Assess: Customized Selection and Evaluation System with a 360 Performance Appraisal for Managers, Supervisors and High Level Executives

Your upper level management is the lifeblood of your company.

A bad CEO, President, VP, or high-level supervisor or manager can literally sabotage your company from the inside out.

As a board member, stakeholder, business owner, or upper level manager or executive yourself, you understand that it is vital to your company’s success that you find and hire the right professional and place them in their best performing roles within your company, while also helping them reach their greatest potential in order to reap the most profit and results for your business or organization.

The insidious nature of a poorly performing supervisor, manager or executive can cost your business millions of dollars in lost productivity, rework, profit, morale and reputation.

This is also why you realize that there are potential gaps in your professional employee ranks that you need to fill as quickly and effectively as possible, or problems with current professional employees’ ineffective performance in their existing roles that is seriously – perhaps irreparably – damaging your company’s operations, productivity, integrity and bottom line.

You need a reliable management assessment or executive assessment tool that will accurately determine whether a potential high level management hire is the right fit for your company — not only measuring their personality and leadership qualities, but also their directly related job experience.

You also need a way to fully understand your current management better, identify their weaknesses and help them improve in their ability to communicate and lead their team, their department or your company more effectively.

Essentially, you need a way to prevent costly hiring mistakes at the highest levels of accountability and leadership while also helping existing leaders to not only understand themselves better, but relate to how others feel about their leadership and how they can improve in their roles as well.

In other words, you need a proven method and system that includes a complete, full-scale performance appraisal test that can help you determine who to place at the highest levels within your organization, and how to help existing leaders become even more effective.

That’s exactly what our flagship product – Assess – is designed to do.

Here are some questions you must address every day:

• How do you choose the right top-level management to hire?
• Are the leaders working for you now doing what you need them to do?
• Are your most important tasks being accomplished?
• Is your leadership actively pursuing career development?
• Which professionals can be most successful, and can you retain them?
• Is your current program of development producing the results you want?

Assess will help you answer these questions and more.

Assess shows you quickly and with great detail, who your best candidates for hire are and where your current talent is hiding by helping you define success for your business and aligning that definition with your strategic model.

Using the Assess management and executive assessment tool, your company can accurately measure and evaluate progress and results for your top level management while planning for improved performance in the future. Assess will also provide your employees with customized guidance and feedback to support them in setting, planning and achieving their professional development and strategic goals.

What Is Assess and How Does It Work?

Assess is a detailed, customized and complete management assessment system that includes full-scale multi-rater performance appraisal options for selection and development of professionals at the managerial and executive levels of leadership within your company.

Assess will improve your ability to:

• Select the best talent for hire
• Plan for promotion and succession
• Model job-related competencies
• Measure performance
• Improve performance through coaching
• Develop professional leadership

All of these criteria are different for all companies and you need a customized approach to evaluating and assessing external and internal candidates for executive and managerial leadership positions.

rd&partners’ consultants will assist your organization in constructing the exact set of managerial assessment and executive assessment tools you need based on your individualized success model. Those assessment tools will then be available via the web for immediate access throughout your organization.

The Assess system has 4 parts:

Assess: Defining Your Measure of Success

• First, Assess helps you to Define your organization’s goals using the Strategic Success Modeling (SSM) system, so that you will know how to structure the rest of your customized systems. To help you define and target your goals for success:
  • The Assess exclusive Strategic Success Modeling (SSM) process utilizes a
    Competency Library that defines 38 aspects of Thinking, Working and Relating to help structure and refine your own Strategic Success Model.

Learn how Assess helps your organization Define goals

Assess for Selection: Hire the Right Professional Right Now

• Next, Assess helps you Select new hires using the Competency Based Selection Report customized for your organization, plus integrated resources and workshops. You may also choose a Standard Selection Report or a basic Success Profile.To help you hire and promote the best candidates for your professional position openings:
  • The Competency Based Selection Report shows you exactly what each potential hire can offer your organization, and areas in which they may be weak or ineffective.

Learn how Assess helps your organization Select the best talent

Assess for Development: Capitalize on Your Current Professional Talent

• Next, Assess helps you Develop existing professionals in your organization using the Competency Based Development Report or 360 Performance Appraisal customized management assessment and executive assessment options, plus integrated resources and workshops. You can also choose to implement Focus 360, which is a follow up measurement tool to Assess 360, or a Standard Development Report.To help you capitalize on the professional talent already working in your company:
  • The Competency Based Development Report provides evaluative feedback about intellectual abilities and personality characteristics as well as work-related competencies.
  • The 360 Performance Appraisal for Development uses input from multiple sources to provide a well-rounded managerial assessment to better construct an individualized development plan.

Learn how Assess helps your organization Develop existing talent

Assess for Results: Measure and Quantify Your Progress

• Finally, Assess helps you Measure the results of your Definition, Selection and Development process with the Progress Development Focused Appraisal. To help you measure your levels of improvement and success after implementation of these evaluation tools:
  • The Progress Development Focused Appraisal brings everything together into an assessment of key competencies and job competencies around how they impact your business and drive your success.

Learn how Assess helps your organization Measure results

Successful companies worldwide use competency evaluation systems – such as Assess – to match their strategic planning with personnel requirements, define those necessary requirements, and then specify the personality characteristics, knowledge base and other traits needed for professional employees at all levels throughout their organizations.

Assess will deliver the information you need in order to make the selection and development decisions that are most critical to your business’s success.

Because we know this is a lot of information to digest – Assess is a comprehensive assessment – in the sections that follow, we’ve broken things down into more detail explaining EXACTLY how these assessment tests work and how you can use this system in your organization.

The Assess system has 4 parts:
Define: your organization’s goals in order to structure the rest of your customized Assess systems. Select: new hires through customized selection tools specifically designed for your organization.	Develop: existing professionals in your organization using integrated resources + multi-rater feedback. Measure: the results of your Definition, Selection and Development process to continue to drive your company’s success.
Click on a link above to jump to that particular section.

Assess: Defining Your Measure of Success

What Are Your Goals and Expectations for Your Company?

Before your company can reach the expectations of success you require, you have to first define that success in terms of your strategic business model, and then develop a plan to make it happen.

That’s where this appraisal system begins: By defining your goals and expectations for you and your business from the start.

Assess begins by:

• Matching your business strategy with the right talent for the best results
• Developing your best success model
• Generating reports specifically based on your success model
• Utilizing the Competency Library to target key competencies for your organization

If you have an existing business model, this versatile assessment tool can be customized to support and promote what you already have in place and work with your existing evaluation systems.

• The Strategic Success Modeling (SSM) process is exclusive to the Assess system.

Using a Competency Library that defines 38 aspects of Thinking, Working and Relating, you will structure and/or refine your company’s Strategic Success Model with personalized assistance from rd&partners’ consultants.

The ultimate goal of this process is to match the right people with your strategy within your organization.

In addition, if your company has not structured a concise business model, or you feel the need to restructure the model you are using now, Assess will guide you through this critical process step-by-step to ensure that the desired results of the Assess evaluation are achieved.

Back To the Assess Overview List

Assess for Selection: Hire the Right Professional for Your Organization Right Now

How Can You Hire the Right Upper Level Management for Your Business the First Time?

The Competency Based Selection Report shows you exactly what each potential hire can offer your organization and areas in which they may be weak or ineffective.

The Competency Based Selection Report gives you:

• Detailed outlines of personality characteristics and intellectual competencies
• Evaluation of attributes for job-related competencies
• Targeted interview questions and guidelines
• Management approach guidelines based on personality traits

The Assess Competency Based Selection Report Includes:

Competency Overview Personality Summary Personality Detail Interview Guide Making the Selection Decision Report Management Suggestions Graphic Profile

• The Selection Report begins with a Competency Overview which details ability results from some or all of 7 distinct ability tests you can choose from depending on the time available for testing and your position requirements. You will only find this feature in our Assess Selection Reports.
• Next is a Personality Summary. This summary features a visual Personality Detail which graphs and discusses the candidate’s personality implications for work performance. This part of the assessment is vital for guiding your company through the sometimes murky waters of whether or not a potential hire has the right personality and traits necessary for the position. Because the candidate is often an expert at interviewing or disguising their weaknesses, shortcomings are often difficult to uncover for proper evaluation. The Personality Detail is designed to bypass artifice and get at the candidate’s true competencies.

Below is a screenshot of a Personality Detail result:

The Personality Summary also features an Interview Guide that suggests interview query probes based on the candidate’s responses, which can be immensely helpful for “on the fly” interviews. In addition, the Interview Guide can also be customized for your specific company’s needs.

Below is a screenshot of the Interview Guide:

• Finally, you are provided with a guide to Making the Selection Decision that includes Management Suggestions for effectively managing the individual if hired, and a full-page Graphic Profile that allows you to quickly see how the candidate compares to other candidates and how they meet your hiring criteria.

Below is a screenshot of a Management Suggestions page:

With these evaluation and reporting systems you will also gain access to related web-based Assess resource sites where you will find referenced materials suggested in the reports plus helpful guides for interviewers and managers. You may also benefit from Assess workshops that provide targeted training for your hiring teams in the most effective use of the Selection Reports.

Back To the Assess Overview List

Assess for Development: Capitalize On Your Current Professional Talent

What Is The Most Effective Way To Develop the Professional Talent Within Your Organization Right Now?

Assess for Development offers you 2 primary management assessments to choose from:

• Competency Based Report
• 360 Performance Appraisal

The Assess Competency Based Development Report Includes:
Competency Based Development Report	360 Performance Appraisal
Reading Your Report An instructional guide Your Ability Results An explanation of the Ability Results The Model A growth and development facilitation guide Your Assess Results A graphical personality feedback chart	The Model A growth and development facilitation guide Overall Summary A graphical competency rating By Group A comparison of ratings from all evaluators Competency Result Charts and discussion of competencies Comments All evaluators’ feedback Developmental Suggestion Detailed developmental competencies discussion Developmental Action Planning Detailed developmental planning guidelines Appendix: Detailed Results Graphical competency ratings from all evaluators

The Competency Based Development Report

The Competency Based Development Report provides evaluative feedback about intellectual abilities and personality characteristics as well as work-related competencies.

This report can be used alone, or paired with Assess 360 (described below). And as before, all support resources, including courses, multimedia, books and online learning tools, can be customized for your organization.

The Competency Based Development Report gives you:

• Reading Your Report: an instructional guide to getting the most out of the Development Report
• Your Ability Results: an explanation of the employee’s assessed abilities
• The Model: a framework and simplified discussion for a given position description in order to facilitate use of the assessment results toward growth and development.
• Your Assess Results: a detailed and graphical personality feedback result focused on demonstrating how personality characteristics impact job performance.

Here is a look at a Personality Feedback page from Your Assess Results:

This is followed by Development Suggestions, a personalized in-depth discussion toward compensating techniques and the management of characteristics that may be holding the employee back or hindering optimal job performance. Suggestions may include books, seminars and on-the-job activities.

Here’s a screenshot from the Development Suggestions result:

Next is Action Planning which details how the employee can use the assessment results for their career development.

The employee is then provided with a full-page Graphic Profile which provides a quick visual comparison of their results in relation to preferred competencies.

With Assess evaluation and reporting systems you will also gain access to related web-based resource sites where you will find referenced materials suggested in the reports plus helpful guides for interviewers and managers. You may also benefit from Assess workshops which provide targeted training for your hiring teams in the effective use of the Development Reports.

The final evaluation report from this performance appraisal is meant to be shared with and actuated by the professional employee being assessed.

The 360 Performance Appraisal

Assess 360 is a progressive state of the art management assessment and executive assessment tool based on the 360 degree appraisal format. However, this tool employs greater depth and flexibility than any other comprehensive appraisal tools.

It is simple, versatile and targeted.

Assess 360 uses input from multiple sources to provide a well-rounded evaluation of a professional employee to better construct an individualized development plan.

Your company needs to understand not just your current leader’s strengths and weaknesses as he or she views them, but also how others view them – a “360 degree” view so to speak.

This assessment tool, plus its administration and reporting features, are web based and immediately accessible. This provides the ability to rate several employees simultaneously which significantly reduces downtime for taking the test.

Assess 360 can be used alone, or paired with the Competency Based Development Report(described above).

In addition, there are multiple supporting resources, including courses, multimedia, books and online learning, that can be customized just for your organization to help guide and improve the employee’s leadership skills.

As a result, this versatile tool is specifically targeted to your organization by using elements for assessing competency and behavior ratings that can be derived from your existing competency model, and by using results that include in-depth suggestions for development of indicated weak areas, and a direct action planning guide.

The 360 Performance Appraisal gives you:

• The Model: a growth and development facilitation guide
• Overall Summary: a graphical overview of the employee’s assessed competency rating
• By Group: a comparison of ratings given the employee from multiple evaluators
• Competency Results: features charts and discussion of the employee’s assessed competencies
• Comments: presents feedback for the employee from all evaluators
• Developmental Suggestions: a detailed discussion of developmental competencies
• Developmental Action Planning: presents detailed individualized developmental planning guidelines for the employee
• Appendix: Detailed Results: outlines the employee’s detailed results graphical competency ratings from all evaluators.

The final evaluation report from this performance appraisal is meant to be shared with and actuated by the professional employee being assessed.

This is a powerful medium to not only assess your top-level talent, but also to help them achieve higher levels of performance, leadership and development for your company.

• The assessment begins with The Model, which presents a framework and simplified discussion for a given position description in order to facilitate the use of the assessment results toward growth and development.

Below is a screenshot of The Model page:

• The Overall Summary is a graph of the employee’s competency rating. It is divided into categories of 12 areas of competency, with results graphed for average score and then the overall score by group assessment for each area of competency.

Below is a screenshot of the Overall Summary page:

• The scoring and evaluations segment, By Group, compares ratings from the multiple sources participating in the evaluation.
• The Competency Results segment presents graphed Assess 360 results with charts and discussion for each competency category being evaluated.

Here is a look at a page from the Competency Results report:

Comments gathered from the multiple sources participating in the evaluation are presented as feedback for further discussion.

• Developmental Action Planning offers Overview, Resources, Self Awareness, Recognizing Areas for Improvement and Goal Setting sections as well as a guide to Building Your Development Action Plans and Implementation of the plan.
• Appendix: Detailed Results provides charts and graphs of detailed input for each evaluated competency rating from the multiple sources participating in the evaluation.

Below is a look at a page from the Appendix:

With Assess evaluation and reporting systems you will also gain access to related web-based Assess resource sites where you will find referenced materials suggested in the Reports plus helpful guides for interviewers and managers. You may also benefit from Assess workshops which provide targeted training for your hiring teams in the effective use of the Development Reports.

The final evaluation report from this performance appraisal is meant to be shared with and actuated by the professional employee being assessed.

Back To the Assess Overview List

Assess for Results: Measure and Quantify Your Progress

How Can You Accurately Measure the Results of Your Strategic Plan and the Level of Your Success?

The Assess Progress Approach is about the design and implementation of a complete development-focused appraisal process.

For maximizing employee talent and overall success for your organization, your approach is critical to realizing a successful and beneficial performance appraisal process.

There are many obstacles including time limitations, unclear expectations, limited accountability, lack of targeting and overall process avoidance that are preventing your highest level employees from achieving your goals and strategic plan.

The good news is that these barriers can all be overcome, and the resulting benefits are very real.

Assess Progress allows you to:

• Maximize your business strategy
• Make relevant tools available to all your people
• Bring managers, professionals and employees together
• Develop existing talent through accountability and feedback
• Support all employee roles with training, resources and education

The Assess Progress Experience involves comprehensive feedback via multi-level participation from the process administrator, to the approval person, to the administering manager, and ending with the employee being assessed.

To make things easier, Assess Progress monitors participation and accountability at each level via its web-based reporting format.

Administrator participation involves:

• Creating and customizing the Assess competency-based forms
• Editing and otherwise managing participant input
• Managing and tracking appraisals
• Reviewing and evaluating resulting organizational data

Approver participation involves:

• Attaining a clear view of existing talent and their development needs
• Holding managers accountable for initiating employee development
• Keeping track of the review process
• Overseeing and approving manager ratings
• Providing feedback to managers using Assess tools and resources

Manager participation involves:

• Guiding employees through the Assess appraisal processes
• Delivering focused, helpful feedback
• Making sure tools, support and guidance are provided for rating and review discussions
• Using the Assess dashboard reporting to ensure assessment completion
• Monitoring development and projected business objectives

Employee participation involves:

• Becoming an active participant
• Outlining clearly targeted goals
• Active self-rating and commentary
• Taking action on suggested development tasks
• Monitoring outlined objectives and targeted goals

The Assess Progress Development Focused Appraisal finally brings all of your organization’s assessment results together into one assessment which includes a 360 performance appraisal, key competencies and job related competencies. All of this ensures you and your evaluation team receive a complete, integrated package that gives you a clear overall view of how a potential management hire will impact your business and help drive your success.

Assess: Your Complete Solution for Managerial and Executive Employee Selection and Development

Understanding and structuring your organization in order to build and retain the very best professional talent is at the core of creating a successful business based on your company values.

Finding the right CEO, VP or manager for various departments in your organization is one thing.

Ensuring that you are attracting, keeping and developing the very best talent is quite another.

Assess is a complete end-to-end solution that you can use consistently to implement the exact structure and accountability that you need to assess the very best incoming upper level management, while also serving your existing talent to continuously grow and build your company.

As a board member, stakeholder, business owner, upper level manager or executive yourself, you understand that it is vital to your company’s success that you find and hire the right professionals and place them in their best performing roles within your company, while also helping them reach their greatest potential in order to reap the most profit and results for your business or organization.

rd&partners is YOUR dedicated partner in securing that success.

Contact rd&partners today to try Assess for free.

Instead of relying on your old hit-or-miss hiring and developmental strategies – find out more about how Assess can help YOUR organization achieve greater success through maximizing the effectiveness of your professional employees immediately.