Blog

The key is selecting an approach that provides job-relevant and useful information for identifying development needs and measuring progress.

In the May 2026 edition of the Talent Tips column, I introduced the concept of data-driven development, which starts with gathering data. In this column, I explore assessment approaches for gathering the data necessary for supporting data-driven development.

Developing leaders is consistently a top priority for executives and Human Resources, with organizations spending billions annually on leadership development programs. However, there is still a shortage of effective leaders, and many leaders in these development programs struggle to learn critical leadership skills and competencies. Over the past decade, numerous surveys and research studies found that many believe leadership development is broken.

Assessing the effectiveness of a talent development program is crucial. Traditionally, assessment primarily has relied on testing knowledge acquisition either directly or through limited applications of knowledge. With most development programs moving to self-paced, online formats, the assessment of talent development has followed suit, using unproctored online approaches. The opportunity to circumvent unproctored online assessments has long been a concern of those working in the learning and development (L&D) space. With the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI), this concern has morphed into panic.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic created a crisis for all organizations to navigate, nowhere was this more apparent than in healthcare. Frontline healthcare workers were asked to perform heroic acts of selflessness to protect and save the lives of others. Often, they needed to do this without the necessary supplies and equipment to protect themselves.