Beyond Performance Reviews: Using Behavior Assessments for Ongoing Employee Development

Old-school reviews can give employees a summary of what they’ve accomplished, but they don’t help with ongoing development. Behavioral psychometric assessments give you insights into individual employees — their motivations, strengths, and work styles. Once you know that information, you can develop coaching plans, personal to each team member, that don’t just crunch numbers, but help your employees reach their full potential.

Why Behavioral Assessments Go Beyond Standard Reviews

Unlike traditional evaluations that measure success, but not necessarily how one approaches tasks or interacts with others, behavior-based assessments explain the “why’s” and “how’s” behind the performance. Feedback, therefore, isn’t a scorecard of faults, but actionable ways to improve. If you learn, for example, that one employee prefers routine work over others, and another is a quick thinker, you’ll know the proper way to guide each one by playing to their positions rather than trying to make them a fit.

Creating Continuous Feedback Loops

Feedback is only constructive if it’s a conversation, and feedback will be viewed as a conversation if it reveals something useful about the person receiving it. The insight you gain from a behavioral assessment gives you an entryway into the conversation. You can present feedback from a place of understanding, speaking to what your employee values and what they need to do to reach their potential.

Tailoring Development Plans

Understand what makes your employees tick, and you can understand what makes them want to come to work. When you know what gives a person a spring in their step on the way into the office, you can build a coaching plan that speaks to their motivators. This will help to increase their engagement at work and make them happier people to be around. You’ll get the best out of people by personalizing your advice to resonate with how they’re wired.

Examples of Behavioral Assessment Success

Many businesses commonly use behavioral assessments when determining where team members will be happiest and contribute the most, while also factoring in how staff members will work together. Suppose a marketing agency uses partnership analysis software to reveal that an employee unlikely to meet a client-facing capacity appears to have especially excellent communication and adaptability skills. In that case, the business may put that employee in touch with clients, making them happier and more productive and improving client relationships.

Building Trust with Personalized Feedback

If you’re providing personalized feedback, team members will be much more likely to think of you as a good cop than a bad cop. You’re actually on their team — not just trying to reign in changes or performance information. This kind of professional relationship is rewarding, as you are a “good” manager. In other words, you’re on a team of good guys and good girls, who are all committed to their work and to their growth.

Moving Beyond Performance Reviews

By providing valuable insights and useful feedback without reinforcing bias and performing inconvenient functions, skilled employees who are willing to contribute with great enthusiasm to their employer can create a win-win situation for the organization and the employee.