Assessment and Development Centres
Empowering Your Workforce: Our Approach to Assessment and Development Centres in In-House Training
At EY Academy of Business, we are committed to cultivating a dynamic environment of continuous learning and growth. As a cornerstone of our comprehensive in-house training offering, we strategically implement both Development Centres (DCs) and Assessment Centres (ACs) to rigorously assess and cultivate the competence potential of individuals and teams within your organisation.
While both methodologies are powerful tools for evaluating competence levels, their distinct objectives make them invaluable for different phases of talent management and training.
Development Centre: Fuelling Individual and Organisational Growth
A Development Centre is recognised as the most reliable method for assessing the competence potential of employees. It functions as a dynamic workshop specifically designed to thoroughly examine a wide range of employee competencies.
Key Aspects of a Development Centre:
- Core Objective: The main goal of a Development Centre is individual and organisational development – it is about nurturing growth.
- Diverse Methodology: Participants engage in a variety of tasks during individual or group sessions. These can include group exercises, individual written assignments such as strategic cases or “task baskets,” and simulated conversations like sales or managerial discussions with an employee. This diverse approach enables the examination of both “soft skills” (e.g., leadership, time management, flexibility in action) and “technical competencies” (e.g., the ability to use software, use a foreign language, or prepare a business plan).
- Standardised Assessment: Employees perform identical tasks based on standardised criteria, allowing for effective comparison of results. Our trained assessors observe these performances to determine the current competence level compared to their expected level.
- Comprehensive Feedback: Each participant receives a detailed individual report, which is created as a result of the assessors’ discussions. This is followed by a crucial feedback session, where an assessor discusses the report, aids in its interpretation, and supports the planning of further competence development.
We meticulously build and conduct Development Centres for our clients, following a structured process to ensure maximum effectiveness:
Benefits for your organization
- Talent Identification: They are instrumental in identifying high-potential employees – your organisation’s future talents.
- Business Optimisation: By pinpointing and fostering essential competencies among employees, DCs directly contribute to optimising business decisions and processes.
- Competence Management: DCs allow you to estimate the current level of competence within teams and key positions, enabling proactive future competence management.
- Strategic Development Planning: They provide a solid basis for planning future development processes within the company, by assessing the current state and determining the desired competence levels.
- Culture Building: DCs actively create and strengthen desired attitudes, competencies, and a readiness for development among employees.
- Reliable Information: You gain reliable information about the employee’s competences, their development potential, and the development goals they set for themselves.
- Employer Branding: Investing in people through DCs helps build a positive image for your company as an employer.
Benefits for your employees
- Clear Development Paths: DCs indicate clear directions for personal development.
- Motivation for Growth: The process itself motivates employees to develop their skills and knowledge.
- Focused Goals: It serves to focus on the most important development goals.
- Talent Recognition: Participants gain clarity on their inherent strengths, discovering and confirming their talents.
- Gap Identification: Areas for improvement or development gaps are clearly identified.
- Rich Feedback: Employees receive multifaceted and reliable feedback and a report describing synthetic and analytical conclusions, strengths and weaknesses, and actionable development recommendations.
- Positive Self-Perception: Through the use of objective observation by the assessor, the assessment of competence levels is often perceived more positively and accepted more easily.
Assessment Centres: Selecting the Best Talent
An Assessment Centre is also a workshop-based approach, involving sessions during which individuals perform a variety of tasks that are carefully selected according to the competencies being tested in a selection process.
Key Aspects of an Assessment Centre:
- Core Objective: The primary difference from a DC is that an AC is used to select and hire the best candidate (whether internal or external) for a specific position.
- Standardised Evaluation: Similar to DCs, employees perform identical tasks based on standardised criteria, making it possible to compare the results obtained and choose the best candidate. Assessors determine the current level of competence compared to their expected level towards the candidate in the selection process.
- Optional Feedback: Unlike DCs where it’s an integral component, the individual report and feedback session are optional in the AC process.
Our structured AC process ensures efficient and effective candidate selection:
AC vs. DC: A Clear Distinction in Purpose
While both Assessment Centres and Development Centres are based on the assessment of the level of competence or competence potential of employees, their fundamental difference lies in their objective. An AC serves to select and hire the best candidate for a specific position, whereas the main goal of a DC is individual and organisational development.
Comprehensive Support for Your In-House Training Initiatives
Beyond the core AC and DC processes, our offering integrates several key services to ensure comprehensive employee development and maximise the impact of your in-house training:
- Feedback and Coaching Sessions: A vital component, particularly for Development Centres, these sessions typically last about 90 minutes. Their purpose is to introduce the participant to how to read the report, discuss the results in terms of summarising strengths and competency gaps, and critically, motivate the respondent to implement changes and develop their own competences. Conducted in a coaching style, these sessions are a crucial preparation for the creation of an Individual Development Plan.
- Individual Development Plans (IDPs): Together with the employee, we participate in the process of creating their development path. This path is based on diagnosed needs, aspirations, motivations, goals, values, and the expectations of the organisation. An IDP is a structured document containing specific guidelines, steps, timeframes, recommended development tools (such as coaching, training, shadowing, mentoring, and tasks/projects), and measures for monitoring implementation. We also offer consulting support in the processes of contracting the employee’s development paths with HR and the Supervisor.
- Designing Research Tasks: We offer the creation of bespoke research tasks tailored for a specific process (e.g., for a particular position or group of positions) or specific competencies, combined with the assignment of copyrights for their internal use in your organisation. Additionally, we provide a range of ready-made research tasks for specific competencies and roles.
- Training for HR Assessors (Assessor Academy): Our certification programme is designed for your current or future internal assessors. Depending on participants’ existing skills, the academy can develop both basic knowledge and skills, as well as more advanced assessor competences, such as writing and testing tasks, moderating a diagnostic session, or providing feedback in a coaching way.
- AC/DC Process Supervision: We provide expert observation and analysis of AC/DC processes carried out by internal assessors within your company. On this basis, we offer recommendations and share best practices in the area of competence diagnosis in organisations.
By strategically integrating Assessment and Development Centres, complemented by our comprehensive supporting services, we empower your employees to unlock their full potential, driving both individual career advancement and sustained organisational success.
If you have questions or are interested in getting support with any aspect of the process, please contact us for a more detailed proposal.
Empowering Your Workforce: Our Approach to Assessment and Development Centres in In-House Training
At EY Academy of Business, we are committed to cultivating a dynamic environment of continuous learning and growth. As a cornerstone of our comprehensive in-house training offering, we strategically implement both Development Centres (DCs) and Assessment Centres (ACs) to rigorously assess and cultivate the competence potential of individuals and teams within your organisation.
While both methodologies are powerful tools for evaluating competence levels, their distinct objectives make them invaluable for different phases of talent management and training.
Development Centre: Fuelling Individual and Organisational Growth
A Development Centre is recognised as the most reliable method for assessing the competence potential of employees. It functions as a dynamic workshop specifically designed to thoroughly examine a wide range of employee competencies.
Key Aspects of a Development Centre:
- Core Objective: The main goal of a Development Centre is individual and organisational development – it is about nurturing growth.
- Diverse Methodology: Participants engage in a variety of tasks during individual or group sessions. These can include group exercises, individual written assignments such as strategic cases or “task baskets,” and simulated conversations like sales or managerial discussions with an employee. This diverse approach enables the examination of both “soft skills” (e.g., leadership, time management, flexibility in action) and “technical competencies” (e.g., the ability to use software, use a foreign language, or prepare a business plan).
- Standardised Assessment: Employees perform identical tasks based on standardised criteria, allowing for effective comparison of results. Our trained assessors observe these performances to determine the current competence level compared to their expected level.
- Comprehensive Feedback: Each participant receives a detailed individual report, which is created as a result of the assessors’ discussions. This is followed by a crucial feedback session, where an assessor discusses the report, aids in its interpretation, and supports the planning of further competence development.
We meticulously build and conduct Development Centres for our clients, following a structured process to ensure maximum effectiveness:
Benefits for your organization
- Talent Identification: They are instrumental in identifying high-potential employees – your organisation’s future talents.
- Business Optimisation: By pinpointing and fostering essential competencies among employees, DCs directly contribute to optimising business decisions and processes.
- Competence Management: DCs allow you to estimate the current level of competence within teams and key positions, enabling proactive future competence management.
- Strategic Development Planning: They provide a solid basis for planning future development processes within the company, by assessing the current state and determining the desired competence levels.
- Culture Building: DCs actively create and strengthen desired attitudes, competencies, and a readiness for development among employees.
- Reliable Information: You gain reliable information about the employee’s competences, their development potential, and the development goals they set for themselves.
- Employer Branding: Investing in people through DCs helps build a positive image for your company as an employer.
Benefits for your employees
- Clear Development Paths: DCs indicate clear directions for personal development.
- Motivation for Growth: The process itself motivates employees to develop their skills and knowledge.
- Focused Goals: It serves to focus on the most important development goals.
- Talent Recognition: Participants gain clarity on their inherent strengths, discovering and confirming their talents.
- Gap Identification: Areas for improvement or development gaps are clearly identified.
- Rich Feedback: Employees receive multifaceted and reliable feedback and a report describing synthetic and analytical conclusions, strengths and weaknesses, and actionable development recommendations.
- Positive Self-Perception: Through the use of objective observation by the assessor, the assessment of competence levels is often perceived more positively and accepted more easily.
Assessment Centres: Selecting the Best Talent
An Assessment Centre is also a workshop-based approach, involving sessions during which individuals perform a variety of tasks that are carefully selected according to the competencies being tested in a selection process.
Key Aspects of an Assessment Centre:
- Core Objective: The primary difference from a DC is that an AC is used to select and hire the best candidate (whether internal or external) for a specific position.
- Standardised Evaluation: Similar to DCs, employees perform identical tasks based on standardised criteria, making it possible to compare the results obtained and choose the best candidate. Assessors determine the current level of competence compared to their expected level towards the candidate in the selection process.
- Optional Feedback: Unlike DCs where it’s an integral component, the individual report and feedback session are optional in the AC process.
Our structured AC process ensures efficient and effective candidate selection:
AC vs. DC: A Clear Distinction in Purpose
While both Assessment Centres and Development Centres are based on the assessment of the level of competence or competence potential of employees, their fundamental difference lies in their objective. An AC serves to select and hire the best candidate for a specific position, whereas the main goal of a DC is individual and organisational development.
Comprehensive Support for Your In-House Training Initiatives
Beyond the core AC and DC processes, our offering integrates several key services to ensure comprehensive employee development and maximise the impact of your in-house training:
- Feedback and Coaching Sessions: A vital component, particularly for Development Centres, these sessions typically last about 90 minutes. Their purpose is to introduce the participant to how to read the report, discuss the results in terms of summarising strengths and competency gaps, and critically, motivate the respondent to implement changes and develop their own competences. Conducted in a coaching style, these sessions are a crucial preparation for the creation of an Individual Development Plan.
- Individual Development Plans (IDPs): Together with the employee, we participate in the process of creating their development path. This path is based on diagnosed needs, aspirations, motivations, goals, values, and the expectations of the organisation. An IDP is a structured document containing specific guidelines, steps, timeframes, recommended development tools (such as coaching, training, shadowing, mentoring, and tasks/projects), and measures for monitoring implementation. We also offer consulting support in the processes of contracting the employee’s development paths with HR and the Supervisor.
- Designing Research Tasks: We offer the creation of bespoke research tasks tailored for a specific process (e.g., for a particular position or group of positions) or specific competencies, combined with the assignment of copyrights for their internal use in your organisation. Additionally, we provide a range of ready-made research tasks for specific competencies and roles.
- Training for HR Assessors (Assessor Academy): Our certification programme is designed for your current or future internal assessors. Depending on participants’ existing skills, the academy can develop both basic knowledge and skills, as well as more advanced assessor competences, such as writing and testing tasks, moderating a diagnostic session, or providing feedback in a coaching way.
- AC/DC Process Supervision: We provide expert observation and analysis of AC/DC processes carried out by internal assessors within your company. On this basis, we offer recommendations and share best practices in the area of competence diagnosis in organisations.
By strategically integrating Assessment and Development Centres, complemented by our comprehensive supporting services, we empower your employees to unlock their full potential, driving both individual career advancement and sustained organisational success.
If you have questions or are interested in getting support with any aspect of the process, please contact us for a more detailed proposal.