Right Quarterly 3rd quarter 2013: Talent Assessment

TALENT ASSESSMENT 1

EDITORIAL & FOREWORD 02 by Chaitali Mukherjee

SOLuTIOn InSIghT & CASE STuDy

Strategic Leader Development through Talent Assessment, 04 Personal Mastery and Team Learning by Derek Estrop

CLIEnT REFEREnCE STORy & InTERvIEW

Developing Leaders through 4P’s at JSPL 08 by Chaitali Mukherjee, Dipty Jalan, Ashish Jain, Vijayant Yadav, Abhinandan Chatterjee & Prerna Mehta

POInT OF vIEW

Investing in the right Talent: Revisiting 13 Talent Assessment Tools by Dr. Colin Couzin-Wood

EvEnT uPDATE

Breakfast Roundtable - ‘Leader Assessment in 18 the Human Age’ by Tuhina Panda

Layout & Design Editor

Ritesh hellan

Copy Editor

Tuhina Panda

For a copy of ‘The Right Quarterly’, write to us at

[email protected]

2 THE RIGHT QUARTERLY

by Chaitali MukherjeeCountry Manager - Right Management India

There is a new buzz in the air. A change has come about the workplace where a sense of purpose is now clearly visible amongst both organizations and their employees. Even with the numerous economic changes that have taken place around the world, ‘Talent’ has created a place for itself in every organization. Individuals are aware of where they want their careers to go, and many are even aware of what it will take to get there. Organizations are now focusing on building a long term association with their employees. They are doing so by first ensuring that they have the right people on board with the relevant skill sets, and then providing them with the relevant tools to follow their career aspirations and succeed. Though, the rules of the game have changed given the dynamic business scenario. The parameters defining success have been redefined having become more ambiguous. Even an individual is aware of this change and is very focused on working towards his/her career goals. Organizations as well are aware of what they would like their ‘talent pool’ to look like, and are really cautious on who they would like to hire, as well as promote into critical roles.

In the last edition of the Right Quarterly, we spoke about career management, talking about how its importance has grown in the current business context. As shared above, there is now a greater awareness amongst employees and organizations on what they are working towards – specific career aspirations and retention of critical talent, respectively.

For our current edition, we want to explore the starting point of many HR initiatives – talent assessment. Talent assessment is the process of evaluating the potential of an individual, team or organization, against a

given set of competencies. The output from a talent assessment process is used as a critical diagnostic data point prior to a strategic development or business initiative. Without talent assessment, many organizations would not have the reference point that they need to make critical people decisions around hiring, development, succession planning, promotions, outplacement, capability building, and more. Talent assessment is an important process that is a part of every organization, and is visible in different forms.

Our first article ‘Strategic Leader Development through Talent Assessment, Personal Mastery and Team Learning’, talks about how the right talent assessment approach can help create a new breed of contemporary leaders, who are able to create and drive their own personal vision. But does the journey end there? A leader who is self-aware, passionate and equipped with the right skill set, is better able to contribute to the team he/she is part of. But even more he/she will be able to drive the change desired in an organization with confidence and focus. This article shares not only the concepts behind such an approach, but also a case study of a successfully implemented project with one of our clients in Singapore.

The second article shares the success story of a talent assessment assignment where we partnered with a large steel manufacturing organization in India. ‘Developing Leaders through 4P’s at JSPL’ shares the details of the assignment we worked on with Jindal Steel & Power Limited, where a unique approach was used and was well aligned to the ‘Jindal Leadership Model’. JSPL has defined for itself a clear strategic goal of reaching an annual turnover of 4 Billion USD by 2020. With this

Editorial & Foreword

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objective in mind, JSPL was sure that this growth can only be achieved through the support of a strong leadership pipeline with the right capabilities. Though this journey started in 2008, to help increase the efficiency of identifying the right set of leaders who will drive the desired growth, Right Management suggested the ‘4P’s Leadership Framework’ for the talent assessment process. But what is the ‘4P’s Leadership Framework’? Right Management believes that besides ‘Performance’, there are other parameters which define and influence the kind of leader an individual can become. We strongly urge you to read on so that we can share the ‘4P’s Leadership Framework’ with you as well!

Talent assessment has evolved over time. Two of the most important changes we have experienced are the improvements in accuracy and efficiency of the process. Technology has also transformed the process, giving us a much more robust approach with multiple benefits. But to begin with, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit the objectives and applicability of the talent assessment process. In our third article ‘Investing in the right Talent: Revisiting Talent Assessment Tools’ we go back to the basics. Whether it be hiring, development, employee engagement or succession planning, talent assessment can be leveraged to achieve various strategic business and people objectives. Hence it is critical to be clear of the objective and how the output will be used for important decisions.

Our final article is an event update from a recent breakfast roundtable we hosted in India on ‘Leader Assessment in the human Age’. As shared above, we are all aware of how technology has transformed the process of talent assessment. This integration is a

true representation of not only how HR and technology can work together to redefine the way we do business, but also influence business outcomes positively. Senior business leaders from different industries contributed to the discussion by sharing their perspective on this evolution of talent assessment into a virtual, scalable and flexible business-enabling tool. It was also an opportunity for Right Management to share its approach and talk about the Leader Evolution Center, which is an innovative virtual assessment platform, helping organizations align their talent needs to their business goals.

We hope that this edition helps to build on your perspective of talent assessment. Through this, we also endeavor to share with you our passion for this subject that is an integral part of any talent decision in every organization. The Talent Assessment practice is one where we have most enjoyed innovating and challenging ourselves, while also giving our client organizations an immediate outcome that they can benefit from.

Happy reading!


The Assessment Process and ‘Personal Mastery’

Personal Mastery (Peter Senge, 2006, P.7) is “the discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively.” It is more than just about competence, skills or spiritual growth. It is about creating a desired future and moving towards it. People exhibiting high levels of Personal Mastery are skilled at creating a personal vision and accurately assessing their current reality with respect to that vision. The gap between current reality and personal vision propels them forward. This gap is often referred to as ‘creative tension.’

Through a recent assignment with one of our clients, we were able to kick start the process of Personal Mastery for its senior leadership team. To help any employee start on this journey, it becomes essential for the organization to provide them with a platform that allows them to understand themselves

first, and then plan their developmental goals basis the priority areas. The client is a leading global provider of flow equipment products, systems and services to the worldwide oil, gas and process industries. Based on the good work done earlier with their Asia Pacific corporate office and the feedback from one of its senior leaders who had experienced an assessment and leadership coaching program, we won an assignment with their Singapore team. Right Management recommended a blended program design that had elements of individual assessment, coaching, and team learning components, which were conducted over several months. Right Management (US) and our Singapore team implemented the program for the client from 2012 to 2013.

Leveraging Leader Assessment for Strategic Development

The project was implemented in three phases. A brief on each phase is shared here to detail out how the assessment process helped to provide valuable insights for

Solution Insight & Case Study

Strategic Leader Development through Talent Assessment, Personal Mastery and Team Learning

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building self-awareness, encouraging team learning and achieving Personal Mastery.

Phase 1: Assessments and Introduction of Key Concepts

The process started off with a Community Building and Learning Team Formation meeting. Here the coaches and participants met to get to know one another, exchange information, and generally map out the development process and activities. This was followed by the in-depth Assessment and Development Planning step. Assessments were used to identify and prioritize strengths and development areas, and to help establish a professional development action plan that the individual leader initiated and stewarded. The assessments were coordinated by Right Management, incorporating a 360 tool and a set of personality inventories. These were purely for development and confidential to the relationship with the coach. What the assessment process was able to do was to give a picture of the ‘current reality’ to the individual. Hence, the combination of feedback from peers, bosses and direct reports, along with an understanding of individual personality, gave much needed insight as to where each leader was and his or her learning journey ahead. Career enablers and derailers often featured in discussions and key themes emerged

as leaders planned their priority areas for development. Feedback from peers was considered as invaluable as leaders attempted to validate their profiles and results. Individual coaching sessions leveraged the opportunity provided by the group forums, where leaders could seek additional feedback in a safe and somewhat regulated learning environment.

Following the assessment process, the coaches worked with each participant to ensure that the development plan was actionable and likely to be implemented effectively. The development plan was then shared with the manager and all parties agreed on how progress would be tracked and monitored.

Phase 2: Individual Coaching and Team Learning Forums

This phase utilized a series of customizable tools and models that addressed the learning needs of the team, based on their assessment results and what the individual leader and the team, as a whole, chose to work on. Through group forums and individual coaching sessions, the coaches worked with all leaders to ensure that goals were being achieved, that learning was on-going, and new issues were being dealt with effectively. During the team learning forums, the Right facilitator checked on the

PH

AS

E 1 • Program Kick Off

• Pre- Assessments for Development

• Learning Team Formation

• Community Building

1:1

Group Session 1-2P

HA

SE

2 • Key Relational Activities

• Skill Practice and Feedback

• Apply New Skills to the Job

1:1

Group Session 3-4

PH

AS

E 3 • Apply New Skills to

the Job• Report Results and

Lessons Learned• Community

Building• Prepare for

Coaching with Manager

1:1

Group Session 5-6

Cohort –Based Learning

Reference 1.1 Program Model


progress relative to individual development plans, discussed new challenges and how they might be handled, and used role-plays, videos, group simulations, and reflective dialogue and discussions to help the team with key challenges. The insights from the assessment process helped them to keep track of the priorities they wanted to achieve.

Phase 3: Integration and Application of Learning

As the project is still on-going, the sessions continue to reinforce the application of learning on the job. Participants share stories of successes and challenges, with support and feedback provided by peers and coaches. The coach and participants discuss on-going development and involve the manager in the follow-through on coaching to the development plan.

So what is the Team Learning Process?

Team Learning is viewed as “the process of aligning and developing the capacities of a team to create the results its members truly desire” (Senge, 1990, P.9). It builds on Personal Mastery and Shared Vision – but these are not enough. People need to be able to act together. When teams learn together, Peter Senge suggests, not only will there be good results for the organization, but members will also grow more rapidly

moreconcrete

moreabstract

moreactive

morereflective

CoordinatedAction

PublicReflection

JointPlanning

SharedMeaning

Reference 1.2 The Wheel of Team Learning

(Peter Senge and others. 1994. The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, Ch. 8)

than could have occurred otherwise. Also, insights from an assessment process can help ensure that the team goals are aligned and complement the individual development plans of employees.

“The discipline of team learning starts with dialogue, the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter into a genuine ‘thinking together’. To the Greeks ‘dia-logos’ meant a free-flow of meaning through a group, allowing the group to discover insights not attainable individually.” (Senge, 2006, P.10) It is with these premises in mind that we designed and implemented both the group forums and individual coaching sessions.

People don’tresist change;they resist being changed

- Peter Senge

“”

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From the first two sessions itself, the team was encouraged to build their own curriculum, given their 360 feedback, personality results and team trends. The Right consultant played the role of facilitator/coach, while the team engaged in rich dialogue and often, debate. The individual coaching sessions were also leader-centered. Each leader set the agenda and led (or at least co-led) the session.

A needed Balance - Structure and Fluidity

From Phase 2 onwards, each group session started with reference to the data made available through the 360 reports and personality tools. Individual and peer/team reflection followed, with a focus on the current reality of their leadership effectiveness and what they aspired towards, for themselves and the organization. Team members, as peers, validated each other’s development focus and helped structure action plans moving forward. As the group sessions ensued, leaders built in the content or frameworks covered (concrete) into their action plans eg. to use the ‘retention dialogue’ framework with key staff. Session topics or themes for the forums were changed or modified somewhat, if the group so chose to, as needs evolved or became more specific.

Moving Forward

We are currently working with the next two levels of leaders in the organization using the same approach, and are indeed thrilled at having the opportunity to impact the organization in this way. We have worked closely with the client team to make some changes to the program basis our experience and feedback received from the first senior leadership group. To allow the individual assessment and learning process to be leveraged, only one coach is involved now with each team and will also take on the facilitator role for all group forums. This is helping us to maintain the continuity between individual coaching and group forums, and integrate the learning experience overall.

Bibliography

Senge, P.M. (2006). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. New York: Currency, Doubleday.

by Derek EstropPrincipal Consultant

ASEAN


Developing Leaders through 4P’s at JSPL

In the Human Age that we are in today, a key question that progressive organizations lose their sleep for is, are my existing people ready to reinvent themselves and meet the challenging business needs of the future? Do we know who is the best fit for a critical role / a new opportunity or is personal judgment the best answer to it?

The answer lies in understanding the depth of your talent. What are the key strengths at different levels and what are some focus areas at an individual or organizational level. The right way to achieve this is to follow a systematic process year on year which becomes a part of the culture of the organization and encourages people to adopt the behaviors that the organization values.

A brilliant example in this case is Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. (JSPL). Jindal Steel and Power is one of India’s major steel producers and is part of the USD 18 Billion O.P. Jindal Group. As a company that has constantly looked to scale new heights, JSPL aspires to move to the next phase of growth by realizing a turnover of 4 billion USD by 2020, having a current annual turnover of USD 3.6 billion. To drive this growth, JSPL intends to have a class of leaders who have strategic and operation excellence capabilities, and are able to lead people in this dynamic and ambiguous environment. To build this capability, the organization started a journey in 2008 of formally assessing the potential of its leaders to be able to plan

Client Reference Story & Interview

According to a recent research, 37% of leaders fail after moving into a new leadership role and 91% of business leaders say today’s business challenges are significantly more complex. Are we pushing leaders to take on roles that they are not ready for or are we simply pushing the wrong leader?

Right Management’s 4P’s Leadership Framework

Exploring Right Management’s ‘4P’s Leadership Framework’ to understand what it means to be a leader in the Human Age

What classifies as ‘good’ and ‘great’ performance

Exploring the ‘stickiness’ of perceptions and why they matter

Leveraging the Birkman Method to learn more about our personality styles. Understanding how to manifest our innate potential

Leveraging our understanding of the 4P’s to define a Personal Brand

the development intervention for them. While they have been doing the same for some time, they wanted to increase the effectiveness of the initiative by doing things differently.

It was with this context that Right Management presented its approach, which was appreciated by them and thus began our partnership through a holistic talent assessment project. JSPL had a ‘Jindal Leadership Model’ which summarizes the leadership behaviors and values that a Jindal Leader needs to demonstrate. The engagement began by first validating the existing Jindal model and converting it into a framework that details the behaviors and scales for us to consider as the base for assessments.

Considering, that the talent in consideration was at the senior leadership level i.e CG1 and CG2 (AVP and above), Right Management suggested their 4P’s Leadership Framework, to holistically assess a leader.

TALENT ASSESSMENT 9

Birkman

Personality

Readiness for next noitadnemmoceReloR

Immediate – Clear High Potential

Ready after short term development intervention - Good Potential but needs some development

Needs Development

1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Gap

1.Strategic Thinking & Innovation

-0.5

2. Process Excellence 0.5

3. Drive for Results 0.0

5.0ycarcotireM.4

5. Collaboration & Care 0.5

6. Change Leadership -0.5

360 Feedback

4.0

4.2

4.2

3.9

4.1

4.1

Potential (Max Score = 5) PerceptionDC Score

Desired Score

DC & Desired Score is sameHigh Level of ProficiencyFair Level of ProficiencyLow Level of Proficiency

Note: The desired score is for the next level

Key Strengths

• Displays sound business acumen and conducts in-depthanalysis of data and applies market knowledge

• Comes across as an action-oriented individual who also hashigh achievement orientation

• Displays clarity and confidence while communicating, enablinghim to effectively influence people

• Is likely to set stretch targets for his team, providing themwith necessary guidance when required

Key Developmental Areas

• Could gain from further developing his orientation towardscustomers

• Could gain from taking a long-term view, especially whenplanning and assessing risks

• Could enhance conflict management skills by attempting todiscover the root cause and addressing the same

• Could benefit from proactively aligning people to the visionof the change initiative and create ownership for the same

Participant Name

CurrentDesignationXYZ AVP

Department CGMarketing

Next Role

CG2

VP

Reference 2.1 Right Management’s Suitability Mapping Profile Snapshot

Feedback from the Participants

“This is a really excellent opportunity to display situational management. It also allows one to do an introspection of one’s strength and behaviors.”

“Very well managed, well explained, it was more of interactive and participative coupled with good questions. The process was interesting and informative wherein I was able to introspect and could understand myself better.”

“It has been done very professionally. I found the process to be interesting as it gives you time to think and analyze the past and prepare you for future.”

“The techniques adapted and tools used have enabled me to reflect on my performance, my success and failures and the need to create a strategy to become an effective leader. The assessors have been very cordial in their approach.”

Different tools were mapped with an objective to give a leader a holistic perspective about himself/herself.

• Performance: What is the individual’s achievement on the defined KRAs/KPIs? Assessment Mode: Performance Appraisal by Manager

• Perception: How do multiple stakeholders experience/ view the leadership capability of the individual? Assessment Mode: 360 Degree Feedback Survey

• Personality: What are the leadership traits, personality attributes which guides the individual behaviors? Assessment Mode: Birkman Psychometric Tool

• Potential: What are the individual leadership strengths and areas of development? Assessment Mode: Development Center

Post the pre-work of Birkman psychometric and 360 Degree feedback, the development center process was run parallel across 3 locations covering 76 participants. The text box to the right showcases some of the feedback received from a few participants during the development center.

The intended outcome from the process was twofold.

First being the outcome for the Participant: a detailed talent profile was created for each leader which was followed by a structured one-on-one feedback session. The talent profile report and the


Client Speak

Praveen KumarHead – Steel Business

HR & Group OD

Mr. Praveen Kumar shares his experience of the intervention and working with Right Management.

What was the context when JSPL began initial conversations with Right Management on partnering together for Development Center initiatives?

JSPL as an organization has witnessed a phenomenal growth in the past ten years. Our growth has been in variety of portfolios as well as in terms of intensity in a given business. We have to develop leaders both in terms of number and functional competencies to handle this growth in fast changing business scenario. We have consistently been investing efforts towards preparing ourselves for the same. We have introduced a mechanism Talent Ownership in which organization-wide talent related decisions are taken in a very structured manner.

JSPL’s Apex body, Group Executive Council (GEC), takes the decisions on the following critical aspects:

• Succession Planning

• Leadership Development

• Career Planning

Q

one-on-one feedback session encapsulated the 4P’s in detail. Potential and Personality are internal factors that are innate to an individual. Performance and Perception are external factors that depend on one’s dealings and interactions with others. The talent profile reports, along with the analysis from the 360 degree feedback survey and the online psychometric tool along with the development center output provided a robust understanding of a participant’s assessment on varied aspects. During the one-on-one feedback session, the assessor and the participant involved together formulated an Individual Development Plan (IDP). The IDP thereby created had details of the strengths and improvements of the participant along with the way forward.

The Second being the outcome for the Organization: the organization was provided with two critical outputs viz-a-viz Suitability Mapping Profile and Overall Analysis. The Suitability Mapping Profile provided comprehensive data and information on Personality, Perception and

Potential. Further to this, the profile also had recommendation on the readiness of a leader for the next role along with the key strengths and development areas as identified on the basis of the 4P’s. In addition to the Suitability Mapping Profile, Right Management created an overall analysis that provided imperative data on Potential, Perception and Personality. The Potential and Perception data shared overall inferences on all the competencies on the basis of outcome from the development centers and the 360 degree feedback survey respectively. The Personality data shared inputs wherein all the leaders were categorized under task orientation, people orientation, strategic thinking and process orientation.

The intervention benefited the organization as they received the inputs on all 4P’s along with other imperative inputs that were critical in identifying the developmental path for the participants. The key stakeholders found the Suitability Mapping Profiles to be extremely useful for them to be able to take decisions on individuals.

TALENT ASSESSMENT 11

To ensure that the decisions take all the imperative factors into consideration, detailed leadership profiles of all the senior members of the organization are prepared. The profile includes inputs from techniques such as assessment/development center, 360 degree feedback and psychometric test, which together form a participant’s potential assessment. This data is then presented to the GEC to take the talent related decisions.

In this regard, we partnered with Right Management to conduct the intervention and seek support in preparing the Talent Profile for each senior leader of the organization.

What made JSPL go ahead with Right Management as the partner for this significant engagement?

When our conversations with Right Management were initiated, Right Management presented a proposal for the intervention. The proposal had the philosophy of the 4P’s (Performance, Potential, Personality and Perception) wherein an individual’s profile would incorporate inputs on each of the P. The philosophy was close to our requirement and the alignment with the organization’s approach helped us in deciding to go ahead with Right Management.

As a process, development centers have been well institutionalized by you in the system. how was your experience in implementing assessments this year different than the previous years?

JSPL has been growing rapidly especially since the last 5 years and the CAGR is more than 30%. The rapid growth threw a challenge on the HR function to build and develop the capability of the leadership in the organization. With this intent, we initiated developing a leadership pipeline and developed our leadership design. The first step in this journey was to map the capability against the requirement for a competency. We had started conducting development centers in 2008 and since then, it has been challenging to ensure participant’s availability for the exercise. But nevertheless, we are in the process of institutionalizing the process. Last year in particular, we started working with Right Management and with their support, we re-calibrated our competency framework. We felt and realized that getting people this time around was a bit easier than the previous time, as people had accepted the development center process to be a robust one as it gives the right feedback to the participants. Every individual wants to grow including the people who have been working for 20-25 years with JSPL as the process helps them identify certain future-oriented behavioural training that they would like to undergo. Agility is a critical factor and ensuring that the participants are engaged for the day during the development center is challenging, but with Right Management, we have now been able to do so. People in the organization have realized that it’s an important exercise and the premise of undergoing various simulations that are robust has been beneficial in enhancing people’s interest. This realization has helped us in making this process an institutionalized one.

how has been your experience with the team that has been working from Right Management on this to support you?

I would like to share a few factors that made the experience of working with Right Management a journey worth cherishing. The flexibility, the ease and the adaptability of the team at Right Management is commendable. It gets quite challenging to ensure availability of our senior leaders for the pre-determined dates and hence I am thankful to Right Management that they were extremely flexible and supportive to this end. Secondly, the team at Right Management definitely helped us with their insight and knowledge. They were robust in their approach for recalibrating the competency framework of our organization and the 4P’s approach that we have introduced basis Right Management’s suggestion is remarkably exceptional. The 4P’s are Perception, Performance, Potential and Personality. We have an apex body named GEC in which every individual is assessed for the future role and their performance for the last year is considered. The recommendation by Right Management for employing the 4P’s approach was extremely beneficial and has been liked by our top management. The approach has given a strong 360 degree view and the multi rater has helped us in correctly reviewing the performance, capability and perception of the leaders in the organization.

Q

Q

Q


Dipty JalanProgram Manager

India

Abhinandan ChatterjeeTeam Member

India

Ashish JainProject Leader

India

Prerna MehtaTeam Member

India

Chaitali MukherjeeCountry Manager

India

vijayant yadavTeam Member

India

how has the overall feedback from stakeholders been on the services provided by Right Management?

The overall feedback of the stakeholders has been exciting and positive. It has helped us in taking organization-wide talent decisions along with preparing the organization for the future.

On a personal note, could you share about your key learning from the journey.

My key learning from the journey is as follows:

• The communication to the senior management with regard to convincing them about the intervention being developmental rather than an assessment program

• Selection of relevant and contemporary tools for the program for the right group of people

Q

Q

ProjectTeam


Investing in the right Talent: Revisiting Talent Assessment Tools

Right Management defines talent assessment as the scientific process used to improve the quality of decision making for talent investments made across an organization. A favourite rule of thumb for me is that more data enables a better decision. Further, decision accuracy improves as data quality improves. This underscores the benefits of using talent assessment tools to support selection and development practices. In this article, I will explore the applicability of talent assessment to each for making effective talent decisions and share my advice on best practice.

Talent Assessment for Selection

Recruiting a new employee is a great example of the benefits of using multiple data points. However, failing to add talent assessment tools to your toolkit is an opportunity wasted. At Right Management we work with individuals who access our Career Management services to help them to understand themselves, their values and the job market (internal or external) to transition into the right roles based on clearly defined work targets. I particularly enjoy working with these individuals because it provides me with the perspective of the applicant and allows me to view the recruitment process through their eyes. After all, these applicants could be the very talent you are seeking to attract.

I often tell my candidates that recruitment is an exercise in assessing an applicant in terms of:

1. CAN they do the role?

2. WILL they do the role?

3. Do they FIT in?

Typically, multiple sources of information about the candidate are collected during the recruitment process to answer these three questions as shown in the table below.

Did you notice that assessment tools tick all the boxes? Did you also notice that tools is plural? As there is not one tool that can measure CAN + WILL + FIT. The table below demonstrates well that multiple data sources enable better decisions: across and within data sources. When the cost to implement talent assessment tools is compared to the time and labour costs associated with the other methods, assessment tools provide genuine value.

What about my second rule of thumb, the quality of data? There are many meta-studies that combine the outcomes of published research. One such line of inquiry relates to the question of which assessment tool is the best predictor of job performance? A summary of some findings is presented in the Reference 3.2 on the next page.

Consistently, meta-analytic studies such as

Point of View

SourceCAn they do the

role?WILL they do the

role?Do they FIT in?

Resume and Cover Letter

Interviews ?

Reference Checks

Assessment Tools

Reference 3.1 Candidate Evaluation Matrix


those informing Reference 3.2 highlight the utility of using multiple assessment methods or tools; and using tools that are:

• valid – they measure what they say they will measure on factors that are relevant; and

• Reliable – they measure a consistent outcome over time or between observers

Another advantage of using assessment tools for recruitment is that you are able to compare applicants beyond your immediate applicant pool. Assessment tools enable you to make comparisons to test takers who are applying for roles:

• Region or Country – in the same region or country

• Level – at the same level of role

• Industry or Sector – in the same market segment

This enables you to determine how your applicants stack up to the broader market for your key selection criteria or success profile for the role. Further, comparison or norm groups are statistical representations of these populations that contain less bias than an applicant pool and are refreshed

regularly to keep in step with changes to the labour market. Why wouldn’t you use them to improve the accuracy of your hiring decisions?

Talent Assessment for Development

Many of the principles and benefits of using assessment tools for selection described above also apply to development objectives. The only difference is that we are viewing existing employees through a slightly different lens.

Thus, the question we are asking is what is required to support the employee to:

1. Develop AT LEVEL in same role or alternate role (a lattice organizational structure)

2. Progress to the NEXT LEVEL

3. Progress rapidly to the next level and beyond as a HIGH POTENTIAL employee

Each pathway will require a measure of the employee’s potential (not constrained by their current role or position within the organizational structure) and performance (how they are currently performing). A typical example of such a set of measures follows.

Reference 3.2 Improved Reliability of Talent Decisions

Using a selection process with multiple, proven assessment methods significantly increases overall predictive validity of a leader’s success.

1.0

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0

Right’s multi-assessment approach – work samples, critical thinking, structured interview, personality (0.68)

Cognitive tests (0.61)

Structured interview (0.50)

References (0.26)

Years education (0.10)

Age (- 0.01)

Validity Correlation of Talent Assessment MethodsJob Performance Criteria

References: Hough & Oswald, 2001; Robertson & Smith, 2001


Potential Performance

• Behavioural preferences or work style (the why)

• Actual observed behaviour (the how)

• Cognitive ability (the capacity)

• Performance or KPI ratings (the what)

Other assessment methods and research models can be used (supplemented or substituted to the above), however it is first important to understand the purpose for development. For example, when working with clients to develop their leaders, I typically apply the ‘Four Filters’ approach (Naddaff 2010) to select a set of leadership behaviours that are most relevant or pertinent for the:

• Organization – desired behaviours for leaders to deliver strategic business objectives (by cohort)

• Role – desired behaviours to be successful in role (by function)

• Situation – desired behaviours for leaders to face the immediate challenges of the role (by context)

• Individual – understanding and levering the diversity of individual leaders (by person)

Understanding why the assessment is being conducted enables a success profile

to be created so that employees can be measured against this profile or leadership competencies required:

• AT LEVEL

• AT THE NEXT

• Against a validated model of HIGH POTENTIAL

The Significance of Talent Assessment Tools

Understanding the purpose of the assessment (selection, development or career management for that matter) and the success profile required enables the choice of appropriate talent assessment tools.

Right Management has conducted significant due diligence through our global Center of Excellence and entered global agreements with a number of talent assessment tool providers. This allows our clients to benefit from the negotiated global terms and pricing for tools we consider reliable and valid.

Furthermore, we have the ability to offer multiple tools and Talent Management consulting expertise to our clients for the areas outlined below. I really enjoy discovering the needs of our clients, the outcome they are seeking and recommending an assessment tool that will enable them to make effective talent decisions.

Purpose Talent Assessment Tools Areas

Selection

Safety

Development

SimulationsPersonality and work styleCognitive AbilityDrive/Motivation/MobilitySales Effectiveness360 (Leadership Behaviours)Leadership Potential (HIPO)TeamEmotional IntelligenceImpact

Career Self Discovery

Reference 3.4 use of Talent Assessment Tools

Reference 3.3 Performance-Potential Matrix


greater than the sum of its partsUntil now, I have positioned using a talent assessment tool to support a decision or outcome in the context of a single event: selection of an applicant, development of an employee or the self discovery of a job seeker.

The power and utility of talent assessment tools increase when we think of them as an input of a broader process or system. This highlights the importance of considering talent assessment tools as an integral part of the broader Talent Management Process (see Reference 3.5) and viewing them at multiple levels of analysis to:

• Individual – help understand an individual

• Team – help understand team dynamics

• Organization – help support strategic objectives

The above discussion demonstrates that talent assessment tools enable better decisions. Are you using them to maximum effect? The following checklist highlights the different objectives that talent assessment can support to:

Optimise Talent Planning and Deployment

• Ensuring the right people, with the right skills, are in the right roles, in the right locations

Improve Quality of hiring Decisions

• Mapping tools to role success profiles during the hiring process ensures far more accurate hiring decisions

Strengthen and Deepen the Leadership Pipeline

• Accurate identification of high potential leaders and targeted development to accelerate readiness for next level leadership roles

Increase Employee Engagement

• Improving the consistency of hiring the right people who are job-ready, and fit well in the company culture; resulting in more engaged and motivated employees

grow the Right Workforce Capabilities

• Successful companies win in the market by delivering differentiated value to customers; accomplishing this requires a specific set of workforce skills aligned to deliver that value consistently.

Reference 3.5 Our Talent Assessment Approach

Hiring On Boarding Developing Promoting Coaching Review

Business DriversTalent Management

Strategy

Hiring On Boarding Developing Performing Promoting Deploying

Integrated with Talent Management Processes

Competency Model

Talent Assessment

OUTPUTS

INPUTS

Right Management’s practical approach starts with a validated competency model, delivers talent assessments and results in powerful insights that help drive the talent management strategy forward.

Aligning Talent Strategy to Business Strategy


Summary

Whether for selection or development, make sure that you are making the best decisions possible by using talent assessment tools. Consider the costs of poor hires in terms of salary, cost to rehire and productivity lost during the transitional period. Further, consider current hires that promised much on paper but have not progressed or developed to the level you had expected in the time you had anticipated. We’ve all felt that niggle of doubt about a hiring or a promotion decision – talent assessment tools can inform that niggle. A small investment upfront can pay off in the long term.

Bibliography

Global Talent Management Center of Excellence (2012). Guidelines for Talent Assessment Services. Right Management.

Hough, L. M., Oswald, F. L., (2000). Personnel Selection: Looking Toward the Future – Remembering the Past. Annual Review of Psychology, 51: 631-64.

Naddaff, T. (2010). Assessing the Effectiveness of a Leader Through Four Filters, Management Research Group. http://www.mrg.com/education-resources/articles-findings

Robertson I.T., Smith, M., (2001). Personnel Selection. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 74: 441-72.

Schmidt F.L., Hunter J.E. (1998). The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology: Practical and Theoretical Implications of 85 Years of Research Findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124: 262-274.

Consider when talent assessment tools are used in the selection process

Assessment tools provide insights into the CAN + WILL + FIT parameters. Yet, many people use them at the very end of the recruitment process as a final hurdle. In many cases, the recruiting manager has already made up their mind and is seeking confirmation to hire. A dilemma occurs when the assessment tool highlights an area that the recruiting manager did not consider and wishes they could clarify further. If timed well, assessment results can be used to inform interviews and reference checks.

Provide feedback to job applicants

My time spent with individuals accessing our Career Management services has highlighted how the reputation of an organization can be shaped by something as simple as providing feedback on talent assessment tools completed as part of a recruitment process. Consider the effort and interest an applicant has invested in applying for the role, providing feedback acknowledges this investment. Consider also the power of informal networks to promote you as an employer of choice in a tight talent market.

Work with an expert to help tailor a solution that meets your needs

I advise my clients to tailor their feedback to job applicants as follows: provide feedback to unsuccessful job applicants as a courtesy and in respect of their interest and efforts towards the role (see tip 2), provide development focused feedback for successful applicants (to help them to onboard) and internal applicants regardless of outcome (to help retain them).

A Final Note

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2

3

3bestpracticetips

by Dr. Colin Couzin-WoodSenior Consultant

Melbourne, Australia


Chaitali MukherjeeCountry Manager - IndiaRight Management India Pvt. Ltd.

Ester MartinezCo-founder & Editor-in-ChiefPeople Matters

Event Update

Breakfast Roundtable - ‘Leader Assessment in the Human Age’

Talent matters, especially leadership talent

Successful companies have shown tremendous commitment to talent management, knowing that talent is the only competitive advantage. The accelerative and disruptive forces of technology have encompassed and turned many business processes on their heads. Interestingly, leader assessment, a critical component of talent management, has also been influenced and radically transformed by technology.

With this context in mind, Right Management, along with People Matters hosted a Breakfast Roundtable on ‘Leader Assessment in the human Age’ on 1st Oct 2013 in gurgaon, India. Through an interactive discussion, we tried to understand how the transformative power of technology has altered the paradigm of leader assessment.

The key themes discussed were:

1. A contemporary and forward looking approach to assessing and developing leaders

2. New age leader assessment practices

3. Enhanced focus on identifying personal potential to unleash leadership potential

Senior business and HR leaders from many companies across industries participated in the event and contributed with their views. The discussion was moderated by Chaitali Mukherjee, Country Manager – Right Management India and Ester Martinez, Co-founder & Editor-in-Chief - People Matters.

To set the context, the discussion started with a conversation around the current reality in which we all operate. Right Management spoke about how the world is experiencing a global readjustment in which powerful forces that have been in play over the last few years, are converging to create a new reality where business models will have to be redesigned, value propositions redefined and social systems reinvented. In this new reality, called the Human Age, people will take their rightful place at the center stage as the world’s only source of inspiration, passion and innovation and the driving force behind endeavor and enterprise. Hence, to win in the changing world of work requires a new breed of contemporary leaders with a new approach to the workforce. An assessment center is the essential process required to build consistency in talent requirements and quality for current talent in the organization, as well as for the talent to be

hired.

TALENT ASSESSMENT 19TALENT ASSESSMENT 19

The key questions that we put across to the participants were:

1. What is the relevance of assessment centers in the current talent market?

2. What are the key challenges you face in the traditional approach to leader assessment?

3. What would be the next phase of evolution in an assessment process – ‘The Picture of Success’?

Some of the key insights that emerged from the discussion were:

• Technology based assessments can provide a level of scalability, flexibility and global standardization that overcome the challenges accompanying traditional assessment centers, especially saving on travel time and cost

• A virtual assessment platform should allow you to flexibly integrate globally validated psychometric tools or clients’ existing assessment tools

• The virtual assessment platform should allow you to measure competencies like agility, virtual leadership, global mindset and many more, using a more realistic business simulation which is closer to the actual work environment of the leader

• Providing the leader a more realistic business environment through the virtual simulation allows for an increase in stakeholder involvement, while also giving a more accurate prediction of a leader’s future performance

• Riding on the benefits of technology, assessment centers are being used to unleash human potential and to create the organization’s Talent Balance Sheet. They can be the critical step to link Career Aspirations and Individual Performance / Potential with the Organization’s Vision and Strategy

In this context, Right Management introduced the Leader Evolution Center to the participating leaders, which merges the strengths of an assessment center with those of technology. The Leader Evolution Center provides an innovative, virtual assessment platform involving standardized tools designed to provide real

Participant quotes:

• The role of the Head HR/CXO is to ensure the objective of the assessment/development center is driven from the top

• Leader assessment in the long term, must help to identify if the personality of the leader matches that of the organization

• Time consumption and resources used for leader assessment in one place at one time is a challenge. Hence the need emerges for leveraging technology in this process


by Tuhina PandaProject Leader & Internal Change Manager

- Right Management India

Clients who attended:

Agilent Technologies India Pvt Ltd. • AIS Glass • American Express India Pvt Ltd. • Caparo India • Dabur India Ltd. • Darcl Logistics • Fedders Lloyd Corporation Ltd. • FIS Global Solutions India Pvt Ltd. • Fiserv India Pvt Ltd. • GE India • Giesecke & Devrient India • Hewlett-Packard • Isolux Corsan India • Nec India Pvt Ltd • Relaxo Footwears Limited • Sapient Corporation • SRF Ltd. • T&T Motors Ltd. • Voyants Solutions Pvt Ltd.

world business simulations reflecting today’s environment where work is done remotely or virtually. This platform can be delivered fully virtually across regions to save travel time and cost.

The Leader Evolution Approach is a sophisticated, scalable and easy to administer approach towards evaluating the increased complexities of leadership in the Human Age. It can assess executives or middle management leaders against competencies like agility, global mindset, strategy, virtual leadership, collaboration

and more. The Leader Evolution Approach is configured to the organization’s business objectives, leadership competencies and corporate culture/business requirements; allowing to create a Strategic Accelerated Development Plan for their leaders.

Right Quarterly 3rd quarter 2013: Talent Assessment

Business

Transcript of Right Quarterly 3rd quarter 2013: Talent Assessment