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Assessing Potential

OVERVIEW

Work Psychology Series

Our new Work Psychology Series, sponsored by Advanced People Strategies (APS), explores both the classic foundations of work psychology and the latest theories and evidence in a number of key areas directly relevant to HR activities. For this reason, this series will be of particular interest to those senior HR professionals responsible for the design and delivery of HR practices and policies.

An important purpose of HR is to design and implement practices which shape employee behaviour in ways that help the business achieve its goals. Work psychology is a critical part of this process as it underpins the link between HR practices and employee behaviour. Every aspect of HR practice requires a sound understanding of the underlying principles that drive the behaviours we aim to shape.

For each event in the series, we will provide senior HR professionals with:

1. A solid grounding in the scientific theory and evidence around each work psychology topic.
2. Opportunities to discuss how this body of theory and evidence can be applied to HR practices in general and to HR practices in their own contexts.
3. An understanding of how applying work psychology theory and evidence can make HR more effective.

The sessions will combine expert input with discussion and knowledge sharing by practitioners. Attendees will be expected to come prepared to share examples and experiences from their practice.

Who is this event for?

We expect to convene senior HR professionals with:

• Knowledge of applying principles of organisational psychology in the workplace so experiences can be shared for peer learning
• A desire to enhance their understanding of organisational psychology and how it can improve employee performance and productivity
• An interest in understanding and applying the latest academic research relating to organisational psychology
• Experience working in generalist roles or CoE’s including OD & transformation, Talent, employee experience and/or organisation effectiveness

SESSION 2

Assessing Potential

The idea that we can assess characteristics of employees or job candidates to accurately predict future performance is a very appealing one, and has been studied in work psychology for well over a century.

This session will explore:

• What exactly do we mean by potential and high potential?
• What are the theoretical mechanisms and processes involved in predicting potential?
• What does the best available scientific evidence suggest about how potential can be identified and what predicts future performance?
• How could you use this understanding to better identify potential in your own organisation?