In episode 51 of the Harmonious Workplaces podcast, Rich Cruz, Sharyl Volpe, and Ben Kleinman speak with business psychologist Katie Thomas about organizational assessments. Katie, who works in psychometrics in the UK, specializes in the design and delivery of assessments. Her work involves measuring personality, ability, judgment, and motivation to ensure these elements are utilized effectively.
Examples of Client Engagements
Thomas’ company is brought in to define and measure what someone needs to do a job properly and help people improve and be happier in their roles. The company helps leadership make better decisions. Thomas describes the importance of defining areas and behaviors before attempting to improve them.
Stakeholders and Perceptions
Thomas’ points of contact can range from stakeholders in HR or talent development for larger clients to owners or main decision-makers in smaller businesses. She notes that employers may see assessments as a “silver bullet” for weeding out bad candidates, while candidates/employees may view them with distrust, fearing they will be reduced to a number.
Validity and Customization
Katie Thomas stresses the importance of ensuring that metrics are measurable. To that end, she notes the need to break down nebulous ideas into specific behavioral measures. According to Thomas, it is important to ensure job relevance to achieve content validity.
Thomas’ company is test-agnostic, using both off-the-shelf and custom assessments depending on the client’s needs. Off-the-shelf assessments can be readily available in different languages. Bespoke assessments can incorporate a company’s feel, language, working culture, and geographical culture.
The Impact of Language
The language of an assessment influences how people respond; using vernacular language can put people at ease and make the assessment more approachable. The way assessments are framed and the language used can set a person up for success.
Change Resistance and Transparency
According to Thomas, transparency in framing the assessment and its intention is important to get buy-in from the workforce [14]. Resistance can stem from distrust and a lack of insight into how scores will be used.
Assessments and Redundancy
When assessments are used in the context of identifying redundant roles or layoffs, Thomas prefers to discuss with the organization how the assessment will be used, emphasizing that it should be only one data point. Assessments provide a snapshot, not a complete picture of a person’s performance.
Motivation for Focusing on Assessments
Thomas was drawn to assessments through her interest in people and individual differences [17]. She wanted to help people by fairly assessing them and placing them in roles that meet their needs, as well as ensuring the right people are on development programs [17, 18].
Two-Way Match
Thomas emphasizes the importance of a two-way match: the right person for the organization and the right role for the person.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality varies from client to client, but Kaite says it is important to consider the intention behind the data and avoid sharing it more broadly than necessary [21]. It may be useful to have a second pair of eyes to look at a report. Transparency is key, and people should always be informed how their data will be used.
Type-Based vs. Trait-Based Assessments
Assessments broadly fall into two categories: type-based and trait-based.
- Type-based: MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) is a well-known type-based assessment. Thomas wouldn’t recommend a type-based assessment for selection, but finds it can be useful in development contexts.
- Trait-based: OCEAN (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) is more trait-based. Everyone falls somewhere on the scale, and it underlies different personality trait-based models.
The Impact of AI
AI is significantly changing the workplace, impacting the skills needed now and in the future. Thomas also raises the ethical question of whether candidates using AI to enhance their responses is cheating, particularly if AI is meant to be used in the role [30].
Favorite Assessment Story
Katie shares a story about a candidate who accidentally included her company in an email intended for her father, asking him to take the assessment for her.
Contact Information
Katie Thomas can be reached via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-thomas-io/. She also recommends signing up for the Sten10 assessment club newsletter, which shares up-to-date information about assessments in selection and development: https://www.sten10.com/join-the-sten10-assessment-club
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