Companies in the US spend over $100 billion on training every year, but I’ve learned the hard way that spending more doesn’t automatically improve performance. When results slip, most teams rush to “build a course.” I start earlier with a training needs assessment so I can be sure training is actually the right move. I...

“An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” – Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric This perspective underlines why internal assessments are vital for organizational growth. Internal assessments are pretty identical to external assessments as they play a significant role in raising the standards of...

A guy on my old team got tagged “not ready for management” because he froze on one high-pressure client call. Never mind that he’d quietly run the best-performing account on the floor all year. One bad Tuesday decided his whole trajectory, and nobody in that room could point to a single piece of evidence beyond...

When the former American automobile giant Oldsmobile met an ill fate because it ignored the need for innovation, it was a nod to the need for effective team assessment.  Those in charge of innovation at Oldsmobile turned a blind eye to fuel efficiency, made no amendments to design, and ultimately failed to innovate.  It paints...

After 10 years in hiring, I’ve seen way too many candidates ace the interview but fall apart when the real work starts.  That’s why skills assessment tools have become a non-negotiable part of my hiring process. They help validate what a resume can’t show: how someone thinks, solves problems, and applies their knowledge in real...

Ever hired someone who seemed perfect on paper but turned out to be a total mismatch? It happens more often than you think, and it can cost your company big time – we’re talking up to $240,000! But there’s a way to avoid those expensive hiring blunders: pre-employment assessment tests.  These tests are like x-ray...

If you’ve ever faced the dilemma of asking yourself, ‘Should I give a quiz, a group activity, or something else entirely?’—you’re not alone. Whether you’re teaching a class, running a training program, or hiring new team members, the challenge isn’t deciding if to assess, but how. The reality is that the different types of assessment...

“The students of the future will demand learning support that is appropriate for their situation or context. Nothing more, nothing less. And they want it at the moment the need arises. Not sooner, not later. Mobile devices will be a key technology to providing that learning support.” – Dr. Marcus Specht, Professor of Advanced Learning...

I once handed a student self-assessment to a class of 30, got 30 responses back, and every single one of them rated their participation as “Excellent.” Not most. All thirty. I’d watched several of those students stare at the floor for the entire semester. One had missed six sessions. And yet: Excellent. I didn’t have...