An Innovative Municipality Leading The Path

Tom Webster, Chief Administrative Officer at The Town of East Gwillimbury and long-time partner and friend of Predictive Success Founder & CEO David Lahey, sat down with us to discuss the use and modernization of predictive analytics in a municipal environment. Tom shares with us that "The Predictive Index® delivered by Predictive Success is a useful tool for understanding what makes your team connect and work better together. It allows you to acknowledge different learning and leadership styles." When recruiting for a new position in the organization, the municipality rolled it out by doing a session with the team at Predictive Success which revealed to them their ideal job target profile and a shortlist of candidates who matched that profile. Tom tells us that "one of those people got the job and it was an 11/10 hire."

Having used the tool for over 25 new hires, Tom and his team have taken it to a new level by implementing team-building sessions, and moving the organization forward in a positive direction. "We use it for every single recruitment we undertake with the town. When you make small changes to a team, you have to pick the right element and for our small investment, it has been a massive return on getting the right people hired and retaining employees in a positive work environment," says Tom.

How did The Predictive Index® tool help you through COVID?

"We began rolling out The Predictive Index® tool and found it was easy to use and easy to take. There is a consensus from our people that the individuals say their results are 'bang-on', and now with the layer added of The Cognitive Assessment®, when we use it for recruitment and team building, it’s been a positive and supportive experience for our people. Through COVID, we’ve been able to get grant funding because of our modernization efforts in our hardware and software, and while that has been important in being able to pivot, getting the right people in our organization is what drives that modernization and innovation," Tom shares.

What is the value of having the behavioural data of your team?

"Since there is a struggle with retention, attraction, and succession planning, a tool like this is beneficial because it can be customized to fit the needs of various clients. As we recovered and pivoted during COVID, with the use of predictive analytics, we were able to build a trusting and supportive team environment in the virtual world. To make a dynamic positive change, people want to work for a dynamic employer, they want to go to a municipality where they will be acknowledged as people and employees."

"Moving forward in the new working world, people want to work for an employer that understands them and the use of analytics like The Predictive Index® delivered by Predictive Success, it is a fantastic way to do that. It’s a very modest investment in comparison to the return we see from it", says Tom.