Last week I took a 2-day training to assess my managerial proficiencies. On the first day, we watched an outdated video about Bill, and his team of managers and the staff they supervise. Based on these scenarios, we answered multiple choice questions about them and our results are compared to the 700,000 managers who have taken the training to evaluate our proficiency in 12 competencies needed to be an effective manager (according to the methodology.) On the second day we got our results and attempted to interpret them with an HR consultantSo. My results? I scored in the 6th percentile for Thinking Clearly & Analytically and 9th percentile in Time Management and Prioritizing. That means 94 percent of the 700,000 people who took this class think more clearly and analytically than I do!
In contrast, I scored above the 90th percentile for Decision Making, Giving Clear Information, Setting Goals & Standards, and Training, Coaching and Delegating.
I met with the HR consultant and told her I was surprised with those low results, especially since, well, I am an analytical thinker with a science background who is always told she thinks quite logically and pragmatically. Besides, how can I make good decisions and give clear information if I can't think clearly? As for time management, I am annoyingly punctual and have never missed a deadline. Her response? "Hmmm...that's strange. You scored really high on everything else so your profile is actually really great. Well, I wouldn't worry about it. Feel free to take one of our classes if you want..."
Weird, no?
