Indiana University Health Bloomington (IU Health)provides comprehensive, high quality, cost-effective, and caring services to dozens of patients at dozens of outpatient locations, two hospitals and five physician practices. With the hiring rate of 400-500 employees a year, the Director of HR, brought in Predictive Index® System to gain the insight needed to make the right hiring decisions.
Indiana University Health Bloomington provides comprehensive, high quality, cost-effective, caring services to the people of south central Indiana. The hospital network continually strives for clinical excellence by aiming to exceed the expectations of those they serve. With over 3,000 employees supporting dozens of outpatient locations, two hospitals and five physician practices, the foundation of their success is their people.
Bruce Wade, Director of Human Resources, explained that in 2002 the hospital’s hiring rate had been 400 to 500 employees a year. This high rate had a significant impact on productivity and morale, not to mention the strain placed on the HR department. On average, Wade and his team conducted three or four 45-minute phone interviews per position using a proprietary interview tool put in place before his arrival. Wade explains, “With that level of hiring, we had an immediate need to streamline the selection process. We wanted to replace the current interview tool with a personality assessment that was easy to use, valid, and that provided quick results.” Bruce was introduced to the Predictive Index® (PI®) by a PI Worldwide® member firm. PI, combined with the PRO – the companion tool to the PI that profiles behavioral requirements of the job – gave Wade and his team the insight needed to make the right hiring decisions.
What started out as a hiring solution, has become the foundation for the hospital’s talent management initiatives. Wade knew the impact that having the right people in the right jobs would have on the hospital’s productivity and team performance, but was surprised and impressed with the versatility of the Predictive Index. As a result, PI’s effectiveness spread by ‘word of mouth’ throughout the organization. Wade explains, “The tool sells itself as other groups bear witness to the success of using PI not only for hiring, but for team building, succession planning and conflict resolution. We actually use PI as much as 75% with current employees for employee and leadership development verses 25% with new or potential hires.” In fact, Predictive Index training has now become a component of the hospital’s mandatory management training program. Wade introduced the use of PI for succession planning. “PI helps us identify and develop future leaders by assessing their natural behaviors, whether they can deal with interpersonal issues, work on multiple projects at once or follow specific instructions. For example, if a candidate doesn’t possess as strong an authoritative drive as we might like, as indicated with the Predictive Index, we probe further and ask more specific questions related to that specific behavioral trait or characteristic.”
Wade shares an example of PI’s impact on the hospital’s management team. “I met with a new Director who now manages a group of former peers. Together, we reviewed the group’s PIs which provided the behavioral insight ‘right out of the gate’ to develop effective relationships with the new team. The biggest paradigm shift that I’ve found in using PI with managers is they have to adjust their management style to motivate their staff. The adjustment is especially difficult for new managers. They realize that they can’t motivate their people by having one mode in which to operate on a daily basis. They have to adjust their behavior given the different individual work styles.”
For team building, PI is used at off-site meetings as a common language for team leaders to discuss communication patterns and work styles, which work to build stronger relationships. PI is also used when a team experiences a change in management. The loss of a manager can raise a team’s emotions, and the insight from PI can help to understand the impact of the loss and how much it will potentially affect the team.
The Predictive Index is very effective as a conflict resolution tool. Managers share the PIs of co-workers who may develop a conflict due to their communication or work style. The insight from the PIs helps the individuals not only better understand their differences but to respect the differences, allowing for effective dialog and strategies to adjust their behavior to create a positive work environment.
Wade concludes, “As Bloomington Hospital looks to the future, it’s very reassuring to know that the Predictive Index helps us engage and retain a highly motivated staff as we continue to provide quality, state-of-the-art patient care.”
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