STAFFORD, Texas — One of the big conversations generated by the Great Resignation is about fulfilment and whether the right people are in the right roles in the right company. Plenty of employees have taken personality tests to learn more about our strengths and challenges, but that’s the easy part. The next step is learning how to use that information to find the right fit.
That’s where the team at CDR-U comes in. According to its website, the company reaches “below the surface providing trustworthy, honest, get-to-the root of the issue personalized feedback that is never sugar coated, to accurately align and develop employees from executives to individual contributors - anytime, anywhere.”
Nancy Parsons has been studying personality traits and performance for about three decades. Twenty-three years ago, she founded CDR, a company that works on developing leaders, executives and other high-level professionals to find the best fit for them within their field.
“A few years back, one of our clients, the U.S. Army Civilian University, asked if we could do some kind of multimedia coaching,” Parsons said. “They loved the live coaching, but there’s no way you can scale that out to the 10,000 employees who needed it.”
That got Parsons thinking and in July 2020, she launched CDR-U, an in-depth, AI-type coaching.
“The individual gets debriefed on the full three assessments with their avatar coach. Then there are developmental action plans,” said Parsons.
The key, she said, is delivering self-awareness to employees.
“People really need to be self-aware to drive their careers in the best direction and studies show that most people aren't,” Parsons said.
CDR-U is a tool employees can use on that journey, especially as so many workers are reevaluating what they’re looking for in a position or career.
“Research shows that by the time you're working-adult age, you are who you are,” Parsons said. “But we can develop those short sides. What are we going to do if we're not very good here? Maybe we use an app? Or maybe somebody else does that for us? We switch, right? That's really an awakening that I think corporations are having.”
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To learn more about CDR-U and the value of decoding your professional DNA, watch digital anchor Brandi Smith’s full interview with Parsons in the video above.