AOE 7. Integrated Talent Management; 7.4. Individual and Organizational Assessment Tools

Learning Objectives:

• List two types of multi-rater feedback tools, and define each
• Discuss the key differences between personality inventory instruments and personality tests
• Identify the purpose and benefits of career profiles
• Define the purpose of leadership assessments, and list two types of leadership assessments
• Summarize the issues associated with administering assessments, including validity, reliability, fairness, special accommodations, and legal issues surrounding testing

Human Resource Audits: is one component of succession planning system, which build s on the identification of successors and addresses employee mobility with regards to various positions; this audit would identify is employees should stay at their current position or move to other positions and it offers strategies to help designate pools of qualified employees based on their skills and abilities. Managers often conduct an HR audit by reviewing their direct reports to determine:

• Time in current position
• Performance
• Readiness for advancement
• Potential to move to a new position
• Development required

Plans for succession and movement within an organization allow pathways into leadership and identify other opportunities where professionals might also move into new functional roles or to grow in a particular new occupational area.You want to work with and involve employees in the process of succession planning based on their performance appraisals or other means of providing viable, dependable, employee skill information. This might also happen with reporting in progress on projects; 1:1 meetings; quarterly reviews;snapshot of work with clients or billable hours.

READ: A Beginner’s Guide to Succession Planning

Human Resource Assessment and Audits
Multi-Rater Feedback: Multiple reviewers offer feedback as a process with at least two levels of management to review employees and agree on their candidacy for specific positions. This type of evaluation might occur or be warranted under these conditions:

• Major judgements or experience levels are weak
• There is a shortage of identified talent
• The organizational culture supports structures 

360-Degree Feedback Evaluation: is based on opinions and recommendations from superiors, direct reports, peers, and internal and external customers on how a person performs in any number of behavioral areas; offers a more well-rounded view of performance/work

Assessment Centers: might include oral exercises, counseling simulations, problem-analysis exercises, interview simulations, role-play exercises, written report, or analysis exercises for individuals or groups of employees; may be used for selection or development purposes

Personality Inventory Instruments: offers a picture of a person’s personality type and indicates personality preferences. Examples (of many):

DiSC Personality Profile: is a behavior assessment tool based on the work on William Marston that provides four dimensional model and four profiles: dominance (direct and decisive), influence (optimistic and outgoing), steadiness (sympathetic and cooperative), and conscientiousness (concerned and correct). Learn more at: https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc/overview/  Free DiSC Assessment: https://www.onlinepersonalitytests.org/disc/ 

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): is an instrument that helps determine personality type based on preferences for extraversion or introversion, intuiting or sensing, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving; used in career development and team building. Learn more at: https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/ Free MBTI or Jungian Personality Test:https://psychcentral.com/quizzes/personality/start.php 

Strong Interest Inventory: E.K. Strong self assessment tool to look at people's interests (likes and dislikes) at work; Also in the ONET Online: https://www.onetonline.org/  Learn more at: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/the-strong-interest-inventory-526173 

Holland Code (RIASEC) Test - Interest Inventory: https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/RIASEC/ 

My Next Move https://www.mynextmove.org/ “Tell us what you like to do” section to self-assess

Career Profiles: include a resume, summary statement, personal work history, skills, and competencies; a tool to map current professional progress in a position and plan for career changes.

Leadership Assessments: help organizations assess developmental needs of current and future leaders at all levels; This might help with career planning, professional development, and understanding baseline needs with role-playing, simulations, etc. to identify needs for improving leadership skills like decision-making, delegating, coaching, etc.

Administrative Considerations

It is important to consider the following issues when you are administering any of these inventories, assessments or using these instruments as a talent development professional:

• Validity
• Reliability
• Fairness
• Special Accommodations
• Legal Issues Surrounding Testing