptitude qualifications for the job and developed a screening plan which optimized the schedules of board members located in different states. IDAK also provided interview questions and coached Dan with feedback concerning finalist candidates. Once a finalist was selected, IDAK assisted Dan with a game plan and scorecard system for pooling the feed-back from all campus departments, students and faculty regarding the candidate.
John
John was a business owner of an oil distribution company. His company provided libricants and large bulk oil for construction companies, trucking fleets, motor pools and manufacturing plants. Over the period of twenty years, John had grown his company to the point where the number of employees and their diversitfied areas of specialty were demmanding much of his time for daily operational management issues. John’s strengths were in growing the business and negotiating large contracts. Conflicts began to surface among managers who felt abandoned or lacking support. John contacted IDAK for a Management Audit of his department managers, thinking that if he could re-align each person to their job duties, most of the conflicts would go away. The Management Audit concluded that the company needed a general manager to oversee the daily operational issues which werebeing ignored. John had been using his Sales Manager to help with some of the operational needs, however, the Audit reported that the Sales Manager needed to stay focused on his primary job duties, insipring his sales personnel and looking for new ways to increase market share. John agreed to hire a general manager. IDAK assisted in screening the finalist candidate. Ten years later, the general manager was still overseeing daily operations. He had earned the respect of the company’s personnel for resolving the personnel conflicts and complaints which had been so prevalent. IDAK helped resolve a major management issue and faciulitated a higher level of TEAM coopereation among department directors.
Human Resources Director
A large Federal Government energy management agency was experiencing significant cut backs due to budget cutting. The Human Resource office was receiving frantic calls from long term engineers, programmers and technicians who were afraid of loosing their jobs. They wanted help in how to transition to other Federal positions in other agencies which would allow their Government retirement benefits to continue. IDAK was contacted to assist the HR office with this stressful issue. IDAK recommended a series of career advancement training sessions using the IDAK Career Match. Another part of the recommendation was training HR staff in leading these classes as well as providing individual assistance. The poisitive response on the part of the agency employees for the IDAK courses was very gratifiying. This strong support was reinforced by an agency wide news bulletin publicising the success of the program and encouraging all employees to participate. A few years later, after a third round of cut-backs, IDAK was invited to train all the HR department training staff to expand the availability of knowledgeable personnel to meet the demmands of the employees. IDAK was commended in writing by this Federal Agency for helping restor morale during a very difficult transition period.
Human Resources Director
A large internationally recognized Research Lab contacted IDAK with an unusual request. This company had multiple Federal Defense Department and Energy Department contracts. However, due to the long term of the contracts, it was difficult to predict if the scientists were capable of completing their contract mandate on time and on budget. Apparently one-half of the senior scientists were on time and on budget while the others were consistently late and had cost over-runs. IDAK was asked if its assessment process could help determine which traits led to success and which traits could predict the problems. IDAK proposed an assessment of the key department leaders to attempt to identify the traits that predicted success. The assessment featured the Autobiographical Interview which is IDAK’s highest level of talent assessment validity. Each senior scientist was given one assessment session. The HR director attended each session to ensure the quality of the IDAK counselor. Upon completion of 10 assessments of engineers, physicists, and chemists ( each with an earned doctorate), a significant finding was reported. Although all scientists were leaders in their field and performed brilliant work, the successful scientists appeared to consistently have one natural talent which the less successful scientists lacked. In addition, the HR director had withheld the list of the successful versus the not as successful wanting the IDAK counselor to identify one from the other. The success of the IDAK process for this research lab empowered the HR director with a new standard for interviewing new Ph.D scientinst job applicants as well as a way to coach the less successful scientists to be more accountable for their time and expenses.
