In previous articles, we’ve discussed the likely future of assessment reporting. It seems clear that the days of PDF-based, static reporting are coming to an end, especially given increased focus on data security and privacy. In today’s article, we explore the impact data visualisation might have on making better talent decisions.
While it is obviously important to keep abreast of such imperatives, they are not the only reasons why more interactive, better visualised data reports will benefit end-users. In fact, we would argue that even if data security weren’t as important as it is, there would still be ample reasons for assessment reporting to evolve and improve on its current format.
Here are four clear benefits to reporting assessment results using more interactive, best-practice data visualisation principles:
1. Improved decision-making turnaround
Once assessment reporting is aligned with best-practice data visualisation principles, it becomes far easier for end-users to extract meaning and insight from the data. Because the data answers clear questions, and because users can now decide how to interact with data, they can respond more rapidly to changing contexts.
In essence, the more concise and clear the data visualisation, the more rapidly end-users can make talent decisions. Such improved decision turn-around becomes particularly vital in talent contexts where competition is high and skills are scarce.
The ever-increasing pressure on recruiters to reduce time-to-hire will also be better addressed by improved data visualisation. IO professionals and hiring managers simply do not have the time to pore over complex, obscure data when making talent decisions: best practice data visualisation will enable quick, yet accurate talent judgements.
2. Greater contextualisation of decision-making
In interactive, best-practice data visualisation, both summative and granular data views are catered for. In this way, end-users of assessment results will be able to move from a big picture to a detailed view of results with a click of a button.
By allowing consumers of assessment data to freely shift between group and individual levels of detail, talent decision-making takes on a more strategic nature, and enables IO Practitioners to consider the wider context of their talent decisions.
3. Making more connected decisions
One of the key benefits of best-practice data visualisation is the possibility of spotting trends and patterns in data that would have otherwise been overlooked. In assessment reporting, this can apply to both individual and group data.
By representing assessment data in clearer, more meaningful ways, the practitioner is far more likely to spot important talent trends and to gain insight into individual talent capacities and development needs.
4. Improved collaborative decision-making
In the past, assessment results were often reported using discipline-specific methods and nomenclature. Worse yet, narrative reporting methods routinely obscured data even further due to the use of jargon and the idiosyncratic writing styles of individual report authors.
By employing best-practice data visualisation methods, IO Practitioners can now make assessment results available to a wider, non-technical audience. By using such methods, combined with more online, interactive technologies, we can ensure that assessment data end-users can all speak the same language and collaborate with one another when making talent decisions.
This is an important principle of data visualisation that is often overlooked: better data visualisation practices help demystify results and provide clarity of meaning. If assessments are to remain relevant to business decision-makers, it is vital that assessment results are meaningful and understandable to everyone, not just IO Professionals.
Conclusions
In the last few articles, we’ve discussed how assessment reporting will evolve and how TTS has been moving towards facilitating this evolution in assessment data visualisation.
We believe that the imperatives and benefits represented by better data visualisation and more interactive reporting argue strongly for an urgent re-imagining of how IO Practitioners address the reporting of assessment results. In the coming weeks and months, we look forward to rolling out exciting new technologies to our clients that will help them make even better talent decisions in this regard.
If you’re interested in how your organisation can benefit from these innovations, why not drop us a line at info@tts-talent.com?