MIT Sloan Management Review published an article in Winter 2024 titled “Leadership Development Is Failing Us. Here’s How to Fix It.”In it, they note that their review of leadership development programs (LDPs) at several dozen business schools around the world illustrated the typical shortcomings:
What makes mid-level leaders successful? What are their biggest challenges and barriers? Our latest research reveals the critical competencies that are the biggest predictors of performance, advancement potential, and career difficulty. Download the report to learn where your L&D strategy and focus should be for mid-level leaders.
We posted an article recently titled “Use of Artificial Intelligence for Assessments,” which you can reference here. It discusses the guidelines and ethical considerations for the use of assessments for selection or development. The current article expands on this and highlights the legal considerations in using AI in HR assessments. This article is not meant to convey legal advice, but rather to summarize information that HR professionals should consider when using assessments that integrate AI. They should also always ensure that they are consulting with their company’s own legal function about the assessments and assessment-related processes they are using for decision-making purposes.
The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for assessments is a very popular topic today. Hopefully, the discussion will not only help people to better understand AI and its opportunities and potential risks but also brings more awareness to standards for assessment use in general.
Assessments in the Human Resources arena for organizational use have different objectives, but there are always guidelines to follow. The guidelines that most people know about are the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures. Any assessment used for decision-making purposes (selection or hiring, promotion, or other types of decisions such as succession-related) should stand up to the scrutiny of these guidelines. If not, the organization is at risk of legal action and the sometimes very substantial costs that come with it.
Why should anyone be led by you?
In 2000, Robert Giffee and Gareth Jones published an article in Harvard Business Review (HBR) entitled, "Why Should Anyone be Led by You?" Five years later, they published the first edition of a book by the same name, subtitled, "What it Takes to be An Authentic Leader." The authors wrote about putting this question to the executives they encountered regularly in their business program classes and otherwise. When they did, a hush came over the room.
For decades now, I have conducted 360 feedback and coaching discussions with leaders at all levels, representing numerous companies, industries, and regions of the world. For the majority of these feedback/coaching discussions, I have worked with The PROFILOR® 360 assessment. I have also trained many HR teams in conducting feedback/coaching sessions, both in one-on-one and group format, using The PROFILOR®. In conducting these HR workshops, I have discovered that many teams have the same questions and concerns about conducting one-on-one feedback sessions. In this article, I will share more about the way a conversation should happen to facilitate the most productive and impactful feedback/coaching session. Future articles will provide additional information on conducting high-impact feedback/coaching sessions.
It is well understood that 360 feedback provides an individual with the insight to build skills and add value to the organization, but what benefit can an organization derive from the broad use of 360 feedback?
Multi-rater or 360-degree assessment is a type of assessment that provides a 360-degree perspective for the person being assessed. The perspectives typically included are: self, managers, peers, direct reports, and others (often customers, for example). Feedback is collected from all of these perspectives regarding a person’s effectiveness related to various competencies and behaviors. All of this information is collated into a report that gives a person a 360-degree view of how others perceive their effectiveness in the competencies and behaviors assessed.
When multi-rater or 360-degree assessments are implemented in an organization, often the company will evaluate and compare a number of 360 assessments and assessment partners. The following is a list of criteria to consider when comparing and contrasting options for 360 assessments and assessment partners:
