When the going gets tough, the tough get going. The saying rings especially true in the world of business. Business leaders who reflect on the economic meltdowns of 1997 and 2008, for example, will tend to look back and wonder what they did as well as what they did not do or should have done.
In tough times, businesses do everything they can to control costs and still it may not be enough. They then face some painful decisions about their workforce. Leaders and managers are compelled to think about who should stay and who should go.
However, making tough decisions during challenging times can cause a lot of stress and frustration, which eventually will affect the result. If an organisation feels it has no choice but to let people go, does it have the information it needs to make the right decisions - including which people to keep? In such times, a good employee assessment system could prove crucial for the development and success of an organisation. The information will help leaders, executives as well as HR to make better decisions during times of economic turbulence.
We all accept that success is measured in terms of the profit an organisation achieves at the end of the fiscal year, while each department is evaluated on its cost-effectiveness. But ultimately, people are the differentiating factor when it comes to the prosperity of any organisation.
To achieve success, I'd suggest that assessment should be incorporated into the coaching programmes offered to employees. Why? For a start, it will enable the organisation to establish the areas of expertise or talents of every employee. With that information in hand, it becomes possible to establish the appropriate coaching procedure as well as to determine a suitable way of managing talent. Moreover, I'd like to emphasise that regular assessment also enables human resource professionals to track the results of their employees.
Talent management has become one of the most discussed topics in the business world, and many organisations now have some form of talent management programme. In this context, it is vital that you have the proper methods to categorise the people within your organisation so that the right developmental tools for each category can be applied.
In this sense, in a typical talent management model, employees are classified into three major categories: the talent, the high performers, and the misaligned or mere employees.
The talented people consist of those who can perform well and feel committed to the success of the overall organisation. The high performers are those with high potential to reach the top level but they need more guidance or motivation. The final group consists of those who perform tasks competently - and every organisation needs such people - as well as those who may be misaligned and do not meet the required standards of performance.
Essentially, human resource professionals should be careful to ensure that they do not focus solely on the top talents while failing to recognise the high performers as well as the rest of the workforce. Failure to address the needs of all groups will lead to a lack of flexibility and dynamism in the entire talent management process.
Through an assessment of the existing workforce, the human resources team as well as the executives can get a better and clearer picture of the gaps in terms of current talent requirements. As well, they will be able to spot possible future gaps where talent utilisation may not be effective.
The assessment process also has a great impact on employee recruitment decisions because it maps out what skills they have and what they need to be able to drive the organisation forward.
Last but not least, although assessment has some great benefits to offer, you need to bear in mind that there are various assessment options, so choose the combination that is best suited to your business needs and resources. Most importantly, you need to remember that assessment doesn't have to be expensive but it does require a commitment of resources.
Arinya Talerngsri is Group Managing Director at APMGroup, Thailand's leading Organisational and People Development Consultancy. For more information, e-mail arinya_t@apm.co.th or visit www.apm.co.th. For daily updates, visit https://www.facebook.com/apmgroupthai