© development dimensions int’l, inc., mmxiii. all rights reserved. 11 where leadership assessment...

© Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved.11

Where Leadership Assessment Centers Are Going and

How They Will Get There

Presented by:

William C. Byham, Ph.D.Chairman & CEO

Development Dimensions International, Inc.March 2013

Improvements in Selection/Promotion Accuracy and Development Success


Agenda• What organizations want from leadership assessment centers• Four ideas on how assessment centers need to change• Questions anytime and at the end

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1. Accurate and understandable information on leadership and management strengths and weaknesses of candidates for key positions.

Organizations want:

Of 12,000 senior leaders, only 32% rate their bench as strong

12,000 leaders participating in DDI’s Global Leadership Forecast 2011


1 in 3 Employees Feel Their Frontline Supervisor is Ineffective as a Leader

Source: DDI Global Leadership Forecast, 2011


2. Help to speed learning and application of new skills—change behavior.

Organizations want:


63% of First- and Mid-Level Managers Feel

Their Leadership

Development is INEFFECTIVE

Source: DDI Global Leadership Forecast, 2011


3. Better, more obvious links with training and development solutions.

Organizations want:


Organizations want:

4. Reliable assessment judgments when people are assessed by different assessors—often in different locations.

Fairness


5. Decrease in total assessment center costs.

Costs are holding back the use of assessment centers!

• Participant time

• Assessment center operations

• Travel, hotels, etc.

• Feedback, follow-up

Organizations want:


Four Ideas

Idea #1

Change Assessment Center Targets


Part II

Part III


Career Planning

Training and Development Needs

Assessment

SelectionOrganizational

Alignment/Observation/

Coaching

Training/Development

Promotion/Placement

SuccessionPlanning

PerformanceAppraisal

Compensation

Integrated Talent Management Systems Built Around Competencies

Competencies

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But now I feel that I was wrong about focusing only on competencies for assessment and development…


I now believe that we have to go deeper into our analysis of behavior to…

KEY ACTIONS!

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A competency

is a behavior!

A competency is a collection of behaviors that relate to effective job

performance.

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Influencing Others Decision Making

DDI Calls the Behaviors within a Competency

“Key Actions”

B B

B B

BB

B

BB

B

B

BB

B

B

B B

B

B

B B

B

Coaching Delegating

B = Behaviorally-defined Key Actions

B

B


Advantages of Assessing at the Key Action Level

1. More accuracy—higher validity2. Better understanding of why a person is

recommended or not3. More precise development insights—

where an individual should focus during training and development

Actionable!!


Resolving Workplace ConflictKey Actions• States purpose and importance• Clarifies the issues• Stays focused on resolution• Develops others’ and own ideas• Remains open to all sides• Initiates action• Close – check for understanding and

agreement


Is Assessment at the Key Action Level Possible?

• 10 target competencies

• 5 Key Actions per competency

• 5 Observations per Key Action

• Key Actions reduced by overlap of some Key Actions

Assessment Targets

10

50

250

120 - 150


Interaction EssentialsSM


B = Behaviorally-defined Key Actions which are Interaction Essentials

B B

B B

BB

B

BB

B

B

BB

B

B

B B

B

B

B B

B

Coaching Delegating


B

B


Inter-correlation of leadership and management competencies = 0.63n=38,912

WHY?

Job Performance

Co

ach

ing

Dec

isio

n-M

akin

g

Del

egat

ing

Infl

uen

cin

g

Interaction Essentials (That Meet Personal and Practical Needs)

Source: DDI Analysis of Cross-Organizational Database of Performance Ratings, 2011; n=19,157


Correlation of Essentials with job performance—higher than any

single competency.

.32

Source: DDI Analysis of Cross-Organizational Database of Performance Ratings, 2011; n=19,157


First- and Second-level Management Proficiency in Interaction EssentialsSM

n = 4,141 US managers who went through Manager Ready.


First- and Second-level Management Proficiency in Interaction EssentialsSM

n = 2,191 Chinese managers who went through Manager Ready.


Recognizing that there is an overlap in competency

Key Actions, makes it possible to target Key

Actions rather than competencies.

Idea #2

Electronically Capture Assessee Behavior

• Audio• Video• Computer

responses

Idea #3

Use Human Assessors Where They Make the Greatest Contribution – Use Algorithms Everywhere Else


Assessors• Observe behavior• Rate Key Actions

Algorithms• Combine behavior observed in

different simulations into Key Action ratings

• Key Action ratings into competency ratings

• Competency ratings into overall ratings

Competency: Decision-Making; Key Action: Judgment

Observation 1

Observation 2

Observation 3

Observation 4

People Problem

Numbers/Facts

People Problem

Numbers/Facts

Key Action Scores on 1 – 5 Scale

2

5

1

4

Assessor Rating of Judgment

Situation

Algorithms Look for Patterns Missed in Most Assessment Centers (e.g., Situational Insights)


Algorithms Have Always Been Accepted by the International Congress on Assessment Center Methods

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ReliabilityFairness


• Pinpointed Key Action assessment targets

• Specialization of assessors• Extensive training• Every 10th assessor’s

judgment independently checked

• Assessors get constant in-depth feedback

How to Have Very High Reliability at Key Action Level

© Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMX. All rights reserved.36

Criterion Validity of Ideas 1, 2, and 3 (Combined)

Study Validity

AT&T (multiple studies in 1960s)1 .37 (median)

Meta-Analysis (1987)2 .37

Meta-Analysis (2003)3 .36

.40

1. Thornton & Byham (1982, Assessment Centers and Managerial Performance)2. Gaugler, Rosenthal, Thornton, & Benston (1987, Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, 493-511)3. Arthur, Day, McNelly, & Edens (2003, Personnel Psychology, 56, 125-154)

Assessment Center that Incorporates Ideas 1 & 2

(2010)


Summary: Advantages of Focusing Assessors and Using Algorithms in Assessment Centers

• Validity increased• Reliability vastly increased• Important situational insights uncovered

that will increase training effectiveness• Decreased costs


Training and Development

Idea # 4 Connect Assessment Insights

with Development Activities

• Provide a “fix” for things assessed

• Save money by not training people on what they know or are good at

• Take advantage of Key Actions to speed training

• Provide multiple practice opportunities where Key Actions overlap—most important Key Actions


Interaction EssentialsSM


B= Behaviorally-defined Key Actions which are Interaction Essentials

B B

B B

BB

B

BB

B

B

BB

B

B

B B

B

B

B B

B

Coaching Delegating


B

B



How Development Components Are Linked

Determination of focus Key Action development needs based on assessment report and

discussion with manager

Training to learn and practice focus needs

Deliberate Practice with manager or others

Follow-up development and reinforcement to assure training sticks

Adoption of Key Actions into ongoing personal skill set

“10”

“20”

“70”


Ongoing Practice and Measurement of Key Actions

• Reminders of key learnings and forms provided in training

• Additional simulations for more practice

• Games to build skills• Ways to collect ongoing

feedback (Social Media)


Advantages of Linking Assessment with Training and Development

• Focuses training and development efforts• Guides deliberate practices• Motivates learners (understand need)• Speeds training and development• Decreases training and development

costs• Makes assessment and training/

development into an integrated system


Is the Effort Worth It?


Proof that Key ActionsCan Be Developed

Improvements after Training

n= 2,637 leaders and 4,120 of their managers, colleagues, and direct reports.

Per

cent

of t

rain

ees

disp

layi

ng b

ehav

iors

ofte

n


How did I do on the organizational wants?

1. Understand bench strength2. Speed learning and development3. Link assessment and development4. Provide fair and reliable judgments5. Decrease total assessment center costs

Questions

Comments

Concerns


Thank you.


Manager Ready®

U.S. Patent Pending

• Identifies candidates for first and second-level management positions

• Defines development needs

• Supports Human Capital Management

• Speeds training and learning

Manager Ready®

U.S. Patent Pending

• 9 target competencies, 3.5 hours

• Day-in-the-life experience, realistic job preview

• Participants respond by typing memos, completing forms, making decisions in game-like simulations involving planning and fact-finding

• Open-ended responses

• Scored by highly-trained assessors

Continued

© development dimensions int’l, inc., mmxiii. all rights reserved. 11 where leadership assessment...

Documents

leadership development

development success

development solutions

end slide

fairness slide

leadership assessment

use of assessment centers

reliable assessment