The consulting and HR world is obsessed with assessments. But let’s think about this whole assessments frenzy.
Assessments imply that having employee data will help us fix the engagement problem: If we measure engagement, we’ll somehow fix it. We’ll make everything awesome.
Except, Gallup started assessing engagement in 1992 and they’ve reported our engagement here in the United States has flatlined for the last 25 years. It’s been around 32% (and 13% globally) through our entire corporate assessment craze.
This tells us all that there is zero causation between our engagement assessments and engagement.
Also, zero causation between engagement assessments and the standard solutions.
You’d think by now that all the bright sparks out there selling more measurement tools would’ve figured out what to do after you get a failing grade on your assessment. Right? Sadly, no. So long as there are bright sparks to sell you assessment after assessment, that’s exactly what they’ll do.
Maybe if we all start focusing on the right stuff, we can start engaging with our employees in the right ways.
Our promise: Real, tangible and measurable change, or it’s on us. That’s been the thinking behind the over 7000 companies we’ve served, from AT&T to Zappos and lots of mid-sized firms.
Assessments are great for understanding change, but they aren’t a solution.
