Dec 2, 2013 | Blog

Don’t Be a Lemming – Know What You Need to Know to Have a Successful Testing and Assessment Strategy.

Optimize Your Talent Strategy

In my most recent HCI blog, I wrote about the fact that good tools tied to poor organizational data will fail to demonstrate value.  A recent interaction with a senior HR leader for a Fortune 1000 company leads me to believe she did not read that piece, so it presents an opportunity to go a bit deeper on the topic.  Specifically, this executive insisted that any assessment put in place should be able to reduce turnover by 20% in their customer service positions by bringing in better candidates who are more likely to stay put.  Evidently, she believed this because she had read about the topic of assessment on various well-known and many respectable sites that insist that the purveyor of the instruments must have documented evidence that it will prove them to reduce turnover and other magical phenomena.

 

It is no secret that HR has been last in line to the “Big Data” and analytics movement, but shifting all the burden to one of the tools that could help demonstrate value is a sure fire way to fail to demonstrate any value at all.  Case in point – when asked to provide a deeper understanding of what was meant by turnover, the response was “that doesn’t matter – turnover is turnover.”  (?)  In my mind, when clients say something like reducing turnover is one of their business goals, to me it is more about keeping good performers from turning over.  The bad ones we actually would prefer to help out faster – right?  Evidently not; so the better objective for this company would have been to have 100% retention of terrible employees.  I’m hoping readers recognize this is a poor strategy for success!

 

It is this type of blind “show me ROI or you’re history Mr. Vendor” that really gets in the way of HR trying to demonstrate greater value and worth to their own organizations.  Alternatively, if we could set up a strategy that (a) reduced undesirable turnover, (b) accelerated desirable turnover, while (c) reducing ramp up time among new employees, (c) setting a career path into management for exceptional performers thereby reducing hiring overhead and (d) improving performance, customer satisfaction and upsell initiatives, then the CEO is going to be a lot happier than having a 100% retention of poor performing, non-upselling, customer-infuriating lifers.  Sound good?  Folks, that is more than just an assessment.  Here are a few tips to sharpen the saw:

 

  • Mind your own business!  If you need to reduce turnover, define what that means.  If you need to improve ramp up, quota attainment, or widget production – get crystal clear on what “successful” means to the business, then identify the right toolkit to relentlessly pursue the goal.  But don’t assume an assessment is going to solve your problems.
  • Keep your eye on the managers.  Remember, in many cases people don’t quit their job, but their boss.  Even an assessment that screens in the best employees does not matter if they are managed by a psychopath.
  • Consider the work environment and support.  Employees who are over-managed will not be engaged, energized and enabled to do their best and be their best.  Look into perks and rewards, big and small.  Consider team games that allow for friendly internal competition.  Many performance management providers are moving toward gamification and “Facebook-like” technology to help with internal communication, help people feel needed and feel part of something special.  But it doesn’t have to be elaborate – a little attention and gratitude for people doing tough jobs goes a long way in my experience.  We all go to work and get paid for work, true enough.  But think of how you personally felt when you received an unexpected note or comment from a coworker thanking you for being you and doing great things.
  • Focus on Sustainability.  Everyone agrees that it is more expensive to hire new employees from outside the organization.  So our collective corporate strategy is what?  That’s right!  We chase off employees not doing a great job so they go over to our competition.  But if they were a good fit for your company, consider looking at them for a different role – by keeping existing employees it eliminates corporate onboarding which then reduces the learning curve, keeps the kind of people who “fit” and finds new ways to leverage strengths..all of which translate to faster ramp up, production, lower turnover; all good stuff.

 

Bottom line – get an assessment strategy in place that addresses YOUR business and its needs.  Ask for help if you need it.  Don’t “get an assessment” that worked for some other people at some other company and assume it will work for you, too.  Right tools, right people, right plan = success!

 

James H. Killian, Ph.D. is Vice President | Research & Advisory Services with Chally Group Worldwide, headquartered in Dayton, OH.  Chally Group focuses on helping companies drive profitable growth by supporting their execution of data-driven winning strategies in sales and leadership development.