The Wadenhoe Consultancy Ltd

Development Centres - Pass Or Fail?

"Many organisations are still running Assessment Centres in the guise of Development Centres..."
says Ray Atkinson.

I failed the Eleven Plus Exam.

For those of a later generation to me, the Eleven Plus exam was used widely until the mid 70's as a way of deciding an 11 year olds future school destination - grammar or secondary! I remember how it made me feel at the time and am grateful to those enlightened school teachers and business mentors that have helped me to put that artificial barrier to my life chances firmly where it belongs - in the rubbish bin.

Yet, as I reflect on some recent Wadenhoe research into Talent Identification processes, I can't help but see parallels between what happened to me all those years ago and what is happening to some people in organisations today.

Where did I go wrong?

For me there were no answers to this question - even though it had the potential to impact significantly on my life chances.

One of the cardinal rules of interviewing is not to ask questions that can be answered with a simple "yes" or "no". Yet some Development Centres still have a propensity in that direction. They can provide a powerful assessment for predicting performance and behaviour, but how successful are they at the equally important task of helping the individual and the organisation, plan how to develop their potential?

That is an important question, because while success may send those who achieved it on their way rejoicing - like some of my school friends, without clear feedback and support, it can leave others bewildered and demotivated. The result may be that people who are capable of improvement, given training and coaching, may be lost to the organisation. This is particularly serious when Development Centres are used as part of the internal promotion process. Very good people, who have not made it up the ladder, may simply give up and leave unless they are given some further guidance.

At The Wadenhoe Consultancy we know from recent research that this happens, which indicates that many organisations have not yet recognised the delicate balance that exists between assessment and development.

Assessment v Development?

For me there was no opportunity to talk about it - just a different school uniform and bus journey from the one I was hoping to take.

It is over 20 years since the concept of Development Centres started to arouse interest. Whilst they embodied many of the predictive features of Assessment Centres as developed from the Military model, they were intended to move the process forward in two ways:

First, they placed major emphasis for ownership of development with the individual, supported by the organisation. In doing so, they became an important aspect of the "empowerment" theme, with a key purpose of helping participants build awareness of the competencies their job required and to construct their own personal development plan for performance improvement.
Second, whereas assessment centres tended to be based around competencies that had proved their worth in the past, development centres looked at those that would be required in the future. Since both sets of criteria are determined by the organisation, development centres were seen as a highly effective way of ensuring relevance to whatever future demands were required.

Today's Development Centres

In our experience, Development Centres that deliver on both of these original goals must include:

Focus on Core Transferable "Thinking" and "Doing" Personal Qualities.
Pre and post meetings with participants and line managers.
Psychometric and 360? profiles.
Answer the question: "potential for what?"
Open conversations about career direction.
Review & Improvement Plans.
Tools for self-directed Learning.

Apart from incorporating all of this into our own Development Centre work, we have also developed an "Audit Checklist and Toolkit" for organisations wishing to make a start or benchmark what they do against "best practice".

No Cold Classrooms!

So, a long way from the cold classroom where I sat on that fateful day in February 19..... Yet the same challenges still exist for organisations aiming delicately to balance assessment with development.

As I recall the day when the Eleven Plus results landed on our doormat, that same, sickly, sinking feeling stirs inside me, which gives me the personal determination to ensure that all Wadenhoe Consultancy Development Centres are engaging, energising and positive for everyone.

To arrange a conversation about our leading edge work in this field and to obtain some key extracts from our Audit Checklist and Toolkit, please contact: chris@wadenhoeconsultancy.com.