Employee-specific training and development programs are highly valued for promoting personal growth and well-being in the workplace. However, according to an evaluation on employee well-being, 42% of US employees are struggling in their current lives.
In observance of Mental Health Awareness Month, this article explores how behavioral assessments can be a powerful tool for empowering both leadership and employees with personalized self-care strategies such as personalized training and development.
What Are Behavioral Assessments and Why Are They Important for Training and Development?
Behavioral assessments are tools used to evaluate an individual’s personality traits, values, and risk in various situations. They are designed to provide insights into how a person typically responds to specific work-related scenarios, interacts with colleagues, and approaches tasks. Behavioral assessments are used in the workplace for many purposes like hiring, team building, improving organizational culture, and employee performance evaluations. They are also particularly useful for training and development.
Organizations that invest in employee development, are 11% more profitable and twice as likely to retain their employees. This is because individuals, particularly high-performing ones, seek training and development opportunities to grow both personally and professionally. Behavioral assessments provide valuable insights into an individual’s behavioral patterns, preferences, and coping mechanisms arming both themselves and leadership with the ability to create personalized training, development, and self-coaching programs.
Top Five Benefits of Using Behavioral Assessments in the Workplace
Behavioral assessments provide participants with personality insights that not only help them better understand themselves and their strengths in the workplace but also offer coaching considerations for self-care and development.
These assessments have been shown to have many benefits for employees including:
- Improved communication skills.
- Strengthened trust between co-workers.
- Increased engagement and productivity.
- Better teamwork and collaboration.
- Enhanced self-awareness and self-care habits.
Best Practices for Implementing Behavioral Assessments in the Workplace Successfully
With clear benefits, implementing behavioral assessments is an easy decision. However, implementing a successful behavioral assessment program in the workplace involves careful planning and execution. Here are some best practices to consider:
1. Define the Purpose or Need for Behavioral Assessments
Start by identifying the specific goals and outcomes you want to achieve with the behavioral assessment program. If the objective is to provide employees with tailored training for growth, ensure they’re informed, as they’ll be more inclined to want to participate.
2. Ensure Leaders are Adequately Trained on the Program
Provide leaders with training on effectively interpreting and utilizing assessment results. This ensures that the insights obtained are used in building personalized training programs. Additionally, it enables leaders to assist employees in understanding and making use of the self-coaching aspect of the assessment results.
3. Plan Personalized Check-Ins to Review Assessment Results
Plan check-ins between leadership and employees to review the assessment results and reports. This ensures that employees have a good understanding of the results and can use them for self-care and development.
4. Encourage Open Communication
Foster an environment where employees feel comfortable discussing their assessment results. Encourage them to ask questions and seek clarification.
5. Integrate Assessments into Training and Development Plans
Use assessment results as a foundation for individual training and development plans. This ensures that employees receive targeted support and resources for growth.
6. Check-In Again
Plan another round of individual check-ins. This encourages employees to continuously revisit and take ownership of their personal development and coaching.
Tips for Encouraging Employees to Take Advantage of Their Behavioral Assessment Results
Behavioral assessment results offer employees insights into how their personality traits impact their job performance. This knowledge allows for collaborative and individual efforts in creating training that enhances strengths, addresses weaknesses, and sets development goals. This not only boosts employee morale and self-worth but also supports organizational outcomes in the long run.
To encourage employees to take advantage of their results, leaders must:
- Provide open and supportive communication channels among employees and leadership to discuss results and performance considerations.
- Emphasize the benefits of personal development and training. Touch on both the personal and professional benefits of understanding how attitudes, values and personalities affect performance in the workplace.
- Offer ongoing training, tools and support to encourage employee growth.
- Facilitate feedback and discussions to help keep the assessments top of mind. In these discussions, encourage employees to revisit their reports frequently and inquire about how they are applying their results in the workplace.
- Encourage employees to revisit their reports frequently.
Empower Your Employees with TalentClick’s Attitude-Values-Personality Behavioral Assessment
Employees want meaningful learning and development opportunities – and they need them to stay happy and productive in their roles. However, these opportunities vary for each employee. TalentClick’s behavioral assessments empower leaders to grasp their employees’ needs, and employees to gain self-awareness. This encourages the implementation of customized training, development strategies, and self-coaching in the workplace.
TalentClick’s AVP Assessment is available in over 25 languages, requires only a basic reading level, isn’t invasive, and has no adverse impact on participants or organizations. Try it free for 7 days and begin empowering your employees today!