We’ve been deeply influenced by the book One Page Talent Management. We recommend this book to anyone interested in simple but effective assessment tools that are grounded in science. Here’s what we learned from OPTM:

• People need direction, not metrics. Telling an employee her score in Communication is 79.2, while the company average is 61.7, leaves her wondering what to do next.
• Most reports don’t inspire action; high scores lead to complacency while low scores lead to excuses.
• If you’re assessing employees on more than four or five values, you’re measuring too much.
• Short and frequent assessments are better than long and infrequent assessments.
• The best assessments generate actionable advice, such as, “You should spend more time on technical skills training.”