Strategies for AchieveWorks Assessment Implementation
The AchieveWorks Assessments
The AchieveWorks® suite of products — AchieveWorks Personality, AchieveWorks Intelligences, AchieveWorks Skills and AchieveWorks Learning & Productivity — helps individuals gain a deeper understanding of who they are and how they might utilize their unique talents and abilities to their fullest potential. Each assessment includes a comprehensive, personalized report that can be applied in numerous beneficial ways. The reports provide affirming feedback that can truly empower the individual. With your professional guidance, the individual will be able to define situational and behavioral examples that demonstrate each concept that has been verified in their report.
Those basic ideas can then be expanded and related to the individual’s current goals and aspirations. While goals vary and can change over time, once a person has internalized the process they will be able to tailor what they’ve learned to different situations and use it to promote themselves in a way that is unique to each opportunity. As their awareness grows, you can branch out to explore and describe how interests, values, skill sets, natural gifts, personality traits, passions, career goals, complementary environments and organizational compatibility can affect their decisions.
As the individual begins to understand and confirm these concepts, they will start to integrate this learning into the repertoire of what they consider their “self”. When they are ready to use this information in a way that benefits them by setting them apart, they will have the tools to do it in a confident, professional manner!
When their experience with the process reaches a conscious level, they can begin defining, clarifying, promoting and defending their unique behavioral examples in pursuit of high value opportunities. High value opportunities entail any situation where the individual needs to present information that describes their ability to meet specific criteria. Often those criteria are related to being admitted, hired or selected for something they desire.
By using this information wisely and strategically, the person can position themselves in such a way as to be considered a serious and solid candidate for almost any life experience they pursue.
The AchieveWorks Criteria Checklists
Criteria checklists have been developed for each of the four products in the AchieveWorks suite. Used in conjunction with the assessment reports, the criteria checklist helps the individual to summarize the key points confirmed by their report. After they’ve reviewed and check-marked their main report items, either they or you can record them in the appropriate criteria checklist.
Brimming with critical information suitable for self-knowledge, the personalized checklist can empower individuals and help to ensure that their unique talents and skills, as well as needs, wants and desires, are addressed. The list integrates the individual’s talents and preferences and provides a quick reference for confidently articulating goals or posing questions.
It’s easy to identify all the pertinent information by following the categories in the checklist. This approach also provides the essentials to build an analytical tool in the form of a formal checklist (or matrix) to use when seeking evidence and evaluating data. This is particularly useful for comparing various characteristics, opportunities and experiences.
Since self-knowledge is the key to personal empowerment and confidence, this approach can dramatically affect individuals’ chances of achieving satisfying academic and career success. You must know yourself before you can clearly communicate your accomplishments and needs: this process allows the individual to understand how to do that. It also helps them present themselves as well prepared and professional in sharing their accomplishments.
Before recording any words, fragments or statements on the checklist, the individual should “translate” the language into their own words. By using language that resonates with them, they will more easily commit it to memory and be able to recall it in stressful situations. Their words can be expanded into real-life examples that can be polished and used effectively when pursuing high value opportunities. The goal is to make what they are integrating easily retained and retrievable, especially when under pressure.
Seeking Evidence through Questions
As talents, skills and interests are revealed in the assessment reports, and confirmed through examples, it is prudent to use the results to create evidence questions. The objective of these is to collect information about various options, prospects and situations. By asking thought-provoking questions, an individual can determine whether a particular opportunity is a good potential fit for them. It also shows the other party that the individual is prepared and savvy in the ways of investigation for finding the “right fit”. The individual is seen as an equal partner in the communication channel and not just a consumer.
The answers can provide valuable information as to whether the situation or opportunity appears to be a good fit for the individual. Probing follow-up questions can further quantify that information with data and contacts. This approach offers the other side the chance to present and expand on information, which may confirm or dispute what has been learned from other sources.
To assist with evaluation, it may help to create a quantitative chart where topic areas are defined and evaluated by a numerical rating (such as 1 to 5) or symbols (such as – and +). Additionally, people who are close to the individual may suggest a different set of questions. Both can be used to collect data to evaluate critically for the best fit.
Sample openers:
- Can you give me an example of…
- Describe for me your ideal… (freshman, applicant, employee, volunteer, etc).
- I’d like to know your thoughts on the priorities of this… (program, position, career, etc.)
- What leadership opportunities exist in this… (program, position, career, etc.)?
- How can a person excel in this (major, program, occupation, field, etc.)?
- Can you share the top qualities you look for in a… (student, employee, volunteer, etc.)?
- What unique opportunities can an individual pursue to reach their full potential?
- Can you give me examples of what others have done in recent years to enrich their (academic, career, volunteer) experience?
- Can you describe what values are found in this (program, department, college, role)?
- Could you arrange for me to talk with someone in this (program, department, role)?
- Give me an example of how you enrich or nurture an applicant who is seeking leadership opportunities.