REQUIREMENTS FOR AN ASSESSMENT PROCESS
When assessing competence, it is essential that we have a well-understood and well-defined approach. In the business or industrial world, an essential part of any approach is a well-defined process. Therefore, in order to carry out effective and efficient assessments, it is essential that we have a process in place.
When thinking about any process for assessment, there are a number of requirements that exist for the process:
The process must be repeatable. It is essential that any process that is put in place is repeatable. By this, we mean that the process can be carried out more than once in exactly the same way from assessment to assessment. There are three main reasons for this, which are trending personal assessments, comparing multiple assessments and to allow assessors to be trained effectively. When an individual has an assessment carried out, then it goes without saying that the results should be useful. These results become even more useful, however, when they can be trended over time. For example, it may be desirable to have a competency assessment carried out every year. Once this has been done more than once, it is possible to then see the competency trend, or the evolution of competency over time. A competency assessment only provides a single snapshot view of competency and cannot show how it changes over time. This evolution of competency is very powerful as it can demonstrate how a person’s skills and abilities have changed over time. The second reason why a repeatable process is necessary is because it is also desirable to compare the assessment results of more than one person. For example, if two people were applying for the same job or promotion, then it may be decided that a competency assessment would be an important input to this decision. In such a situation, then it is clear that the results of two assessments cannot be compared unless they have followed the same process for the assessment itself. The third reason concerns the assessors themselves. Assessors must be competent in their own right (discussed later in this chapter) and part of this competence must be familiarity with the process itself. If the process is different for every assessment, then it becomes very difficult, if not impossible, to ensure that the assessors possess the necessary levels of knowledge and rigour required by the assessment.
The process must have transferable results. When someone has been assessed within a particular organisation, then the results will be recognised within that organisation. But what happens when that person applies for a job in another company – are the same results still recognised? One of the most desirable features for competency assessments is true transferability of results, as the same competency framework can be interpreted in different ways by different assessors. Whether the results of assessments can ever truly be universally transferable is a question that can never be answered fully in the positive, but it is argued here that it is simply impossible even to begin to consider transferable results without a common process. Therefore, within certain communities, and given the appropriate training and experience, transferable results can certainly be achieved.
The process must be measurable. The old adage goes that if something can’t be measured, then it cannot be managed, and competency assessment is no exception. When considering competency assessment, it is absolutely crucial that the results can be measured. With any type of assessment, the output will be limited in its utility, depending on what you do with the results. If the results are measurable, then it becomes possible for all sorts of statistical and trend analyses to be performed. Indeed, the next chapter will discuss the processes that can be used after an assessment has taken place and these are where the value of the assessment is truly realised.
The process must be based on best practice. Countless hours of work go into assessments of all different types and there is, therefore, an awful lot of work that has already been carried out in this area, albeit in different application domains. It is possible, therefore, to learn from these other areas and to reuse the assessment knowledge. Also, when processes are based on best practice, such as standards and published approaches, it inspires more confidence in the whole process.
The process must be tailorable. As with any best-practice approach, the process itself will, by its very nature, be generic and therefore not specific enough for most people. Any process, therefore, must be tailorable so that it can be made to fit the requirements of a particular organisation. All best-practice processes should be treated as ‘guidance only’ and should be tailored for your business. Of course, the more tailored a process becomes, then the further away from the source it becomes, which in itself brings its own problems. The greatest risk with tailoring a process too much is that the process loses all recognition with the original and, therefore, will not meet the other requirements for a process in this list.
When considering a process for assessment, it is important that it is judged based on these requirements, so that an informed decision can be made as the suitability of the process for the business at hand.