How do you know if someone is ready for a bigger leadership role? You put them to the test.

I was stuck in the room with an obstinate subordinate who would not listen to reason. My subordinate had been a loyal employee of the company for ten years and his tenure was partly the reason which was why he could not be persuaded into understanding how the new consolidation of marketing and sales team would be beneficial to him.

DDI Singapore had invited me to undergo one of their leadership simulation tests which they conduct to help companies assess the leadership strengths and weaknesses of potential recruitment candidate and managers. Over the period of one day, I would be in a pseudo business environment and interact with role-players who would act out scenarios for me to address. Based on my actions, I would be assessed for my leadership skills and qualities that I’ve displayed throughout the day.

Weeks before the simulation, DDI sent some PDF documents containing information such as company history, statistics and dwindling profit margins. I play Sally Caines, a vice-president at commercial robotics division on her first day. While I would be tested on how I transit from an operational role to a more strategic job function, the choice of robotics industry is intentional as the chances of someone who is in the robotics industry is slim. Hence candidates are unable to apply their industry knowledge in the simulation and have to rely on their basic leadership instincts instead.

Get tested

My first order of the day was a 15-minute meeting with a subordinate, Martin Weekes. According to email documents, Weekes does not agree with the corporate’s consolidation of the various marketing and advertising divisions and was even causing some dissent within the ranks. Before the meeting, I write down some of the objectives I intended to achieve within all my meetings, such as persuading Weekes that he can only stand to gain from this consolidation.

But the meeting turned out to be very different compared to how I imagined it to be. For one, Weekes was stubborn and would not listen to reason. He had issues with his new corporate sales bosses, and kept harping on how they would impose their strategies on him. Despite my best efforts, I only manage to come to a compromise. I promised to facilitate a meeting between Weekes and the corporate sales team to hash out how they could better work together – and Weekes seemed placated for now.

My next task was a business phone call with Chad Fernandez, a peer based in France whose company we had recently acquired. That was where I made a huge mistake. Instead of welcoming Fernandez into the fold and making him feel welcome in the company, I immediately dived in and ask him for a favour.

“Would you be able to send me a couple of engineers over to my side of the company in order to help with my products?”

Fernandez flat-out refuses, telling me how their technology was so much more complex than mine and that there was no benefit for him or his engineers. He then complained about how nobody has started contacting him since they’ve been acquired. Towards the end of the conversation, I kept telling him about how valuable his division is worth to the company, but it was a little too late as I only get him to agree for me to send my engineers over.

Finally, I’m tasked to give a business presentation to my “boss” on the business and any new ideas. This is where I start to panic. One hour before my presentation and my thoughts are all over the place.

I manage to formulate a two-prong approach that includes relocating manufacturing plants outside of North America, while ramping up sales for our mid-range products. I also include plans for a publicity blitz as well. Unfortunately, I had started to fumble when under the intense grilling of the assessor when she asked about my internal employee engagement and communication plans that I said I wanted to roll out.

The low-down

One and a half weeks later, the DDI assessor (also known as my “boss” and Chad Fernandez) pops by my office to give me the low-down on my performance. Fay Chen a principle consultant who has been with DDI for eight years, had started off the conversation by asking me how I think I fared during the simulation. “Not so good,” I said frankly, “as I did not manage to achieve the goals which I had set out to be.”

According to Chen, after discussion with another assessor, said that one of my strengths is the ability to give specific and direct feedback. I was also able to use various pieces of information (such as news clippings and manufacturing plant breakdowns) to formulate strategies. I was also results-orientated, as evident in writing all my goals before each meeting.

But my plans and goals were short-term oriented and lacked long-term vision, and that, Chen said, was an area that I could improve upon.

While the course of the entire day gave me some insight into how I manage (ie, with a lot of stress), there was a caveat. As I knew I was being watched and assessed, it made me feel self-conscious about the way I acted and talked during the day.

But could this help assess my leadership potential? I would have to say that the DDI assessors got some of my traits spot on. But if a company isn’t sure about a candidate and his or her leadership potential, isn’t it always better to be safe than sorry?

Lisa Cheong

Editor

Human Resources magazine

lisac@humanresourcesonline.net