Observations on Assessements

Episode 3 - They All Look the Same…Sort of

Even old assessments look beautiful coming from a new inkjet printer. The terminologies all sound pretty much alike. The promises made by the salespeople all sound similar. The fact is that they all have some value, and even the oldest will seem accurate when you read your report. The important thing to realize, as the customer, is that the question is not one of working or not working. Pay phones in glass and aluminum phone booths worked, but they did not work anything like smart mobile phones. Typewriters worked, but nothing like word processors. Technology is capable of quantum leaps in capability. That is exactly what has happened over the last twenty years in the world of assessments.

There is nothing dangerous with using older assessments. Similarly, you can safely use a typewriter or carry around some coins for pay phones (assuming one could be found). Their limitations are the problem. More advanced assessments give you extraordinary capabilities. The latest generations of assessment technology effectively make bad hires a thing of the past. They allow you to actually engineer better teams, which is light years beyond the classic team building workshop. You can use the DATA to link the operational strengths of the team to the operational strategies of the business. With 7th generation tools, you are able to unlock the potential of every employee and contribute to the enterprise in ways you never imagined.

The challenge is to recognize the newest generations of tools amid all of the early ones dressed up in new marketing stories and Websites. Read Episode 4 of CHANGING THE GAME for simple clues to look for when shopping for assessments or to evaluate your current vendor.

Written by Chuck Russell, CEO