SCANNER FREEMONT / Data Analyst
Freemont is responsible for the digital conversion of survey responses while adhering to strict quality standards set forth by its managers. Freemont began its career at TruScore in 1996 as a Data Analyst and quickly became pivotal to TruScore's success. As the years passed, Freemont has slowly matured into part-time Data Analyst while also holding many positions in the work environment including On The Floor, On The Empty Desk, and Hold The Door (AKA Hodor).
RON SACCHI / Master Coach
A former Operations Manager in the High Tech Industry, Ron Sacchi brings decades of leadership and management experience to the organizational development and the executive coaching arena. An energetic thought-leader with a track record of success in all areas of Human Capital development, he has consulted and coached managers in start-ups, joint-ventures, high tech, pharmaceuticals, and media. Because of his business acumen and creative approaches to behavioral change, he is respected in the HR community specifically for the ability to direct, motivate, influence and inspire leaders to improve performance.
Holding an MBA from Saint Mary’s College, Mr. Sacchi is also licensed in various management, leadership and psychological profiling tools.
CARLANN FERGUSSON / Master Coach
Carlann inspires leaders to reconnect to their individual purpose and lead with contagious energy. She ensures leaders gain deep self-awareness and eliminate self-sabotaging behaviors. Her guidance is based on coaching, training and selecting hundreds of executives across diverse companies as well as her own journey into the executive ranks.
Carlann is the author of the highly acclaimed book The Insightful Leader: Find Your Superpowers, Crush Limiting Beliefs and Abolish Self-Sabotaging Behaviors (Praeger, June 2018). She holds a master’s degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology. Her thirty years of experience include leadership roles in Fortune 500s, the private sector, and the U.S. Government. Carlann has been a featured guest on ABC News Radio, Wharton Business Radio and has been cited in CBS MoneyWatch, International Business Times, Newsday and Workday.
DR CHUCH MELTZER / Master Coach
Dr. Chuck Meltzer is a Master Coach and President of the SynTECGroup, an organizational development consulting firm. As an executive coach, he draws on his training at a doctoral level in psychology, direct senior management experience and management consulting with a wide cross section of industries. He has developed an extensive series of strategies to assist leaders in creating organizational wide and personal change. Dr. Meltzer has a decade of direct senior management experience and 20 years’ experience functioning within his consulting and coaching practice. His coaching approach is solution focused and time framed. Based on determined goals, a personally customized approach to the process has enabled his clients to realize sustainable change in a manner that allows them to enhance their effectiveness and success as leaders within their organization.
Dr. Meltzer is certified and a master trainer in several coaching assessment tools that he employs within his practice.
ERIN HIRSCHLAND / Master Coach
Erin is an organization development expert with nearly two decades experience serving organizations of all sizes across industries on a broad range of issues. Working with leadership teams, she helps articulate an actionable vision and corresponding values, connecting these to organizational strategy, execution and results. Her tools of choice include senior team retreats, one-on-one executive coaching and proven survey and related instruments.
Erin’s additional expertise includes designing employee selection systems, developing performance management tools that increase performance across the organization over time and employee and customer experience metrics. An effective facilitator and coach, Erin works with leaders and their teams to build trust, commitment and results.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Master of Arts degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Colorado.
SONYA D HAMILTON / Senior Assessment Consultant
Sonya is a Senior Assessment Consultant at TruScore with over 24 years of experience designing and delivering 360 feedback solutions and providing 360-based coaching, training and interpretation.
Sonya has extensive experience working with Managers and Leaders, guiding them through the feedback and development journey and providing insights and direction to help maximize their impact within the organization. Sonya’s areas of expertise include 360-based coaching, 360 data analysis and interpretation, Train-the-Trainer certifications, facilitation, survey & questionnaire design, and the design and delivery of assessment programs.
Sonya has a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and a Master’s of Science degree in Industrial & Organization Psychology from Springfield College with a specialty in Counseling and Psychological Services. She is a Master Trainer for TruScore and the Clark Wilson Task Cycle surveys receiving a Certificate of Achievement in “How to Train a Trainer”. In addition, Sonya is certified to administer a variety of other psychometric instruments including employee engagement and organizational instruments as well as the line of Hogan Personality Assessments.
KAYLEY MOTZ / Assessment Advisor
Kayley draws on her extensive customer service background to provide clients with prompt, quality support. In her role as Assessment Advisor, Kayley works to ensure clients’ needs are being met. She assists in project set up and management, as well as processing and quality checking feedback reports. Kayley also aids in the execution of the day-to-day responsibilities of the production team, such as coaching session scheduling and tech support.
CRYSTAL HUGHES / Assessment Advisor
Crystal leverages her extensive background in Industrial-Organizational (I-O) psychology as she manages the day-to-day operational and tactical aspects of multiple and large scale projects for TruScore.
Crystal assists clients with setting up and managing feedback projects, and serves as the point of contact throughout the entire process. She quality checks feedback reports, and provides tech support when needed.
ELLIE SOLOMON / Assessment Advisor
Ellie manages project implementation for the entire 360 assessment feedback process and ensures that each client’s unique needs are met on time and in an efficient manner. Ellie consults with clients who use TruScore’s off-the-shelf Task Cycle® instruments as well as providing hosting solutions for clients using their own survey content, including custom processes and reports. She helps clients navigate through the TruScore® survey hosting software, having literally written the handbook that several clients are using.
She coordinates and implements all translation efforts, including soliciting bids, managing timelines, providing files to the translation companies, implementing translations for the web pages, and testing.
ULLA WESTERMANN / Software Engineer
Ulla uses her years of experience as a software engineer to maintain and add new features to TruScore's applications. She also helps with customizing feedback reports based on client needs.
HANK CURTIS / Business Development Manager
Hank manages and assists in the analyzing, planning, research, and development of TruScore’s objectives and strategic plans in order to achieve business opportunities, growth, and financial profitability.
Hank drives the expansion of TruScore’s direct sales, establishes relationships with TruScore’s clients, identifies clients, and keeps up-to-date on industry trends and client developments.
TAYLOR BRANTON / Bookkeeper
Taylor is responsible for managing payroll and employee fringe benefits programs, in addition to organizing company gatherings and outings. Taylor oversees day to day accounting needs as it relates to client invoicing, accounts payable, and general compliance requirements. She also has a hand in month, quarter, and year end reports and works closely with the CEO and CTO to furnish details necessary to make accurate business projections and decisions.
KURT BLAZEK / Design Director
Kurt uses a unique blend of strategic thinking with dynamic executions to create TruScore’s visual and interactive design. He is responsible for creating, evolving, and sustaining the company’s brand to internal and external stakeholders through multiple mediums. He oversees all of TruScore’s digital strategies, along with the implementation of social media tools and techniques.
Kurt leverages TruScore’s marketing and messaging information to identify, evaluate, and apply methods to maximize the effectiveness of the search campaigns across all of the major search engines. He tracks and measures the ROI of search engine rankings, direct print, and marketing websites.
JOSH SHEETS / Chief Operations Officer
Josh is responsible for all day-to-day aspects of managing the operations and various functional areas including business development, sales and marketing, client delivery, vendor relations, human resources, and IT.
Josh helps to ensure outstanding customer service, and the administration of long-term and day-to-day business processes that complement the delivery of high quality, innovative customer-focused survey tools, assessments and hosted survey offerings.
TOM KUHNE / Managing Partner and CTO
Tom joined TruScore in 1995 and has served in a number of roles, including Data Analyst, IS Manager, and VP & CIO. In his current role as Managing Partner and CTO, Tom is the driving force behind TruScore's technology vision for the present and the future. He manages all aspects of TruScore’s information systems, ensuring all systems meet the highest functionality and security standards.
Tom enjoys working hand in hand with clients and partners to make sure TruScore® delivers the technology and advancement that has become expected of it as a leader in the online assessment marketplace.
DEREK MURPHY / Chief Executive Officer
Derek joined TruScore in 1996 and has served in a number of roles, including Data Analyst, Operations Manager, and President & COO. In his current role as CEO, he is responsible for planning and implementing the strategic direction of the company. In addition, Derek is involved in product development and overseeing the day-to-day business operations for TruScore.
TruScore founder Dr. Daniel Booth, a pioneer in the field of assessment of leadership and management skills, served as a mentor to Derek for more than a decade. During this time, Derek became certified on TruScore’s full line of management and leadership assessments. He currently uses these skills to lead content debriefings with customers and partners on a regular basis.
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Many organizations are struggling with the transition into a global economy, forcing them to flatten their management hierarchy. As a result, today’s managers are faced with increased responsibilities as they take on the traditional competencies utilized by a manager, while also learning and applying new leadership skills.
This new business environment has produced more virtual and diverse teams. Overseeing a culturally and geographically diverse team requires today’s managers to be extremely flexible, often requiring them to adapt to the changing management landscape quickly. Decision-making, being assertive with ideas, communicating more clearly, and clarifying goals and objectives while inspiring creative commitment are all competencies that have increased in today’s management role.
Solution
In recognizing this challenge we’ve created an instrument that literally merges the concepts of management and leadership roles. For over three decades we’ve had both front-line management and senior leadership assessments, but not until we combined these concepts under one assessment were we truly able to offer our clients a hybrid instrument, effectively measuring both skill sets. This mid-management assessment was essentially an “up-leveling” of the traditional front-line tool. We added in such competencies as envisioning opportunity, risk-taking, clarifying objectives, and positioning these concepts in simple, everyday language.
Among the ranks of executives within a company you’ll find those that have been promoted as a way to reward and encourage high performers. Typically the reward is not because they are great leaders or managers but because they contributed to the bottom line.
These leaders often remain focused on a specialized talent, when in reality they need to broaden their competencies in order to become models of leadership for the whole organization. This of course helps ensure that the strategic objectives of the organization can be obtained.
Solution
Some organizations try to solve this challenge by putting two people together to balance each other’s skills, such as a strategist and a leader of people. However, this approach oftentimes does not have the desired outcome, and can be costly for the organization.
A better solution is to benchmark the executive ranks to encourage the development of leadership skills at an individual level, and to then determine training and development at an organizational level. Keep in mind that this type of 360 degree feedback is sometimes the first of its kind for these executives. Ideally it’s providing insight into what’s truly important to their role, as well as how they are perceived by their key stakeholders, peers, and direct reports.
Executive Team Survey – This survey measures the effectiveness of strategic teams, focusing on the functionality and credibility of the senior team. Members of the team, and selected direct reports of team members, are surveyed to determine the effectiveness of the group. Individuals are not evaluated.
One-on-One Coaching – 360 degree feedback Coaching is encouraged to help the executive determine where they can get leverage in improving the effectiveness of their role. Coaching can be continued after the initial assessment to help teach and guide, but at a minimum to help develop a plan for the following year.
Every company struggles with the transitioning of individual performers into the management role. In many cases, the organization loses a great individual contributor and gains a mediocre manager.
New managers need to become comfortable and confident in supervising direct reports who were formerly peers. In addition, they need to transition their focus from maintaining their own specific technical skills, goals, and deadlines to managing these aspects for others. They are now in a position where they need to be open to upward feedback, actively providing feedback to others, reinforcing good performance, and mastering the art of delegation.
Solution
New managers need the appropriate tools to help soften the transition from peer to manager, as well as a way to understand their new role.
Candid feedback on one’s management competencies gives the new manager clarification on their role, as well as what behaviors need to continue, be stopped, or be changed. Identifying areas for improvement, and communicating their developmental goals to their team, will help the manager be viewed as effective and credible.
Goal setting is the key skill measured, as well as collaborative planning, giving feedback on progress, making control adjustments when needed, and providing recognition with rewards.
Coaching – Candid feedback can be overwhelming for a new manager. Therefore, 360 feedback coaching is encouraged to defuse emotional responses and help guide and focus development towards improvement, so the manager gets the most from the feedback process.
Training – Training is encouraged to target areas that need improvement indicated by the 360 degree feedback results.
Basic management training can be taught in our 2-Day Managing Through The Task Cycle® course. This class has managers learn and practice the basics of supervision, such as setting goals, managing difficult employees, planning, and problem solving.
Today’s HR professionals have hundreds of choices when laying out a training program for their organization. Trying to narrow it down to something that fits their unique culture, operational problems, and strategic goals can be difficult.
Solution
The first step to prioritizing training and development is to effectively determine where leadership competencies stand in your organization. In order to do this you need assessment tools that reliably measure individual competencies while creating a picture of leadership skills at an organizational level.
TBC’s Task Cycle® based surveys can help you identify crucial areas that need development. They cover role related concepts, making sure the assessment used not only measures the competencies necessary but that the resulting data can be trusted and used for planning.
Front-line employees, also known as an organization’s individual contributors (ICs) are typically a neglected group when it comes to training and development. Often considered the backbone of an organization, the IC has a significant challenge in that they’re often expected to complete their work with the help of others, but without the authority. They depend heavily on cooperation across departments, especially with peers, and need to have effective communication and persuasion skills to be successful in their role.
Solution
Two primary categories common to individual contributors are those with highly technical and very specific skill sets, such as chemists, engineers, IT staff, designers, etc., and those with a more well-rounded skill set, such as sales and customer service reps.
Providing the right measurement tools to these audiences will help ensure that they’re working on the behaviors needed to excel in their position.
Client Relations Survey – As you might guess, this survey measures key skills as related to servicing and understanding the need of clients. In addition to measuring their ability to establish rapport, we gauge their proficiency at analyzing clients’ needs, anticipating the benefits of the offered product or service, and ultimately making recommendations that the client will see as adding value to their organization.
