Glossary of Terms

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360-degree Assessment: 360-degree assessment is based on the assessment of an individual’s management styles, competencies and behaviors. The individual is rated by supervisors, peers, subordinates, and others with whom the individual has contact. Organizational assessments may include 360-degree feedback, as well.

Adult Learning Theory: Adults are antonymous and self-directed, and their motivations for learning are different than those of children. Adults are goal oriented, relevancy oriented (problem centered), practical problem-solvers with life experiences that influence their behaviors and motivations. The motivations for learning may include: making/maintaining social relationships, meeting external expectations, learning to better serve others, professional advancement, escape or stimulation, or pure interest in the subject.

Alignment: Alignment, whether for the individual, the team or the organization, is the focus of effort on work relevant to core strategic objectives. Total alignment is achieved when strategies, tactics and operations are interconnected and each member of the organization has an internal awareness of how their actions impact organizational performance.

Appreciative Approach/Appreciative Inquiry: The appreciative approach to consultation is based on the belief that individuals and organizations have core strengths which are the foundation of their ability to adapt, change and grow. As David Cooperrider of Case Western Reserve describes Appreciative Inquiry, it is a “co-evolutionary search” for what is best in people, their organizations and the relevant world around them. It seeks to understand what “gives life.” It is the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen the capacity to apprehend, anticipate and heighten positive potential.

Behavioral Interviewing: Behavioral interviews include behavioral questions asking the interviewee to describe their behavior in past situations. This is based on the premise that past behavior is the best indication of likely future performance. These questions often begin with a phrase such as "Tell me about a time when ..." or "Describe a situation when ...". The interviewer may ask for examples of successful or extremely challenging situations. The appropriate response will demonstrate a specific situation, the steps taken to address the challenge, and the results achieved.

Career Assessments: Career assessments help individuals become acquainted with the knowledge, skills and abilities required for success in a variety of careers. They can help individuals compare their strengths and weaknesses with the suggested career requirements, and often will compare the individual to benchmarked standards established by successful professionals already working in the particular fields of interest. Assessments also can help to determine which skills need to be developed before entering a career.

Career Partners International: Founded in 1987, Career Partners International aids corporations with attracting, retaining, developing and transitioning their talent. While CPI retains the highest consultant-to-participant ratio among global human resources consulting firms, the company has invested heavily in building a state-of-the-art technology platform to support its face-to-face consulting. Visit their web site here: http://www.cpiworld.com.

Center for Creative Leadership: The Center for Creative Leadership (http://www.ccl.org) is a nonprofit educational institution that serves as an international resource for increasing the leadership capabilities of individuals and organizations from across the public, private and nonprofit sectors. The organization seeks to advance the understanding, practice and development of leadership, and to help individuals and organizations address leadership challenges. Through ongoing research, development and publication, CCL certifies practitioners in the use of advanced psychometric instruments and assessments.

Change Agent: The change agent’s or change leader’s capabilities have a major impact on success or failure of the project, and on the extent of potential unwanted side-effects. The role of the change agent is to engage the creative side of the organization’s culture and create culturally appropriate pathways toward the adoption of change. The change agent seeks to reconcile and resolve conflict between and among disparate points of view – many times under great pressure.

Change Management Plans: The change process must be planned in order to meet organizational objectives. Leadership needs to prepare for change, manage the process of change, and reinforce the change once in place. Change management plans focus the process on effective organizational communications, internal sponsorship, coaching, training, resistance management.

Change Strategies: There are four fundamental strategies that can be used to implement change within the organization: 1) empirical-rational (assumes people are rational and will follow their self-interest — once it is revealed to them; change is based on the communication of information and the proffering of incentives); 2) normative-re-educative (assumes people are social beings and will adhere to cultural norms and values; change is based on redefining and reinterpreting existing norms and values, and developing commitments to new ones); 3) power-coercive (assumes people are basically compliant and will generally do what they are told or can be made to do; change is based on the exercise of authority and the imposition of sanctions); 4) environmental-adaptive (assumes people oppose loss and disruption but they adapt readily to new circumstances; change is based on building a new organization and gradually transferring people from the old one to the new one).

Conflict Management: Conflict management is a core competency that refers to the variety of ways by which people handle grievances. Conflict management concerns an ongoing process that may never have a resolution, yet identifies and takes steps to prevent potential situations that could result in unpleasant confrontations. The role of leadership is to manage and resolve conflicts and disagreements in a positive and constructive manner to minimize negative impact. The leader has the potential to strengthen team functioning in times of conflict through open, honest communication and feedback.

Core Competencies: Competencies are identified within a competency standard that an industry has agreed are essential to be achieved if a person is to be accepted as competent at a particular level. Core competencies are normally those central to work in a particular industry. Example competencies include: decision-making skills (taking action, risk-taking, managing conflict); interpersonal skills (relationships, developing others, influencing, openness to influence); effective use of self (time management, coping with pressure); and others.

Culture: The contemporary definition of organizational culture according to leading academic Edgar Schein (of MIT’s Sloan School of Management) includes what is valued, the dominant leadership style, the language and symbols, the procedures and routines, and the definitions of success that characterizes an organization. It represents the values, underlying assumptions, expectations, collective memories, and definitions present in the organization.

E-Learning: E-learning is an approach to facilitate and enhance learning through the use of devices based on both computer and communications technology, including personal computers, CD-ROMs, digital television, and more. Communications technology enables the use of the Internet, email, discussion forums, collaborative software and team learning systems to enhance the learning process. E-learning may also be used to support distance learning through the use of WANs (Wide area networks), and may also be considered to be a form of flexible learning where just-in-time learning is possible. Courses can be tailored to specific needs and makes asynchronous learning possible.

Facilitated Dialogue: Whether conducted by an internal member of the organization or by a trained external professional, facilitated dialogue is the process of exchanging information and viewpoints with the purpose of fostering mutual understanding that can lead to improved interpersonal relationships.

Facilitation: A process of decision-making guided by a facilitator who insures that all affected individuals and groups are involved in a meaningful way and that the decisions are based on their input and made to achieve their mutual interests. Facilitators may be neutral outside third parties or community leaders trained in the process. Facilitation improves the flow of information within a group or among disputing parties. The facilitator provides procedural direction on how to effectively proceed through the meeting toward a mutual agreement. The facilitator’s focus is on the process of resolving complex issues, not on the substantive issues concerned.

Feedback: Information obtained from the results of a process that is used in guiding the way that process is done. There should be feedback loops around all important activities. Interpersonal feedback is used to improve work-based relationships. Diagnostic feedback tracks efficiency of internal business processes (usually generic across all mission activities). Metrics feedback allows for refining the selection of metrics to be measured. Measurement feedback allows for the improvement of measurement techniques and frequency.

Feedback Data: Feedback data is information collected from participants (individual employees, team members, leaders, etc.) in response to a set of questions designed to understand organizational issues. In general, this data is collected, analyzed preliminarily for content, and presented to the group for discussion and further analysis.

Group Interview: The group interview is performed with two or more candidates, and provides the company with information about interaction between peers. The interviewer(s) assesses all applicants in terms of relevant interpersonal and job-specific behaviors. The interviewer may request candidates to discuss an issue with one another, solve a problem collectively, or discuss unique qualifications in front of the others.

High Performance Team: The high-performance team significantly outperforms all other like teams, and outperforms all reasonable expectations given its membership. High-performance teams surpass conditions of standard performance, and have members who are deeply committed to one another's personal growth and success; it is this commitment that allows the team to transcend.

High-Potential Talent: High potential talent is the resource of employees within the organization that have high levels of strength and resilience, and are adept at managing (and sometimes masking) flaws or weaknesses. The development needs of high-potentials may involve more subtle, but still critical, leadership issues such as comfort with ambiguity, openness to feedback, and attention to the development of others. High-potentials may receive little feedback about such attributes, and as a result, they can struggle to understand the relevance of the issues or sometimes to even acknowledge the existence of the problems.

Impact Environment: The impact environment is concerned with the stakeholders that surround the organization and creates its shape externally. This may include: customers, competitors, vendors, suppliers, governmental agencies, investors and others that have some vested interest in the organization’s operation.

Informal Interview: The informal interview is loosely structured and is normally conducted at the beginning of a relationship with the organization. It is most often a “relaxed chat” about the candidate and their experience. It may be conducted by someone less senior or new to the company and is unlikely to involve specific technical questions.

Informational Interview: The informational interview is a method for gathering information about trends in a specific type of occupation or within an industry by meeting with an experienced professional within the organization. An informational interview is an interview that the candidate initiates and asks the majority of the questions. The purpose is to obtain information and to network with other professionals, not the “transaction” of getting a job.

Job Rotation: In leadership development, job rotation is an approach to management development where an individual is moved through a schedule of assignments designed to give them a breadth of exposure to the entire operation. Most often, this process is used with high-potential employees being groomed for higher level assignments and is included in the organizational succession plan.

Learning Styles: The range of learning styles are the preferred mode in which an individual interacts with, takes in, and processes new information across the three domains of learning: cognitive (knowledge-based), psychomotor (skills-based) and affective (attitudinal- or behaviorally-based). Fundamental learning styles include: auditory (preferring to learn through listening), visual (preferring to learn by viewing or reading), and kinesthetic (preferring to learn by doing), and combinations of these three.

Marketing Campaign: Candidates create specific, targeted marketing campaigns to promote awareness of their strengths and attributes to potential employers. The process includes work in three areas: documentation (resumes, campaign letters, cover letters), research (identification of target industries, specific companies, and individual decision-makers) and interpersonal skills (presentation style, interview preparation, effective questioning and analysis).

Networking: Networking is one’s ability to make contact with others in obtaining research, information, and services about career fields, organizations, or job industries in order to enhance career goals. Visibility and information are key to networking and finding that brand new job that can turn into a rewarding career. Networking is an important business tool. Its primary focus is developing relationships through interpersonal communication. It is these relationships that will help in all types of career development to include a successful career search.

Operational Plans: Operational plans are the specific plans of each initiative to be implemented within the tactical plan. The plan includes detail of roles and responsibilities for individuals, provides the template for implementing each project, and defines benchmarks and processes for measuring progress.

Organizational Design: The organizational design process provides a clear definition of goals and responsibilities for each unit within the organization, the most efficient work methods to be used, relevant job descriptions and staffing requirements, the training plan necessary to implement the new design, and identification of necessary management and control tools.

Organizational Effectiveness: Organizational effectiveness is the organization's ability to achieve its goals, to acquire resources, achieve a competitive advantage, and satisfy the relevant needs of its key stakeholders (suppliers, customers, employees, etc.).

Panel Interview: A panel interview, also known as a board interview, is defined as an interview conducted by a team of two or more interviewers, who interview the candidate simultaneously, then combine their ratings into a final panel score. The panel interview process has evolved considerably over the past fifty years from "informal discussions" between candidates and the panel into a highly structured situational and behavioral assessment based on strict job analysis, complete with interviewer training and scoring anchors.

Performance Appraisal System: A performance appraisal system measures the performance of individual employees against organizational core competencies, and is designed to provide guidance in the creation of a professional development plan to increase individual performance and effectiveness.

Professional Development Plan: A professional development plan addresses individual needs to improve performance in work-related activities and balances those developmental needs with the needs of the organization. It focuses on improving employee learning ad growth, and includes documentation of the timeframe, measurement indicators, and desired outcomes of professional development activities.

Project Management Skills: Successful project management is focused on the simultaneous management of the four basic elements of a project: resources, time, money, and scope. Each of these elements is interrelated. The skills associated with effective project management are: communication skills to define the project clearly, project planning and scheduling skills, implementation skills, feedback and facilitation skills, and decision-making skills.

Screening Interview: A screening interview is a brief meeting with the company used to quickly screen potential applicants and to determine whether or not they are qualified and interested in moving forward in the interview process. Screening interviews are most commonly used then there are a large number of applicants and, for the most part, candidates are contacted via telephone by a human resource professional.

Series Interview: The series interview process includes consecutive interviews with different people from within the same organization, after which the employer will collect feedback from all interviewers to build a broad profile of the candidate. Typically, interviewers are prepared with unique questions related to desired attributes for the role.

Strategic Plans: The strategic planning process incorporates an understanding of internal organizational strengths and weaknesses balanced against the organization’s relationship to external stakeholders and overall trends within the impact environment. For the strategic planning process to be broad-based and holistic, it requires input and information from all key stakeholder groups.

Succession Planning: Succession planning within the organization ensures that individuals are identified and prepared to replace key players as they transition out of the organization. Best practices in organizational effectives support the consideration of the development and promotion of new talent to ensure continuity and appropriate skills are maintained for the organization as it continues to evolve.

Tactical Plans: Tactical plans delineate specific initiatives related to an organization’s strategies. It focuses on the range of special projects that will be involved in the acquisition of certain desired organizational outcomes, and includes the indicators to be measured for determining success.

Team Building/Team Development: The process of team building and team development is focused on establishing best practices and support to ensure that the team can effectively cooperate and produce results. Such practices can include: establishing goals, defining a common sense of purpose, identifying roles and responsibilities, establishing trust, and demonstrating self-disclosure and good feedback skills.

Trend Analysis: Trend analysis provides the organization with information about shifts in society, the economy, politics, technology and the ecosystem that may have an impact on the future success and effectiveness of the organization. By conducting this type of broad scale analysis, the organization is better prepared to perform strategic planning, and is better able to create long-term sustainability.

Values: Values represent basic conviction that specific behaviors and attitudes are either personally or socially preferable within the organization – values are what individuals consider to be correct and important. Corporate values represent the beliefs that are broadly held. They influence the way in which business is conducted, policies and strategies that are implemented, and multiple facets of the ways in which employees within the company interact with one another, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders.