Assessment Services
The Veredus team of Senior Occupational Psychologists will work with you to identify the most effective solutions. Being cost effective and competitive is also central to what we do, and we will never sell you something that will not add significant value to your processes. Our solutions are specifically targeted at leadership in order to have optimum impact on performance, engagement and culture.
Psychometric Executive Profiling
The process is called “Executive Profiling” and this involves the candidates completing a comprehensive Psychometric test battery prior to an in-depth combined competency-based interview and validation session with a Senior Occupational Psychologist. By using a combination of Psychometrics and a Feedback Session, we can probe the key leadership qualities of importance further together with specific competency-based questions to get as much evidence as possible to feedback to the panel prior to the final interviews. We also provide tailored and comprehensive Profiling Reports on each candidate as part of the process. These can be tailored to meet your requirements and can include as much detail as you require ranging from candidates’ strengths and development areas to executive summaries or written against specific competency areas. We are able to employ a number of different psychometric tools which include but are not limited to; Wave Professional Styles, the Hogan Development Survey, FIRO-B, Motivations, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI), Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, SWIFT Executive Aptitude Test, Game Changer Index (GCI).
Assessment Centre Design
This will involve us identifying what ‘excellence’ looks like via a thorough job analysis with key stakeholders and subject matter experts to fully explore the behaviours necessary for successful performance in the role. The information gathered will also be used to inform the design of the new exercise content to ensure a high level of accuracy and realism. The types of exercises we are able to design are group exercise, work simulation exercise, analysis exercise, in-tray exercise, project management exercise. We will design all of the materials for each of the exercises and then pilot all of the exercises. Using the observations and gathered evidence, we will assess the suitability of the instructions, content, timings, interview questions, candidate experience, marking frame indicators, as well as ensure that the exercises provide sufficient appropriate evidence to accurately assess candidates against these.
Assessment Centre Delivery
An assessment centre will typically last between 0.5 days and 1 day. It would include one or more of the following exercises, which places the candidate in a situation relative to the role and provides them with opportunities to demonstrate specific competencies. This would be observed by a trained assessor. The aim of an assessment centre is to provide candidates with multiple opportunities to showcase their skills and behaviours. The desired outcome from an assessment centre is to identify those who are most suitable for the role. We have outlined below the types of exercises that we could provide within an Assessment Centre:
- Analysis Exercise (Presentation and/or report)
- Work Simulation
- In-Tray Exercise
- Group Exercise
- Media Exercise
Development Centres
A Development Centre can look very similar and employ many of the same exercises as the assessment centre, the main outcome from a Development Centre is a personalised development plan. These can also be used to benchmark existing competencies within an organisation and can identify where training and development activities can be targeted in order to be most effective.
Competency Framework Development
It might be the case that you have enjoyed rapid growth and not yet established a competency framework for your organisation, or it could be that your existing framework is looking tired and outdated. A competency framework is important as it provides you with a set of behavioural and skills-based expectations against which employees can be compared. A well-designed competency framework should provide very specific descriptors of what the ideal competencies, skills
and behaviours look like. It should be used at the point of recruitment, during periodical performance reviews and on a daily basis in order to ensure the desired behaviours become entrenched in the organisation’s culture.If you already have a framework, it is useful to acknowledge that organisations grow and adapt to meet the demands of the environment in which they operate. As such, it is also important to periodically revisit your competency framework. We can design a framework from scratch for you that fits with your organisation’s culture and values. We can also review an existing framework and advise you on any changes that might be useful.
Additional Services
On-Boarding Support
The first 90 days in post as a senior executive are crucial but settling in can be a bit like navigating a maze. Not only do you have to meet lots of people and learn where the coffee machines are, but you also need to identify the ‘quick wins’ that will enable you to make your mark for all the right reasons. This is often a process which is overlooked. Our methodology incorporates aspects of coaching, and induction training specifically tailored to the role. We can review the process for you and make recommendations on areas where improvements can be made.
Employee Engagement
Retention of effective staff is highly desirable not just in terms of the cost of recruiting replacements, but also in terms of diverting resources to the recruitment process instead of being used to earn revenue. There is also the disruption associated with new staff settling in and getting to know each other. Engaged staff tend to only leave an organisation due to positive reasons. By running a well-designed engagement survey, you can see how valued your employees feel, how challenged they are, what opportunities for development they have and how emotionally attached to the organisation they feel. The results of our survey will help you to target those areas that represent the best return on investment in terms of retaining effective and highly motivated staff.
360 Degree Feedback
This is not about pointing out weaknesses in others, it’s about gaining a detailed insight into areas where a person performs really well and specific information about what a person needs to improve. We also identify how they can actually achieve the improvements. This tool is excellent for examining the relationships between the leader and groups of direct reports, peers, managers and where appropriate, clients. By comparing the responses, we can see where there are clear differences between how a leader perceives themselves and how others see them. This is very useful when it comes to identifying where lines of communication and influence need to be improved and where self- awareness blind spots exist. In order to dovetail with other processes within your organisation, we can tailor our approach to fit your existing competency framework or to access specific leadership behaviours.
Top Team and Board Level Development
When it comes to development, a top team usually needs much more than just another away day. We take a bespoke approach in order to design and deliver an event that targets key areas and provides a demonstrable return on your investment. Often this will involve some detailed profiling of individuals. The objectives will be clear, and we will work with you to identify a clear pathway to get to where you want to.
This could be anything from redesigning a communications policy through to addressing communication issues within the top team itself. We pride ourselves on taking a creative approach to developing teams because we are aware that trends change.
Organisational Development
Organisational Development is a planned, systematic approach to improving an organisation’s performance and one that aligns people, processes and strategy together. All organisations will go through some form of organisational change at one stage, in order to maintain competitive advantage, achieve goals and grow. Therefore, we are able to add expertise in ensuring change is accepted and enable you to achieve a sustainable and optimised way of working.
In the initial stages, we would aim to have a conversation with you about the context of the change and identify any existing concerns relating to human potential, together with a clear picture of how you envisage the company growing in the future. We will work with the heart of your organisation, the people and through our profiling solutions, we are able to identify who is ready and accepting of the change and work with you to support those who aren’t ready, to not only be ready but to be an advocate of the change. We are also able to support you with devising continuous communication and keeping your staff engaged before, during and after change.
