X-Box Meets In-Box: The Future is Upon Us in

Assessment Center Technology

2015 APTMetrics

September 29, 2015

To outperform the competition

you must… LEAP!

Ensure organizational alignment and excellence in:

g

eadership

ngagement

gility, and

erformance

1 2015 APTMetrics

2

2015 Top Global CEO Challenges Aligning talent to drive outcomes is the top imperative

Human Capital

Innovation

Customer Relationships

Operational Excellence

Sustainability

1

2

3

4

5

Source: The Conference Board CEO Challenge 2015

STRATEGY

Human Capital Capability

Vision

Values

Competitive Differentiation

What must be done exceptionally well to execute strategy?

Culture and People are increasingly the key drivers of competitive advantage

Setting the Context:

Talent Segmentation

3

Why Do We Need to Differentiate?

• Organizations have limited resources for development

• Having models for talent differentiation or segmentation is critical

4

The Case for Talent Segmentation

• Talent is a scarce resource

• Placing the right people in the right roles is even more critical to business

success then ever before

• Organizations have limited resources for development

• Organizations need to know who/where/how to best target investment in people

• Individual performance is not normally distributed

• Having models for talent differentiation/segmentation is critical

• Need to effectively and accurately determine who has and doesn’t have the

potential (and why) for future leadership roles (whatever target roles those

may be)

5

6

Increased performance sometimes adds significant incremental value to the organization (e.g., in a sales role)

and sometimes does not (e.g., in certain production roles)

Segmenting for Optimization An illustrated segmented approach to optimize talent investments

Source: Transformative HR: How Great Companies Use Evidence-Based Change for Sustainable Advantage, Boudreau and Jesuthasan (Jossey-Bass, 2013).

2 3 1

7

Differentiation Allows Enhanced Focus Deeper in the Organization

Focus Developmental Resources Here Focus

Developmental Resources Here

Global Hipos

Without Segmentation With Segmentation

Hi-Po Talent

C-suite Leaders

Senior Leaders

Mid-level Managers

Supervisors/Pivotal Roles

Team Leads

Balance of Leadership

8

How Best to Segment Talent?

• Majority of organizations use some form of “High Potential” rating as their key talent differentiator

• Many models exist of high potential

• Some are grounded in research… some are not

• Research on high potentials is limited

• Potential for what?

Foundational Dimensions

Growth Dimensions

Career Dimensions

Leadership Potential Blueprint

Performance (In-role track record)

Personality Cognitive Ability

Learning Motivation

Leadership Capability Functional Capability

Fit

Adapted from Silzer, R., & Church, A. H. (2009). The Pearls and Perils of Identifying Potential.

Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 2, 377-412.

9

Breaking the Assessment Glass Ceiling

11

Identify, Develop, and Deploy Potential

C-suite Leaders

Senior Leaders

Mid-level Managers

Supervisors/Pivotal Roles

Team Leads

Purpose

Identify and address development gaps; Inform movement decisions

Identify and verify enterprise talent; Facilitate preparedness and succession planning

Identify/confirm potential of individuals early in career; Better focus development dollars

Conduct initial segmentation of talent; Better understand long-range talent landscape

Checkpoint #4: Shape and Refine

Checkpoint #3: Confirm and

Develop

Checkpoint #2: Verify and

Stretch

Checkpoint #1: Identify and Differentiate

Capture the Imagination (and Attention) of Senior Leaders

12

Create a unique and distinctive experience when designing senior leader assessments.

Leverage Technology Intelligently…

13

Integrate Theatre with Technology

14

Theatrical • Story Driven

• Audience Engagement

• Optimal Candidate Experience

Technological • Leveraging Multi-media

Technology

• Internet and Technology Delivery

Video Sample Placeholder

1

15

Setting the Context:

What to Assess

16

Identify Thought Leaders for Content Design

17

To describe organizational, strategic and operational challenges expected over the long term use….

• Company executives as subject matter experts

• Business thought leaders as an alternative

Challenge for simulations:

Need to yield as many independent measurement opportunities as possible.

Incorporate Psychometric Considerations

18

19

• Design cliff-hangers • Create chapters in the simulation – helps guarantee that participants

will get through at least the first chapter in an initial sitting (1-2 hours)

• End each chapter with a challenge introduced right before the end

• Dramatic intensity and sound design

• Special effects

Manage Participant Experience

Track Dramatic Intensity

20

21

Story Overview

• Participant assumes role of CEO of Topaz Industries, a $33B global personal

hygiene company

• Simulation takes place in four “chapters” occurring over the first few weeks on the

job for the new CEO

Technical Specifications

• Multi-media simulation design for administration either in one 4-5 hour sitting, or in

1-2 hour sittings over a specified time

• Assessment simulation can be taken from any desktop or laptop computer

• Assessment items include multiple-choice, multi-select, and rank-order, and open

text responses scored by trained assessors

• Integrated assessment reports are delivered within 3-5 business days

Setting the Stage

Video Sample Placeholder

2

22

Create Realistic Resources

23

Video Sample Placeholder

3

24

Putting it All Together

25

Video Sample Placeholder

4

26

Don’t Forget to Evaluate

27

Evaluation is primarily about making a credible case that the Assessment Center (AC) is supporting important business priorities

• Does AC provide deliverables that are most critical to the organization’s success?

• What organizational obstacles prevent the AC from being more effective?

• Does AC allow us to retain our most critical people at a higher rate than our competitors?

• How does it help improve the organization’s competitive position?

The Bleeding Edge

28

Google Glasses

29

Scoring: Speech-to-Text

30

Scoring: Speech-to-Text

PocketSphinx (Carnegie Mellon)

(Dragon Naturally Speaking)

31

Scoring: Speech-to-Text

Dimension Score

Analytical

Thinking

High

Pass

Communication Pass

Problem

Analysis

High

Pass

Etc.

32

Scoring: Video Behavioral Analysis

33

Scoring: Video Behavioral Analysis

34

Scoring: Video Behavioral Analysis

35

The Bottom Line!

36

“It is not the most

intellectual of the

species that survives;

it is not the

strongest...; but...the

one that is able best to

adapt ….”

From Prof. Leon Megginson, applying the theories of Charles Darwin to business in “Lessons from Europe for American Business”,

Southwestern Social Science Quarterly (1963)

37

38