Use behavioral examples to minimize the halo effect for managers during competency assessment

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It’s easy for managers to look at their team members through rose-colored glasses. While our customers often wonder about the tendency for users to inflate self-assessment ratings, self-assessments tend to be more self-critical. That’s because behavioral examples help individuals to become self-aware of expectations and blind spots they may not have known. It’s more often the manager assessments that we need to manage.

Just like self-assessments become more accurate when using behavioral examples, so do manager assessments. There can be no halo effect if the manager has to look at a list of behaviors by proficiency level and identify which one BEST describes the behavior of the individual. Even managers who struggle to provide constructive feedback will find it difficult to overinflate team members capabilities with these examples.

Behavioral examples in a competency model are what drive consistency, accuracy, and objectivity. And without that, individuals won’t accurately identify skill gaps and get the right personalized learning to close them.

For help in creating behavioral examples, use our free templates and instructions.