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What is an assessment?
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An assessment, as we understand it, is the evaluation of an actual situation in a given environment.
It is very useful because it allows to very quickly assess requirements in management training and management development. It improves cooperation and collaboration at the management level and between management and employees, it gives managers a road map and advices on how to handle situations and human relations in order to promote efficiency, motivation and performance. It also allows to find the most suitable person for a given position, from simple employee to CEO or General Manager. It is the ground work that will allow the most efficient coaching.
An assessment is a learning activity.
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To evaluate a situation, you need some references, some milestones, what are they?
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This is the whole question, the references must be sound and checked in practice. When you talk about human behavior, human reactions and human performance, the only way to avoid subjectivity is to observe results. If the results are good, the references used are also good.
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How can you know the references used by a given person or group of persons?
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Here again it is a matter of observation. Correlating observations and results allows to build scientific models.
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Do psychologists also have some kind of good ways for evaluating people?
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Certainly, but very often their evaluation is based on psychological theory and practices in therapy. For example, the 16 personality classification of C. G. Jung (1921). These classifications are often used in human resources department of companies and corporations, and cannot get beyond a rough estimation of the subject’s personality, even when competencies are “hanged” onto the results. Who would believe that only 16 different type of persons exist on this planet?
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So, what would be a better solution?
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The prestigious Max Planck Institute took a scientific approach to the problem in analyzing more then 100’000 employees and over 5’000 managers in all kind of job profiles, positions and managerial situations, in all types of companies. Thanks to a costly computer program, called expert system, specialists in human resources, in training and in corporate psychology developed several hundreds models applicable to today’s corporate needs and environment. These models define person’s behavior and personality that brings performance and success for both, the person herself and the company.
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How do we know that these models are good?
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Their reliability has been checked by different universities and corporate’ s psychologists and they were found excellent. In fact they are certified DIN 33430, which is a German quality standard, well known in the European community. Also, they are used today in many important companies and we see that the results are absolutely reliable.
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How do you use these models?
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You compare the person’s profile with the profile of the model for a given job situation (position) and check for differences.
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How do you get the person’s profile?
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Practical work situations are presented to the person who gives her opinion on how she sees them, senses them, appreciate them, evaluate them.
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Could the person try to modify her natural way of seeing things?
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She can try but the system will see it. Normally it is practically impossible to cheat because the system has many built in features that will detect it and invalidate the results if needed.
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OK, and when you get a hold on the discrepancies, what do you do?
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This a very good question. Our task is not to judge people but to help people to do better. Each one of us is different, but some behaviors, way of thinking, sensitivities, reactions, believes and attitudes, are more or less well adapted to a given job situation (the model). Our job is to call the attention of the person on the existing discrepancies between what she does and what the company wishes her to do, without hurting her sensitivity. Then we propose ways for improvements.
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How can a person improve?
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First she must wish to improve, then she must know what to improve and finally she must know how to improve. Normally improvement goes always through the acquisition of new competencies, and it is exactly here that we see the importance of measuring competencies to help the person seeing what is missing.
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Can you help acquire new competencies?
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Yes, it can require different things like training, coaching, development, workshops, psychological support, motivation, improving the environment, etc.
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According to your experience, what are the competencies that are often missing?
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It depends upon the cultural environment; the company’s culture and the country’s culture. It is not possible to modify the country’s culture but the company’s culture can be modified, not easy but possible. Very often you see that people have difficulties to communicate, to simply listen to each other, to realize that each one has a different mental representation of the reality, that the same word has not the same meaning for everybody. There are also many problems because people just do no know what to do, to do well. Our work is then to align the mental reality of people on the reality of the company, sometimes it may even be the other way around. Manager may also need training. It is not because you are a manager or the owner of a company that your are always right. We met managers that have a so strong internal reference that even when they run at 150 km into a wall, they still think that they are right. This type of persons refuse to reconsider their position. If their position happen to be correct, they may be successful, for sometimes, but if it is not they will lead their company and themselves to catastrophe. Leadership is what you need.
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What is the difference between what you are doing and what psychologists are doing, between your system and other systems ?
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Psychologists as well as most other systems are evaluating personality to see if a person is adequate for a certain position. This way of doing may give some ideas but is mostly much to inaccurate, if you are interested to know about performance. Our system measures the dimensions that have been identified in scientific research for being responsible for success and performance. In fact, we are measuring performance and potentiality for success , not personality.
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Today, you find many different systems on the market, that costs almost nothing, why should we pay good money for yours ?
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Yes, there are many different products on the market. But do not forget that each product on the market has the price it deserves. If you buy a cheap car, you get a cheap car. Try to ask Mercedes to sell you their car at the price of a bicycle. With both of them you can get around, but not the same way. In our Business, quality is: accuracy and reliability of the results, all scientifically checked. The difference is: results you can count on. Of course you can try psychological tests, graphology, color tests, astrology, horoscopes, listen to people making promises and unproved statements. If you are in good mood you may find that some of the descriptions match and be happy with it, and forget about the rest. This is the way horoscopes are working, they are so general that everybody can recognize himself and be happy with it. But when you want to measure performance and success factors, it is quite a different story. Here you are concerned with results, competition and survival. What do you think makes the difference between your business and your competitor’s business? Just one thing: the quality of your collaborators. This means knowing who they are, what they need in terms of development and putting the right person at the right place in terms of performance. This is not an approximate business, the approach should be scientifically backed and checked! This is the way we do it. Here is not the right place to save. We do not make psychological profiles but measure performance and success factors.
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To what questions is the Assessment an answer?
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Please see: Social Competence Dimensions and Management Expertise Dimensions
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How long does it take and how can it be done?
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For Social Competence (achievement dynamics, inter-personnel relationship, will to succeed, stress capacity) + Management (leadership quality cooperation and consensus, entrepreneurial mentality), it will take 3 to 4 hours time.
The questionnaire is available over internet, the answers are sent per e-mail, the evaluation is done on a Master Software and the results can be sent back to the participant per e-mail. However, we strongly advise giving a personal feedback.
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What will an assessment bring to a manager who decides to do it for himself?
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It will give him a better understanding of himself and the needed communication and management tools (a road map) to handle his main tasks:
- organize the team
- develop autonomy
- motivate his collaborators
- develop efficient relations and communication within the team and the company
- lead the team
- take decisions
- develop a positive image of himself and his team
- set objectives and match company requirements
- reach goals
- handle information
- handle work load and stress
- cooperate and handle conflicts
- make good use of power
- delegate
- develop competency for himself and his collaborators
- act as an entrepreneur and a coach
- manage paradoxes and contradictions
- avoid pitfalls
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How can I know if my people need to develop their competencies?
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The base competency is SOCIAL COMPETENCE, this is where you should start. There is a simple method to check it: it is called SCREENING. It is build around a questionnaire of about 20 questions that each collaborator answers and after evaluation in our system, we can tell what persons may need further attention.
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