Understanding Assessments

What is an assessment? It’s a commonly used term with diverse interpretations. In this article, I’ll provide more explanation.

Assessments: A Gift?!

It sounds quite daunting: “Oh, I have to take an assessment…”. Yet, if conducted and guided well, it’s usually seen as a gift afterwards. How wonderful is it when an assessment provides insight: into yourself, your team, and your employees.

An assessment can offer nuanced answers to various questions at hand. Recent examples of questions I received are:

• Does our manager have the potential to grow into a leadership role?
• Which environment best suits the motivations of our HR manager?
• To what extent does the candidate we want to hire fit within our management team?
• How can we, as team members, better deal with our differences and align more with each other’s talents?

But What Exactly is an Assessment?

An assessment, in short, is a methodology used to assess or evaluate whether you are suitable for a particular position.

According to Wikipedia, an assessment is:

A review program that applicants or candidates must go through to be hired for a certain position or to determine if they have developable talents. An assessment is often part of the hiring process of many large companies and government agencies, and is often outsourced to specialized consulting firms.

Literal translation of the commonly used term “assessment” is estimation, evaluation. In English literature, assessment refers to ‘the testing and evaluation of student performance’. The term ‘assessment’ is not protected. This means that any analysis methodology can, in principle, be called an assessment.

When is an Assessment Used?

Assessments are not only used in external and internal job applications. They are extremely valuable when used in individual development and team development. It provides insight into various facets of personality, shows what is developable and what is not or more difficult to develop. The most common types of assessments are:

• selection assessment
• career assessment
• development assessment

Regardless of the assessment method used, I always find it essential to consider both the objectivity of the measurements and to ensure that sufficient attention is paid to explaining the assessments to the candidate. I also see an assessment as a kind of “baseline”. What is the starting point, where does someone stand now? If it is linked to a personal development trajectory, it is also useful to, for example, have a measurement taken after a year or two to evaluate progress.

Live or Online Assessments?

In essence, there are two types of assessments: live and online.

Live Assessment: These are assessments that take place in a qualified ‘assessment center’. This is the method traditionally used by mostly large companies and government institutions. It involves multiple practical exercises and simulations, such as competency testing, capacity testing (intelligence measurement), the inbox exercise, and role-playing. You are observed by one or more people, called assessors. They can be psychologists, but not necessarily. Ideally, the final discussion with explanation is conducted by a psychologist, who also reports the assessment.

Online Assessment: The second form is online assessments. These are also called E-assessments. These come in many forms, whether scientifically validated or not. And from simple to extensive. If reliable validated analyses are used, this provides the most objective result. More and more organizations see the added value of this. Usually, the candidate receives a link so that one or more assessments can be conducted. Online assessments generally take less time for candidates and are cheaper for organizations. The composition of the analyses is available more quickly because it is also automated. The results are then discussed with the candidate by the certified advisor. This combination remains important so that attention can be paid to nuance. A disadvantage can sometimes be that the results are too easily accepted as truth.

If you want to know more about how an assessment can be used for you, request a golden strategy session with me.

Want to read more? Then read my book “My Best Team Ever! In 7 steps to Golden Leadership“. Or do you want to know how you can further develop your leadership? Then contact me now!