Retaining Top Talent with Proven Assessments: MBTI, TKI, FIROB

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Retaining Top Talent with Proven Assessments 
MBTI, TKI, FIRO-B

• Dr. Ken Thomas, TKI co-author
• Michael Shur, CPP marketing manager

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Who is CPP?

• Founded in 1956
• Workforce Development tools include
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment
• Strong Interest Inventory tool
• Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode assessment
• CPI 260 assessment
• FIRO-B tool
• Delivers more than 1 million
• research-validated and reliable
• assessments to business,
• government and education clients
• Serves 89 of the Fortune 100 companies

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What is Workforce Development?

• Workforce development
• aligns employee interests with corporate goals
• to achieve full employee engagement
• in delivering value to the customer and the
  company.

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Workforce Development Solutions
Workforce Development
Enables businesses to focus theirtime
on efficient and strategic workforce planning
Technical Services
Career Exploration
Attracting Talent
Team Building
Conflict Management
Leadership Coaching
Retaining Employees
Learning Development
Training Research Services
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MBTI
Workforce Development
Enables businesses to engage more fully with
current employees to improve retention
MBTI
Technical Services
Career Exploration
Attracting Talent
Team Building
Conflict Management
Leadership Coaching
Retaining Employees
Training Research Services
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Strong Interest Inventory
Workforce Development
Enables businesses to focus on strategic planning
Strong
Technical Services
Career Exploration
Attracting Talent
Team Building
Conflict Management
Leadership Coaching
Retaining Employees
Training Research Services
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CPI 260
Workforce Development
Enables businesses to recognize and
develop leaders within the company
CPI 260
Technical Services
Career Exploration
Attracting Talent
Team Building
Conflict Management
Leadership Coaching
Retaining Employees
Training Research Services
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FIRO-B
Workforce Development
Enables businesses to focus on improving team dyna
mics
FIRO-B
Technical Services
Career Exploration
Attracting Talent
Team Building
Conflict Management
Leadership Coaching
Retaining Employees
Training Research Services
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TKI
Workforce Development
Enables businesses to manage and
leverage conflict effectively
TKI
Technical Services
Career Exploration
Attracting Talent
Team Building
Conflict Management
Leadership Coaching
Retaining Employees
Training Research Services
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Workforce Development Solutions using CPP
Professional Services and tools
Workforce Development
CPP Professional Services implements a full
range of workforce development tools to quickly
develop effective employee retention solutions
Technical Services
Career Exploration
Attracting Talent
Team Building
Conflict Management
Leadership Coaching
Retaining Employees
Training Research Services
Training Research Services
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Introduction Kenneth W. Thomas

• Co-Author of the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode
  Instrument which has sold four million copies
• Member
• Academy of Management
• American Psychological Association
• International Association for Conflict Management
• Holds a PhD from Purdue
• Professor (retired), Naval Postgraduate School
  (Graduate School of Business and Public Policy)

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Teams, teams, teams

• Organizations face increasingly complex problems
• One solution is the use of teams, especially
  diverse teams that offer multiple perspectives
• According to WSJ ability to work in a team is
  the second most important skill for graduating
  MBAs
• Our work with teams surfaced the need for
  conflict management

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Teams and Conflict

• Research shows
• Diverse teams surface conflict that may decrease
  the teams performance
• Conflict can improve a teams performance IF the
  conflict is managed well

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Appropriate method for handling conflict

• Research shows that more collaborative teams tend
  to outperform less collaborative teams
• Yet we know this is not true all the time
• And it is more complex than just be
  collaborative

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The Practical Problem
We needed a framework to steer teams through the
complexities of conflict management. The
framework is boiled down here to five key lessons.
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Lesson 1
Ones choices in a conflict . . . the
conflict-handling modes
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Conflict
The condition in which the concerns of different
team members appear incompatible
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The Five Conflict-Handling Modes
Competing
Collaborating
Compromising
Assertiveness Unassertive
Assertive
Accommodating
Avoiding
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Lesson 2
The positive intentions and values associated
with different styles
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Conflict Mode Stereotypes
Team members often stereotype other styles at
their worst, framing them negatively in terms of
their own values.
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Positive Intentions andValues of Conflict Styles
Adapted from figures 5 and 6, K. W. Thomas and G.
F. Thomas, Introduction to Conflict and Teams
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Lesson 3
The usefulness of each style in appropriate
situations . . . and the need to negotiate among
conflict modes.
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Two sides of collaboration

• Collaborating is especially desirable when
• conflicting concerns are too important to
  compromise or sacrifice
• when innovative solutions are needed
• when hard feelings need to be worked
• through

• However, collaborating also requires
• time
• interpersonal skills
• integrative possibilities in the issue
• trust
• openness to new ideas

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Lesson 4
Each style has its own temptations. .
. dysfunctional behaviors that need to be
discouraged.
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Examples of Dysfunctional Behaviors

• Competitors monopolizing, not listening, or
  exaggerating.
• Collaborators overanalyzing unimportant issues,
  continuing to problem-solve past the point of
  usefulness, or not being decisive when required.

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Lesson 5
The challenges to problem-solving in teams where
different styles predominate . . . and remedies
to overcome them.
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A Board of Directors with an Accommodating Flavor
Dominant Modes
Figures show number of members who score
highest on each conflict mode. One person was
tied between collaborating and accommodating.
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Selected Challengesand Remedies for
Accommodater Teams
Challenges Difficulty asserting
needs Conformity Reluctance to debate/challenge
Remedies Polling members for needs Norms of
critical thinking Using structured debates
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Additional Value of the newly published Teams
Booklet
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Summary

• Complex Elements of Conflict
• Management in Teams
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• Knowing your basic options (the conflict-handling
  modes)
• Appreciating the contributions and limitations of
  your own and others' conflict styles
• Negotiating for conflict modes that fit team
  issues
• Discouraging dysfunctional behaviors associated
  with any mode
• Addressing the special challenges posed by your
  team's dominant style(s)