How are top companies assessing their high-potentials and senior executives? A talent management benchmark study.

Abstract

Although high-potential and executive assessment has been a popular topic in practice for decades, the primary emphasis in the literature has been on the development and use of specific tools and interventions. As a result, when organizations seek guidance on the practice of assessment in corporations, Industrial-Organizational psychology (I-O) practitioners and consulting psychologists have limited information available with which to compare. Moreover, industry reports often represent a specific tool, technique or point of view. There are relatively few empirical perspectives of the current practice of assessment in corporations, and even fewer that focus specifically on high-potentials and senior executives. This article attempts to close the gap in the literature by presenting the results of a benchmark survey. The survey was designed to provide insights and visibility to talent assessment efforts in large organizations with strong talent management and leadership development functions. Specifically, the results focus on the use of formal assessments with high-potentials and senior executives, including the purpose of the assessments, the application of various methodologies, a discussion of scope and ownership models, and the type of resources used to support such efforts. The article concludes with summary observations and implications for internal and external I-O, talent management and consulting practice.

Towards an understanding of talent management as a phenomenon-driven field using bibliometric and content analysis

“…TM decisions are not only influenced or biased by those making the decisions, but also by the specific instruments used to make decisions. The psychometric qualities of different measurement methods (e.g., self-and other-ratings versus standardized tests) seem to differ widely depending on the context in which they are administered (Church & Rotolo, 2013). Informed by these insights we advise TM scholars and practitioners to study the psychometric qualities of different TM instruments and measures and this within the contextual boundaries in which they are applied, a practice largely absent in the current body of literature.…”

“…The third most prevalent framework is employee assessment, with 11.5% of coded articles (16 articles) sorting under 'employee assessment' as a primary (4 articles; 2.8%) or secondary (12 articles; 8.6%) framework. In TM articles with an employee assessment framework, the focus tends to lie on identifying leadership talent, while much less research is found mentioning other 'types' of talent employees may possess (Church & Rotolo, 2013). The demonstration of predictive validity requires addressing the following question-do those identified as talented early on exhibit excellent performance at a later point in time, in a more advanced position (Nijs et al, 2014)?…”

“…The literature on talent identification therefore tends to borrow concepts from industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology, most notably from the literature on personnel selection and assessment centers. Church and Rotolo (2013), for instance, posit that the identification of talent often still relies on rather 'unscientific' methods, and that any solid TM strategy should involve the establishment of an MTMM (i.e., multitrait-multimethod matrix) talent assessment approach. Specifically, they advocate the combined use of 360-degree feedback, personality measures, and face-to-face interviews as a best practice.…”

The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership Characteristic and Succession Planning Program in the Malaysian Public Sector

“…The success of any organization heavily relies upon effective and outstanding leaders. Succession planning consists the process of looking a suitable potential candidate for future leader and career development (Dessler, 2004;Rothwell, 2010;Church and Rotolo, 2013) Therefore, the career path of subordinate can be managed to fulfill the organizational need's and the subordinate's inspiration. Moreover, the implementation of succession planning towards subordinate is closely linked to a leader's leadership style.…”

Conceptualizing Learning Agility and Investigating its Nomological Network

“…Typically, the most common-methods of identifying high potential employees are: a) the opinions of senior leaders, b) performance appraisal, or c) a talent review process (Church & Rotolo, 2013). The identification of high potential employees is rarely classified using 360 feedback (16%), psychological testing (14%), cognitive testing (9%), assessment centers (7%), or simulations (4%).…”