The people at the right time

Assessment and Development Centres are the most effective method of understanding colleagues’ and candidates’ strengths and weaknesses.  Evidence suggests that Centres run by Chartered Psychologists are somewhere in the region of 400% more effective in identifying suitable employees and promotion candidates than standard interviewing methods (Blackham & Smith, 1989; Keenan, 1995; Lievens, 2001).

The premise

During the Centre participants are exposed to a number of tasks which may include leadership skills, presenting, negotiating, sorting problems, teamwork, selling, and crisis management.   Candidates face genuine challenges in realistic scenarios meaning that they must cope with both success and significant failure.   Failing at something that is new and hard is not necesarily a negative factor.  It is far more relevant to record how people react to failure; just as how – in other circumstances – they react to success.

People are assessed in line with company objectives.  They will be scrutinized in terms of their personality, proclivities and their abilities.  IDR Assessment and Development Centres are run by Occupational Psychologists, Chartered by the British Psychological Society.

Development and assessment

A Development Centre is likely to provide one or two days that the participants will enjoy and that will give them senses of achievement and satisfaction. Development Centres assess skills old and new, mark areas of strength and requirement, while assessing and looking for areas of career progression. A Development Centre should certainly give organizations some apposite, pointed and useful performance indicators.

An Assessment Centre may also be an enjoyable day. However, that is not its main aim. Our Assessment Centre is designed to forensically assess criteria that are essential to job success.  It should certainly give you, as a senior manager, some clear, useable and directly relevant intelligence.

Venues

IDR uses a number of venues for its Assessment and Development days.  For example, we use a number of different styles of of offices and Boardrooms.  Here we run workplace tasks that are facsimiles of those we are looking to assess.  We work with actors to develop the most realistic tests possible.

We work with other partners to provide more nuanced assessment and development challenges.  Here are two examples. 

First, the Virtual Jet Centre (https://www.virtualjetcentre.co.uk/) .  A jet aircraft is just another workplace where teamwork, negotiation, innovation and leadership are key. However putting high performing executive inside a fuselage with proper cabin crew, or flying a 737-800 as a competing team, watched by trained airline pilots adds extraordinary relevance to the role and people being assessed.  Failing at an in-basket task in an office is one thing, being responsible for the safety of 200 passengers and crew is quite another.

In areas where verbal communication is key, IDR also works with Listen2Win (http://www.listen2win.co.uk/).  Partnering with three Paralympian blind British footballers (the captain, goal keeper and leading goal scorer) provides exquisite examples of how to co-operate, empathize, listen and achieve momentum and objectives.

But wherever and whatever Assessment and Development Centre IDR develops for you; it will be world class.

References

Arthur, W., Jr., Woehr, D. J., & Maldegen, R. (2000). Convergent and discriminant validity of assessment center dimensions: A conceptual and empirical reexamination of the assessment center construct related validity paradox. Journal of Management, 26(4), 813-835

Blackham, R.B., & Smith, D. (1989).  Decision-making in a management assessment centre, The Journal of the Operational Research Society, 40, Vol. 40(11), 953-960.

Keenan, T. (1995). Graduate recruitment in Britain: A survey of selection methods used by organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 16(4), 303–317.

Lievens, F. (2001). Assessors and use of assessment centre dimensions: A fresh look at a troubling Issue. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22(3), 203–221.

Norton, S. D. (1977). The empirical and content validity of assessment centers vs. traditional methods for predicting managerial success. Academy of Management Review, 2(3), 442-45.