There are more than 2,500 workplace assessments on the market today, which can make picking the right one feel a bit like picking out the best jelly in a supermarket. You’ve walked that aisle, right? Dozens upon dozens of options stare back at you from the shelves. If you were unsure of what you wanted when you walked in, well, you’re just toast, so to speak.
This isn’t the case with assessments. Even if the costs are low—and some assessments are free—the stakes are high. What will it cost your organization, for instance, to use a bargain-basement assessment that provides misleading or unhelpful results? And how much value might your business gain if you use the right assessment and it helps improve elements like employee engagement, morale, productivity, collaboration, innovation, and retention rates?
About 76 percent of organizations with more than 100 employees rely on some sort of assessment, according to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), and this slice of the training and development industry has grown to more than $500 million in annual sales. It’s a crowded market with intense competition, so before you venture into the assessment aisle, answer these five questions that can help you home in on what’s best for your organization:
What Is Your Performance Challenge?
John O. Brennan was the top counterterrorism advisor to the president of the United States in 2009 when he gave a speech about the government’s approach to safeguarding the American people from attacks by extremists.“How you define a problem,” he pointed out, “shapes how you address it.”
Likewise, before you can determine what type of assessment you need—or if you need one at all—you should conduct a needs analysis that identifies the performance gap you’re trying to bridge. Do you need to increase retention of top performers? Help managers become better leaders and coaches? Encourage inclusion and diversity? Spark innovation? Reducing the cost of conflict? Make some significant change in your organization’s culture?
Organizations typically have multiple initiatives underway, and the best assessment solutions are robust enough to help address different challenges. Regardless of the challenge, the solutions meet people where they are and help them connect authentically to the work that needs to be done. Once the problem has been defined, the solutions help you address it in ways that lead to positive results for your people and the organization.
Is the Assessment Reasonably Simple to Complete?
Time isn’t money—at least not in a literal sense. But it’s helpful in the pursuit of outcomes such as making a profit. It’s a valuable resource because it’s a limited one, which is why it’s an important consideration when you’re choosing an assessment.Exploring this component, however, requires more than answering the obvious questions such as How long is the questionnaire? or How long will it take to complete the assessment? It’s also wise to look for a solution that offers flexibility in how the assessment and its results are delivered. Compatibility with mobile devices, for instance, is a big plus.
The easier and more engaging the assessment experience is, the more likely it is that people will complete it, which means administrators will need to spend less time tracking down incompletes. The ease of the experience also can impact how honest participants are when they answer the questions and how receptive they are when they view the results.
Are the Results Reliable, Easy to Remember, and Relatable?
Some assessments can seem helpful but aren’t credible or useful. It could be that a consultant, coach, author, or public speaker made up the questions and the ratings as a way to provide free content to prospects. Or it might be something like the enneagram, which is popular in some circles but based largely on astrology and the teachings of spiritual mystics.The most credible personality assessments were designed by psychologists who devoted their lives to developing rich and complex psychometrics. These tools are reliable because they provide accurate results. The problem, in many instances, is that the results are presented in long-form narratives peppered with special codes or language that must be deciphered then committed to memory. The overwhelming jargon and complexity tend to reduce the value of the results because people have a hard time remembering what the various codes mean.
While an assessment like the enneagram might be memorable and relatable, it isn’t reliable. There are multiple versions of the assessment, and you may get different results if you take it multiple times. But a more reliable assessment may be just as useless if people can’t relate to the results or remember them.
The best assessments present accurate results using simple language that’s memorable and that is high in face validity (not only is it accurate, it feels accurate to the learner). People who accept the results of their assessments are much more likely to remember them and to be curious about the results of others. When they resist or dismiss their assessment results, they disengage from the training that asks them to apply those results.
Does the Application of the Results Extend to Relationships, Not Only the Individual?
The underlying theories for many assessments are based on individuals, not on relationships, but work typically doesn’t take place in silos. Some people might do much of their work on their own, but they also are members of teams that must interact (even if those interactions happen via Zoom), which is why assessments are most useful when the results improve relationships across a broad range of situations and circumstances. Assessments help individuals understand who they are as well as show them how they can adjust behavior based on the people they are with, their goals, and the demands of the situation. A good assessment doesn’t limit people to a specific situation or overgeneralize to the point of being impractical.Do the Assessment Results Lend Themselves to Training for Improved Performance?
Assessments often are accompanied by training or coaching that explains the results and unpacks the insights. Unfortunately, such training only lasts about as long as the training session. People hear their results and understand the insights but forget them when they re-enter the workplace, which is where they need them most.Regardless of how well a program is facilitated or how much fun people have during the training session, there’s not much lasting impact if people don’t know how to apply what they’ve learned. The training that comes with an assessment needs to emphasize practical application that leads to improved performance.
A typical assessment-based training session, for instance, is based on the assumption that the awareness gained by each person in the group will result in better communication and higher performance. But that holds true only if the training focuses on how to communicate the results and how to apply them at work. People must have easy access to their results and be able to share them just as easily with their colleagues. If not, the results will be forgotten and the insights won’t be used in any meaningful, consistent way.
The best assessments are reliable, memorable, and useful. They help organizations improve, especially in areas where they most need improvement. They are satisfying, like the perfect jelly on a piece of toast. But the insights, unlike the jelly, can be shared and experienced in relationships, and they don’t come with an expiration date.
