Talent Management - October 2008 - (Page 24)

recruitment & retention assessment & evaluation compensation & beneﬁts performance management learning & development succession planning When an individual takes one of TGI’s assessments, he or she may read a series of movie plots that have different roles. After each plot the individual is asked, “Which role is most like you and which is least like you?” A detailed report is then generated and provided to the hiring manager. “You assess in order to predict, and you predict in order to control outcome,” Presser said. “If you want to control outcome, you need to have people who are ﬂexible, nimble and know how to work off each other. If you can get that, then whatever happens tomorrow, you have an organization that will be able to meet it.” Cathy Scott, president of District Council 47 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), is using TGI’s role-based assessment to determine her current employees’ roles. Each employee will take the assessment, and once the Honing in on the Target Role Amie Lawrence, Ph.D., and Tracey Tafero, Ph.D. What is it that makes A-players so effective in the workplace? The underlying characteristics of top performers likely differ depending on the particular role. Understanding role-speciﬁc performance drivers and using assessments designed to measure the characteristics critical to each particular role greatly increases the likelihood of hiring and developing a high-potential workforce. What Is A Role-Based Assessment? An assessment is any evaluation tool that presents a series of questions or items with the intended purpose of evaluating an individual against a set of predetermined competencies or characteristics. There are many types of assessments; most are generic and designed for use across roles. A role-based assessment has a more ﬁne-grained focus and measures key success factors for a particular role such as sales or customer service. Often, the assessment itself or the scoring has been customized to maximize the predictive accuracy for the target role. The assessment content may be considered off the shelf, but the manner in which the scores are interpreted allows the organization to quickly draw conclusions about the speciﬁc role. Why Use Role-Based Assessments? ROI from an assessment is fueled by how well it identiﬁes individuals who are a good ﬁt for the target position. Role-based assessments tend to be more accurate than non-role-based ones because they focus speciﬁcally on the success characteristics for a particular role and do not to measure less relevant factors. A role-based assessment should be designed so the user is conﬁdent assessment scores are key indicators of top talent for a particular role. Role-based assessments also are easier to interpret. Assessments that take a one-size-ﬁts-all approach tend to measure a variety of individual characteristics, some of which are integral to success, while others are not. With these assessments, understanding how to interpret the results can be confusing, and it is difﬁcult to determine the employees’ overall ﬁt with the target role. Role-based assessments focus only on the relevant success factors. For this reason, the results clearly show how well the individual ﬁts the role. How to Use Role-Based Assessments In companies and organizations of all kinds, role-based assessments can be used for either selection or developmental purposes. In both cases, the ﬁrst step is to conduct a job analysis and develop an understanding of the key success factors for the target role. Knowing what makes someone a strong performer helps in deciding what assessment should be used to ensure a good ﬁt for the role. If the assessment is used for selection purposes, the information from the job analysis determines the organization’s acceptable score ranges on the assessment. Scores on factors that are strongly related to success on the job should be more heavily considered than factors that are less important. When role-based assessments are used, organizations increase the likelihood of hiring high-performing employees. When role-based assessments are used for developmental purposes, employees complete the assessment, and results are compared to a success proﬁle established from job analysis. The results will show who is a good ﬁt and who is a poor ﬁt for the target role. Employees are able to gain personal or professional insight by learning about strengths and any necessary developmental areas. They can use this information to create personal development plans that better prepare them for their current roles or develop them for future roles. Ultimately, thinking inside the box with role-based assessments increases the likelihood an organization will effectively identify the right person for the right job. This, in turn, leads to overall growth and productivity for the employee and the company. Amie Lawrence, Ph.D., is a senior research consultant, and Tracey Tafero, Ph.D., is a senior consultant at Select International Inc., a global assessment systems provider. They can be reached at editor@talentmgt.com. 24 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - October 2008

Talent Management - October 2008 Editor’s Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Foundations The Three Pillars of Executive On-Boarding Role-Based Assessment: Thinking Inside the Box Who's Going to Speak Up for Health Care? Obey the Push to Automate Managing the Star Performer No One Wants to Work With Adopting a Mutual-Funds Model for Talent Management Hewlett-Packard: Simple Talent Management in a Technical World Team Effort Pays in Talent at London Business School The Employee Survey: What’s in It for Me? Why Most Managers Are Stuck Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - October 2008

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