Workers’ CREST

Innovate or evaporate.

This kind of forward thinking has long characterized the way of doing things in Singapore, which has evolved in only four decades into a dynamic regional center and the globe’s largest port amid the most adverse political and social situations.

"It’s the kind of thinking that we try to imbibe as we assist clients in transforming their organizations," said Romulo Romero, managing director of the Philippine operations of OTi Consulting.

Competing against better established multinational names that offer training and other human resource-related programs, the company has managed to capture a respectable client base in the Philippines largely through the fresh human resource frameworks it offers.

Among its more popular programs, for instance, is one that prepares employees to cope and ride with the constant stream of change that will be ushered in by the Knowledge Economy.

"In such an environment, what one learns in school is obsolete in five years. Knowledge doubles at a pace of about every three years and this shortening cycle will demand critical skills that will allow the constant acquisition of knowledge and ways of doing things," said Romero.

These skills include effective learning strategies; high proficiency in reading, writing and computation; and problem solving and creativity. In addition, the critical skills cover old-fashioned abilities that gain new emphasis in flatter organizations, namely: listening and oral communication; taking personal responsibility for career and self-development; being a team player; and leadership.

Skills

Programs to hone up on these seven skills have been called CREST or Critical Enabling Skills Training in Singapore. In fact, the Singaporean government has embarked on an ambitious program to upgrade its entire work force through CREST–going as far as offering hefty subsidies to companies and individuals that sponsor or take the program. It has, likewise, recognized OTi as a leading provider of CREST for two years in a row.

The management consultancy firm is similarly pushing companies these days not only to explore the IQs and EQs (emotional quotients) of new hires and members of their permanent work force but also their adversity quotient or AQ. Defined as one’s threshold for adversity and stress in combination with endurance and capacity for change and risk-taking, AQ has been identified as a significant factor for success.

"The higher one’s AQ, the more likely he is to achieve his goals," Romero echoes behavioral guru Paul Stoltz. In fact, studies have shown that AQ is often a better determinant of success than IQ, all things being equal.

"One’s adversity quotient is only one part, albeit a significant one, of one’s work behavior profile. When assessing workers either to fill in a vacancy or to plot their careers, their behavior styles will count almost as much as their skills and knowledge. Basic behavior styles are determined by dominant needs, for instance to be in control or to win the approval of others, among other factors," said Romero. "When you are evaluating a person, you want to know if he can do the job, if he will do the job and if he will fit into the organization. Competency tests will tell you if he can do the job. Behavior tests will tell you if he will be willing to do the job."

In response to the keen need of the marketplace for this kind of program, OTi, which can be reached at www.oticonsulting.com, will run a two-day workshop in its Legazpi Village training center on May 4 and 5 on how to assess work behavior.

Programs

Research and development for programs that fill current needs is carried out in the Singapore head office, which has affiliated itself with organizations in key business capitals to come up with very current psychometric instruments. These instruments are normed for Asian use, which the language and contexts used in these tests have been geared for the Asian mentality.

A company that seems to have imbibed the high AQ of its host country, Singapore, OTi has operations in other parts of the region including China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan. Its newest office is in Dubai and counts the newly established Afghan government and its conflicting personalities among its clients — proof of its high AQ or ability to deal with adversity of the highest order.