A Two-Stage Assessment Center that Brought ALL Employees to a Higher Level of Performance

1. A Two-Stage Assessment Center that Brought ALL Employees to a Higher Level of Performance Roy G. Perham, Ph.D. John Jay College RPerham@jjay.cuny.edu The 30th Annual Assessment Centre Study Group Conference, Stellenbosch, South Africa, March 18, 2010

2. Objectives • How an assessment center can be used to improve hiring, promoting, training and coaching—and reduce training costs. • How developing an assessment center can be used to create a rigorous culture of exacting standards. • Strategies to keep employee evaluation anxiety from creating resistance to assessment or reducing performance.

3. ©2008 National Energy Marketers Association. Used by permission.

4. The Brave New World of Public Utility Deregulation © 2008 NJ Board of Public Utilities. Used with permission

5. The Retail Competition Tsunami

6. Customer Service Reps Jobs Under Deregulation • From • Mechanical • Changing names on accounts • Sending duplicate bills • Setting up new service • Meter installation • Service outages • Where to mail payment • Date of next meter reading • Most demanding: Can’t pay bill • Fast • # waiting “zipper board” • Temporary fixes (only current bill, referring call) • No Board of Public Utilities complaints

7. Customer Service Reps Jobs Under Deregulation • To • Warm relationships • “Wow” customers • Key to keeping customers and to making more from those who stay • Assume responsibility for problem, check back • Customer service guarantees • Didn’t want simple errors • Selling products and services • CO detectors • Service contracts • Outdoor lighting

8. Negotiations • Management: Wanted to reassign or fire reps who didn’t meet new higher standards • Union: Okay, if fair test • Supervisor bias • Call difficulty

10. 10 Dimensions • Fact Finding* • Judgment* • Decisiveness • Initiative* • Oral Communication • Sensitivity/Empathy • Service Orientation • Negotiation/Persuasiveness* • Self-Management & Organization • Resistance to Stress/Patience *Sales Dimensions

11. Wasula Water CompanyPressure for a Better Montana • Telephone & Walk-in Roleplays • Sales Situations • In-basket • Checklists • Scoring guidelines set by senior managers • Assessors were managers and supervisors of reps in each others’ call centers

15. Feedback, Training & Coaching • Behavior Modeling Training • Video role plays • In-person practice • Relapse prevention • Coaching by Call Center Supervisors • Dimensional coaching forms • Immediate feedback or recorded calls

18. Second AC • 7 who didn’t pass were reassigned

19. Some Key Points • Involvement of executives, managers and supervisors may have been more important than the assessments themselves • Versus trend to prepackaged ACs • Key when dimensions become part of vocabulary for reps, supervisors and managers • More than acquiring new skills, reps may have already had then in their repertoires • Assessment Center as realistic job preview

20. Reducing Employee Evaluation Anxiety • First AC was practice • Received as much training and coaching as wanted • Testing was union’s idea to increase fairness • Moderate consequences for failing second AC • Externalizing stressors