David Towler

Culture vs Competence – Which One’s Better?

CNBC recently ran an article about Mark Cuban and his February Master Class “Win Big in Business”.  According to Cuban, there are “two things that matter the most [when it comes to hiring people].  Are they competent enough to do the job?  And do they fit in the...

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Out Of Office Advance Notification

Advance Notice - COD Will Be Closed  from Monday April 29, 2024 through to Friday May 10th 2024 inclusive.   We will re-open for business on Monday May 13th 2024 at 9 AM Eastern. Please expect delayed responses. Those who rely upon COD to deliver completed assessment...

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Return To Work Mandates May Be A Big Mistake

Recent surveys by Express Employment Professionals, Harris Polls, Fortune, FlexJobs, the Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh, Business Insider, and others, have all shown conclusively that the majority of employees who can do so prefer to...

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Critical Thinking Skills Predict Success

Finding employees with good cognition and critical thinking skills are one of the top challenges being faced by employers for the past decade.  As reported in the Financial Post, a 2021 report by RBC Economics found that, “There’s been a rise in postings targeting critical thinking (up 37 per cent), flexibility (up 20 per cent), teamwork (up 18 per cent), the ability to learn (up 15 per cent), continuous improvement (up 12 per cent), problem solving (up 9 per cent) and strategic thinking (up 8 per cent). According to a new survey from Harris Poll, commissioned by Express Employment Professionals, 59 per cent of Canadian businesses say they can’t find qualified employees to fill vacancies.  A third of those businesses say one big reason is because prospective hires don’t have soft skills such as dependability, flexibility and a willingness to learn.

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2024 Christmas/Holiday Hours

Please be advised that Creative Organizational Design will closed from Friday December 22, 2023 through to Monday January 2nd, 2024 (inclusive) for the holidays. Please refrain from leaving messages by phone during this period.  They won't be checked regularly and...

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Everyone’s Busy. You’re Not Unique.

“I’m sorry for not getting back to you, I’ve been busy,” is a sentence that should be permanently excised from the lexicon of business.  That’s the default response that one often receives, and it’s nothing more than an excuse – and a poor excuse at that.  Few of us have enough hours available to complete our daily workloads, and many of us invest a great deal of our time in chasing others for replies to emails or calls that were placed days or weeks prior.  There’s also little excuse for it in the “be kind” era, and when practically everyone has an iPhone in their pocket. Being busy doesn’t make you special or unique. 
Everyone is ‘busy’.  Everyone’s time is limited.  We all resent having it wasted by other people who are time-sinks.  They are responsible for a great deal of lost productivity and wasted time.  It’s not only inconsiderate and somewhat arrogant but is also just garden-variety rude.  It’s also unprofessional.

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NEW – Therapy Assessments

We’re pleased to announce the recent addition of 17 assessments designed to help counsellors, therapists and other professionals investigate and diagnose a variety of mental health disorders and personality traits amongst their clientele.

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Not Using Assessments Is Your Biggest Mistake

Given the fact that there are thousands of reliable, accurate, validated, and legal assessment options available to employers, it’s more than just surprising that so many articles written to help employers improve their candidate screening processes don’t even mention tests.  Practically all of the ’best practices’ and tips listed in the articles are valid and helpful (see Endnotes).  Where they’ve missed the boat is by overlooking the incredible benefit offered by pre-employment screening tools.

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