TM - January 2008 - (Page 27)

knowing if they are ready, simulations offer a safe environment in which to measure participants’ abilities without impacting business performance. Participants play the role of an executive in a fictitious organization, and throughout the course of the assessment day, take part in a number of simulations where they might handle e-mails, interact with a direct report, lead a task force, or present to a boss. These “day in the life” assessment centers provide simulations that are tightly integrated and based on a common fictitious organization. Many assessment center providers take this day-inthe-life approach even further, offering a full immersion experience. Participants arrive in the morning, get set up in an office and remain in the simulation — without a break — throughout the day. During this time, they receive the usual steady diet of e-mail and interruptions, meet with various role-players who play different characters, and handle manufactured events while their every move is observed and recorded. Assessment centers should provide more than an engaging day-in-the-life experience, however. They should focus on the pivotal business challenges the leader is likely to face over the course of a full year. A typical day is filled with many trivial distractions. Assessing only these activities does not provide the highest quality insight into the participant’s ability to truly handle all of the different business challenges of the role. The assessment experience should provide a year-ina-day experience, where the individual faces many of the challenges one would encounter in a senior position during a typical year. This allows assessors to evaluate how the participant performs in a variety of important business situations. More importantly, it reaches the true goals of the assessment experience — to determine whether the executive is ready for the new challenges the next level will pose and to provide rich, immediate feedback and coaching to help him improve his capabilities. Assessment processes are more likely to produce accurate measures of what it takes to succeed when they expose people to the most realistic and pivotal challenges that could have the greatest impact on the organization’s performance. A year-in-a-day simulation looks at how participants evaluate strategic choices, how they make important financial decisions and how they lead their teams through change. While it is probably unrealistic to expect an executive to have a new business strategies presentation, a global broadcast message to all employees and a meeting with financial analysts all on the same day, these are the challenges that will truly separate the “A players” from the “B players.” Value of the Data ommend specific best fits, ready backups and identify near- and longer-term replacement possibilities. The information also can be used to advise how to close skills gaps or to accelerate the readiness of individuals via development plans, experiences and assignments. Insight gathered during the assessment process also may end up positively modifying the career paths of some individuals. When assessment data is gathered on pools of talent within a firm, the information can be evaluated as a whole to determine organizational direction. When aligning the data with known business strategies, recommendations can be made on potential upgrades in key business units, or a new mix of talent can be suggested to leverage group productivity. The data also can suggest risk management strategies, such as external searches for key positions or group development to improve capabilities across multiple business units. Development With a focus on cultivating talent and finding successors from within an organization, the development of leaders is the real goal of the assessment process. Participants should receive practical insights on: • How they stack up against business requirements. • How to accelerate their readiness for a new role. • How they can manage the transition between roles. Same-day results — where individuals receive full, in-depth feedback and coaching before they leave — are the most valuable take-away from the assessment process. Further, the assessment process should provide: • Personalized career goals. • Feedback on development in regard to relevant business challenges and strategies. • Tailored development plans for each leader. The best assessment center programs provide participants with rich feedback on their performance in different business scenarios and equip them with insights on what the most effective leaders do in these situations. This helps them build skills and take more effective approaches in the future. Evaluating where an individual currently sits in regard to the skills and competencies needed for a higher-level position provides the basis for a focused development plan. With assistance, individuals can be given specific development tasks that will provide training and coaching targeted to those areas where improvement is needed. The assessment center process ensures senior executives have the abilities needed to take on new roles before being assigned to them, and it reveals areas for additional training and development, where needed. Dr. Stuart Crandell is vice president of global assessment solutions for Personnel Decisions International, a Minneapolis-based global human resources consulting firm. He can be reached at editor@TalentMgt.com. Data from the assessment process can be leveraged at the individual and organizational levels. On the individual level, assessment data can be used to rec- talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com 27 January 2008 http://www.TalentMgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - January 2008

TM - January 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Learning Connections: Working With Those People Leading Edge: Hub Caps for a Buggy Human Performance: Hawthorne Effect Revisited Beyond Affirmative Action: The Changing Face of Recruitment Assessment Centers in Talent Management: Strategies, Use and Value Nontraditional Benefits- How to Hook the Best Talent Intersection of Web 2.0 and Talent Management Cross-Training for Workforce Agility Mapping Talent Among Younger Workers Dashboard: Using Personality Data to Identify and Develop High-Potential Leaders Application: Shaffer Title Uses Myers-Briggs to Develop Common Corporate Language, Jump-Start Growth Insight: Dreier, Stein & Kahan LLP: Using Strategy to Bring Back the Law Profession Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources Full Potential: Stop in the Name of Leadership

TM - January 2008

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