Which Talent Assessment is Best?

I often hear HR professionals ask: "What tools do you recommend to accurately assess the talent in our organization?" Choosing the right talent assessment is critical to making sound hiring, development, and promotion decisions. Without this information, decisions can only be based on partial information, personal preferences, or the opinions of others.

As a rule of thumb, I recommend that organizations rely on more than one assessment for critical talent decisions, such as hiring a key player or promoting an executive. The right combination of assessment tools provides a more comprehensive view of the candidate. This approach can remove bias and the "halo effect" in some individuals, and reveal flaws or limitations that were not previously apparent.

The ideal suite of assessments will provide reliable information on the candidate's track record, pattern of behavior, management style, competency profile, and potential for greater responsibilities.

A complementary set of assessments includes some the following tools:

Performance Evaluations
Psychometric Tests
360-Degree Feedback Surveys
Employee Engagement Scores
Trait-Based Assessments
Talent Interviews

I will briefly describe each of these assessment approaches and the pros and cons of each.

1. Performance Evaluations

Most organizations use performance reviews as the basis for measuring individual performance and determining compensation. They are focused on results achieved and job objectives. However, performance evaluations are insufficient indicators of talent for at least three reasons. First, they are highly subjective to the supervisor's views and grading bias. Second, they focus primarily on one facet of an individual's contribution-- "the WHAT", leaving out much information as to "the HOW" a person does their job. Third, performance reviews are generally inconsistent throughout the organization. Some managers faithfully conduct these reviews. Others don't. They are also often conducted at different times during the year.

2. Psychometric Tests

Well established psychometric tests provide reliable information that is relatively easy to collect and cost-effective. These tests provide accurate insights on specific traits, together with benchmarks relevant to the candidate's job position. However, psychometric tests are narrow in scope, and while they add a data point, they cannot provide a full picture of a person's performance and potential. Care should also be taken to ensure they are correctly administered and interpreted.

3. 360-Degree Feedback

360-degree feedback surveys provide useful measures of leadership competency. 360-degree feedback surveys best measure HOW a person does the job on a series of leadership competencies. 360s are less subjective, as they include multiple relevant points of view on the candidates' performance. The results are very useful for personal development. The limitation, however, is that 360 feedback is relative to the candidate's job expectations and rater selection, making 360 comparisons between individuals less reliable. Additionally, 360-degree feedback results are often used for development purposes only, and the resulting data is considered confidential. Conducting a 360-degree assessment is also generally not possible for a new-hire.

4. Employee Engagement Scores

Employee engagement scores are useful, provided you can report the results specific to those employees that report to the manager. Employee engagement is a strong indicator of how well that person leads his/her team. Engagement scores have direct impact on employee motivation, performance, and retention. However, engagement metrics are influenced by the organization's overall culture and group's current situation, which may not be completely controllable by the group leader. The main challenge for most organizations is their availability, given the frequency and reporting constraints of employee surveys.

5. Trait-Based Assessments

Assessments that measure personality traits do not predict job performance or potential. However, they are useful descriptors of the candidate's preferred ways of thinking, behaving, and leading. They describe tendencies in leadership style and potential pitfalls that can be valuable when assessing a person's fit in the organization's culture, as well as expected job behaviors. Trait-based assessments are descriptive of the candidate's style and fit, but should not be used for prescriptive decision making.

6. Talent Interviews

When it comes to critical hiring and promotion decisions, I highly recommend including talent interviews in the assessment process. Talent interviews consist of in-depth review of a person's work history, patterns of behavior, accomplishments, areas for improvement, and projected growth. An experienced interviewer provides key insights and valuable information through the talent interview report. Keep in mind, however, that a comprehensive interview process can be costly, and will most likely be reserved for key decisions.

Talent Inventory Profile™I'm often asked the question, "What if I have many managers to assess? Is there a simple, cost-effective tool that provides a snapshot?"

When decisions are lower risk, or when I need to scan talent across a large number of candidates, it is often not cost-effective to conduct comprehensive talent assessments. In such cases, I recommend using a "primer" assessment, like the DecisionWise Talent Inventory Profile (TIP), to get a quick take on the candidates. For best results, couple an assessment like TIP with a talent review meeting for calibrating management's views on those candidates.

TIP gathers feedback from the individual and his or her supervisor based on three areas: Results Focus, People Skills, and Growth Potential. It is similar to gathering performance review data (Results Focus) and 360-degree feedback (People Skills) in one assessment.

Plus, Growth Potential measures whether the person is a good candidate for greater responsibility. TIP is not meant to be the final word on a person's talent, but it provides a quick and easy way to evaluate large numbers of individuals for an organizational talent review.

Conclusion

The purpose of the talent assessment process is driving results, developing leadership capacity, identifying successors, and grooming future leaders. I recommend using multiple assessments when making important hiring and promotion decisions. TIP is a good way to conduct an overall talent management process that aligns people to the organization's strategy.
Juan Riboldi
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