Assessment_Centres

“Specific Challenges & Key Insights On assessment centres” Ashwin Pasricha Founder, Coach, Interventionist Human Network The author can be contacted at ashwinp@human-network.in ©copyright all rights reserved, the author is currently engaged in research on the subject. Ashwin Pasricha Founder, Coach, Interventionist Human Network The author can be contacted at ashwinp@human-network.in ©copyright all rights reserved, the author is currently engaged in research on the subject. About us Human Network is founded by Ashwin Pasricha and associates to design and deliver learning solutions to meet the varying needs of our clients. We work across all major industries. We offer a practical focus on learning. Our approach is to adopt a consulting approach and partner with organizations to address real business challenges. Our teams of facilitators use an andragogical approach and bring pragmatic insights into the classroom and speak from experience. Our focus areas are Leadership development, Talent assessment & Development, Coaching and Customized learning & development solutions. Introduction There are several challenges when you use Assessment Centers as a vehicle for selection & recruitment. My paper is going to focus on specific challenges and key insights which I have gained through my experience. To begin with, do a thorough job analysis, create a competency framework and look at key differentiating competencies (which differentiate superior performers from other acceptable performers), which will help you identify people who would be the “right fit” Many Organizations use an elaborative competency framework which at times makes the selection process very complex and cumbersome. Kinds of competencies In my opinion, competencies are basically of three types- We have the Head competencies which are Cognitive viz. Analytical thinking, Conceptual thinking etc. The Heart competencies are about Building relationships viz. Developing people, Relationship building etc and the third are Hand competencies which are about Planning and organizing, Result orientation etc. Assessment centers do an excellent job of measuring Head or Cognitive competencies and that is done brilliantly. When you actually put certain people through an Assessment center you can be sure of who is the brightest guy, the cleverest of the lot. When it comes to the Heart competencies, yes most certainly, we can have some exercises where people work in groups on a particular task. However, I don’t really see real evidence of a person’s ability to manage teams wherein you relate to people, or connect to people one to one in the truest sense of the word. Next are the Hand competencies, very difficult to assess through Assessment Centers. No matter, how carefully one designs the exercises whatever that might be, I think the proof of the pudding is when the rubber hits the road and the person goes to the market carrying a briefcase trying to increase sales or Increase the distribution network, only then you understand whether this person is able to deliver on the job or not. Gaps in assessment centres There are certain gaps in the Assessment Center approach which cannot be bridged. In one sense there are certain limitations. Of course it has a high predictive validity but only in respect of certain competencies, in my opinion as mentioned above. Overall, if you look at the definition of competencies, competencies include knowledge, skills and attitude. What about something like behavioral traits' How do we measure certain facets of a person’s personality' Can we use psychometric tools' Actually human behavior is far more complex and most of the tools used measure only one facet or aspect. Undoubtedly there are trait based and personality based instruments which may provide certain insights into a person’s innate tendency behavior. More importantly you need to select the right tool based on the Business, role, market challenges viz. does this candidate has an entrepreneurial mindset to kick start a new line of business' What about values, beliefs and self-concept' What a person thinks and feels about himself' Because it changes with time. When you look at measuring “Below the surface competencies,” I think Assessment centers are not very useful. Basic Premise Secondly the basic premise of Assessment Center is to assess behavior - visible behaviors evaluated (what we say / how we say it, what we do not say / how we do not say it, what we do /how we do it, what we do not do/ how we do not do it) in relation to a competency in a simulated environment. How reliable is it' When we are assessing a candidate, we are assessing certain competencies under standard test conditions. We haven’t tested the candidates out there in the market place. Initially when you design/develop a new car you will test it under standard test conditions, but you’ll also have a test track, where you push the car through certain rough terrains and see how it responds. I think you cannot simulate the same environment in a classroom setting, because today’s competencies required by the business are different. You are talking about tenacity, resilience. How do you measure tenacity and resilience in a classroom setting using case studies or in basket exercises' It’s not practical. Moving ahead, I think the second point is that when you run Assessment Centers you are trying to pick the brightest of the lot or the most immediate requirement. Good start, because companies are interested in short term results, they need to look at how you can deliver in a quarter. But it’s not entirely a good strategy. What happens is there are certain people who are naturally gifted but the learning curve is not so steep and success in today’s complex business world doesn’t depend on one dimension or job facet alone. It depends on a host of other factors. This becomes increasingly important at a later stage for middle / senior management positions as the candidate progresses in his or her career' How do you measure being political savvy and ability to manage the complex web of political undercurrents in an organization' Clearly assessment centers alone are not an answer. Our viewpoint Human Network does some research in the area of “what causes performance'” I have been hearing various entrepreneurs and whenever I get the opportunity to meet them in a forum what I found was “there is limited correlation between competencies and business success/performance.” Instead what I discovered is that each person has an individual has one “Trait”, one “Quality” or one “Talent theme” which helps them succeed, primarily because they leveraged that quality, trait or talent theme ‘N’ number of times That’s interesting, so what I am saying is that when you look at conventional Assessment Centers you have a Target position, you look at certain competencies with respect to that position / person and use assessment tools to gauge the presence or absence of the competency on a proficiency scale. Good approach! But in that process you isolate several other talented people which possibly could be a source of competitive advantage in another functional area. We do lot of work around Strength based assessments, using a strength based approach to understand what makes a person tick. And what we advocate is look at the person after doing a preliminary screening and then look at the target job. Reverse the process and who knows you might discover someone talented in that process – “a Maverick”. To summarize:- 1. What I personally believe is that Assessment Centers are more suitable for entry level and junior management positions. 2. Focus on the key differentiating competencies which are innate (illustrative only) viz. applied thinking, learning agility, Resilience, Drive etc. 3. For internal Assessment Centre’s:- * Use organizational data (both performance data and 360 degree feedback to validate the rating assessment) * Use strengths based assessment tools or match the competency potential of the role incumbent with the target job / position to determine the extent of role fitment. * Create a robust IDP to develop a talent pipeline in line with the business needs. * Offer relevant developmental experiences viz. action learning projects both on the job with mentoring support. In conclusion, one need to adopt a much more holistic approach towards actually selecting the most relevant candidate for the job based on the current and future business needs. ***