Leadership Talent Selection

Uses of Assessment Centers Evaluation of people for promotion or succession Formulation of training plan for strengths & weaknesses Evaluation for selection of final candidates

Leadership Assessment Centers Over 3,000 organizations have used assessment centers Evaluate for promotion, succession, strengths/weaknesses training, final selection Predictive validity for leadership talent; may lack job relatedness 3-5 evaluators for candidates over 1-5 days 1-5 days for cost of $2,000-$30,000 each candidate (average $3,500) Expensive-- only.5 – 2% of internal employees can do it May be assessed only once in career while market opportunities change constantly

Sample assessment centers Center for leadership Assessment Office of Personnel Management Talent Search Sample Leadership Assessment Report

What are the kinds of behaviors that should be assessed & what do you think they would indicate? How can they best be measured?

The “Talent” approach What are distinguishing characteristics of people who excel at what they do? Sports (hockey, baseball, etc.) Sales

Assume you are on a search committee for identifying leadership potential in a business organization: How would you start to define the talents required? Make a list of 6-10 talents & prioritize them How would you identify and measure the top three talents? (be VERY behavioral)

Predictors of Leadership Performance Low Predictors Graphology (85%) Interviews (81%) References (67%) Moderate Predictors IQ, cognitive ability Career Path Appreciation (conceptual skills & promotability) High Predictors Biodata (high fiscal, 7%) Personality (5-factor) Critical incidents (immediate job)

Leadership Assessment Centers Typical Evaluation Methods Biographical inventories Vocational, aptitude, personality tests In-basket exercises Leaderless group discussion Role-play Case analyses Behaviors evaluated Decision making Leadership style Interpersonal skills Management control Delegation Planning & prioritizing Risk taking Creativity Oral & written communication Assertiveness Stress tolerance

STEPS TO IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL DDI’S IDENTIFYING LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL PROCESS WILL HELP AN ORGANIZATION: ALIGN THE PROCESS Link the process to key business drivers Define a customized plan: - Communication strategy - Rollout timeline - Roles and responsibilities - Performance measures IMPLEMENT THE TOOLS Verify nomination criteria Clarify rating standards Establish a data-gathering strategy using the Leadership Potential Inventory NOMINATE HIGH POTENTIAL MEMBERS Orient the managers who will serve as nominators Initiate managerial nominations Collect and organize nomination data SELECT HIGH POTENTIAL MEMBERS Facilitate or model the process to review nominations Select and document final nominations Target accelerated development strategies to each selected member Sample stages of leader identification from DDI Co.

Sample Assessment Center Agenda Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Orientation & group formation Business game Interviews & psychological testing Leaderless group discussions In-basket exercise Individual role playing Group role playing Individual case analysis Peer ratings Feedback Counseling Further development discussions

Sources of Rater Bias Halo effect – rate high or low due to irrelevant feature or global impression Leniency error – tendency to give everyone higher ratings Severity error – tendency to give everyone lower ratings Central tendency – avoid extreme ratings for specific or on all dimensions Contrast effect – rating of one person is affected by rating of another Hawthorne effect – rating distortion (usually high) due to being attended to in a study Self-fulfilling prophecy (experimenter effect)– selective attention given to what is expected or desired Misplaced precision error – faults in the rating, design, or treatment may invalidate the precision of the other Law of the instrument – a favorite instrument will probably find only what it’s designed to find Number magic – the use of numbers carries the impression of greater precision than may be present