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Cerno's developmental assessments enhance individual, team and organisational capability. We will assist you to grow exceptional leaders who embody the skills and personal characteristics required to lead your organisation into the future.
We believe an effective development assessment programme must provide participants with:
- An experience that is unmistakeably representative of the demands of leadership roles;
- Revealing insights into their current performance, preferences and potential, benchmarked against the requirements of more senior leadership roles; and
- A clear understanding of their key development priorities and what they need to do to address them.
Cerno works in partnership with organisations to grow the skills of their leaders at different levels of seniority. Our interventions provide individuals with a compelling and clear view of their strengths and development needs, assist organisations to gauge their leadership capability and help target organisational-level interventions to support capability development.
As with any assessment intervention, we take the time to understand fully your informational needs and the specific demands of the roles targeted by a development assessment. We also work with you to agree the scope of the development assessment process, policies, communications, reporting processes and where required, evaluation mechanisms. The key phases of a development assessment solution include the following:
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Identifying what will be assessed
We work with you to confirm the capabilities that differentiate excellent from average performers in the roles targeted by a development assessment. These capabilities may be based entirely on your existing organisational model, on Cerno’s leadership model or represent a blend of both. You will have the benefit of advice from our highly qualified and experienced psychologists who know what it takes to be a successful performer in a range of leadership positions.
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Conducting sound and revealing development assessments
The assessment methods we use to gather information includes ‘standard’ and tailored instruments. This approach enables us to explore a wide range of issues relevant to the challenges of different leadership and other roles, and individual capabilities and motivations. Individuals taking part in a management development programme are likely to:
- Complete a 360° survey. Cerno’s develop focused 360° feedback process provides participants with valuable information on how they are seen by their manager, peers, direct reports, and (optionally) customers or other external stakeholders. Cerno’s 360° process incorporates a ‘Feedback Reflections’ tool which participants use to review their feedback report prior to attending a development assessment centre.
- Complete development-focused online questionnaires. The questionnaires collect information on a participant’s work and leadership preferences, approach and experience.
- Attend a development assessment Centre. Cerno’s specialist assessors guide participants through a series of exercises, often in Cerno’s purpose-built assessment suite. The assessment would include realistic leadership simulations, an in-depth interview and self-assessment exercises. We work hard to ensure that participants have ample opportunities to showcase their abilities and explore their development needs, and are been treated well. We minimise the time participants need to spend on the assessment, without compromising the quality of the results. Individuals experiencing our process often comment that they find the assessment challenging, rigorous and fair, and the results revealing.
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Reporting on participants’ strengths and development needs
Cerno’s development reports describe an individual’s assessed strengths, development needs and performance ratings across the capability model used. Following receipt of their report, participants:
- Attend a coaching and feedback discussion. The Cerno assessor ensures participants fully understands their assessment results and the ‘gaps’ between where they are now and where they would like to be. Participants are coached in formulating their key development objectives, scoping relevant development strategies and understanding how to leverage the strengths they have to help them achieve these goals. Cerno provides a ‘safe’ environment for frank discussion of issues that are important to the participant and their development as a manager and leader.
- Receive and review their development plan. Following the coaching discussion, the Cerno assessor provides participants with a tailored development plan describing a range of development strategies and relevant resources to assist achievement of the development priorities. Participants are more likely to take action on their development needs if they have a clear starting point and straightforward development strategies.
To embed development into the day-to-day life of participants, Cerno can advise a participant’s manager on how they can best support their direct report’s on-going development.
In addition to other monitoring mechanisms (e.g. meetings with coaches, manager, etc), Cerno uses a ‘Kick Off’ process and a ‘Light Touch’ survey (part of the 360° feedback process) which has proven valuable for encouraging participants to keep focused on their development and to monitor their progress.
Our assessors are highly qualified and experienced (you can find out more about them here). Over the last few years we have provided development assessment solutions to a wide range of organisations. Some of these organisations include Inland Revenue, New Zealand Defence Force, New Zealand Police, The Treasury, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Audit New Zealand, Department of Corrections, Ministry of Justice, the New Zealand Leadership Development Centre, the Victorian Leadership Development Centre, the Commerce Commission, Healthcare New Zealand, PHARMAC and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
Contact us to learn more about our leadership development services.
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