I don’t know a single business or organization that wants an employee to be stuck in a rut.
Growth and personal development are based on forward thinking: Where am I now, and where do I want to be?
Moving toward that goal requires a path, an awareness of the steps involved and an understanding of the benefits that will come from taking those steps.
And yes, that connection is very personal to each employee.
This is where assessments can play a foundational role. A well-designed assessment can help employees understand where they are today and provide a credible starting point for moving forward. But assessments should be more than simply identifying a gap. When it connects insight to personal relevance, strategic steps, and opportunities to practice, it can turn awareness into action.
TALENT DEVELOPMENT STARTS WITH KNOWING WHERE YOU ARE
Every development journey starts with a baseline.
Before we can determine where someone can go or how they can get there, we need to understand their current capabilities.
That sounds straightforward, but our perception of our own strengths and development needs isn’t always consistent with how others see us. We all have blind spots. We may overestimate a capability, underestimate our potential, or simply be unaware of opportunities to grow.
Establishing a clear need for development – and communicating it effectively – is fundamental to gaining employee buy-in and creating motivation for growth.
MOTIVATION TURNS AWARENESS INTO ACTION
Knowing you have a development need doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll take action. Most of us have a long list of things we want to change – or know we should change – but never quite get around to doing them.
Awareness alone is rarely enough.
Development becomes more compelling when it connects with something that matters personally to the individual: the desire for success, fear of failure, avoiding stagnation, greater job satisfaction, financial reward, recognition, or the opportunity to take on something new.
Why an employee wants to develop is foundational to the effort required to develop.
The clearer we understand what matters to the individual, the easier it becomes to engage them in development. Some are primarily motivated by avoiding negative outcomes or consequences. Others are energized by the potential for growth and expanded opportunities. For many, it’s some combination of both.
In my experience, avoidance-driven motivation tends to focus attention on what I need to know. Motivation driven by potential is more likely to focus on what I need and want to know.
The distinction may seem subtle, but it can influence how an employee approaches the entire development experience.
DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? THE IMPACT OF CREDIBILITY
Motivation is only part of the equation. Do you have the employee’s attention? Employees must believe the development message is credible enough to deserve their attention.
When someone tells us we need to improve, we naturally ask:
Are they an expert?
Are they trying to help me?
Is this based on objective evidence or simply someone’s opinion?
Those questions become especially important when feedback involves sensitive development issues. This is where assessments can play an important role.
Assessments provide an independent source of information about development needs, adding objectivity to feedback and reducing perceptions of personal bias. They can also make difficult conversations easier.
Instead of hearing, “My manager thinks I need to improve,” an employee may hear, “The assessment suggests this is an opportunity for me to grow.”
Assessments don’t eliminate the need for judgment, discussion, or feedback. But they can provide a credible foundation to start those conversations.
When employees see development information as credible and relevant, they are more likely to give it their attention, and more importantly, to do something with it.
THE ROLE OF ASSESSMENTS: FROM DIAGNOSIS TO DEVELOPMENT
Assessments shouldn’t simply tell us whether someone meets a standard or not; they should help people understand where they are, what they can do next, how they can practice and improve.
Not all assessments support development in the same way.
I view assessments through two key questions:
- What diagnostic information does the assessment provide?
- Can that information be used to support development?
This leads to three broad levels of assessment.
Level 1 – Diagnose: Where Am I Now?
Level 1 assessments provide results-focused feedback. They tell us whether an individual demonstrates a particular capability or skill – or whether they don’t.
It is essentially a simple test-positive/test-negative approach.
This can help establish a baseline, but it generally leaves the employee to determine what to do next.
Level 2 – Direct: What Should I Do About It?
Level 2 assessments go a step further. In addition to providing results, they offer suggestions for improvement that can be incorporated into an individual development plan.
This changes the conversation.
Instead of simply identifying a gap, the assessment can help an employee understand what actions might close it. Those actions might include specific learning opportunities, coaching, practice, behavioral changes, or other development experiences.
Level 2 assessments begin to translate insight into action, helping employees connect assessment results to specific steps for growth.
Level 3 – Develop: How Can I Practice It?
Level 3 assessments take the concept further by incorporating immersive, interactive, and highly job-relevant experiences such as work samples, role plays, and simulations.
Their distinguishing feature is realism.
Rather than simply asking what someone knows or what they would do, these assessments place individuals in situations that closely resemble the demands of the job. Employees can demonstrate capabilities, receive feedback, and practice responding to realistic challenges.
This creates an important bridge between assessment and development.
The assessment is no longer simply diagnosing a need. It becomes part of an experience in which employees can begin applying and strengthening the capabilities they need to succeed.
That doesn’t mean an assessment alone creates development. Sustained development still requires learning, coaching, feedback, practice, and reinforcement. But assessments can serve as a powerful catalyst by giving employees opportunities to practice in realistic situations and understand what they need to develop and why it matters.
Level 3 assessments help employees understand three things:
- Why development matters
- Their strengths and opportunities for growth
- How they can practice and improve
Consider an employee moving into a first-time manager role. A Level 1 assessment might identify a gap in delegation. A Level 2 assessment could recommend specific behaviors and development activities to address the gap. A Level 3 assessment could place the employee in a realistic delegation scenario, allow them to practice, receive feedback, and try again. See a real-world example.
That is where assessments become personal.
For an employee’s personal benefit and motivation, I would consider: is it better to hear what I need to develop, to hear suggestions about how I need to develop, or to hear and actually practice what I need to develop?
The real value of assessment isn’t simply identifying where someone has a gap. It’s helping that person understand why the gap matters, what they can do about it, and how they can practice getting better. When assessment creates that connection, talent development becomes personal, and that’s when development begins to stick.
ALSO CHECK OUT. . .
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WHY EMPLOYEE ALIGNMENT DRIVES LASTING RESULTS
THE FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT: WHY SIMULATIONS CONSISTENTLY OUTPERFORM 360-DEGREE SURVEYS
Joseph T. Sefcik is the founder and president of Employment Technologies. As a thought leader in simulation and immersive assessment technologies, Sefcik pioneered some of the earliest employment simulations for organizations such as The Coca Cola Company, Ford Motor Company, and the New York Police Department. For more than 30 years, his passion has been the advancement of simulation technology for personnel selection and development.