Studying behavior to build better teams.

• Author: Jenkins, Alex
• Position: Around Utah: People - MONDRAGON Corp. Executive share his experience in firm

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Many may underestimate how much data and psychology goes into hiring, promoting and building a strong team. It's that psychological complexity that drove HireVue, as a provider of digital video solutions to help companies build successful teams, to hire Dr. Nathan Mondragon as its chief industrial organizational (IO) psychologist.

Mondragon brings with him decades of IO experience within the talent management and technology domain. Prior to joining HireVue, Mondragon spent time at Oracle as director of product strategy and lead organizational psychologist, as well as chief IO at Taleo Corp. He's also held leadership positions with Dell and CEB.

At HireVue, Mondragon specializes in human behavior at work.

"It's funny, I almost always have to explain to people what it is I do," Mondragon laughs. "My job has me dealing with all sorts of behavioral issues. Through various videos, I figure out how we can help customers and companies solve many of these issues. As we design a job performance and review system or produce employee engagement surveys, we can explore different outcomes for companies and execute specialized coaching strategies."

Mondragon and his team also use this data to see if employees are ready for a promotion. They also determine if a person is likely to stay at a job for the long term through things like facial cues and tone of voice.

Outside of work, Mondragon embraces his role as a father and husband. "I don't want to be cliche, but [my motivation] is my kids and family," he says. "Once, I was asked to put three words that describe myself on a business card. They were dad, husband...