Assessing People
What’s Your Process, and Where Does It All Live?
Most leaders and managers do not know how to assess people. They have not been trained at business school nor coached by their employers to do so.
You cannot properly lead or develop, nor elevate the performance of your teams without being able to do this.
The following guidelines will help you to bridge this gap. Begin now, and you’ll be a better leader within 3 months.
Assessing People
Your 10-Point Checklist
Whether it’s an existing employee or a potential new one, it's impossible to assess against an endless list of criteria. You need to assess against what matters most, here's a checklist to help you.
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Industry or market expertise – how well do they understand your sector, customer base or ecosystem?
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Functional experience – have they done the type of work required, at the right level?
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Seniority and scope – what kind of authority, decision-making, and team leadership have they held?
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Track record – what measurable results have they delivered over the last 3–5 years? Problem-solving ability – how have they tackled similar challenges in the past?
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Core competencies – do they demonstrate the behaviours and skills needed to succeed in your environment?
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Emotional intelligence
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Motivations – what drives them, and is there a strong fit with your current stage, culture and goals?
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In addition to motivations, it’s important to understand what they like and dislike doing most, and how they view their own strengths and weaknesses.
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What's their preferred learning style?
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How do they like to be managed?
Other factors may be relevant too, and should be considered. But keeping focus on the most important few helps ensure sharper decision-making, whether you're making a hire or investing in someone’s development.
One approach that works particularly well — especially when multiple stakeholders are involved — is to have each interviewer (or reviewer) report back with a clear list of pluses, minuses, and any watch-outs. It keeps the process grounded and avoids groupthink.
How to Assess People and Performance
Assessing Existing Performance
Yearly, Quarterly and Monthly...
Assessing performance starts with knowing what matters most. You need to identify your five most important performance metrics. These are your non-negotiables – the core outputs or outcomes that define success in the role. Anything else is useful, but secondary.
Once you’ve got your top five, measure performance against them using a clear, simple scale:
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5 – Excellent
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4 – Good
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3 – Satisfactory
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2 – Some gaps
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1 – Unacceptable
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This gives structure to your evaluation and keeps it objective. You’re not measuring effort, likeability, or potential – you’re measuring output.
But performance doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s driven by skills and behaviours. Here are ten key contributors to performance – useful in any professional setting:
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Clarity of thinking
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Speed of execution
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Ownership and accountability
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Adaptability
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Team collaboration
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Communication
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Problem-solving
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Resilience under pressure
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Customer or stakeholder focus
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Commitment to improvement
When someone’s underperforming, don’t stop at the score – ask why. What’s blocking them? Is it a capability gap, a mindset issue, or something else? Similarly, when someone is excelling, find out how – and whether their approach can be applied more widely.
Reviewing performance alongside these ten contributors helps you spot patterns. Each behaviour is influenced by several factors – habits, environment, skills, motivation – and when you look more closely, you’ll often uncover something you can fix.
Performance gaps aren’t always personal flaws – sometimes they’re training needs, workload issues, or process problems. But you won’t know unless you talk about it.
Assessment isn’t just about judgement. Done properly, it’s a tool for understanding, learning, and improvement – for both the individual and the organisation.
The Job Spec
To assess someone effectively — when hiring, or in their current role or future potential — you need clarity on what you’re assessing for. A well-defined job spec makes evaluations sharper and more meaningful. That said, broader assessments still have value, especially when exploring development or career growth. Getting the spec right from the outset helps reduce hiring risk.
A Practical Guide to Assessing and Attracting Top Talent
Research shows executive hires can influence performance by as much as ±20%, with total impact reaching up to 40%. And with 40% of new hires failing, the stakes are high — not just for exec roles, but also for senior specialists where the ripple effects are real.
Mapping Out The Challenge Of The Role
1. Define the Role What needs to be done? Identify key responsibilities. Why does it need to be done? Align with strategic business goals. What tangible business impact should this role deliver? Research suggests that executive-level job holders can impact business performance by up to 40%, with a potential positive impact of up to 20% and, conversely, a negative impact of -20%. This applies not only to executive-level hires but also to senior specialist roles, where the ripple effect can be significant. Notably, 40% of new hires fail. Properly mapping out your hiring challenge (the job spec) from the outset will help mitigate your risk. 2. Assess Team & Market Conditions Current Team Structure: Identify gaps, diversity, and strengths. Market & Economic Trends: Consider how industry changes may impact hiring needs. Long-term Vision: Plan for how the role evolves over 3+ years. For senior hires, anticipating industry shifts and business evolution is crucial to long-term success. 3. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Use SMART criteria: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound. Define primary and secondary success metrics. Align KPIs with company-wide performance goals. You may not want to include confidential info in a job spec, so consider creating a supporting document to share as and when you think appropriate - often having had candidate sign a non-disclosure agreement. 4. Job Specification Structure Opportunity Overview Ensure the role is attractive to top talent. Avoid overselling; be clear about expectations. Attracting top-tier candidates requires positioning your opportunity as compelling and career-defining NB senior candidates seek new challenges. Consider supplementing your job spec with a tailored opportunity briefing to engage high-caliber candidates more effectively Job Description Checklist Company background & mission. Context of the role’s availability. Position in organizational structure. Scope, key responsibilities, and challenges. Independence vs. team collaboration. Future growth opportunities. Person Specification Define essential vs. desirable criteria. Consider experience, knowledge, qualifications, and skills. List core competencies (e.g., leadership, decision-making, adaptability). Use a 1-5 rating system for benchmarking candidates. 5. Hiring & Selection Process Define recruitment stages, participants, and timelines. Establish clear assessment criteria and selection tools. Plan for onboarding and integration into company culture. 6. Job Specification Template 7. Benchmarking and assessing candidates When evaluating candidates, it’s easy to get lost in an exhaustive list of desirable qualities. Instead, focus on the five most critical dimensions that truly define success in the role. A key factor should be the candidate’s track record—what measurable impact have they delivered over the last 3-5 years? The remaining dimensions will likely revolve around skills and abilities, including: Seniority and scope of the role Depth and breadth of experience in relevant functions. Market expertise or industry-specific knowledge. Problem-solving skills aligned with the challenges of the role. A well-crafted job specification isn’t just a hiring document—it’s a foundation in securing the leaders and senior specialists who will shape the future of your business. The stakes are high: the right hire can accelerate growth, drive competitive advantage, and create lasting value, while the wrong one can be costly and disruptive. By sharpening your focus, defining impact with precision, and crafting a compelling narrative, you don’t just fill a role—you secure game-changing talent that propels your business forward.
Competencies Made Simple
Competencies explained and coming soon. Expander text to be applied here. Explain what they are. List them. Explain practicalities and how to make assessing them and leveraging them easy.
Identifying Strengths
You may want to start by simply asking people what they see as their strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes — and regardless of what follows, we recommend you do just that. You might also consider StrengthsFinder 2.0, a popular tool developed by Gallup. It’s based on positive psychology and helps individuals identify their top talents from 34 defined strengths. You can buy it online (around $30 on Amazon, including a code for the assessment). It’s not just useful for individuals — it also works well as a fun, team-based exercise to spark discussion, build self-awareness, and strengthen collaboration.
Taking Up Soundings
There are several merits to doing this, firstly, inadvertently when asked about people, if talking openly - the referee will talk about the persons emotional intelligence. For example his or her motivations were or weren't aligned with the job, he or she was popular, he or she was aggressive or a pushover - they failed to be assertive. They'll typically open up about strengths and weaknesses, and areas for development, and how the person is best managed!
Five Critical Questions to Ask People
1) What Are Their Developmental Needs
There's multiple merits of doing this including not only tuning into areas for improvement but also their response will give you insight into their self-awareness. They may offer up areas for improvement in their current role or otherwise clues as to how they wish to develop their careers and their appetite for learning. Those who are keen to acquire new skills have better growth potential than those who don't.
2) What's their preferred learning style?
This is important for the people you manage...
Understanding your preferred learning style helps you absorb and retain information more effectively—whether you're a visual learner (preferring diagrams and images), auditory (learning through listening), reading/writing (engaging best with text), or kinaesthetic (hands-on, experiential learning). Knowing this boosts self-awareness, improves communication, and can enhance workplace training and collaboration.
It's therefore important to you too.
3) How Do They Wish To Develop Their Career
Some people are ambitious and have clear career plans others are not, or do not. Ask people how do they wish to develop their career and similarly what they'd like to experience in their world of work!
Consider asking people about what options they may have considered as possible career pathways - this may not just open up options for them but also talent mobility within your company.
4) How do they like to be managed?
Knowing how someone likes to be managed builds trust, motivation, and performance. Some thrive with autonomy, others prefer regular check-ins. Common styles include: coaching (development-focused), democratic (collaborative), directive (clear instructions), and laissez-faire (hands-off). Aligning style with individual needs drives stronger results and engagement. To understand this. Ask them.
5) Ask them if there’s anything important you haven’t covered?
Then ask: “How can I best support you?” and “Is there anything you're worried about or finding difficult in your world at work?”