Assessor Training
We were asked to design and manage a series of day-long workshops for a public sector body to give input and practice in objective assessment as they were restructuring their organisation.
The Background
Part of the restructuring process was to assess existing employees to see where their skills best fitted the new roles. It was therefore fundamental that all managers who conducted the assessments were fully trained and followed the recognised ORCE model (Observe-Record-Classify-Evaluate). The timescales were also short and the implications of not following best practice would have been disastrous.
What we did
We held a series of one-day training events for these managers. We ensured that whilst there was some theory explaining the merits of the competency approach, the sessions were also fully interactive and practical. It proved very successful to put the managers into situations where they both had to interview others and take part in a group exercise in which their colleagues evaluated their performance.
Actually taking part and beginning to give feedback was very powerful for them - they could see the value of the competency / behavioural indicator approach. We also looked at various equal opportunity and discrimination issues which might arise during the process and how best to deal with them. We worked very closely with the HR team to mirror their requirements and reinforce all the internal communication and processes.
The Outcome?
Managers felt confident in their new-found abilities to select the most suitable candidates, and very importantly, to give constructive feedback to those who were unsuccessful. The restructuring process enabled selection of the best individuals for the posts available, and no legal issues ensued.
Just as important as getting the your assessment process right, is ensuring that those who assess participants are fully trained. If not, you could easily be recruiting the wrong people, you could seriously damage the PR you are working hard to build up, or as a worst case, find yourself with a very expensive law suit on your hands.
Whilst Nelson Griffiths does provide fully trained and very experienced assessors for organisations, we do like the approach which others follow - to train their own employees to make the recruitment decisions. This gives extra buy-in and internal legitimacy to the process. It also results in a team of internal managers with additional assessment skills
We received very positive feedback: "This is the best workshop of its type I have ever taken part in!"