About Us
The Centranum Story
The beginning – a common problem
In early 2000 our Organizational Psychology practice completed a project for a large healthcare client with problems of high turnover in newly appointed staff. Researching with surveys and interviews we discovered the reason. The roles of the newly appointed staff were not what they expected from the job descriptions provided during the recruitment process. The research also uncovered an issue with an ineffective performance management process and perceived lack of support for individual development.
This is a common problem even now 17 years later.
People are employed to do a ‘job’, and their job role is the centre of both the legal and psychological employment contract. Yet poor quality job descriptions were then – and still are – a major problem in most organizations. A significant number of commentators even recommend doing away with the job description altogether.
To us this was, and is, bizarre. Job role requirements – however presented – however named – are the foundation for all people management processes.
Decades of research in organizational psychology have clearly established what is needed to drive successful job performance – yet this research is not easily accessible and so most managers are not aware of it.
Understandably in a changing business environment organizations struggle to keep job role requirements up to date. Without this people management processes are inevitably fragmented and potentially ineffective.
In 2000 we looked for some tools we could use to help organizations structure their HR management information and processes in line with the research. We found nothing. This was the era before cloud computing.
The Centranum evidence based solution
Centranum was created in 2001 to fix this problem.
We designed and patented a web based performance management system to enable our clients to define job roles in a living and dynamic way. Then analyse them to determine the competencies needed for success. The platform uses this information in the performance management process, as part of day to day operations, not an annual form filling exercise.
In 2003 we established our first beta site and in 2005 our first production clients.
Since then the system has grown with the input of our international client base as together we discovered more problems that we could solve.
We are now a leading provider of customizable competency management solutions. Because research has demonstrated repeatedly that job knowledge and skills are the single biggest predictor of job success.
With all the talk of big data one thing is often forgotten – quantity does not mean quality. Big data is no good if the data is inaccurate or irrelevant. We have specialized in providing organizations with rich, real time staff information that is objective, accurate and not just pretty, but also really useful for decision making.
In our client industries most roles require people with well above average thinking skills (by definition only the top third of the labour market). Organizations MUST now grow talent from within. Hiring is often taken as the easy option, but this strategy increases staffing costs because organizations are competing for a shrinking labour pool.
So we developed tools to enable clients to build a sustainable talent pipeline. To identify career interests and assess staff future potential using evidence based approaches. Tools to support career development, to define and develop talent pools and to groom successors based on the particular needs of specific positions.
The Centranum Philosophy
Centranum is a profitable privately owned company operating internationally.
Our clients are enterprises in knowledge intensive industries – healthcare, engineering and technology.
Our mission is to provide technology that promotes and supports research proven people management practices, is easy to use with minimal administration. We aim to provide relevant real time information for each individual to develop capability and peformance in their particular role and to provide management with the valuable input needed for human capital decisions.
Using our platform brings a focus on promoting functional, core and leadership competencies helping clients to
- identify and develop the potential of their people
- build workforce engagement and improve retention
- improve productivity and quality,
- ensure regulatory compliance
- reduce operational risks
- increase opportunity from innovation
Our founder
Leanne Markus is a registered psychologist, Principal of Performance Group International, Consulting Organisational Psychologists, founder and CEO of Centranum.
At Centranum she leads the team in the configuration and deployment of our customizable competency, performance and talent management platforms for clients around the world.
Leanne has held senior operational roles in retail, service and manufacturing organisations internationally. Since the establishment of Performance Group in 1993 she has been involved in OD consulting, completing projects across a broad range of industries.
She has guest lectured in Psychology, and related Business, HR and IT topics at a number of universities.
Her perspective on Human Capital and Organizational Development is grounded in the combination of her business experience and professional training. An advocate of evidence based practice she maintains an in depth knowledge of research in the field of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, using it to inform best practice in HR practice and the development of Centranum’s supporting technology.
Her particular area of specialization is competency based management for knowledge intensive organisations.
She is the author of several papers and articles on HR systems and work force competencies, and is a speaker at industry and academic conferences internationally.