Beware of Faulty Assessment Assumptions & Conclusions

If it is your job to look through the window and assess a talent situation, make sure that you are basing your assessment on the right root cause.  Incorrect assumptions lead to poorly designed assessments which deliver faulty conclusions and disappointing results. Here is an example from a recent training needs assessment that started off on the wrong foot.

• The “right” problem – high turnover in its entry-level personnel
• The “incorrect” assumption – we are hiring the wrong people
• The “wrong” solution – assess the attrition risk of job candidates based upon key motivational, job and cultural factors to improve retention as part of the talent acquisition and hiring process.
• The “disappointing” results -  different “types” of employees were hired, but the high turnover of entry-level personnel continued

The problem was not in candidate selection. An incorrect assumption had been made. A second assessment was then given to current employees to measure their job satisfaction, motivation, commitment and engagement. It turns out that employees were leaving because they were in conflict with or disappointed by ineffective managers. The problem was in the lack of skilled supervisors and unclear success metrics. In addition to improving the hiring process to align with their unique culture, leadership development programs were needed to solve the high turnover problem.

Beware of drawing conclusions from faulty assessments.