Blog posts from our team and clients. Thank you ALL for your generous contributions.

Increase Productivity with Job Benchmarking

By: Adam Wong, Director of Network Development, TTI Performance Systems, LTD.

One of the most rudimentary elements of any company’s profit plan analysis is simply a question of productivity. Is your company yielding as much as it can given its resources? While technology comes to mind for most who are looking for ways to improve productivity – there’s always a new program, new app, new device promising to increase productivity and, therefore, profits – the biggest factor affecting a company’s productivity is entrenched in its people.

In a case study published by TTI, an engineering firm was struggling with low productivity, and despite a corporate philosophy of hiring only the best employees, the company still was not as productive as some of their industry peers. With the help of TTI assessments and a certified consultant, the initial evaluation of this company confirmed that in fact only 17 percent of the entire workforce were considered superior performers by company standards. Meanwhile, a large 77 percent were labeled mediocre performers and six percent were found to be low performers. With only 17 percent of staff performing at peak capacity, how was the other 83 percent affecting the entire company’s productivity, and what would it mean for the company if that 83 percent could be moved into the superior performer category?

Using TTI TriMetrix® HD, the consultant was able to assess each employee and manager according to his or her individual job. By benchmarking each job, the skills, motivators, behaviors and acumen necessary to be successful in that given job were revealed. From the gap report that was created by comparing each employee to his or her job benchmark, the consultant was able to implement a tailored coaching manual complete with a unique development plan. These plans identified each employee’s specific strengths, and managers were able to use it to coach them on how to leverage their strengths in that particular working environment. Managers then had to follow a regimented routine for the coaching session, meeting with each employee for one hour a month to focus on specific skills and strategies.

The result was that when employees were assessed after one year of training, 20 percent had moved from mediocre to superior performance status. Billable hours were up 30 percent, while profit increased by a staggering 25 percent. The productivity of the company was transformed, with all resources, including the workforce, performing at peak capacity.

To learn more about how a job benchmark can increase productivity in your company, contact The Birch Group, by calling (860) 677-0020 or e-mailing thebirchgroup@snet.net.

Adam Wong, Director of Network Development, TTI Performance Systems, LTD.

HOW TO HAVE A GOOD DAY EVERYDAY

Have you ever wondered why some people get up in the morning with a song in their voice and a skip in their step?  You know the people I am talking about, always looking for the good in others and believe that there is a silver lining in EVERY cloud.  How can these people be so darn positive all of the time?  “Look the sky is falling!”… “Oh no, it’s a shooting star!”

Ed Foreman, a gentleman who owns EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEMS, a company out of Waco, Texas believes that you can have good and successful daily living by living one day at a time.  It’s how you feel about yourself that will direct your attitude on a daily basis.  If you can have one good day and multiply it by seven, what do you have?  That’s right…a good week.  Let’s multiply that good week by 52, now what do you have?  That’s right…a good year.  Ed has identified an EIGHT STEP DAILY MENU FOR LIFE, consisting of:

1. WAKE UP AN HOUR EARLY EVERY DAY:  Do you realize you will have gained nine – 40 hour work weeks per year by waking up one hour early every day for a year.  Do that for six years and you have just gained an extra year of 40 hour work weeks.
2. UPON AWAKENING READ OR LISTEN TO SOMETHING POSITIVE:  It’s a known fact that your alpha state of receptivity is at its peak as soon as you awaken, so what you hear or read will influence your thought process for the day.
3. GO FOR A WALK AND BE THANKFUL:  Walking will increase the blood flow to the brain and being thankful for what you have on a daily basis will help you put the true challenges of your day in perspective.
4. DAILY STRETCHING:  Stretching limbers up the body and increases the blood flow to all of your limbs.
5. EAT BREAKFAST:  It is a proven fact that people who eat breakfast are less likely to gain weight.   You should eat breakfast like a “King,” lunch like a “Prince” and dinner like a “Pauper.”
6. LEISURELY DRIVE TO WORK:  Don’t participate in a Mario Andretti type race to work.  Take an easy leisurely drive and do not allow other drivers to influence your day by setting you off in the wrong direction.
7. MIND CONTROL RELAXATION:  For 15 minutes a day practice a mind control relaxation technique where you sit and meditate while controlling your breathing.  It has been said that this can equate to taking a two hour nap in the middle of the day.
8. I AM TERRIFIC:  Any time someone asks you how you are, respond with a vibrant… “I AM TERRIFIC!”  If you do this regularly, especially during stressful situations, you will soon begin to notice a reduction in stress levels resulting from external influences.  Accepting that you have little or no control over outside influences in your life, allows you to control situations as opposed to letting the situations control you.

These are Ed Foreman’s EIGHT STEPS TO HAVING A BETTER DAY, WEEK, YEAR AND ULTIMATELY LIFE.  Another element to always remember is that worrying is nothing more than negative goal setting or the misuse of your imagination.  Keeping all of this in mind, have a wonderful and terrific day everyday!!!

Carl Messina, Director of New  Business Development

Key Employee Retention

Key Employee Retention

40% of Key Employees do not last in their jobs throughout the first year.  40%!  That number is plain and simply too high….that number plain and simply can be reduced.  If we as a nation want to compete globally this number plain and simply has to be reduced.  How can WE make that happen?

Fixing the following is a start:

--lack of clarity about expectations,
--lack of clarity about earning potential,
--lack of feedback about performance,
--failure to hold scheduled meetings, and
--failure to provide a framework within which the employee perceives he can succeed.

Hiring the right people in the right jobs from the get go, establishing a process to ensure this, on-boarding, recognition of strengths and weaknesses, re-distribution of responsibilities to marry up to employee strengths and weaknesses, proper assessments, learning and development processes are just a few of the strategies we can implement as organizations to become globally competitive.  A motivated employee wants to contribute to work areas outside of his specific job description. How many people could contribute far more than they currently do? You just need to know their skills, talent and experience, and take the time to tap into it.  You also need to know their weaknesses.  As an example, in a small company, a manager pursued a new marketing plan and logo with the help of external consultants. An internal sales rep, with seven years of ad agency and logo development experience, repeatedly offered to help. His offer was ignored and he cited this as one reason why he quit his job. In fact, the recognition that the company didn't want to take advantage of his knowledge and capabilities helped precipitate his job search.  This is a costly mistake.

Then there is the “Should we re-hire formally terminated employees” question.  The answer more often than you would expect would be yes.  Re-training, the unknowns, etc can be very costly.

Learning and development and on-boarding strategies cannot be ignored in this economy and with our new generation.  Having a partner like the Birch Group can save thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Call the Birch Group LLC if you would like to learn more about our offerings and how we can help make you, and the country more globally competitive.

BIAS IN THE HIRING DECISION

Many organizations have regretted the hiring decisions that they have made in the past.  There are significant downfalls to an organization for hiring the wrong people for the job that they were hired for, often times a drain on the organization’s bottom line.  They include:

• Employee disengagement
• Lack of creativity and innovation
• Inability to develop an effective succession plan
• High turnover

We all know how costly these situations can be.

Since the recession, America has seen a flooded candidate pool, yet companies continue struggling with poor hiring decisions.  Why are we unable to make the best hiring decisions?  The answer is BIAS.  Attracting candidates has become much easier, but screening out those that didn’t meet the needs and culture of a particular organization is a much more difficult task.  This challenge required is that we must look at each key position objectively and eliminate any bias that keeps us from hiring the very best candidates for that position.

As Steven Covey, the Management Guru, stated, “We see the world from our eyes, not as it really is.”  All of us are influenced by how we value experience, knowledge, economics, aesthetics, altruism, power and transition.  When we interview a person who sees the world differently than us, bias can play an unknowingly important role in our decision making process.  Neither right or wrong, nor good or bad, biases are simply a reflection of our own personal viewpoint.  Oftentimes this personal viewpoint is unknowingly injected into the hiring process even when it is totally irrelevant to a specific position or even the organization itself, creating a barrier that may prevent us from selecting those truly superior performers. 

Although laws keep us from acting on our own biases as they relate to gender, age, nationality and sexual orientation, there are still personal biases that enter into the decision making process.  Other biases that hinder our decision making process are experience, education and intelligence.  However, people bring other talents to the job including their passions, beliefs, personal skills and behaviors that can mean the right talent in the right jobs can make or break an organization, even when the product offers some of the brightest stars available.

We have found that one of the most important skills is personal accountability.  Most organizations do not have an awareness of its importance, nor a way to quantitatively measure it.

Effectively measuring a prospective candidate’s behaviors, motivators, personal skills and acumen necessary for a particular position can help your organization attain its full potential.

Revisiting the Common Denominator of Success-by Frank Sarr: TRAINING IMPLEMENTATION SERVICES

I wanted to write a blog about the common denominator of success and was doing some research.  In my inbox of all places, I found the following "White Paper" which was so well written and captured our viewpoints so well, that I decided, after obtaining permission of course, to simply share Frank's paper.  Wow! it is great. 

docs/Revisiting the Common Denominator of Success.pdf

You can find out more about Frank by following the hyperlink: 

http://www.PerformanceCounts.com

All The Best-

Paul

The good and the bad news for Connecticut business

The good news for Connecticut businesses is, the recession is easing.  The bad news is, people who have stayed in their jobs throughout the bad economy due to economic fears of losing their incomes and not being able to support their families, and those that felt they were maltreated during the recession, are polishing up their resumes.  Some experts believe that up to 80% of American workers are thinking about or are actually seeking new jobs.  The negative impact to many companies may be considerable.  From what we have seen in the past six months, employers have begun to implement programs to retain some of their most talented and key employees, including executives, managers, future leader and those who work on the front lines.

As turnover is rapidly increasing, many employers are preparing for additional employee turnover in the coming year.  Once employers recognize that if key employee retention is a problem, even with an unemployment rate still hovering at 8%, the situation will intensify when more jobs become available in the marketplace as the economy continues to improve.  Astute employers will implement those actions necessary to retain their key talent.

According to a survey completed OI Partners in Hartford:

• 90% of employers are concerned about turnover of high-potential employees
• 72% are concerned about losing sales and service employees
• 60% worry about middle-management turnover
• 45% are concerned about losing their senior level executives

Workers with the highest rates of turnover include operations and production workers, sales and marketing personnel, accounting and finance staff and information services.

Companies need to implement training programs, business coaching, enhanced benefits, financial incentives and well thought out succession plans, sooner rather than later to retain their top talent.

For those companies that will be filling vacated positions, it will be even more imperative that they hire “the right people for the right jobs” so that new employees’ cultural fit and learning curves will be greatly enhanced.

Don't let your organization's workforce become your competitors' "catch of the day."  Be prepared, don’t let this inevitable scenario erode your bottom line.

 

 

 

Birch Group announces alliance with TTI and the Professional Discovery Process

2012-The Birch Group is now alligned with TTI, Scottsdale, AZ.  This is an effort to better service our customers with robust suites of products for the purpose of leadership development, talent aquisition, learning, 360, onboarding, business coaching, professional discovery and workforce optimization, motivation, and INSPIRATION.

 

 

"I am thrilled at this news, I can now make already very satisfied corporate clients into something more than that.....not sure there is even an adjective to describe what we can now do for our customers"-Paul M. Mathews-The Birch Group, LLC

Gratitude FROM client and TOWARD client-Business Coaching to the next level.

We, as business coaches and mentors always need to remember that we often find ourselves having to be much more.  It is too easy to forget, especially when implementing a proven methodology and/or process, that in order to be a  great coach and mentor, we always need to make sure that the bi-product deliverales-CONFIDENCE-MOTIVATION-INSPIRARTION are always delivered...not just in every meeting, but in every minute of every meeting. 

A client just sent me this casual email that served as an awesome reminder to me:

Subject: Thanks

"Just wanted to thank you again not only for lunch yesterday, but for all the help and support you have given me up to this point."

"While I am grateful for The Birch Group's help as a whole, and the institutional support they offer in support of you...the real value is in your company/individual expertise, passion and guidance."

 "If you ever need a favor, professional or otherwise, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Now that I'm stabilized and nearly 'tooled and ready', I'm looking forward to working with you in a different capacity moving forward.  Thanks again."

JW [CLIENT]

 

The Five Essential Elements of WELLBEING and Worforce Development

The Five Essential Elements

According to a new book, Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements, released by Tom Rath, a NY Times bestselling author and Jim Harter, there are five essential elements of life that transcend countries, faiths and cultures.  Rath and Harter completed a study of more than 150 countries whose combined populations account for over 98% of the world's population.

Their study discovered what many of us business and career coaches already know, that much of what we think will improve our wellbeing is either misguided or just plain wrong.  They write: "Contrary to what many believe, wellbeing isn't just about being seemingly happy, nor is it about being wealthy and successful.  And, it's certainly not limited to physical health and wellness.  In fact, focusing on any of these elements in isolation could drive us to feelings of frustration and even failure."

The Five Elements are:

• Career Wellbeing: How you occupy your time/enjoying what you do each day
• Social Wellbeing: The quality of relationships and love in your life
• Financial Wellbeing:  Managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security
• Physical Wellbeing: Good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis
• Community Wellbeing: Engagement and involvement in the community where you live

Acting on these elements will enable you to enjoy each day and get more out of your life, while boosting the wellbeing of friends, family members, colleagues and others in your community.

These elements are also important to your organization, as when they are in balance, your  employees will be more engaged, healthier and much more productive.  When the leaders in your organization embrace the importance of these key elements, they create a more engaging place to work, resulting in greater returns for the organization.  When leaders ignore or dismiss these elements, they risk eroding the confidence of those that follow them and can severely limit their organization's ability to grow.

Strong leaders understand that each workers wellbeing and those of their family is largely dependent on their ability to lead and manage effectively.  When managers and leaders invest in their employee's well being, they foster a culture of communications and trust, thus creating a more efficient and higher performing organization.

Remember, an employee's effectiveness and level of engagement is typically a direct reflection of their relationship with their immediate supervisor.  When employees were questioned as to "whether or not their leadership cared about them as a person", the findings indicate that those that agreed to this statement :

• are more likely to be top performers
• produce higher quality work
• are less likely to be sick
• are less likely to change jobs
• are less likely to get injured on the job

The most progressive leaders not only understand that they are in the business of boosting their employee's wellbeing, but they also use this knowledge as a competitive advantage to recruit and retain top employees.  Attracting top talent is easier if they can show a prospective employee how working for the organization  will translate into better relationships, more financial security, improved physical health, and more involvement in the community.  Just as the most successful organizations have worked systematically to optimize their levels of employee engagement, they are now paying much closer attention to employee wellbeing as a way to gain emotional, financial and competitive advantage.

Behaviors and Motivators Statistical Study

 

Behaviors and Motivators Statistical Study
Hartford High School’s Academy of Engineering and Green Technology
January 2012

OVERALL:            Starting during the fall of 2010 and running through February 2011, The Birch Group, LLC and Target Training International, LTD, donated a combined DISC and Workplace Motivators on-line assessment, including associated DISC Team building training, to all of the students enrolled in Hartford High School’s Academy of Engineering and Green Technology.  The value of this donation was approximately $78,000.00.  The Birch Group worked with Hartford High School to create a process where students could go on-line and complete their own individual assessments.  The Birch Group then printed the assessments, organized by grade and presented them to the students in a series of seminars held at Hartford High School.   It should be noted that this is the first time that an entire student body was offered this program/opportunity.  In total, 263 out of a possible 368 (71%) students elected to participate in this program/opportunity.

Participants vs. Entire 2010-11 Student Body
Grade	Participants	Total Students	Percentage
10	112	130	86%
11	72	130	55%
12	79	108	73%
Total:	263	368	71%

BEHAVIORS:       Initial analysis indicates that the behavioral profiles are significantly different from national averages compiled over years of substantial data capture and analysis.  The following tables exhibit behavioral styles by grade and the total student population that participated.

The following table explains the four basic behavior Styles:

D I S C  TENDENCIES
“D” – Dominant	To Dominate
“I” – Influencer	To Influence
“S” – Steady Relater	To Serve
“C” – Cautious/ Concise	To Comply with Standards

DISC Behavioral Profile Breakdown for Student Participants (December – 2011)
Behaviors	Dominant				Influencer			Steady Relator			Cautious/Concise			Total
	Natural	Adapted			Natural	Adapted		Natural	Adapted		Natural	Adapted		Natural	Adapted
Grade Ten (10)	43	30			20	38		23	23		26	21		112	112
% of Total	38%	27%			18%	34%		21%	21%		23%	19%		100%	100%
Grade Eleven (11)	19	18			17	25		19	16		17	13		72	72
% of Total	26%	25%			24%	35%		26%	22%		24%	18%		100%	100%
Grade Twelve (12)	26	19			18	24		20	15		15	21		79	79
% of Total	33%	24%			23%	30%		25%	19%		19%	27%		100%	100%
National Average	19%		N/A		32%		N/A	35%		N/A	14%		N/A	N/A
Variance	14%			N/A	-9%	N/A		-10%	N/A		5%	N/A

The most notable variance amongst behavior styles compared to national norms was among the high Dominant, “D,” behavior style, which registered 14 points higher than national averages, indicating that 33% of the Academy of Engineering and Green Technology’s study participants are bold, aggressive, results oriented and are high risk takers.  These individuals strive to be leaders as the primary psychological need of the high “D’s” are to control and dominate.  The importance of this finding, as it relates to an educational setting, is that the high “D’s” are restless, impatient and find it difficult to pay attention for long periods of time, especially if they perceive the subject matter to be boring.   However, if the high “D” student becomes interested in the subject matter and the proper learning environment is created for them, they can become hyper-focused and will work diligently to achieve the objectives that they have set for themselves.  The “D’s” have strong egos and are extremely averse to losing.  They love to win, often at their own detriment.  The good news is that police, fire departments, corporate boardrooms and entrepreneurial enterprises are heavily populated with “D” behavior styles.

One hypothesis regarding this statistical abnormality is that inner-city students begin developing “D” behavior styles at a young age to cope with the hardships and violence that they are faced with daily.  Further research at other inner-city high schools may shed additional light on the development of the high “D’s.”  Although other city schools have been approached to continue this study, most principals are reluctant due to the time demands of trying to get their students on par with suburban schools.

The Influencers “I’s” represent 21% of the study participants compared to the national norm of 32%, possibly reflecting the high “I’s” not enrolling in an engineering program as it requires a significant amount of study and effort with relatively less time for socializing.

Another interesting variance relates to the number of Steady Relaters, “S,” 24% of study participants, relative to the national norm.  The “S” typically represents 35% of Americans and characterizes the backbone of American business and industry.  They are usually quiet, unassuming, born listeners and true team players, calling very little attention to themselves.  In short, those introverts can be a “teacher’s dream,” but often get lost in the typical classroom setting, particularly if the teacher is trying to get the more boisterous “D’s” to behave and/or focus.  The stereotypical engineer and technician are often an “S” behavioral style.  Teachers typically have either an “I” (Influencer) or “S” behavior style.  It appears that this phenomenon is the flip side to the large number of “D’s” at the Academy of Engineering and Green Technology, meaning that the high “S” behavior style may not be conducive to success in the harsh realities of an inner-city environment.

The Cautious/Concise (“C”) behaviors represent 22% of the study participants which is 8% higher than the 14% national norm.  An explanation could be that the engineering curriculum is perceived as being more difficult than other programs offered at Hartford High School, thus a larger number of the more serious students may be attracted to an engineering related program, a reverse form the high “I’s.”

Regarding adaptive “mask” styles, high “D” students in all grades appear to be heavily adapting to fit the culture at Hartford Academy of Engineering and Green Technology, largely moving towards the high “I” category in order to get along and get attention from school mates and teachers.  This movement has the potential to place additional stress on the students.  There is also some movement regarding adaptation amongst the students towards the high “C” behavioral style, more than likely as the result of the need towards increased study time and the need for considerably more preciseness and perfection in an engineering related program.

Values Motivators:

Individualistic: A passion to achieve position and to use that position to influence others.	Theoretical: A passion to discover systematize and ana­lyze; a search for knowledge.
Utilitarian: A passion to gain return on investment of time, resources and money.	Social: A passion to eliminate hate and conflict in the world and to assist others.
Traditional: A passion to pursue the higher meaning in life through a defined system of living.	Aesthetic: A passion to add balance and harmony in one’s own life and protect our natural resources.

Overall, the highest percentages of study participants showed Theoretical (30%) as their highest value/motivator, followed by Social (21%) and Individualistic (20%).  The lowest values/motivators were Aesthetic (1%) and Traditional (4%).  The study indicated that the highest second value/motivator point was Theoretical, at 21% then followed closely by Social and Individualistic both at 19%.

However it is apparent that each class is unique in what motivates them to perform.  The current senior class (Grade 11) is weighed heavily towards the Theoretical, with the other motivators dispersed somewhat.  The current Grade 11 students (Grade 10) have a higher cluster towards the Individualistic and the Theoretical motivators.  The high percentage of Theoretical, key to continued higher learning, could very well indicate that the current Grade 11 students could have a much higher degree of success in pursuing a college degree and finishing their programs.

The following charts display the values/motivators by grade:

 

Grade 10 (now Grade 11) has a much higher potential that the other grades relative to their individualism and their theoretical (thirst for knowledge) For both males and females that have Individualistic in their top three (3) values, we see a higher percentage of Juniors and Seniors with Individualistic influencing their purpose and direction in life. Aesthetics decrease from grade 10 to grade 12, most drastically in females moving from 56.5% to 27.8% in their senior year, possibly because as they prepare to graduate from high school, other values become more important in order for them to achieve success.

 

FEMALES
Grade/Motivator	Aesthetic	Individualistic
Grade 10	56.5%	37.0%
Grade 11	41.9%	45.2%
Grade 12	27.8%	61.1%

MALES
Grade/Motivator	Aesthetic	Individualistic
Grade 10	38.3%	64.1%
Grade 11	34.8%	50.0%
Grade 12	31.0%	71.8%

ENTREPRENEURS:                 Analysis indicates that the student body at Harford High School has 56 (21.3%) student participants that exhibit those behaviors “D” along with Individualistic and Utilitarian values/motivators in either the first or second positions, the strongest profiles for serial entrepreneurs.  Of the high “D” participants:

Future Entrepreneurs (High “D”)
Grade	Individualistic – 1st	Utilitarian – 1st		Utilitarian – 2nd	Individualistic – 2nd
Grade 10	10	6		3	5
Grade 11	5	4		4	2
Grade 12	2	6		5	6
Totals:	17	14		12	13
Grade			Both Individualistic and Utilitarian Combined
Grade 10			3
Grade 11			2
Grade 12			4
Total:			7

According to prior work done by Bill and Ron Bonnstetter, these findings may indicate that in Engineering and Technical curricula, these students may become bored easily.  Hartford High School may want to initiate a program similar to the Junior Achievement Program to prepare those students at an early age to pursue studies and careers geared towards entrepreneurialism.

This study should be continued in other inner-city schools.  However there are several obstacles that are difficult to overcome in getting inner-city schools to participate, including:

• Time is of the essence in bringing standardized test scores on par with suburban high schools.
• In an amphitheater setting, students become restless.  Therefore, DISC training for students does not work well with more than 50 students, demanding that for 300 students, the facilitator would need to run at least six (6) sessions.
• Getting “drop-out” data is difficult, as there is considerable relocating in the inner-cities, meaning that student may say that they are going to other schools, but in all actuality are dropping-out.  Therefore, many schools have little or no “drop-out” data, and what they do have is extremely unreliable.

Conclusion:           Students that have participated in this study should be made acutely aware of the importance of the gift that was given to them.  Armed with information about themselves and others, they are now in a position to be able to adapt to various situations and people, understand the needs of other people, communicate with and interact more effectively with others and realize how people perceive them when they are just being themselves.  Teachers can play a large role in reinforcing the fact that behavioral modifications are a key element in goal attainment.

Previous studies show that the large majority of teachers have either a high “I” or high “S” or a combination of the two, strongly influenced by the high Theoretical motivators.  We have also found that many teachers teach to “what they are,” and are often attracted to students that are most like them behaviorally.

Schools by definition are designed to the high “S” and “C” behavioral styles, meaning that those with “S” and “C” behavior styles have the opportunity to flourish, particularly in engineering or STEM related learning environment.  We need to be able to recognize those with “D” and “I” behavior styles and make an effort to find a place for them in the classroom  and on learning related teams, if not, we are doing a disservice to over 54% of the population.  The educational system must understand that these students are talkative, daydream, are bored easily and have relatively short attention spans.  A strictly lecture driven classroom will not be the ideal environment for these students to thrive.

Significant data collection and analysis of both behaviors and motivators has been conducted by TTI and the Kean Foundation regarding college level engineering students.  Although testing needs to continue in other inner-city schools in order to establish a national base-line, if we can establish a correlation between high school and college students, we will be able to predict which students will most likely drop out of high school, which students are most likely to pursue a degree in engineering/STEM and which students are most likely to switch majors within the first two years of college.  To validate our initial findings at the high school level, school administrators will need to ensure that data regarding drop-outs are maintained and shared.

It is widely recognized that if the United States economy is going to thrive in the 21^st Century, engineers and technologists will play a significant role.  Efforts must be enhanced to ensure that students of all behavioral and motivator styles become interested in pursuing educations and careers in the STEM disciplines, as each style has inherent talents or “gifts” that they bring to the table.

VALUES / MOTIVATORS BREAKDOWN
GRADE TWELVE (12)
Total	"D"				"I"				"S"				"C"				Totals
	First		Second		First		Second		First		Second		First		Second		First		Second
Individualistic	3	12%	6	23%	6	33%	6	33%	3	15%	10	50%	2	20%	1	19%	14		23
Utilitarian	2	8%	8	31%	3	17%	4	22%	8	40%	3	15%	3	15%	0	16%	16		15
Traditional	2	8%	2	8%	2	11%	0	0%	0	0%	2	10%	0	4%	1	11%	4		5
Theoretical	4	15%	4	15%	1	6%	4	22%	2	10%	3	15%	6	30%	5	21%	13		16
Social	9	35%	4	15%	4	22%	4	22%	6	30%	2	10%	3	21%	4	19%	22		14
Aesthetic	6	23%	2	8%	2	11%	0	0%	1	5%	0	0%	1	1%	4	14%	10		6
Totals:	26	100%	26	100%	18	100%	18	100%	20	100%	20	100%	15	100%	15	100%	79		79
GRADE ELEVEN (11)
Total	"D"				"I"				"S"				"C"				Totals
	First		Second		First		Second		First		Second		First		Second		First	Second
Individualistic	0	0%	2	11%	3	18%	2	12%	3	16%	2	11%	2	20%	4	19%	8	10
Utilitarian	5	26%	7	37%	1	6%	1	6%	2	11%	7	37%	3	15%	3	16%	11	18
Traditional	2	11%	3	16%	0	0%	3	18%	2	11%	2	11%	0	4%	0	11%	4	8
Theoretical	4	21%	3	16%	9	53%	3	18%	6	32%	2	11%	8	30%	5	21%	27	13
Social	4	21%	2	11%	1	6%	6	35%	3	16%	2	11%	2	21%	5	19%	10	15
Aesthetic	4	21%	2	11%	3	18%	2	12%	3	16%	4	21%	2	1%	0	14%	12	8
Totals:	19	100%	19	100%	17	100%	17	100%	19	100%	19	100%	17	100%	17	100%	72	72
GRADE TEN (10)
Total	"D"				"I"				"S"				"C"				Totals
	First		Second		First		Second		First		Second		First		Second		First	Second
Individualistic	10	23%	4	9%	2	10%	2	10%	4	17%	5	22%	7	20%	3	19%	23	14
Utilitarian	6	14%	4	9%	1	5%	4	20%	3	13%	3	13%	2	15%	3	16%	12	14
Traditional	1	2%	4	9%	0	0%	3	15%	1	4%	3	13%	0	4%	3	11%	2	13
Theoretical	10	23%	10	23%	12	60%	6	30%	5	22%	4	17%	11	30%	7	21%	38	27
Social	11	26%	10	23%	4	20%	1	5%	6	26%	4	17%	5	21%	5	19%	26	20
Aesthetic	5	12%	11	26%	1	5%	4	20%	4	17%	4	17%	1	1%	5	14%	11	24
Totals:	43	100%	43	100%	20	100%	20	100%	23	100%	23	100%	26	100%	26	100%	112	112