Where Leadership Assessment Centers Are Going and How They Will Get There Improvements in Selection/Promotion Accuracy and Development Success Presented by: William C. Byham, Ph.D. Chairman & CEO Development Dimensions International, Inc. March 2013 1 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved. 2 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved. Organizations want: 3 1. Accurate and understandable information on leadership and management strengths and weaknesses of candidates for key positions. © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. 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 5 Source: DDI Global Leadership Forecast, 2011 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved. Organizations want: 6 2. Help to speed learning and application of new skills—change behavior. © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved. 63% of Firstand Mid-Level Managers Feel Their Leadership Development is INEFFECTIVE Source: DDI Global Leadership Forecast, 2011 7 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved. Organizations want: 8 3. Better, more obvious links with training and development solutions. © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. Organizations want: 9 4. Reliable assessment judgments when people are assessed by different assessors—often in different locations. © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. Organizations want: 5. Decrease in total assessment center costs. • Participant time • Assessment center operations • Travel, hotels, etc. • Feedback, follow-up Costs10 are holding back the use of assessment centers! © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. Four Ideas 11 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved. Idea #1 Change Assessment Center Targets 13 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. Integrated Talent Management Systems Built Around Competencies Promotion/ Placement Succession Planning Selection Competencies Organizational Alignment/ Observation/ Coaching Performance Appraisal Compensation Training/ Development 14 Career Planning Training and Development Needs Assessment © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. But now I feel that I was wrong about focusing only on competencies for assessment and development… 15 © © Development Development Dimensions Dimensions Int’l, Int’l, Inc., Inc., MMXII. MMXI. All All rights rights reserved. reserved. I now believe that we have to go deeper into our analysis of behavior to… KEY ACTIONS! A competency is a behavior! 17 A competency is a collection of behaviors that relate to effective job performance. © © Development Development Dimensions Dimensions Int’l, Int’l, Inc., Inc., MMXII. MMXI. All All rights rights reserved. reserved. DDI Calls the Behaviors within a Competency “Key Actions” Influencing Others B B Coaching B B B B B B B B B B B B Decision Making B B B B B B B B B B B = Behaviorally-defined Key Actions 18 Delegating © © Development Development Dimensions Dimensions Int’l, Int’l, Inc., Inc., MMXII. MMXI. All All rights rights reserved. reserved. Advantages of Assessing at the Key Action Level More accuracy—higher validity 2. Better understanding of why a person is recommended or not 3. More precise development insights— where an individual should focus during training and development 1. Actionable!! 19 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXI. All rights reserved. Resolving Workplace Conflict Key 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 20 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXI. All rights reserved. Is Assessment at the Key Action Level Possible? Assessment Targets • 10 target competencies 10 • 5 Key Actions per competency 50 • 5 Observations per Key Action 250 • Key Actions reduced by overlap of some Key Actions 21 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXI. All rights reserved. 120 - 150 Interaction Essentials SM Influencing Others B B Coaching B B B B B B B B B B B B Decision Making B B B B B B B B B B B = Behaviorally-defined Key Actions B = Behaviorally-defined Key Actions which are Interaction Essentials 22 Delegating © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXI. All rights reserved. Inter-correlation of leadership and management competencies = 0.63 n=38,912 WHY? Delegating Decision-Making Influencing Coaching Job Performance Interaction Essentials (That Meet Personal and Practical Needs) Source: DDI Analysis of Cross-Organizational Database of Performance Ratings, 2011; n=19,157 .32 Correlation of Essentials with job performance—higher than any single competency. Source: DDI Analysis of Cross-Organizational Database of Performance Ratings, 2011; n=19,157 25 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. First- and Second-level Management Proficiency in Interaction Essentials SM n = 4,141 US managers who went through Manager Ready. 26 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. First- and Second-level Management Proficiency in Interaction Essentials SM n = 2,191 Chinese managers who went through Manager Ready. 27 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. Recognizing that there is an overlap in competency Key Actions, makes it possible to target Key Actions rather than competencies. 28 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. 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 31 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. Algorithms Look for Patterns Missed in Most Assessment Centers (e.g., Situational Insights) Competency: Decision-Making; Key Action: Judgment Key Action Scores on 1 – 5 Scale Assessor Rating of Judgment Situation Observation 1 2 People Problem Observation 2 5 Numbers/Facts Observation 3 1 People Problem Observation 4 4 Numbers/Facts Algorithms Have Always Been Accepted by the International Congress on Assessment Center Methods 33 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. 34 © © Development Development Dimensions Dimensions Int’l, Int’l, Inc., Inc., MMXII. MMXI. All All rights rights reserved. reserved. How to Have Very High Reliability at Key Action Level • • • • • Pinpointed Key Action assessment targets Specialization of assessors Extensive training Every 10th assessor’s judgment independently checked Assessors get constant indepth feedback 35 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. 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 Assessment Center that (2010) Incorporates Ideas 1 & 2 .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) 36 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMX. All rights reserved. Summary: Advantages of Focusing Assessors and Using Algorithms in Assessment Centers • • • • 37 Validity increased Reliability vastly increased Important situational insights uncovered that will increase training effectiveness Decreased costs © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXII. All rights reserved. Training and Development 38 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXI. All rights reserved. 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 Essentials SM Influencing Others B B Coaching B B B B B B B B B B B B Decision Making B B B B B B B B B B B = Behaviorally-defined Key Actions B= Behaviorally-defined Key Actions which are Interaction Essentials 40 Delegating © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXI. All rights reserved. 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 “10” Deliberate Practice with manager or others “20” Follow-up development and reinforcement to assure training sticks “70” Adoption of Key Actions into ongoing personal skill set 41 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved. 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) 42 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved. 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 43 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved. Is the Effort Worth It? 44 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved. Proof that Key Actions Can Be Developed Percent of trainees displaying behaviors often Improvements after Training n= 2,637 leaders and 4,120 of their managers, colleagues, and direct reports. 45 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved. How did I do on the organizational wants? Understand bench strength 2. Speed learning and development 3. Link assessment and development 4. Provide fair and reliable judgments 5. Decrease total assessment center costs 1. 46 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXIII. All rights reserved. Questions Comments Concerns 47 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXI. All rights reserved. Thank you. 48 © Development Dimensions Int’l, Inc., MMXI. All rights reserved. Manager Ready ® U.S. Patent Pending • Identifies candidates for first and secondlevel management positions • Defines development needs • Supports Human Capital Management • Speeds training and learning Manager Ready ® U.S. Patent Pending Continued • 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