9
Making Measurement Work
In this book, we have explored and explained some of the intricacies of producing good talent intelligence. We have acknowledged the complexities of measuring talent, while at the same time showing how, with a little understanding of it, many of the solutions can be simple. And we have argued that if talent measurement is to work, it cannot be taken for granted or treated as a peripheral activity.
All companies use measurement to some extent, even if it is only in the form of unstructured, informal interviews. It provides them with some much-needed help, grounding their people decisions in evidence. Done well, measurement can enhance selection processes, resulting in improved job performance, accelerated time to full productivity, and reduced failure rates and employee turnover.
Yet in many, if not most, businesses, measurement is not working well and is not having the impact it should. Expertise and understanding are often lacking. Either the wrong thing is measured, or it is assessed using the wrong kind of tool, or it is used in the wrong way. Other times, the outputs—the results of measurement—are used in only a limited way.
This book, then, was born in part out of frustration that, time and again, we found ourselves wondering how businesses can fail to get right something that is so fundamental. It is fundamental too. It may not be HR's headline act, but it underpins much, if not most, talent management and development activity. But it can only do this if it works.
Compounding our frustration is the knowledge that the solutions required to make measurement work are not difficult or expensive. They are mostly a matter of knowing what to do and having the will to do it. It is in businesses' power and remit to make measurement work. It is an opportunity waiting to be seized. And given the rising talent challenges facing businesses, it is an opportunity that they must seize.
Four Steps to Making Measurement Work
In the preceding chapters, we have laid out a plan for what organizations need to do. We have presented the issues in what we hope is a logical format. We focused first on how to make sure that the right things are measured, then on which tools to use, and, finally, on how to implement measurement and extract the maximum value from the information gathered.
We are aware, though, that businesses may not have the luxury of approaching things in this order. They may already have measurement processes up and running and perhaps neither the resources nor the political leeway to change much. So in these situations, how should businesses proceed?
Step 1: Become an Educated Consumer
The first step for any business is to become an educated consumer. This is not about being an expert or having access to expertise. It is about asking the right questions and looking at the right issues. It is about being able to tell a good tool from a poor one and about being able to see through the next measurement fad or emotional intelligence–type myth. More specifically:
- Use the guide in chapters 2 and 3 to better understand what factors or signs of talent you need to measure, not forgetting incremental validity. Currently businesses rely largely on their suppliers to understand their demand for them. This has to change.
- Read chapter 4 to help you understand what kinds of tools you need to measure with.
- Consult the guides to understanding validity in chapter 5 and the appendix to help define what questions to ask about tools in order to ascertain whether they can work as you need them to. And remember: do not simply accept what you are told; be aware of reporting bias, and ask to see evidence that measures and methods do work.
Step 2: Put the First Foundations in Place
In chapter 6, we described four foundations for making measurement work, but if your room to maneuver is limited, focus only on the first three. They are relatively easy to implement and can help provide the data you need to build a business case for acting on the fourth one. Even if you have not done these things to date, draw a line and start now:
- Collect the data centrally. You do not need a fancy system; a simple spreadsheet will do. And remember to collect not only measurement results but also other essential information, such as performance scores and employee turnover.
- Use common data points to assess the same things across the company wherever possible.
- Check the impact of measures. Make sure that they work, are predictive of success, and are having the impact they should. We have come across too many businesses that have been using the same tools for a long time but are unable to answer the basic question: “How do you know they work?” This is plainly bad business—especially because if you are collecting results and performance scores, conducting an evaluation is simple and quick to do.
Talent measurement processes and tools are precision instruments that require fine-tuning and should not be expected to work perfectly straight out of the box. This means using both the results of measurement and the evaluation of how the measures work to adjust, hone, and improve them.
Step 3: Ensure Proper Use
There is no getting around it: sooner or later, the fourth foundation from chapter 6—ensuring proper use—needs to be laid. We have seen businesses that proudly speak of their long history of using talent measures but that have done almost nothing to ensure that the results of talent measures are used properly. So to ensure proper use:
- If you are starting a new measurement process or making changes to an existing one, start small, perhaps with a trial in one part of the business. Keep it simple, and do it right. It is better to use fewer measurement methods and to use them effectively than to use many of them poorly.
- Get the interview right. It is the most basic and frequently used measurement method. Avoid generic interview systems and fully structured interviews if you can, and create a simple and clear process (see chapter 7).
- Focus on how people decisions are made, provide clear guidelines for how to use measurement results, and create accountability for the quality of these decisions and how measures are used. Track and follow up on hiring and promotion decisions, and review the original decision (see chapter 7).
- Use the Three Cs model to help the business think about some of the complexities involved. Make it second nature for managers to question, for each quality or ability, the contexts, consequences, and caveats (see chapter 3). Introduce this terminology on all assessment reports.
- Make the move from talent identification to talent matching. Focus less on whether people are good and more on what they are good at. And make sure that the concept of fit is broad. It is not only about person-job fit but also about person-organization fit, person-team fit, and person-manager fit (see chapter 3). Make fit a core part of recruitment and promotion processes. It does not have to be complicated. Indeed, it is better to do it simply than not at all.
Step 4: Do More Than Merely Measure
The final step is about using measurement results to do more than merely inform individual people decisions and development. It is about using them to turn your administrative talent data into genuine talent intelligence.
Link results to other people data and use this information to guide other people processes. Turn your talent data into talent intelligence. Information is the currency of understanding, and harnessing measurement data can help businesses improve their bottom-line performance.
Measure more than one type of performance. Drive and enable the market to develop better measures for your better business.
Transforming the Market
Taking these four steps will do nothing short of transforming the value and impact of talent measurement in your business. And in doing so, it will also give your talent management and development processes a fighting chance of success in the challenges they face.
Moreover, if enough businesses take these steps, it will do more than just make measurement work on an individual basis: it will transform the market. And the market does need transforming. There are some brilliant tools and wonderful vendors, but also a lot of vendors who promote measures without having any validity data or—perhaps worse—using misrepresented, overly positive data. Only businesses, the consumers of measurement, can change this.
With a few noticeable exceptions, tools are generally no more able to predict success today than they were thirty years ago. The predictive power of measurement has by and large stalled. Vendors continually advertise new and improved tests. Yet we are frankly bored of announcements that a revolution in measurement is on its way. Building a bigger database or combining existing tools into a new online format does not count as a revolution.
Again, only businesses can change this. Vendors rely on organizations to help them address the criterion issue by measuring more than just overall performance and to help them use the results of measurement to improve tools. Businesses are going to have to take the lead in this; real change will come only when they do.
Companies may have been slow to act, but the growing talent challenges and the need for talent intelligence provide a compelling reason to do so now. Big or small, global or local, organizations need to get this right. The good news is that they can. Measurement itself may be a complex task, but making it work need not be.