ANN ARBOR – What’s the most powerful leadership skill you can have? Hands down, it’s the ability to produce high-talent teams. Nothing else even comes close.

Everything about leadership ? yes, everything ? starts with people,? according to Price Pritchett, national consultant and bestselling author of Managing Sideways and 25 other books on organizational change. This quote is from his introduction to Topgrading: How to Hire, Coach and Keep ?A? Players.

Pritchett is not alone, in Good to Great, author Jim Collins says, ?First Who?Then What.? The executives who ignited transformations from good to great first got the right people on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) then figured out where to drive it.

Recruiting the talent you need to assure the success of your company has never been easy, and it never will be. Fortunately, there are tools that can help.

As an IT Zone member, you can borrow from our resource library the Topgrading Interactive Training Video and Audio CD. This program is based on the best-selling book on recruiting and hiring by Brad and Geoff Smart. It puts at your fingertips the techniques behind their proven, premier methodology for producing high talent teams.

Topgrading was first recommended to IT Zone members by Verne Harnish, author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, during his presentation to local CEOs in May. This program sells for $1,395, but it?s available free to IT Zone members.

Another valuable hiring tool is the Predictive Index (PI) by Praendex Incorporated. This executive management tool measures work-related behaviors and identifies the motivating needs of individuals in your organization ? using a simple, 15-minute on-line test.

PI gives you and your management team the knowledge required to better motivate, lead and utilize your staff to achieve company goals. It will help you solve many business challenges, including:

Attracting candidates who are motivated to do the work

Hiring the right people for each type of job

Building teams that are focused and motivated

Communicating successfully with diverse individuals and groups

Dealing productively with conflict

Coming this fall, Peggy Gaylord, Senior Consultant with Bob Wilson & Associates, the largest licensee of Predictive Index and consultant to more than 200 businesses, will lead IT Zone members in a workshop on understanding and using PI to hire more effectively. This workshop will include actual PI evaluations for all pre-registered attendees.

If you?re interested in knowing more about Topgrading or Predictive Index, email [email protected] or call (734)615-9310.