If you attend CPP’s free webinars, you probably attended the “Be Better at Creating Powerful People: Cultivating Trust and Increasing Influence Through Behavioral-Based Coaching” session with Michelle Johnston.

Michelle has recently authored the article, “Rebuilding Trust After Layoffs,” for Chief Learning Officer about how leaders can build trust after layoffs.

Layoffs can create a breach in trust, regardless of the strength of management/employee relationships. No matter how fastidiously leaders follow best practices, how clearly they communicate, how much regret they feel or show, it’s impossible to completely avoid workers’ primal “am I next?” reaction. These trust issues commonly manifest themselves in inefficiency, mistakes, missed deadlines and other behaviors atypical for a team.

For leaders, rebuilding trust begins with understanding how others perceive personal behavior, and how that behavior impacts the organization. Tools can help. Using constructs based on the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation model, for example, leaders may find a common perceptual gap between the impressions leaders intend to give their staff, and the impressions the staff members perceive. For a team observing actions through the lens of downsizing, unintended impressions can be particularly damaging.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but the following improvements can help ensure actions leave the intended impressions and create a basis for trust:

• Communicate thoroughly
• Be present, and be inclusive
• Engage employees on a personal level

Read Michelle’s full article, “Rebuilding Trust After Layoffs,” now.

Similar to our previous Assessment Introduction webinars, Rob Devine shares insight about the key aspects of the FIRO-B® and FIRO Business® tools in our “Introduction to the FIRO® Assessments” webinar.

You’ll learn about the development and evolution of the FIRO-B® tool and how it applies to the social need theory, key benefits and scenarios, and powerful resources to use in your practice.

Visit the Assessment Introductions page on CPP.com to view the full webinar or you can view a segment of the webinar focused on a particular aspect of the FIRO assessments. You will also find links to the key tools and resources to apply learning.

Discover the FIRO assessments today.

As you browse through each page of the 2012 CPP Catalog, you’ll notice several new features, including:

• A resources page highlighting powerful tools aimed at enhancing performance, providing in-depth insights and helping you succeed
• New section openers for each assessment brand explaining the key benefits and applications and listing essential products for maximizing your training investment
• Full-page advertisements featuring the latest MBTI® product innovations and on-the-go training activities that can be accessed with the click of a mouse
• Recurring recommendations on the combined use of complementary products and resources that will deliver the best results

View the 2012 CPP Catalog or click here to request your copy.

There’s no avoiding it:  We all occasionally get really stressed out.  It’s a normal, typical, unavoidable part of life, because we all have times when the situation at hand exceeds our resources - either physically, mentally, or emotionally - for dealing with it.

And have you ever noticed how, when you’re really stressed out, that you’re just not yourself - in fact, that you’re almost the opposite of yourself?  There’s a good reason for that!  It’s because, under great stress, our personality types turn themselves inside out and “flip” into your opposite four letters - but usually not in the greatest way.  So if you prefer Introversion and get really stressed out, you may flip into Extraversion - but in an exaggerated way, like blurting something out.  Or if you prefer Extraversion, you may flip into Introversion - but in an exaggerated way, like completely withdrawing.

Below are descriptions of each type when they’re really stressed out.  If you find yourself sounding like the “flip side” description for your type, then you know you’re right in the thick of being stressed out.

ISTJ and ISFJ: Under stress, become “The Dramatizer,” catastrophizing about what’s happening.  Flip Side Motto:  “EVERYTHING is a disaster!”

INTJ and INFJ: Under stress, become “The Indulger,” over-indulging in anything sensory, like eating, cleaning, or exercising.  Flip Side Motto:  “I need MORE!”

ISTP and INTP: Under stress, become “The Emoter,” being overly-sensitive and overly-emotional with people they’re close to.  Flip Side Motto:  “I need to express my FEELINGS!”

ISFP and INFP: Under stress, become “The Criticizer,” being negative about others and self.  Flip Side Motto:  “Everyone’s an IDIOT, including me!”

ESFP and ESTP: Under stress, become “The Exaggerator,” worrying about doom-and-gloom scenarios.  Flip Side Motto:  “Everything is going to go WRONG!”

ENFP and ENTP: Under stress, become “The Obsessor,” obsessing about facts and details.  Flip Side Motto:  “This ONE thing is absolutely important!”

ESTJ and ENTJ: Under stress, become “The Martyr,” feeling unloved and unappreciated.  Flip Side Motto:  “No one APPRECIATES me!”

ESFJ and ENFJ: Under stress, become “The Condemner,” being extremely critical and condemning of others and themselves.  Flip Side Motto:  “I am SO done with you!”

Reveal leadership competencies and work styles to reach optimal potential.

Join us for a free webcast, “Leadership Longevity: Addressing Needs Throughout the Employee Lifecycle”

Overseeing the professional lifecycle requires attention to multiple competencies and behaviors in the process of creating of successful leaders. From the hiring process to onboarding, from identifying high-potentials to facilitating leaders’ self-assessment, from professional development to succession planning, the development opportunities can be numerous.

Leadership Longevity: Addressing Needs Throughout the Employee Lifecycle
Date: Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012
Time: 8-9 a.m. PDT (10-11 a.m. CDT / 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. EDT)
Register: Click here

Dr. Sarita Bhakuni will explain how the MBTI® and CPI 260® assessments reveal both leadership competencies and styles of approaching how leaders lead and interact with others for peak performance.

Attendees will learn about:

• Blending the MBTI and CPI 260 assessments for a holistic view of professional styles
• Understanding competencies of high-performing leaders
• Finding remedies for stressful situations based on personal style
• Identifying drivers of their leadership and management behaviors
• Reviewing the personality scales that are critical to effective performance
• Leveraging their natural preferences and flexing their approach appropriately to adapt to particular situations

This webcast is part of HR.com’s Institute for Human Resources (IHR) – Developing Organizational Leadership Capabilities Certification Program. The program provides certification and accreditation to human resources professionals in their specialized domain, all through virtual workshops presented by industry experts.

*If you are already a member of HR.com, please login to register for the webcast.  If you are not a member of HR.com, you will need to sign up for a FREE HR.com membership; this will only take you a moment to fill in the required information. Once you have confirmation of your membership, you will be able to register for this complimentary webcast.

The Strong Interest Inventory® Certification Program is available June 11-14, 2012.

Why is the Strong assessment so popular? The Strong has been used by 99 of the top 100 schools on the U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges” list for 2011. It has proven to be invaluable for students investigating particular majors or exploring the world of work. It is also used by career counselors, coaches, and outplacement agencies to assist first-time career seekers or those in career transition. It remains the gold standard instrument for career development.

The Strong can be used for:

• Choosing a college major—to help uncover students’ career interests and identify which areas of study are appropriate or required for a particular field
• Career exploration—to open up the world of work to first-time career seekers, or those considering career transition, by identifying their interests and demonstrating how those interests relate to various occupations and careers
• Career development—to help heighten individuals’ self-awareness and provide deeper understanding of individual strengths and blind spots, including work style and risk-taking orientation
• Career alignment—to help employees align their interests with areas of responsibility in their job that reflect those interests

Read my experience at the Strong Certification Program.

Learn more about the certification program by downloading the 2012 program flyer.

Introduction to Conflict Management focuses in depth on five conflict styles-when to use each style and specific techniques for employing each style effectively.

Introduction to Conflict and Teams helps people understand the source of conflicts and their own conflict style, how they can increase their effectiveness on a team, and how to deal constructively with teammates with different styles, as well as how the team can identify its collective style.

With PDFs, distributing these booklets to your clients has never been easier!

During this 1-hour presentation, CPP author Rob Devine explains how the MBTI instrument creates a common language enabling individuals to better understand themselves and how they interact with others. You’ll learn about the rich history of the tool, including a detailed review of the type preferences and the classic Z-model for decision making, key benefits and applications, and popular products and resources to use in your practice.

Visit the Assessment Introductions page on CPP.com to view the full webinar or you can view a segment of the webinar focused on a particular aspect of the MBTI assessment. You will also find links to the key tools and resources to apply learning.

Take a deeper dive into type and discover the world’s most trusted personality assessment.

Develop strategies for the employee lifecycle and be better.

During CPP’s October webinar with the Aberdeen Group, “Be Better at Assessing and Developing Talent: Strategies for the Employee Lifecycle,” Mollie Lombardi, the Aberdeen Group’s Research Director of Human Capital Management, and Sherrie Haynie, CPP’s Organizational Development Consultant, shared the findings of Assessments 2011: Selecting and Developing for the Future.

Organizations achieving the most from their assessment efforts are the ones that understand the need to use the right assessment tool for the right role and level, and for aligning their assessment strategy with business needs and business results.

Here are some tips to help you and your clients select the appropriate assessments throughout each employee’s lifecycle.

You may have seen CPP author Damian Killen’s webinar for HR.com, “Why Is Innovation in Everyone’s DNA and Not in Every Organization’s DNA?”

Killen has also authored an article for Human Resource Executive titled, “Tapping into Employee Creativity,” that elaborates on this topic applying his research with Gareth Williams about the link between innovation and personality type.

Killen writes, “To truly grasp innovation and discover how every individual can bring something to the innovation table, it is important to know the four main categories of ideas:

• Efficiency - Efficiency ideas entail doing things the right way. These under-the-radar developments are less obvious to the outside world and bring incremental change. Continuous improvement processes are good examples of Efficiency ideas being used to improve a situation.
• Refining - Refining ideas are about doing something better and often making life easier. Where Efficiency ideas are more about an end result, Refining ideas focus on the process.
• Adopting - Adopting ideas occur when a company imports an initiative, typically from another sector, to solve a challenge or create a new product.
• Different - Different ideas are the rare projects that no one else has thought of before and have few, if any, predecessors or roots to trace. These ideas often meet resistance, especially in organizations with “not-invented-here” syndrome.

Once HR understands the people with whom they have to work, the department must have the right process for utilizing its human capital. HR must convince C-level executives to go through four phases of the innovation process - Define, Discover, Decide and Deliver - and eschew any inclination to take shortcuts to get offerings to market quicker
Using assessment tools, individuals are able to understand their innovation style — and HR leaders have critical information about how innovation teams can successfully innovate.

By grasping the innovation strengths of existing and potential employees, companies ensure they make the most of their workforce. More importantly, they tap into their innovation DNA and realize their full potential.

Read the full article, “Tapping into Employee Creativity,” and also check out the previous post about personality type and innovation “Innovation Uses Diverse Strengths to Thrive.”