Deborah Peck, Ph.D has always been interested in workplace behavior and motivated employees. Even during her data network engineering career, she found that what really moved her were the people, the interaction she has with them, and her collaboration with them. As an Engineering leader in multiple industries, venture start-ups, and Fortune 100 companies, she gained a lot of business and technical expertise, but her heart was always with the people side of management and helping employees enjoy their jobs – finding the right job fit.
If I had to think of a word that describes Deb above everything else, it would be HEART. It is a cornerstone in everything she does, and she uses it to make a beautiful connection with her clients and her peers. It is easy to understand why she is so successful at what she does and a force in her industry.
Q: Thanks for joining us today Deb. Can you give us a little background on yourself and what lead you to working in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and ultimately this industry?
I started my career by working in different positions in a variety of companies and industries. I went to college right after high school and graduated with a Bachelors degree in Business Management and Computer Science. Little did I know nor expect, that would launch me into a career in Technology. Through different lower level jobs, I found my way to systems engineering that provided me a focus and knowledge in data network engineering. I was recruited at a young age to work for American Express, as I had knowledge and experience in a new protocol they were just beginning to explore and use. That was probably the opportunity of a lifetime, especially then. From that foundation, I found myself learning an abundance of information and was offered many growth opportunities including ascending positions in leadership. Eventually I left AMEX and worked for several start-up companies, including one I started myself. That gave me broad business experience not only in management but in building a business, acquisitions, and IPO’s.
By the time I was in my third start-up, I was evolving in my own awareness of my skills and abilities and found that I was more excited about the people that worked for me and with me, than anything related to technology. My personal life was going through major change as well. Silly me, I decided I should add more change on top of that and completely changed careers. I sat back and reflected on what was important and came to the conclusion that I had been responding to and taking positions based on my head and not my heart. I wanted to do something to make a difference and where I felt I was doing something that fulfilled my purpose.
When I took a deeper look into my career path, I realized that watching the engineers that worked for me and really getting to know them and how they interacted with others (or did not), made me want to understand trust and motivation of people and not just how sharp they were technically. I resigned from technology and started my own consulting company. I had always wanted an advanced degree and now the changes in my personal life would support that. I decided a degree outside all the experience and knowledge I had gained in business, management and technology would broaden my understanding of people in the workplace and help give me the credentials I would need to gain a reputation in a space I had never worked. I found a degree in Industrial/Organization Psychology had the curriculum that would be perfect to round out my experience and knowledge.
Q: What fills your cup creatively and how do you bring that into the work you do?
Since shifting careers, my background and experience in Technology has been invaluable in my work with companies of different industries. Being an engineer really brought out my creativity, and I bring that into my work with my current clients. I am a natural problem solver which usually involves looking at things in a variety of ways–perhaps not solving the problem in the expected or normal way. I work with intention to not just take something at face value but explore options. I often say ‘it is not either/or, it is ‘and,’ meaning there is no ONE way to look at something or to make a choice. There are usually multiple options and using critical thinking skills helps me get there, and be open minded about the choice that is finally made.
I enjoy finding new ideas and exploring them. That definitely gets my creative juices flowing. In regard to the work I do with assessments, there are so many choices. It can be overwhelming for clients to understand them and decide what works best for what they want to do. With my engineering background, I am also very analytical. I enjoy exploring the different assessments and analyzing the best choice for clients based on their requirements. I truly enjoy helping them implement and apply the assessments to improve their organization.
Q: How have you seen hiring and job placement evolve into what it is in 2020?
In my experience, I have experienced the importance that hiring and job placement holds for companies to find good employees that want to stay, are engaged and productive, and grow in their careers within the organization. I have worked with so many clients that complain about poor hires, high turnover, or employees who are simply in the wrong jobs for their skill set. They aren’t necessarily bad employees, they are just in the wrong job. Companies don’t always have the right talent or trained managers to figure this out or make the corrections necessary to keep the employee, but place them in a more appropriate position.
Q: How can competencies and our understanding of them be helpful when hiring and promoting during this time, especially when so many organizations are shifting the pieces of the puzzle to get a more precise fit?
Competencies have been around for some time, so implementing them is not a new idea. In fact, many companies put ‘organizational competencies’ on their website and/or as part of the job description. Companies are becoming more aware that the old performance management models, that have been used since the Industrial Revolution days of management, just don’t make sense any longer. In today’s workplace, it is much more about the individual employee and helping them through the entire employee lifecycle and not stopping as soon as the job offer is accepted. Also, not relying on annual or semi-annual methods to provide the employee feedback and expect them to improve somehow without much guidance or support.
Companies are realizing it is important to have frequent ‘conversations’ – not monologues with employees. They are people and adults and really don’t require that much as long as what they get is helpful to them for growth and experience. As they say, ‘no one gets up in the morning intent on doing a bad job,’ so employees are looking for some support and direction and some timely feedback, for them to know if they are doing their job well. Performance management is changing and using competencies is one way for them to provide timely feedback, have coaching managers, measure performance that matters and is directly related to business outcomes.
For hiring and promoting in particular; competencies predict performance for a particular job. So, for hiring, using competencies gives you a head start on knowing where someone will excel or might needs some support to be successful in their job. For promotions, they will again give you a heads up on whether the next step is right for the employee. If there seems to be some competencies that are a bit behind, that gives the company a focus for training and development to help the person achieve the career advancement they want and that will work for the company.
Q: For someone who may not be familiar with assessments, can you explain why they are such a useful tool in hiring and succession planning?
For succession planning–again, companies are revisiting how they go about this rather than just do it the way they have always done. Competencies in particular, are an effective and objective way to take out the subjectivity that is often present in the succession planning process. They can be used to evaluate all potential employees rather than just the list of favorites and analyze the information to find the best candidate(s).
Q: What would be your best piece of advice to companies and leaders looking to grow and stay on task during this “new normal?” How can they wade through the chaos and navigate their business to stay afloat, while keeping their leaders and teams inspired
I have always thought that employees are an asset, not an operating expense.
In times like we are experiencing now, it is even more important to see your employees as valuable resources to help you grow, stay on task, and offer suggestions, changes etc to navigate the new normal. From an organizational change management perspective, if you keep them involved and informed upfront, they will help you get through any change, because they will consider themselves part of it rather than an observer of it. This will have an additional effect of keeping all employees (leaders and teams) inspired and engaged, since they will be part of the solution. This method lowers resistance and complaints and motivates employees to be creative and offer ideas.