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DID
YOU KNOW?
TALENT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EXPERIENCE,
BRAINPOWER AND WILLPOWER.
From First Break All the Rules, Jim Collins
 PROFESSIONAL
SOLUTIONS |
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WHY
ASSESSMENTS?
by Dr. Carol Renaud Gaffney, Ph.D. © 2003
Ready to change your life? Ready to grow your
business? Ready to make your present business
more productive with a healthier bottom line?
Whether it’s personal or organizational
growth, having a well-established reason for change
and understanding your values, traits and attributes
are essential for success. The best way to evaluate
what you want, what you have and what you need
is by using an investigative process that includes
assessments and profiles. Such assessments provide
objective, validated, reliable information necessary
for sound decision making.
The ABCs of Total Person
or Total Job Analysis ©2003
For personal change:
The first step in real change, moving toward personal,
value based goals, is to know where you are starting
and what you’re starting with. When the
goals are about personal change, you’ve
got know more than your geographic position, you
need to know about who you are: what you really
care about, how you go about interacting with
people and your environment and what skills you
have. You must get a good description of your
personal strengths and a good inventory of what
areas need development in order to move most easily
toward the desired goals.
The quickest, most valid and most cost effective
way I know of getting this essential information
is by using assessments that provide the Total
Person Analysis – the ABCs – the Attitudes,
the Behaviors and the Competencies that not only
describe motivations and typical behaviors, but
whether or not you will do what you say you want
to do. As much as I trust my friends and family,
their vision and honesty sometimes can only go
so far.
Because there is no one who knows you as well
as you know yourself, there’s nothing like
a computer generated report based on your own
answers for objectivity. It is through the privacy
of your own responses that you can learn about
your strengths, when your strengths support your
success and when those same strengths can interfere
with success. In addition you will learn about
the skills needed to take you to your next level
of success.
Some people are hesitant to complete behavioral
profiles because they think they’re personality
tests which are often associated with psychological
treatment which is often associated with Freud
which is often associated with "What’s
Wrong With Me?" In fact Attitude , Behavioral,
and Competency profiles describe "what’s
right with me". They are not personality
profiles. With the "what’s right with
me" information, decisions are based on figuring
out how to use strengths. The assessments can
also point out areas of potential weakness and
with that information the necessary skills for
success can be learned and implemented.
There are many assessments available that describe
behaviors or styles or temperament but there are
few that consider values. Without knowing our
values or understanding why they’re important
you can set up many programs for change and continue
to wonder why they’re so marginally effective.
Once we have a good description of our values
we can figure out where our values have come from
and whether or not they are still right for us.
You see, values and attitudes are learned and
reside deep within an area of the mind that isn’t
always in awareness yet they are the most powerful
influencers of choice of behaviors. What I think
is right or wrong, good or bad, whether I want
to create a relationship with someone or an organization
is based on my beliefs, my values.
Values direct behavior and determine whether I
become passionately committed to something or
whether I’m willing to be a disinterested
observer or perhaps even actively hostile toward
certain events or people. Values allow a peek
into the question of "what’s in it
for me" and whether I want to spend time
with you, to work with you or to be excited about
the job I have. It is through the shared values
that people spending time together or working
together have what it takes to become a team.
My personal belief is that we have a purpose based
on spirit and the closer we are to acting in accordance
with our spirit wish, the more satisfied we are
in life. Important life decisions such as college
and career and who we marry are made for many
reasons. Sometimes we slip through our lives without
much thought. Sometimes we make choices to keep
the family peace or to satisfy momentary needs.
Until we clarify the "why", the "what’s
in it for me", the "what’s right
with me" of who we are and get our life actions
in line with that, there is a good chance that
we can not be fully life satisfied.
Within organizations:
Assessments have been used within organizations,
businesses and education in order to improve communication,
team productivity and determining what type of
development someone can benefit from. Increasingly
they are being used during the selection process,
for creating excellent matches between the job
and candidates.
Why the increase in assessments for selection?
Because the stakes are too high to make mistakes.
The cost of hiring the wrong person for the right
job or the right person for a job not well defined
is just too high – financially and emotionally
for all concerned. Either way, whether the job
doesn’t fit the needs of the company or
the person doesn’t fit the needs of the
job, the cost of making a mistake is too costly
– financially and then emotionally for all
concerned.
Also, we are now capable of computerized evaluation
of jobs as well as candidates. We’ve always
known that job candidates and employees could
talk. People can answer questions about themselves
and can respond to assessments. But now it’s
possible to listen to the jobs themselves and
when jobs talk and we listen, we have the best
information for selecting the right person for
the right job.
Yes, Jobs Talk. It’s just up to stakeholders
to listen to the needs of the business (what job
is really needed and why), listen to the job (now
that you want me, this is what I need –
ABCs, attitudes, behaviors and competencies) and
come to consensus about what those ABCS are.
The process of comprehensively listening to what
the Job wants is the Total Job Analysis. Because
of the way the job talks and stakeholders may
not all hear the same thing, the use of assessments
combines information from several sources to create
a job profile.
This profile not only describes the job but creates
the questions the job would like to ask if it
could. When you think about it, the interviewers
are really representing the job when they ask
questions of potential candidates. The job is
the silent partner in the background relying on
its human representatives to find the best person
to fill it.
Whether it’s the Total Person Analysis or
the Total Job Analysis, whether it’s change
at work, change at home or personal change knowing
your ABCs (the Attitudes, Behaviors and Competencies)
is essential. The most unbiased, comprehensive approach
to gathering this information is to integrate assessments
into your change process. And be sure you get the
Total Analysis, not just behavior as they only tell
part of the story. For more information and to try
one of the assessments, please contact Dr. Carol
Gaffney at 401-245-5848 or carol@drgaffney.com
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THE
NEWSLETTER
Dr. Gaffney's Newsletters provide insight and direction
for successful communication and action to help
you create your life – at work, at home and
within your community.
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 PERSONAL
Creating your life requires self-knowledge, planning
and taking action otherwise you'll be making the
trip but it may be the magical mystery tour. Start
here for personal understanding, the basis of success.
 LEARN
MORE |
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 PROFESSIONAL
Do you hire right the first time? Are you and the
people you work with at peak performance? Do you
have the skills and attitudes for extraordinary
success? Start here to learn about excellence in
your professional life.
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MORE |
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 FAMILY
If you have children
and are concerned about their development and
well-being and having them become loving, independent,
productive and responsible, check out the materials
in this section.
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WHY ASSESSMENTS?
PEOPLE
SOLUTIONS