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It is Self "Normed"
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It is Based in Linguistics
Of course, it is on the Internet
It is Easy to Use
Steps to Use the LAB Profile for Selection
What are Your Goals?
Specifications
History of the Technology
The Language And Behavior Profile (LAB Profile) was developed by an Anthropologist/Linguist as a business application based on Noam Chomski's Transformational Grammar (MIT, 1957). The LAB Profile technology was introduced in 1981 after an initial development phase of 2 years. For its first 12 years, the this technology was a verbal interview of about 8 minutes. It discovered patterns on 13 scales. These could be used to predict thinking, behavior, and decisions. These patterns were described in business language and the interview was taught to business people to be used to solve business problems.
The LAB Profile has enjoyed success in the USA, Canada, South America, and Europe. Client companies are satisfied with their results, but comparing results company-to-company means adapting to the subjective, non-standard nature of an interview system. Over time, each interviewer begins to distort how they gauge responses and to distort the meaning of those responses to fit their own set of experiences.
So, a more objective, systematic, computerized version of LAB Profile has been developed. This is a two-page, paper-&-pencil survey (currently in English and Spanish) which finds those same patterns (plus a few more). All of the information is in business language, so it is easily understood by business people. It is designed for business people to use with very little effort.
How the LAB Profile works.
The LAB Profile survey determines how people respond to certain words and phrases. These are special linguistic elements which relate to patterns of thinking and behavior.
For business purposes, these linguistic patterns have an advantage over psychological patterns. All of the behaviors described by the LAB Profile have a useful place in business. Psychological descriptions of behavior usually have their basis in maturity vs. immaturity or in health vs. illness. A linguistic approach provides an unbiased description. This means that all responses are okay. It means that all profiles are okay. It reduces the negative loading common among psychological instruments.
For each LAB Profile survey, we integrate responses from 200 choices. We rate those responses on 40 scales. Each of those scales represents a range of behavior from one extreme to an opposite extreme (for instance, the "Initiate" scale ranges from extreme initiation to extreme patience).
But, the results of an individual survey has no meaning unless it is evaluated against some 'norm'. In one culture initiation may be highly valued, so all the people in that culture will have the tendency to score more highly in the Initiation scale than those from different culture where patience is more highly valued. But within a culture there will be a range of responses which are the normal responses for that culture.
And so, we develop a cultural norm to understand the the LAB Profile results for an individual in that culture. The culture might be a geographic region, it might be a country, a company, or a department within a company, or any other homeogenic group. We perform statistics on the LAB Profile results of a representative sample of that group. These statistics are then used to understand any individual of that cultural group.
The following is an example of a section of a graphic representation of a cultural norm. The highest and lowest lines show the highest and lowest responses in the group for each scale. The grey area shows the statistical 'norm' (one standard deviation from the mean).
The LAB Profile results for two different individuals are shown in contrast to the results of a cultural norm. The dark lines represent the results of the individuals and the grey area represents that statistical cultural norm. It is easy to see how the individual results stack up against that cultural norm. On the scales where the individual results are outside the cultural norm, you can expect the person's behavior to also be outside the cultural norm.
These two individuals are quite different from each other. If this cultural norm (Standard Group) was for a particular task, the individual (represented by the graphic) on the left would be a much better match for the task than the person on the right.
These graphics show only 8 of the 40 scales of the LAB Profile. A more complete representation of the person's results (all 40 scales) is important to make appropriate evaluation of their results. These examples are shown to give an idea of how a manager might use the results to determine if an applicant fits a particular task (or not).
The LAB Profile has been designed to facilitate the creation and use of these 'norms' (Standard Groups). The applications of this system are based on comparing an individual's results against one of these Standard Groups or comparing one Standard Group with another.
Consider how this system is used for recruiting and hiring. The 'good' performers within the client company (at that task) are take the LAB Profile survey. Their results are combined to create a Standard Group. These combined results can then be used to evaluate applicants for that job. Our experience (since 1981) is that when you hire new people who are like your existing good performers, you decrease training time and employee turnover and you increase productivity and morale.
But, if you want to know how to write an employment advertisement for a particular task, you would compare the Standard Group results for the 'good' performers at that task with the Standard Group results for a random selection of workers in that country (or region). Because the LAB Profile is based on linguistic patterns, there will be specific language that relates to any differences between those two groups. When that specific language is used in the employment advertisement, a higher percentage of the responding applicants match the patterns of the 'good' performers.
The LAB Profile Processing
The calculation of the LAB Profile results is performed on a stand-alone computer. This computer receives the results of the two-page survey as a file by email. It processes the results and sends the results back by email.
The end-user administers the survey and enters the responses into a special page of our website here on the internet. This special page formats the data and sends it by email to the LAB Profile processing system. The LAB Profile processing system manages the separate databases for each client and provides a secure environment for that data.
Typical Applications of the LAB Profile
This is a description of applications (business issues) that are easily addressed by the LAB Profile System. These descriptions include how to use the LAB Profile System to achieve the results.
Hiring & Recruiting:
What are the patterns of the 'good' performers in each particular job description? Use the LAB Profile System to create the Standard Group for each task. Evaluate applicants against the Standard Group. The graphic report demonstrates which patterns match and which patterns do not match. It also provides statistical information about how good is the match.
When you hire people who have the same patterns as long-term 'good' performers, you dramatically reduce turnover.Reduce Turnover:
Advanced Applications of the LAB Profile:
LAB Management Training: This application has to do with improving the ability of a manager to assign tasks, motivate, and improve the performance of existing employees. A Standard Group of their existing department is prepared and the manager is taught how to work with the group and with the individuals.
When the manager uses communication techniques that match the patterns of his or her employees, those employees perform better. Also, managers will be better at assigning tasks, so each department will show performance improvement based on better matches of innate skills to the tasks.Improve Performance:
Modify Corporate Culture:
This is of growing importance to executives. They recognize that their corporate culture may need to be modified to adapt to changes in marketplace or technology. Basically, this involves Standard Group profiles with employees in major job categories. This involves specialized consulting and training. Our Officers and Consultants have the experience and background to achieve the desired results in all sizes of organizations.
Market Research: This involves specialized Survey Booklets designed to capture the LAB Profile patterns for specific, narrow product or service related contexts. These Standard Groups will be for each specific 'segments' of the target population.
Product Design:
By using the LAB Profile patterns to understand how customers will respond to a product or service, product design teams can create better responses to market needs & wants. Also, tendencies in market segments can be analyzed to understand how this segment will change and therefore how the product strategy should change in the future.Market Strategy:
Marketing Departments can understand the motivation and decision patterns of a particular market segment. They can design strategies that will improve market penetration.Advertising Techniques:
Advertising teams can create and implement strategies that are laser accurate for creating motivation and decisions to purchase.Sales Strategies:
Sales departments can create and implement specific sales techniques that are designed for maximum results in each market segment.Customer Service and Improved Customer Satisfaction:
By understanding the customer patterns, customer service strategies can be tailored for improved customer satisfaction. Each customer service program will be specific to the kind of person that purchases that kind of product or service.
Auditing Interventions: Often, consultants will design an intervention for an organization, without understanding how the owners, management, employees, customers, suppliers, or community will respond to that intervention. The LAB Profile has been useful in helping consultants adjust their plans to be a better match for the kinds of responses they want.
Introductory Program: We have a design and materials for a one-day Professional Development program that is based on the LAB Profile. Each participant learns about his/her own patterns as they learn about all the possible patterns of the LAB Profile.
Professional Development:
When people learn about themselves through the LAB Profile, they begin to understand the 'ups' and 'downs' of their productivity and their career. The LAB Profile describes behaviors and thinking patterns in very basic, practical terms. People learn why they have done the things they do, and they learn simple ways to improve their results in the future.Prospecting and Client Development:
At the end of the day, participants in this program are convinced that the LAB Profile is and accurate tool which can be used to solve business problems. Follow-up meetings with participants usually leads to other consulting assignments.
The Language And Behavior Profile (LAB Profile) is a linguistic survey identifying thinking and behavior patterns of individuals and groups. It is useful for hiring, training, and marketing, among other things. The result of this survey is one-page graphic report which demonstrates responses on 40 scales. Each scale represents a range of behavior between two extremes (for example, on one scale the two extremes are Extreme Initiation and Extreme Patience). The LAB Profile survey is designed as a business tool to understand, predict, and influence the behavior and thinking of individuals and groups.
There are several things which makes the LAB Profile unique. a) It is based on linguistic patterns, so the patterns do not have the bias of psychological frames-of-reference (health-illness or maturity-immaturity). For every point on all 40 scales there is a place in business and organizations where that particular characteristic is important for success at that task. b) It is designed to be self-normed. In other words, each client uses the system to establish the essential patterns of success for each task and then uses those Standards to evaluate applicants. c) It is on the internet. Clients use the LAB Profile from any location (local or remote) but the Standards can be established and maintained centrally.
It is not designed for hiring for a small organization without special training. Also, if you are creating a new type of job description and you cannot make a statistical Standard for it, the LAB Profile is not designed for it. It is designed for selection and hiring situations where there are at least 15 good performers in that task.
It is probably not a very good idea because there are no right or wrong answers. Each customer is using the LAB Profile based on that customer's self-normed Standards, and how would an outsider know the specific characteristics of that Standard? Also, this survey is very precise. For instance, there are multiple scales which represent how a person interacts with others. The Standard for a task is usually divided on which of those scales are high, low or middle. How does an outsider know which of those scales is high, low or middle? How could an outsider even know how to recognize the difference between those scales when they all seem to refer to how a person interacts with others? Even if a person knew the Standard, if s/he takes the survey and answers in a not truthful way, they have a very low probability of matching the Standard.
Every time a customer creates their own Standard Groups, they are creating their own validating statistics. When we compare Standard Groups, we can see in the statistics and the graphics, that each Standard Group is unique. When we are forming a Standard for the 'average worker' in some country or region, we see a range of responses (the norm for that country or region). When we form a Standard for a specific task within that same country or region, we see a more limited range of responses (the norm for that task). When we form a Standard for a different task in that same country or region, we see a different range of responses.
We have many cases of inferential statistics which show that new employees, who match the Standard for the task they enter, have lower turnover, learn the task faster, and are more productive faster, than those who do not match the Standard.
The LAB Profile is a new paradigm. Many of the traditional psychometric validations do not fit this paradigm. For instance, a personality test is supposed to return the same results with the same person over time. With the LAB Profile we expect the results to change over time. We recognize that a person changes their thinking and behavior based on their experience and their environment. For this reason, we suggest that our customers re-norm their Standards every year.
Also, the characteristics we identify are not psychological in nature (for instance, dominant). The LAB Profile talks about behaviors in an organizational or business frame-of-reference (for instance, decides for him/herself).
When you make a Standard Group of good performers at some task, there are some patterns in common among those in the Standard and there is much variation in many other scales. If the kinds of changes a person has (in their LAB Profile) would not match the Standard for some task, they would not perform well whether they were a former good performer, a non-good performer, or an applicant. If the kinds of changes a person has does not affect their match with the Standard, then they continue to match the Standard.
We urge our clients to re-norm their Standards every year. Because our experience is that over time, the factors which make a good performer changes. This could include new technology, changes in marketplace, changes in management or policy, or changes in environment. As these things change, certain good performers stop being good performers and others become good performers, while many continue to be good performers. The LAB Profile is designed to see those patterns and give you an advantage at understanding, predicting, and influencing in the face of those changes.
As far as we know, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) does not endorse any test or survey. It does suggest that employers should use task specific testing (such as a typing test or a driving test, depending on the task). If you are going to use an instrument which is non-task specific, you should not use the results of that instrument to be the only reason for rejecting an applicant. Also, if you are going to use an instrument, make sure you use it based on a valid business decision.
There are many things you can do:
a) Make sure that your Standard Groups include representative numbers of protected groups.
b) Make sure that you decide what makes a 'good performer' based on valid business decisions.
c) Use the LAB Profile as part of a process which includes resume, application, and any other questionaire screening.
d) Also, with training, your interviewers can use the LAB Profile as a guide in an interview process to verify the patterns reported by the LAB Profile.
Yes, if used in conjunction with resume and application screening, you can use the LAB Profile's Ranking to make easy decisions about an applicant. The Ranking is displayed on every Individual Graphic Report.
A Ranking of "1" is a match with the Standard.
A Ranking of "2" is marginal.
A Ranking of "3" is a non-match with the Standard.
By taking additional training about the inferences of each of the
profile results, you can learn which candidates augment or complement the strengths of current top performers to help assure success.
To talk with one of our Officers about your situation, the LAB Profile, pricing, and availability, complete our Business Reply Card or send an email to rodger.bailey@gotofocus.com.
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