Behavioral interviews and leadership assessments are effective ways to expose potential blind spots, or as I tell clients – everyone has an Achilles Heel. Leadership assessment tests help identify the Achilles Heel before you hire or promote?
Here are three tips to select the right leadership test:
- Select an assessment that covers the behavioral competencies and personality traits essential for leadership success. For example, identifying extroversion or introversion is not as important as understanding how those behaviors will impact performance. More important than a specific personality trait will be if the individual can make good, timely decisions when circumstances are volatile, uncertain, complex, and/or ambiguous.
- Choose a tool that accurately predicts these essential leadership competencies and personal qualities, not just nice things to know. Often times you need to use more than one assessment to get a picture of the whole person, including preferences such as personal values and general mental abilities.
- Assessment systems come in a variety for forms. Just do a search on Google and for leadership tests and over 1 billion results show up. It should go without saying that any assessment used for hiring or promoting candidates must be validated and reliable. Make sure the system you select is user-friendly for both the managers and the candidates. Fees vary too – choose one that is cost-effective. Check with your employee assessment vendor to see what kind of training and support is required and available. Some systems require annual minimums, start-up costs, certifications, and more. Other consultants provide these same services but include them in the cost of the assessments.