The challenges inherent in today’s dynamic workplaces require employees to continually learn and grow.
To do this effectively, they must have a keen understanding of their developmental needs. Self-report tools, where employees rate themselves on job-relevant competencies, are a critical part of this process. However, biases and other “blind spots” may prevent employees from accurately reporting their strengths and areas for growth. In short, self-reports are a necessary but not sufficient condition for employee development. Using our well-established assessment development expertise, we have responded to this challenge by developing innovative self-assessment methods that go beyond self-reports.
Feedback for Employee Self-Development
HumRRO offers a full suite of self-assessment services that provide targeted and individual feedback, including interactive rich-media simulations, coaching services, and customized, client-owned 360-degree feedback surveys. For example, our 360-degree feedback programs complement self-assessments by integrating input from other perspectives, including peers, subordinates, supervisors, and customers. By comparing their self-ratings to ratings from other sources, participants can identify their “blind spots,” including both areas for development as well as insights into their strengths.
A Comparison Between Your Self Ratings and the Average Rating Made by All Other Raters by Competency.
As an example, we designed and deployed a customized 360-degree feedback program (IC 360) for senior executive leaders across the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
The IC 360 assessment focused on enterprisewide, cross-agency collaborative and values-based leadership. Stakeholders within nearly every IC agency/ component were involved in its development. All program participants received a detailed feedback report containing graphs and charts that contrasted their self-assessment with the input from other sources.
HumRRO has also developed 360-degree feedback programs for other organizations such as the Girl Scouts and the Anesthesia Medical Group. In addition, we served as the prime contractor on a large effort to offer one-on-one 360-degree feedback facilitation and coaching services to executives throughout the federal government.
Additionally, in response to the demand for engaging self-assessment tools that can be completed on demand with immediate feedback, HumRRO has taken advantage of its innovative, rich-media capabilities to create online simulations that present content-valid scenarios to evoke targeted competencies. Some of these assessments include video-based situational judgment tests (SJTs) in which the user reacts to various situations. Their responses provide information about their standing on multiple competencies. Our virtual role plays (VRPs) offer an even more engaging experience for the user. Participants adopt a persona (e.g., HR practitioner, first-line supervisor) and they are presented with a complex situation. They interact with a variety of people during the assessment to gather information and address a broad set of challenges. Through intelligent branching, the scenario content evolves on the basis of the participant’s choices, resulting in a truly customized assessment. Further, our design process ensures that all targeted competencies are assessed, regardless of the user’s chosen “path” through the VRP. Assessment users receive a feedback report that includes both their results (presented in tables and graphs) and customized developmental opportunities linked to each competency.
We have created developmental online simulations for several clients, including supervisors and managers at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), HR practitioners for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), as well as for three different leadership levels within the Department of Defense for the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service (DCPAS).
