<p><b>Assessment Centers</b></p>
<p>I would like to spend some time today talking about assessment centers and how they can be used for both selection and development purposes. Why did I pick this topic? Well, I had the good fortune of being a participant in an assessment center last week. It was a really valuable experience because I got to sit in the hot seat and experience what an assessment center is like from a participant´s point of view. </p>
<p>For those of you who haven´t had a lot of experience with assessment centers I thought I would provide this definition courtesy of DDI. They have been running assessment centers for a long time and the definition they provide is, "An integrated system of exercises, such as simulations, tests and interviews that are used to evaluate an individual´s proficiency in the competencies required for success within an identified role." In DDI´s case, they refer to their centers as <i>Assessment Centers</i> when they are for the purposes of selection, and <i>Acceleration Centers ®</i> when they are being used for developmental purposes.</p>
<p>I wanted to share a brief history of assessment centers, courtesy of a Thought Leader interview we did here on HR.com with Bill Byham and Ann Howard of DDI. (click <a href="/SITEFORUM;jsessionid=102A694EC25FD392FCF30A1DEBA430CB?t=/contentManager/onStory&i=1116423256281&l=0&e=UTF-8&active=no&ParentID=0&sort=Price&StoryID=1121023424946">here</a> for written summary of that interview.)They did a retrospective of assessment centers and how the technology has evolved and they talked about the origin of assessment centers. Assessment centers were first used back in WW1 by the Germans to select pilots. The concept was dropped and then picked up again in WW2 when the United Kingdom used them for their officer selection. In 1955, AT&T conducted a very comprehensive study in which they used assessment centers to help identify what made good performers. By 1970, there were 12 major companies in the United States using assessment centers. In 1980, more than a thousand assessment centers were in operation.</p>
<p>What is the process used with an assessment center? Typically, a success profile is developed for an individual job. Whether it is for a vice-president, or director of sales, the success profile is based on the competencies to be highly successful in that particular role. Prior to assessment day, there is an introduction to the assessment center concept and some pre-work is provided. In my case, the pre-work contained background information on the fictitious company, its products and services, financial data, competition and people in key roles within my organization. I was also encouraged to spend some time using the simulated desktop, so I could gain some familiarity with the kinds of tools available to me once I arrived for my assessment day.</p>
<p>The individual may then travel to an actual assessment center, or may participate in the assessment at his or her own location or another remote location. The day´s activities will include some combination of the following: addressing incoming email messages, participating in role-plays on the phone and/or face-to-face, doing some analysis of the business and making some recommendations. At the end of the day there is a closing conversation between the assessors and the participant to talk about the experience and what took place. The participant is encouraged to provide feedback on the experience. Finally, after a short time, a report is generated and presented to the client organization. If the assessment is for developmental purposes, it will also be shared with the participant and used to create an individual development plan.</p>
<p>Why use an assessment center? Research shows that assessment centers are twice as effective as interviewing and managerial judgement in predicting advancement, current performance and who will succeed in training. You see and hear real behaviors, which removes the need for assumptions about how each person will act. Performance in the assessment experience can lead directly to a development plan that is relevant to each person´s unique strengths and opportunities for development, as demonstrated through their behaviors during the assessment.</p>
<p>I´d like to share my experience of last week, when I had the opportunity to live someone else´s life for a day and go through a partial assessment at DDI´s Acceleration Center ® here in the San Francisco/Bay Area. I became Kelly Myers, VP of a large division at a global technology company. It was certainly a stretch for me on several levels. I´ve always worked in small- to mid-size organizations and never for a technology products firm. The introduction to the day and my pre-work were delivered via the Web. The sample desktop provided as part of the pre-work enabled me to familiarize myself with how I would keep track of my time, where I could go on the company intranet to find information, email services, and how I could create documents. I received about 70 pages of background including history, competitive profiles and financials. There was a section for personality tests (which I did not go through) but a typical candidate would go through some personality profiling as part of the overall assessment center experience.</p>
<p>I arrived at the Acceleration Center ® feeling curious, excited and a tad bit nervous. I determined that if this experience was in fact, part of a selection process for a job I really wanted, I would be feeling very nervous. I was greeted by my primary assessor contact, a very professional and warm I/O psychologist. He escorted me to a nice looking office, one of several in the Center. We spent some time talking through the process and he informed me that there were three other participants going through the experience that day, all candidates for a high-level job.</p>
<p>After the brief orientation, the official simulation began. The emails started to roll in, fast and furious - all of them significant issues, of course. I felt my stress levels beginning to rise, as I realized there would not be enough time to thoroughly explore these issues before making some decisions. I would need to act fast and with as much wisdom as I could muster. My partial day consisted of dealing with a combination of emails, voicemails, meetings and various to-dos, analyses and presentations. It was an interesting mix of activities that called me to draw upon a variety of skills, competencies and knowledge areas.</p>
<p>To sum it up: My day in the life of Kelly Myers was wonderful and difficult. It was stressful, intense, and in some moments, humbling. I felt like, for the most part, it enabled me to demonstrate my orientation to problem solving, planning and interaction. I think that is one of the greatest gifts of the assessment center experience. You witness participants´ natural tendencies and how those tendencies will support their success in their role. You also see where they may need more skilful ways of dealing with the requirements of the job. Depending on the nature of the development areas, one can determine whether and if resources should be devoted to building the individual´s effectiveness in a particular area. Based on my experience, I can clearly see the value of Assessment Centers/Acceleration Centers ® as a component in the selection and development of leaders and aspiring leaders. DDI did a fantastic job and I felt very supported.</p>
<p>One of the lingering issues I found myself thinking about after the experience was concerning the heavy emphasis on action and making quick decisions. I understand that the simulation environment requires participants to take action so that their behaviors can be observed. There were several instances in the course of my assessment day when I would have, in real-life, gone back to the individual or group who was asking for a deliverable and gain clarity on the issues surrounding the need for the decision. When decisions could be postponed until I had better understanding, I would have requested postponement. In this experience, I acted anyway.</p>
<p>I found myself wondering if the action orientation of the simulation might lead executives to believe that they are being encouraged to take action without having enough information. I wonder if there is too much emphasis on shooting from the hip and asking questions later. Perhaps there is value in encouraging more fact-finding behaviors during the evaluation versus decision-oriented behaviors.</p>
<p>I am also left wondering how well one´s thinking processes are effectively captured and considered in the debriefing. I had one particular role play in which I had done some preparation and tried to anticipate what someone´s motivations might be for building an alliance with me. However, in the course of the conversation I wasn´t effective in uncovering the potential wins for that person. Instead I felt compelled to drive the agenda I´d been given from others in the organization. Would that have come out in the debriefing process with the assessors? My hope is yes. It seems like important information that it is in my orientation to seek mutual wins, despite the fact that my execution in this case was poor. Given that my experience was truncated, I didn´t engage in the debriefing part of the day.</p>
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<p>For those of you who are thinking of venturing down the assessment center path, I wanted to provide some recommendations that came from <a href="/SITEFORUM;jsessionid=102A694EC25FD392FCF30A1DEBA430CB?t=/contentManager/onStory&i=1116423256281&l=0&e=UTF-8&active=no&ParentID=0&sort=Price&StoryID=1121023424946">HR.com's interview</a> with Bill Byham and Ann Howard.</p>
<p>Assessment centers focus on competencies. Make sure you choose the right ones, define them and assess them well. Use multiple techniques to assess participants and simulations need to be one of them. Ensure there are well-trained assessors and there has to be more than one. You need to screen well and use them only for your top candidates. Be honest about the purpose of the assessment - is it for development or for selection purposes?</p>
<p>When assessment centers succeed, effective leaders are selected, leaders´ strengths and development areas are exposed, and the leadership capacity of the organization increases. If you´ve not yet considered the use of assessment centers in your leadership selection and development plans, it might be time to explore them further.</p>
<p>For more information on my personal experience during my assessment day, please read my <a href="/SITEFORUM;jsessionid=102A694EC25FD392FCF30A1DEBA430CB?t=/contentManager/onStory&i=1116423256281&l=0&e=UTF-8&active=no&ParentID=0&sort=Price&StoryID=1124153525116">blog entry</a>.</p>
