5 characteristics of assessment that support transformation
Most of our clients are either going through some kind of transformation, namely digital transformation. In order to support organisational transformation, the HR and TA functions need to be fit for purpose, and we know that many are already questioning the technology and products that are available to them, and even their own digital capabilities.
EY’s 2019 paper HR Under Pressure put forward an argument that HR is behind the transformation curve: “One of HR’s chief roles is to prepare leaders for digital transformation. Yet, HR leaders are less prepared than leaders in other functions.” If that is the case then part of the problem is the HR tech market itself. All too often, HR buyers are offered narrowly focused, fragmented tools that haven’t delivered on their promises to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and experience for users.
Innovation in assessment has been lacking
When it comes to assessment, innovation has until now been lacking. There has been an explosion in the HR tech market but in the assessment space, some companies are still living with the legacy of systems that simply put paper-based assessment online, creating the ‘off-the-shelf’ psychometric tests that some traditional providers still use.
Research by Aptitude found that innovation in the assessment market has been stagnant. The result being that “Assessments continue to frustrate recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates. In recent interviews Aptitude conducted this year, most companies believe that assessments are much too long, not predictive enough, and not candidate-friendly.”
Assessment is a key part of the recruitment journey and it has the potential to support transformation in many ways:
- By offering a seamless, unified, digital experience that demonstrates your organisation’s tech capabilities and approach to candidates.
- By enabling your business to recruit for the future workforce through an understanding of where the business is going and the behaviours and competencies that will be needed such as agility.
- By allowing HR and TA to do more value-adding roles because automation, machine learning and ethically applied AI can remove the burden of manual tasks.
Assessment that supports transformation
As we found in our latest white paper, The Power of One it’s evident that there are factors holding HR back from adopting the tech they need to deliver the right business outcomes. We’ve found these factors to be rooted in three key areas which we address in the Sova Maturity Model.
In a forward-thinking organisations HR leads the evolution of assessment through stages of maturity to a unified approach which can support business transformation and future business needs. The unified approach looks different for every business but there are some common characteristics:
- Assessment is designed around business needs.
- Assessment is fully joined up and integrated in one unified platform.
- Assessments are immersive and interactive, providing insight into roles, organisations and development opportunities.
- The assessment platform provides a configurable, customisable approach at scale.
- Analytics provide real-time business insight and so HR can lead on people strategy, empowered by insight from analytics.
Start by auditing your approach to assessment
As with any other technology project, you need to understand your current approach in order to determine the direction of travel. We developed the Sova Maturity Model to help businesses understand where they are now, and where assessment has the potential to deliver much more. The model maps approach to assessment in terms of HR skills, products, technology, and outcomes from assessment.
To audit your organisation’s current approach to assessment, complete our short questionnaire, and receive some practical recommendations to help evolve your assessment journey for the future.
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