In many organizations, personnel costs are among the largest budget line items, and given the top challenges facing CEO’s, organizations need their leaders, managers, and people aligned and working together at the highest levels of performance.

The top ten challenges facing CEOs:

1.Excellence in execution
2.Consistent execution of strategy
3.Speed, flexibility, adaptability to change
4.Global economic performance
5.Risk management
6.Sustained and steady top-line growth
7.Customer loyalty/retention
8.Improving productivity
9.Business confidence
10.Profit growth
- Source: Conference Board

Employee assessments can give organizations and managers consistent, in-depth, and objective information about their people. This includes the employee’s:

• Fit with organizational culture, job, manager, and team
• Knowledge, skills, job performance, and developmental needs
• Preferred learning and communication style
• Integrity, reliability and work ethic, and attitude towards substance abuse
• Response to conflict, stress, and frustration, and likelihood of aggression

Information uncovered from assessments helps leaders and managers rely less on gut instinct and make smarter people decisions. The specific benefits include:

• Selecting people most likely to succeed in a job
• Accelerating time for people to become fully productive in a new role
• Improving alignment and communication between managers and employees
• Reducing workforce conflict and improving employee satisfaction
• Maximizing each employee’s contribution to the organization
• Reducing employee absenteeism and turnover
• Reducing frequency and cost of theft
• Increasing sales performance and customer loyalty
• Enabling strategic workforce management and succession planning
• Increasing overall workforce capability, productivity, and agility

Although an HR department may manage the day-to-day administration of an assessment program, these initiatives thrive in the organization when sponsored by senior leaders who are committed to building and retaining a high performing workforce.

Javier Tomé is President of POB Consulting and Managing Director of HR Consulting Solutions, Strategic Business Partner of Profiles International leader in the assessment industry serving more than 130 countries, 700 locations in the US, tools in 32 languages, and more than 40.000 clients around the world. Read more at www.pobconsulting.com