One question I am asked from time to time is, “How do we use behavioral assessments in a way that integrates well into our hiring and succession management decisions?”
The most important thing to remember when making hiring and succession management decisions using assessment feedback, is that your objective is always to extend respect to both the candidate (internal / external) and to the organization. Keep in mind that you want to base your decisions on the combination of interview results, assessment feedback, work experience (performance in the case of succession), and background / reference information.
With that in mind…
Hire with Precision:
- Clarify your job descriptions and hiring criteria to identify what skills and behaviors are “must haves” for someone to be successful in the position.
- Equip your recruiters with assessment tools to up-the-level of the candidates they pass along to the hiring team.
- Make sure you see past interview bias and gain insights into “behind the scene” behaviors. There are some behaviors like composure, trust, respect for management, even self-confidence that can be difficult to gauge in your brief interview time with a candidate.
- Be aware, there is a lot of “interview” coaching going on these days. Do a Google search if you don’t believe me, and keep in mind that these easy to disguise behaviors are the ones that will come back to haunt you three months from the hire.
- You want your end goal to be placing people into positions where they can achieve their full potential. You may like a candidate, but they may fit better (skill and behaviorally) into a different position than you are interviewing them for. If this is the case, ask how flexible they are!
Maximize Employee Performance:
- Once hired, set performance expectations (from day one) using assessment feedback.
- Assess your current workforce so it will be easy to see any disconnect between team members (via Group Profiles). Having these Group Profiles will also give you an idea of how a new person will fit into your current workforce.
- Design strategies and use tools that will provide your managers and supervisors with feedback that helps them better understand the dynamics of their workforce.
- Use assessment feedback to identify where employee needs are. Then coach or train the employee accordingly. The goal is to help your people succeed!
Successfully using assessments in your hiring and employee development processes is about paying attention to detail, showing respect and using common sense.