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Note in Press (Angola) - “O impacto do PDA tem sido impressionante”

Change Management and Need for Leadership from Karl Weick’s Perspective

Many organizations have excellent people, very good tools and strong products or services to offer. However, they appear to be paralyzed or, quite contrary, every one runs in their own direction without much planning or coherence. The resulting wear can cause significant losses of money to the organization (or not making money, which is ultimately the same). Truth is, in general consultants diagnose communication issues but, in this case, only the main problem is partially analyzed: the organization’s ability to manage a changing environment and adapt itself to survive. Much has been said about this, but I’d like to introduce the view of a contemporary thinker who makes us reconsider suitable strategies to help businesses find their road again. 

Karl Weich, expert in Organizational Studies from Michigan University, has written several articles and publications that offer a new view on organizations. In one of his articles, he analyses the tragedy that finished with the death of 13 firemen who were fighting a forest fire.

On August 5, 1949, the authorities of the Montana Fire Department received a call informing a fire outbreak in a Mann Gulch forest. The place was mountainous and quite inaccessible, therefore, a team of parachute firemen, who barely knew one another, was called. One of them had vast experience in these sort of fires; he was appointed leader. Thus, the group lacked the necessary confidence among them that would help for cohesion and teamwork.

           

The information they had indicated this was a routine task: the fire wasn’t serious and, by following the procedures they knew, they would be able to extinguish the fire in a few hours.  When they reached the affected area they scattered; each man started to perform the job he had to do with the available information. Slowly, the situation began to change and they discovered that the fire was going directly at them. It was out of control. The smoke was thick, temperatures too high and the noise so loud that they couldn’t hear themselves. The flames advanced.

The leader tried to gather the team and after igniting an area of the forest intentionally, he ordered everyone to drop their tools and lie down on the ground consumed by the fire he had caused. 

Upon such change of strategy and in face of a situation they knew little about, no one obeyed. The firemen tried to save themselves as they could. Two of them hid inside a crack in between rocks and were saved. The leader, within his circle of ashes, survived as well.  The rest of the firemen died in the fire.

Now, much has been studied from organizations’ point of view in order to understand why such a huge disaster took place and the reasons why nobody followed the leader.

Weick analyses the case and provides some reasons for the disaster’s magnitude. The firemen thought it was a typical fire and organized themselves to do what they were used to doing, individually. They all thought they were doing the right thing. The leader’s behavior seemed absurd. Fight fire with another fire? The fact is that fire goes after fuel to continue advancing and consuming everything it can and, if there is an area that is already consumed, then that’s a good place where to lie down and wait for the fire to take another way. The leader had an excellent idea.

As Weick explains, this case shows that it is difficult to foresee when facing such a critical change.  When the firemen heard the order to drop their tools, they were no longer prepared professionals who were part of an ad hoc team; they became victims who tried to save their lives.  Almost none of them had the necessary creativity and capacity to manage change upon an unexpected scenario.

The leader was the only individual capable of gathering the preexisting information to design a good strategy of change, but he didn’t have the firemen’s respect or trust to follow his improvised plan. Had the firemen obeyed the order, they would have saved themselves.

What can organizations learn from this catastrophe? How to awake creativity and change management when facing this sort of crisis?

Karl Weick suggest some solutions that can be easily implemented through training in change management and creativity within organizations. The author says that it is important to:

• Be alert to possible changes when interacting with the environment (although they may not appear to be significant).
• Understand that change comprises uncertainty and risk, but it can potentially generate innovation and improvements.
• Focus on the “here and now”, avoiding routine thinking. What saved us in the past doesn’t have to be necessarily good in the present.
• Know what your immediately available resources are in advance.
• Build a team where people know each other and, above all, understand your leader.
• Keep your mind open to modify routines and learn from what takes place in the present.
• Recognize, respect and manage emotions caused by crisis.
• Build a culture that accepts and embraces change and that understands creativity as a necessary tool to face new dilemmas.

Success in change management also involves the team’s belief in its leader and following him or her –which didn’t happen at Mann Gulch because it was an ad hoc team. The leader must gain support from the members of the group. Most change initiatives do not progress because people’s problems are not taken into account. Change in an organization, as well as individual change, requires an adjustment, adaptation and, therefore, we must let go of old habits and acquire new ones. For an organization to be prepared to face whatever happens, it is important to create a culture that accepts change, creativity and that believes in the leadership of its management teams.

There are interesting coaching courses, simulations and processes in the market for collaborating with this process. However, one must see that they involve not only the “hard” aspects of processes, but also the “soft” ones, since an individual’s ability to manage change is correlated to a good orientation of reality, his or her ego’s control and certain self-control. Rigidity is often the response of a mind with low self-confidence to face new situations. Self-esteem and self-control should be considered the base of the ability to respond to change without an inadequate attachment to the past. The possibility to persuade, attract, motivate and align teams is as important along the road as having a good 9 or 10-phase procedure project.

Emotional Salary

In modern times, competing for the best employees with the highest salaries is not the only (nor the best) alternative. Employees’ loyalty is related to their satisfaction and motivation.

Attracting the best employees and keeping them motivated is no longer achieved, simply, by raising their salaries. New generations no longer consider that quality of life is the “capacity of consumption” and, in response, a new strategy called “emotional salary” emerges. This aims at addressing different personal, family and professional needs that are not only satisfied by salary increase.

Emotional salary is everything the employee receives independently of his or her salary. Though unnamed, it has always existed. This remunerative strategy is convenient because salary is a short-term motivator –more when one is in an uncertain context where increases are quickly ineffective. Emotional salary, instead, is not monetized: it is strongly tied to peoples’ emotions and the closeness they feel to the company. For example, SMEs apply personalized Coaching instead of “predefined” trainings. Or, trainings are designed according to their audience. There is follow up and a mentor to guide old and young employees, and the mentor’s role given to employees who’ve worked longer at the company, are part of the emotional salary. The idea is to think about those who will receive the training, and knowing their behavior styles beforehand allows a more effective experience.

Another interesting option is the possibility the person has to apply to different programs related, for example, to talent, future leaders or commercial development. In these programs, all employees are invited to be trained in certain competencies and to receive coaching according to their own styles and needs.

Permanent training and development of a career plan are part of the non-monetized salary. For its implementation, it is important to consider employees’ interests, according to their personal situation or age group. Young professionals of Generation Y will want to finish their word early on Fridays in order to start their long weekends, whereas Generation X individuals will prioritize a flexible timetable that will allow them to fulfil their family duties, for example.

This doesn’t have to do with assigning large budgets; it is rather about being alert and ‘listening’ to employees’ needs and interests. It may sound paradoxical, but donating one’s work time for an NGO or social responsibility program is very valued among younger employees, while older ones appreciate the fact that they can be trained or that they participate as mentors or trainers of new employees.

The highest salary will never be equal to the value of time and a better quality of life. In companies, whatever size, this has begun to be understood. 

Most SMEs are reconsidering relationships or professionalizing procedures through programs that are more oriented to Human Resources. There is a great opportunity, provided that companies don’t think that people are only motivated by money.

Increasing the Productivity of your Sales Force

For several years Dave Ulrich has raised the awareness of many of those responsible for Human Resources over the "new mandate" for HR professionals. In his book "Delivering Results" he writes:   

     

“To ensure that the work of HR contributes to employees, customers and to the investment of its shareholders, we should boost the development of the organizational capacity by turning strategies into action. This book reveals the power of HR strategies in order to influence not only the individual, but in the performance of the corporation as well, providing executable strategies that bring results from the production line to the boardroom”

REFLECTIONS ON THE ROLE OF SALES

• Although all functions of a business are important, Sales tend to be more important because their results are like oxygen for an Organization. Without sales a company may cease to exist, even though all other functions are performing optimally.

• For several decades, when some people do not get jobs after multiple attempts, their last resort (besides informal work) is looking for a job as a salesman, with results not always successful either for those who do it nor for the companies that hire them, regardless of high economic and emotional costs for both.

• The profile of a good salesperson is different for each company. It cannot be said that whoever is successful selling for an organization will be a good salesman in any other company. Why? Because every organization has different characteristics. For example, market positioning, reputation of its brands, sales cycle, culture and organizational structure as well as its specific products or services, to name a few distinctions.

• Brian Tracy, marketing expert, in his book "The Psychology of Selling", referring to the Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, writes: "Twenty percent of Sellers earn 80% of commissions ... and the remaining eighty percent earn 20% ... That same principle applies to a group of outstanding sales people, because 20% of sellers off the charts - equivalent to 4% of the total - earn, in turn, 80% of the commissions received by the prominent sellers".

Regardless of the percentages indicated above being approximates, there is no doubt that among those in positions of sellers, the outstanding are the least.

The relevant questions are:

• Is it important for a company to have a sales force composed of highly productive Sellers?
• How do you know, at the time of hiring them, which ones will be the sellers achieving excellent results for a specific company? ...

The logical answer to the first question is that of course it's worth having a powerful sales force. The second, regarding How to identify them?, is outlined in this article in the case that is discussed below.

We now share with you one of the processes carried out by Personal Development Analysis (PDA Consultants), a tool designed to strengthen talent management in companies, based on the studies of William M Marston in the second half of the twentieth century. The reference process was specifically focused to define the ideal profile of the Sellers for a major company of mass consumption products.

For the first phase of the work, a group of executives from the areas of Sales and Human Resources who knew about the activities to be performed by their sellers was invited.

Once the executives invited were gathered, the session began by talking about their "vision" of the seller that requires the company nowadays, considering the competition in the market, changes in management and control systems that have been put into operation and the ensuing demands of technical expertise that the Seller must use and were not necessary in the past.

With the reference framework stated above, the PDA Consultant gave each executive a form that describes the set of typical behaviors (85) that display the members of an organization in order for them to individually select which of those they considered most important for their ideal seller. Later, also as individual work, executives were asked to choose which of those behaviors most frequently applied. Once everyone had finished filling their forms, a group analysis was launched to reach a consensus and ranking behaviors chosen individually, which was concluded with ten key behaviors that the seller of the company of reference must apply.

Next, the PDA Consultant asked the executive group, guided by sales results and performance evaluations, to carefully select two representative groups from their current sellers. One for the outstanding vendors and another one for sellers with fair or unsatisfactory performance. The sellers selected under these criteria were asked to answer the PDA self-assessment form in order to correlate their profiles with the ideal profile defined by the executive group. The time it took them to answer the form ranged between 15 and 20 minutes. Some did it in paper version and others answered directly online, which is the usual way to answer the self-assessment form.

Finally, the PDA Consultant took care of uploading in the system the ten behaviors that the sales and HR executives had reached consensus over and to the system determined, clearly and objectively, the "Star Seller Profile" for the company: a combination of "PDA Axes" that reveal the "profile" of the person who has the specific natural behaviors to become a great Seller for the Organization. Such a combination of “5 PDA Axes” forms the basis for "selecting and managing" the talent of its sales force forward.

WHAT DOES EACH ONE OF THE 5 PDA AXES OF THE PDA DEFINED PROFILE MEAN?

The five numbers, which can range from 0 to 100 refer to the intensity or level required for each of the 5 PDA Axis that, in short, measure:

RISK Axis

High: Points to a person with strong achievement orientation, willing to take risks, oriented to power and control, willing to accept responsibilities that involve taking some risks, energetic, always ready to take the initiative. Motivated by power and prestige.

Low: person who prefers not to take risks, low pressure, someone steadily, although reserved, cautious and conservative. Motivated by harmony, consistency.

EXTRAVERSION Axis

High: sociable person, oriented to interpersonal interaction, likes to be visible to others, persuasive, convincing and strives to make others feel comfortable. Motivated by social exposure and social recognition.

Under: person who prefers to work alone or in small groups, self-sufficient and focused on problem solving. Differentiate clearly when dealing with "friends" and "acquaintances". Motivated by having personal space and privacy.

PATIENCE Axis

High: patient individual, analytical, consistent, with a tendency to routine and repetitive activities, gives importance to quality rather than quantity. Motivated by consistency and having enough time to do things right.

Low: person who prefers constant change, restless, impatient, dissatisfied with the relatively steady state of things. Motivated by diversity, constant change and being in multiple issues at once.

CONFORMITY TO NORMS Axis

High: this is a person who adheres to standards, policies and established procedures that give certainty for the feeling of a structure and direction. Motivated by clear direction and having accurate information to act.

Low: person who prefers freedom of action, independence, high involvement and with a global focus. Motivated by the freedom to act according to their own goals and ideas.

SELF-CONTROL Axis

High: rational individual, mature, experienced, which weighs the consequences of their actions and control their emotions or strong impulses.

Low: individual that handles himself spontaneously, sometimes impulsively, with little tolerance and that can at times act and/or speak without considering the real consequences of their actions or words...

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF KNOWING THE PROFILE DEFINED UNDER THE PDA METHODOLOGY?

They are essential to select and manage (... on a scientific basis) Talent of the Sales Force of a company. That is, it strongly supports HR functions relating to:

The requirements to be a good leader assisted by PDA

Amazon counts approximately 16,600 books on leadership which reflects the great interest that has been given to this issue. One of the many books published is" On Becoming a Leader "by Warren Bennis, who focuses on how important it is to know oneself. In the introduction he says:

“Leaders know who they are, what are their strengths and weaknesses, how to fully deploy their strengths and how to compensate for their weaknesses. They know what they want, why they want it and how to communicate it to others to gain their support and collaboration. Finally, they know how to achieve their goals. The key to fully express leadership is knowing yourself.”

The process for a person to become a good leader is very similar to the process to develop and grow as a human being, in the broad sense of the sentence. From our point of view, we are all leaders, in the sense that the dictionary defines a leader as one who points the way, who gives the example and, based on that definition, we are all leaders ... but most are not good leaders.

This is why what Socrates said is relevant:

“He who knows himself knows what his skills are and how to apply them.

He who does not know himself, will fail to the degree of ruining his life.”

The questions that arise from this are:

How to know myself?, what should I know about me? and what impact am I causing to others?

The easiest way to get these answers is to ask those around us because they know a lot about our behaviors, strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately it is very difficult that those who know us have the qualities to: trust us, have confidence in themselves and, especially, in the case of superiors, not to fear retaliation if they speak honestly about the impact they produce. For these reasons, it is usual that things are not said as they are in reality inside the company ... or in some families. That is why we remain ignorant to a great extent on how we are and on the impact we produce on others.

Well aware of this, some scientists designed leadership programs from the second half of the twentieth century in which conditions were created for participants to "discover" the impact that their behavior produces on other people as well as their leadership styles. The first - the impact we have on others - is the complicated part. The groups that feed on these programs are integrating with people they do not know before the workshops, because in this way they can be authentic when providing "feedback" to their teammates.

 

Additionally, and this is part of good leadership programs, the process to perceive the impact a person has on others, implies intense work sessions that encourage the deployment of "normal" behaviors in those involved. That is to say, these are no "Picnic" courses - like most of the training sessions. They require long hours of work in which "superficial / social / diplomatic" behaviors are abandoned and people actually behave like they are.

 

When providing such programs I have had the opportunity to observe the tension that arises in some participants when they learn with surprise - because that's the idea – that they will receive feedback from those who have realized how they really are. There has been no lack of participants using delaying tactics to avoid the "moment of truth" and others who have preferred to leave the program before knowing about it... because they realize that they demonstrated behaviors that they don’t want to hear about. It must be mentioned that the comment I have heard more often in the closure of these seminars has been: "I had no idea that I produced this impact on others", a speech announcing a desire to overcome.

 

From our perspective, the most enriching workshops for personal growth have been the confrontational ones, which require participants to engage fully and end their positions of "spectator". They are forced to work intensely for long hours with minimum breaks to finally conclude after several days and physically tired, but with great satisfaction the fact that they have grown as a person.

 

Fortunately, other alternatives exist for those truly committed with increasing the effectiveness of their performance and leadership. The one that supplies the most information is the self diagnosis of the "Personal Development Analysis" (PDA) that we will describe briefly in the following paragraphs, as it provides important information about the different "styles of leadership."

 

PDA analyzes the following axes:

1. Result Orientation (Risk)

2. Interpersonal interaction orientation (Extraversion)

3. Patience level (Patience)

4. Adherence to rules, procedures and policies (Conformity to Norms)

5. Emotional Control (Self-control) and

6. Level of physical and mental energy (Energy Level)

 

We will briefly analyze only some features of each axis and later on correlate them with the leadership.

 

 

RISK Axis

 

High: Points to a person with strong achievement orientation, willing to take risks, oriented to power and control, willing to accept responsibilities that involve taking some risks, energetic, always ready to take the initiative. Motivated by power and prestige.

 

Low: person who prefers not to take risks, low pressure, someone steadily, although reserved, cautious and conservative. Motivated by harmony, consistency.

 

 

EXTRAVERSION Axis

 

High: sociable person, oriented to interpersonal interaction, likes to be visible to others, persuasive, convincing and strives to make others feel comfortable. Motivated by social exposure and social recognition.

 

Under: person who prefers to work alone or in small groups, self-sufficient and focused on problem solving. Differentiate clearly when dealing with "friends" and "acquaintances". Motivated by having personal space and privacy.

 

 

PATIENCE Axis

 

High: patient individual, analytical, consistent, with a tendency to routine and repetitive activities, gives importance to quality rather than quantity. Motivated by consistency and having enough time to do things right.

 

Low: person who prefers constant change, restless, impatient, dissatisfied with the relatively steady state of things. Motivated by diversity, constant change and being in multiple issues at once.

 

 

CONFORMITY TO NORMS Axis

 

High: this is a person who adheres to standards, policies and established procedures that give certainty for the feeling of a structure and direction. Motivated by clear direction and having accurate information to act.

 

Low: person who prefers freedom of action, independence, high involvement and with a global focus. Motivated by the freedom to act according to their own goals and ideas.

 

SELF-CONTROL Axis

 

High: rational individual, mature, experienced, which weighs the consequences of their actions and control their emotions or strong impulses.

 

Low: individual that handles himself spontaneously, sometimes impulsively, with little tolerance and that can at times act and/or speak without considering the real consequences of their actions or words...

 

AXIS INTENSITY

 

This indicator measures the "intensity", the strength of each axis in relation to the profile of the person. The axes sometimes become very "intense" and require the analysis of specialized Analysts in the assessment.

 

 

ENERGY LEVEL

 

This indicator allows to analyze the speed of perception of the person, the ability to work for extended periods and the level of physical and mental energy that the person can give to their work.

 

 

RELATION BETWEEN THE INFORMATION OF THESE AXES AND THE LEADERSHIP

 

Notwithstanding the brief information on the PDA axes exposed in the previous lines, the reader might agree with the leadership behaviors that can generate the following combinations example (obviously the possible combinations are many and varied):

 

• High Risk + low Extraversion + low Patience = authoritarian leadership behaviors tendencies, although it produces results, it does not generate the best attitudes in collaborators.

• High Risk + high Extraversion + high Patience = leadership behaviors tendencies that promote high involvement and commitment of collaborators. It's the right kind of leadership for the "empowerment".

• High Risk + low Extroversion + high Conformity to Norms + low Patience = leadership behaviors tendencies of strict control over collaborators.

• Low Risk + high Extraversion + high Patience + Conformity to Norms low = leadership behaviors tendencies that attach great importance to the people and less emphasis on results.

 

 

A leader who knows his behavioral tendencies in depth and knows in addition the tendencies of innate behavioral of his employees will be in a better position to lead each of them more effectively, as "good human beings" respond better to certain styles control than others.

 

All behaviors displayed by the members of a company have consequences on their integral results, on teamwork as well as on the individual and group performance. Of course, the behaviors of the leaders, because they are "models" for the majority, have a definite impact ... for better or worse. For this reason, the possibilities of the PDA methodology are valuable for executives interested in boosting productivity, quality and integral effectiveness of their organization, including:

• Defining their positions in terms of behavior, as the ideal is to match as closely as possible the demands of positions with the behavior of its occupants, either in the selection process or development of those already in the company.

• Defining their corporate skills also in terms of behaviors to identify individual potential and areas for development in the staff.

 

The resources to implement the PDA and to carry out effective Talent Management Consulting measures based on the PDA diagnostics are available as a cutting edge service of PDA International.

Workers Engaged

In the last decades, in parallel with social, political and economic changes produced in the world, vertiginous changes at work, in the business environment and organizations have also been developed. Hence jobs for life practically do not exist anymore, but now the job is conceived as dynamic, constantly evolving and changing, where both the employer and employees are part of the process.

That is why the recruitment acquires an even greater importance, which seeks to find the best employee for the specific job and thus cover not only the needs of the company, but also those of the worker. For this reason, people looking for “any kind” of work are no longer accepted. Today, in the current working world, qualified employees are required to seek their own personal fulfillment, they see the job as an opportunity to further develop their skills and abilities.

Nowadays, most companies are looking for engaged workers. This term refers to highly motivated and work-committed employees, seeking to achieve personal goals and therefore work harder to meet the objectives of the company.

In broad terms, we can say that engaged employees meet certain requirements: they have a low level of stress, are creative, innovative, proactive, optimistic, have aspirations and desire for progress. Generally, they are the ones seeking the company in which they want to work.

In addition, these workers look for companies and organizations with a good working environment, with growth potential and are willing to train constantly.

Through the recruitment interview and the administration of psychological assessments, the engaged workers can clearly be detected. In this sense, the administration of the PDA, a psychometric test that gives us a lot of information on labor and behavioral profile of each person, can help us.

Psychometric Testing

We would like to share with you and article published on the onrec magazine about Psychometric Testing:

http://www.onrec.com/magazine

Platform for Effective Leadership

Platform for Effective Leadership from Performance Development on Vimeo.

Screening: Beyond the Conventional

Screening: Beyond the Conventional from Performance Development on Vimeo.

Team Building with PDA

Team Building with PDA from Performance Development on Vimeo.

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What's New

We are constantly improving the PDA Platform. We will appreciate and hope to receive your feedback at support@pdainternational.net. Below you will find a list that includes the most recent changes:

08/24/2012 PDA 3.43

• Group reports now show different colors for each person
• New PDA Report
• Email templates: "from" field can now be changed
• Email templates: default "from" field changed from "noresponder@" to "noreply@" 
• Email templates: use the template of the base as default template when not customized
• An administrator can now be asked to change the password upon login 

07/24/2012 PDA 3.42

• New language added: English (India)
• Added radar chart to Job Fit Reports
• Subbase CRUD now showing all languages
• Users are now redirected to a webpage with information about PDA after completing the PDA form
• US date format in US email templates
• Corrected: when the user is behind a proxy, the PDA form hangs up
• The user receives a notification when there is a connection problem because of a proxy

06/28/2012 PDA 3.41

• Client's Logo / Sub-base's Logo: the default size of the logo was modified to avoid performance issues with big images.
• Client's Logo / Sub-base's Logo: logos bigger than 200x200px are resized at upload to avoid performance issues with big images.
• Jobs: administrators of a base can assign a job to "All" sub-base, and this job automatically can be used by administrators of sub-bases to create a JOB Fit Report.
• New E-mail Templates: Invalid PDA E-mail Template was added to the list of templates that administrators can modify accessing this option.
• New Job Fit Report: a radar chart was incorporated to the report.

05/31/2012 PDA 3.40

• New feature: Self Description which was included in the PDA section "Behavioral Profile Chart" is a new section now. Users can show or hide it in an independent way.
• New feature: When candidates end the configuration of the public profile after completing the PDA, they are redirected to another page.
• New feature: When users modify the "Invitation to complete the PDA form" template, the system validate that the e-mail contains the PDA link.

05/04/2012 PDA 3.39

• Bug: The footer in italian public pages does not include the Italy telephone.
• Bug: The "Effective leadership! PDA section was corrected in Portughese to "Como liderar efectivamente".
• Bug: When a user sends a "PDA Summary by E-mail" in a base that has not "Enable purchase of PDA Report" checked, purchase links appear anyway.
• New feature: A new style has been added to the JOB Fit Reports. Now the Customized Jobs show first, too.

04/04/2012 PDA 3.38

• We fixed a bug where Links did´t work when a sub-base has a special character on its name
• We added a new feature when a user wants to add new credits, two options are shown: "Add new credits online" (via PayPal) and "Add new credits manually" (automatically sends an email to the partner)
• We added a new feature to categorized the documents available for training by user type (client, partner or exclusive partner) and business unit

3/21/2012 PDA 3.37

• Group Trend Report: on the first page, it shows the phone and email of the client, if it´s configured to do so. If not, the phone and email of the business unit is shown
• PDA Summary: now the email template used to send the PDA Summary is the one from the sub-base where the recipient belongs to. You can modify this template by clicking "Home" and then "E-Mail Templates"

3/15/2012 PDA 3.36

• We implemented a new feature which in case any failure occurs during the PDA Form completion (Internet connectivity drops, server too busy, network problem, etc), it will retry to re-submit the form in a few seconds. This is a great improvement preventing users to re-enter all the PDA form information in case of failure.

3/12/2012 PDA 3.35

• Weekly notifications to exclusive Partners when they need to recharge their databases.
• A new section has been added to the system to customize the email templates that are sent automatically.
• In some countries a Terms and Conditions aggreement was added before the purchase page.
• New functionality to customize PDA Report cover to add clients email address and telephone.
• We detected and resolved a bug that in some situations, when a person was moved from databases it was shown as not generated when it fact it was.
• WebService that shows PDA profile from email was change to show the text in english when the email parameter was empty.

PDA Behavioral Assessment

PDA USA Presentation

CEO Forum

We would like to share with you an article about us in the CEO Forum

http://www.ceoforum.com.ar/nota.asp?Id=682

When is an organization healthy?

There is much talk of healthy work environments and organizations that manage to create climates where it is possible for employees to achieve personal fulfillment in line with the objectives of the company.

But what really is a healthy organization and what are the characteristics required to be considered as such?

It is fully established that improvements in interpersonal relationships among members of an organization, the leadership styles and the ergonomic design of the company greatly influence the work environment that is created and in the final product that is generated.

Healthy organizations are those who care for their human resources and who enhance the engagement of their employees, ie those highly motivated employees who seek to achieve personal goals and self-fulfillment and therefore work harder to meet the goals of the company. A healthy company encourages personal growth, continuous learning, training and motivation.

Some of the characteristics seen in healthy organizations include: flexible hours, autonomy, good communication between managers, supervisors and employees, visibility of employee participation in the final product or service of the company, a variety of tasks, incentive programs, stimulation of creativity, good job design, career design, programs for the prevention of work accidents, frequent meetings, leadership participation.

So, a healthy company is one that cares for the health of their employees, valuing them and encouraging its growth. The organization understands that human resources are its principal capital and therefore they care for them.

From the psychology of work, one of the goals that is to instill in an organization is to transform it into a healthy environment, understanding that this step is crucial to prevent workplace violence and emotional illnesses caused by hostile working climate. Of course, a healthy organization does not arise spontaneously, the process requires planning and effort and the help of a professional group that helps the company to plant these goals of health.

Strengthening and consolidating the Partners and Exclusive Representatives Network

After several years of work we can confirm that the "internationalization" of PDA International has been accomplished. Every month New Exclusive Partners and Associates are added to the map. Excellent Consultants, teams, experts in the field of Human Resources and Consulting are added to this "global project" which aims to "realize successful practices and position PDA as the best tool for selection and talent management in the market":

At PDA International, we want to strengthen and consolidate this network of Exclusive Partners, which is being formed. We provide them with support and all the necessary tools that allow them to excel in their respective markets. We consider key to achieving this strengthening and consolidating the promotion of integration of the Partners amongst each other as well as keeping Members and Partners as informed as possible about what is happening, everything we're doing and how the project is growing in other countries worldwide. To achieve this we have added this year two important initiatives:

1 > PDA Newsletter
2 > Annual Meeting of Members and Partners

Through the PDA Newsletter, which you are receiving the first edition, we intend to share the news of new Members and Partners, the trips made by our consultants for new implementations, share different experiences of our Customers and Partners (... you are all welcome to post your notes, comments and success stories in our newsletter!). Share updates, improvements and news to of PDA Reports and Platform as well as changes and adjustments made in the marketing process. From our PDA Consulting area we also share with our Partners and the new Consulting products that are leveraged with PDA reports, updates from customers, and more.

Through the Annual Meeting of Members and Exclusive Partners we aim to strengthen the "networking", to introduce everyone to know each other. Integration not only commercial but also personal. Take the opportunity to train a little more in PDA and PDA Consulting. Reinforce concepts specific to PDA. Transmit essential PDA Consulting, Training and generalities regarding the sale of PDA and most importantly: collect and share information.

We understand that to be integrated and informed will be good motivation and will give us all more reason to strive and to win in our respective markets, not to leave anyone out of the successful project of PDA International.

PDA Support - Continuous Learning

While the first steps to begin PDA are through the PDA Certification Seminar, the learning process continues for years. It is enriched over time with constant use and experience. The exchange of experiences and discussion with other certified analysts greatly enriches and accelerates this learning process. The reality is that becoming an "expert in PDA" is a challenge that takes quite some time and practice. Many times "we believe that we are already experts", but after a few years, we continue to surprise and we are seeing that there is always something new to learn. To this end we invite all Certified Analysts to contact us in order to request all necessary consultations and to share their successful experiences. Do not settle for what was achieved in the PDA Seminar, but to continue the learning process ... For this, PDA International has a team of professionals, experts in PDA, permanently available to provide advice and support to our Customers and Partners on analysis and interpretation of graphs and reports, as well as in the "art" of giving feedback, accompanying them on the path of development as "experts in PDA."

Their contact information is found below:
• Skype: pda.soporte
• Telephone: +54 11 4717 2900
• Mail: consultoria@pdainternational.net

PDA Certifications

2011 was an important year in terms of "PDA Analyst Certification" for several reasons. Throughout the year a total of 191 new PDA Analysts were certified. This is already a point of pride as it exceeded the 2008 figure where 140 analysts were certified. We also almost doubled the 111 certificates in 2010. Of the 191 new PDA Analysts certified in 2011, about 176 were certified through on-site seminars and 15 through remote activities, namely through an initial training based on E-Learning and then exercises and conferences via Skype.

Another point of pride was the successful implementation of E-Learning, which undoubtedly contributed greatly, not only to the amount of certified analysts this year but also to the quality of the activity. As you all know, early last year, we added to the PDA certification process a first stage based on E-Learning. Then, in response to comments and suggestions provided by participants, last November we implemented the new version, which is shorter, more dynamic and includes several improvements over the first version. We consider the functionality of the E-Learning valuable for our PDA Partners and Customers, not only as part of the new PDA Analyst Certification, but also, and above all, as a good alternative to consultations and a "refresher" on knowledge. We remind you that you can register and access this via the following link:http://elearning.pdainternational.net.

Currently, PDA E-Learning is only available in Spanish, however we are already working on its translations into English and Portuguese. Following this, we will translate it into additional languages.

A third point of pride for our PDA Certifications is the new PDA Certification for Certifiers Process, a process that began in late 2010 and which is only in its early stages. This process is to prepare, train and provide support and materials to those who are initiated in the path of "Certifying PDA". Today, we can congratulate Carlos Tetamanti of Krut Consult - PDA Brazil, a Bussadori of ID Expansive - PDA Italy and MariaVillaraviz of Adecco Training - PDA Spain, who have already given their first PDA Seminars ... Congratulations