Long Term Gains From The Whole Person Approach In Corporations

The graph shows gains on all nine scales from pre- to post-program. The six-month follow-up scores show that all of the gains from doing the programs were retained - and in some cases showed further increases. This means that the people who participated in the Whole Person Approach showed immediate and significant gains and retained these gains in long-term follow-up.

All changes pre- to post are significant (p<.01). All changes pre- to six months are significant (p<.01). N=204

Bob McDonald, Ph.D.

From 1990 through 1992, Bob McDonald conducted research on how people can best know what their talents are, how they can use their talent best in the workplace, and how they can move into work roles that maximize their performance and overall career satisfaction. In the course of this research, he interviewed thousands of people of all ages and in all sorts of jobs at all different levels. He also personally participated in a great number corporate and private training programs all over the country. Out of this research, Dr. McDonald developed his Whole Person approach to corporate and executive consulting and coaching.

From 1995 to 2000, Bob conducted research on outcomes of corporate seminars using his Whole Person approach. In order to accomplish this research, he developed a questionnaire, known as the H220 Scale, that yields measures for:

1. Ability Match
2. Stress
3. Optimism
4. Internal vs. External Locus of Control
5. Connection to Company
6. Vision
7. Balance
8. Satisfaction
9. Productivity

Research on these scales shows them to have a high level of internal consistency (Item alpha correlations above .86) and to be highly related to other standard scales measuring similar constructs.

These scales were chosen to measure outcomes of Whole Person seminars because each of these constructs has been shown to have a strong and significant relationship to standard indices of business performance: productivity, retention, customer satisfaction and/or profitability.

The H220 was administered to all participants in Whole Person seminars before they took part in the program and after they finished the seminars. It was then given to participants a third time six months after the program ended. This yielded pre-program, post-program, and six-month follow-up results on all nine scales.

Graph summarizing results of seminars using Dr. McDonald's Whole Person Approach in corporations, 1995-2000. N=204. Pre- to Post gains positive and significant (p<.01). Pre to Six Months gains positive and significant (p<.01).

All gains pre- to post- are positive and significant (p<.01). On six month follow-up there were either continued positive gains or there was no significant change. All gains from Pre- to Six Months were positive and significant (p<.01). This means that the positive changes people experienced from going through the program were retained in long-term follow-up.

Ability Match - Driver of Productivity and Satisfaction
Ability Match is the perceived match between the person's natural abilities and talents and his or her major roles in the organization. Peter Drucker has long held that matching one's talents to one's job is the number one priority for success in the Knowledge Economy (Drucker, 1993, 1999). The Gallup Organization, in research with over 80,000 managers has indicated conclusively that organizations in which people match their jobs in terms of natural talents are more profitable, they retain their people better, are more productive, and have higher customer satisfaction (Buckingham and Coffman, 1999).

Stress - Drag on Performance, Productivity and Job Satisfaction
Stress is measured by the person's report of how much or little stress he or she is currently experiencing on the job.
There are literally hundreds of recent articles on stress in the workplace (Cooper, 1998; Beehr, 1998). Stress has been shown to have a direct economic impact people and companies (Goldsmith, Veum, and Darity, 1997). Research at Hewlett Packard indicates that working long hours reduces productivity and that relieving stress results in higher retention, better morale and better goal setting (Cole, 1999). Stress has been linked with emotional upset, physical illness, decreased performance, and problems achieving company objectives (DeFrank, Konopaske, Ivancevich, 2000). Numerous studies point to the negative link between stress and health (Cartwright, 2000) and stress and productivity and profitability (McHugh, 1993). Work has been shown to be the leading cause of stress among Americans-it is three times more likely to cause stress as other demands, such as children, spouses, or parents. Workplace stress causes one million employees to be absent from work on an average workday. This translates to around $200 billion in costs for employers in terms of lost productivity (Caudron, 1998).

Optimism - Driver of Sales and Productivity
Optimism is measured by people's report of how much or little they see themselves in a future that feels positive and attainable. Optimism has been studied in a variety of business settings over 30 years with over 1 million subjects (Seligman, 1991). Recent studies indicate the power of optimism to drive productivity, profitability, and sales performance. Deneau (2000) showed that optimism is the single most valued interpersonal skill among employers. People who were optimistic have a positive impact on the morale of other employees. Schulman (1999) showed that optimism positively impacts motivation, sales productivity and even physical health. People who are more pessimistic are more likely to report stress, anxiety and poor health (Preboth and Wright, 1998). Doctors at the Mayo Clinic report that optimistic people live longer (Maruta, 2000). Seligman has shown that salespeople with higher optimism are better able to cope with the ups and downs of selling (Park, 1995). He has shown repeatedly that an optimistic attitude is the distinguishing characteristic of outstanding salespeople and that it positively influences overall morale (Liparulo, 1995).

Locus of Control - Moderator of Stress, Indicator of More Adaptive Coping
Locus of Control is a measure of how much or little people feel that their own decisions affect what happens to them in life. Internal vs. External Locus of Control has been studied for several decades in thousands of studies with hundreds of thousands of employees. Internal Locus of Control has been linked to satisfaction, productivity, increases sales performance, better health and more adaptive coping with stress (Al-Gattan, 1985). Salespeople who had a more internal Locus of Control used a Problem-Focused Coping style, as opposed to an Emotion-Focused Coping style (Srivastava and Sager, 1999; Spiro and Weitz, 1990) and are more effective in dealing with the stress and frustration of sales. The ability of Internal Locus of Control to moderate stress and stressful environments has been shown in a number of studies (Rahim, 1996, Lim and Teo, 1998). Internal Locus of Control helps managers deal with organizational change (Judge et. al. 1999; Hoffi-Hofstetter and Mannheim, 1999). When CEO's have more internal Locus of Control, their firms perform better (Boone et al. 1996); female business proprietors show a higher ROI with higher Internal Locus of Control (Nelson, 1991). People with higher Internal Locus of Control were more committed to their careers (Colarelli and Bishop, 1990) and healthier (Feinmann, 1999). Locus of Control was found to be a significant predictor of business performance (Howell and Avolio, 1993).

Connection To Company - Key to Retention
Connection to Company measures the person's reported sense of his or her commitment to the company and sense of the company's care and concern about him or her. Connection to Company is clearly related to retention, productivity, profitability and customer satisfaction (Pfeffer, 1998; Kaplan and Norton, 1996). Levering, in his annual study of Great Places to Work, routinely finds that the 100 companies on his list show up to twice the profitability of comparable publicly-traded companies. People like to work for these companies and they are loathe to leave. Connection to Company also moderates occupational stress (Leong et al. 1996) and predicts organizational citizenship behaviors (Netmeyer et al., 1997). The Gallup Organization, in it's long term study of over 80,000 managers, showed that business units in which employees are more connected to the company show greater retention, higher productivity, better customer satisfaction and more profitability (Buckingham and Coffman, 1999).

Vision - Key Antecedent
Vision measures the specificity, completeness, and objectivity with which a person looks forward to the future.
A Personal Vision is seen as the key antecedent to a shared team or corporate vision and mission (Silvers, 1994). Goal orientation predicts performance in a variety of settings (Brett et al. 1999). Having a vision improves success in achieving business goals (Kemp, 2000). Motorola sees vision at the level of the individual employee as key to increasing morale, productivity and plant competitiveness (Banning and Wintermantel, 1991). Our own research indicates that a Personal Vision is a necessary and predictive antecedent to Ability Match, Optimism and Connection to Company (see attached graph). Personal Vision that is arrived at through some objective process is one of the most predictive factors that researchers have found for both satisfaction and productivity (Super, 1957, 1995; Strack et al. 1990; Seligman, 1991; Petri, 1991; Meyers, 1992).

Balance - Key to Productivity, Retention, Connection to Company
Balance measures the quality of factors the person takes into account when figuring out personal and career goals and making career and life decisions.

In a large variety and types of studies Work/Life Balance has been shown to be predictive of reduced turnover (Trimberger, 1998; Aon Consulting, 1999; Stum, 1998; Tally, 1998; Cole, 1999). Work/Life Balance also is a moderator of stress (Broadbridge, 1999; Thomas, 1999). Work/Life Balance predicts increased performance (Vincola and Mobley, 1998; Vincola and Farren, 1999; Stern, 2000). Increased work/life balance results in a culture that is less stressed, more committed and more effective (Seitel, 1998; Berman, 1999; Solomon, 1999). IBM has expressed that it sees work/life initiatives as a business essential and the 1997 national Study of the Changing Workforce by the Families and Work Institute show that the quality of work life and work environment are key factors in improving employee productivity. One of the main things on the mind of new employees, business students and job candidates in this highly competitive market for talent is-Will I have a life? (Shellenbarger, 1999; Whitaker, 1999; King, 2000).

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