Traditions Management, a senior care provider, is using The Predictive Index to hire great people and enhance its culture.
Rachael Smith is the Program Portfolio Director at Traditions Management, a senior living provider with communities in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.
Traditions prides itself on providing great service, which is predicated on a strong company culture. “Our core mission is to maximize the quality of life for each member of our Traditions community,” said Smith.
The PI Talent Optimization Platform has helped Traditions uphold its mission. Not only has the company hired top talent based on behavioral fit; it’s also developed greater empathy among team members. And it’s accomplished all this despite COVID-19.
“In the last year, PI is something that's really blossomed into a tool that we talk about every day.”
Hiring the whole candidate
With continued growth, Traditions has increased its hiring considerably over the past three months. But finding great caretakers and other personnel isn’t as simple as scanning resumes and cover letters.
According to Smith, the company has a thorough process for hiring the right people. A senior living community can only flourish under the right culture. For Traditions, this means hiring based on a set of critical behaviors, as well as five core values: Dignity, Important vs. Necessary, Socialization, Choices, and Service.
“That’s something I say over and over again: There’s more to it than skill set,” said Smith. “It has everything to do with who they are and how they’re wired—and if they’re going to fit with what we’re looking for behaviorally.”
This behavioral lens extends beyond just job fit. Hiring managers must also evaluate how a candidate’s behaviors will fit with the team, their manager, and the greater culture at Traditions. Thanks to PI’s data-driven insights, managers can do exactly that.
“You can see the light bulbs going off with our hiring managers,” said Smith. “PI helps us understand if this person is going to fit in with our mission, our core values, and ultimately be somebody you want to manage.”
“The success that we have seen with PI recently, to me, is leaps and bounds.”
Communicating with awareness
Traditions has always prioritized the health and safety of its residents, and COVID-19 only underscores that importance. But the pandemic has forced the company to rethink how its residents live and communicate.
Smith described the benefits of a healthy social life within these communities. “Your attitude, your health, increases tremendously when you have that ability to still socialize and be around others and receive care and love from others.”
To provide that care for its residents, Traditions first had to take care of its employees. According to Smith, PI has allowed managers to empathize with their people’s needs—so they can better tend to them.
“I had a woman I used to work with who, when she made a to-do list, she wanted to get it done. Well, I’m someone that needs to process the information.” She continued, “It would drive me crazy. And then I would drive her crazy because I wasn’t getting her what she needed.”
Smith and her colleague compared their PI behavioral patterns to better understand their relationship. The data helped articulate the different ways the pair receive and process information. Smith said that from that moment on, “We worked seamlessly.”
“The best way to be the best leader is to understand your employees and why they do the things they do. PI gives you that ability.”
Embracing talent optimization
Health care is stressful, even without an ongoing crisis. With PI, Traditions has been able to scale its staff, reinforce its culture, and put its employees in the right positions to succeed.
Smith intends to implement even more talent optimization practices moving forward. She’s already begun sharing PI with other leaders within the organization to improve team communication. She’s also planning to use it to help senior leadership refine its talent strategy.
As Traditions continues to optimize its talent, its communities will only continue to flourish. Smith put it best: “You always want to live somewhere that’s beautiful, but that’s what’s happening on the outside. What makes the difference is what happens on the inside.”
Talent optimization is at the crux of that human element. The more employees love what they do and enjoy the people around them, the easier it becomes to pass that success on to the rest of the organization.
“Especially during what we've gone through with COVID, we stopped and we listened, we took care of our employees, and the results show.”
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