Development Centre as a tool for development
The aim of Development Centre (DC) is to find out both the strengths of employees and their other areas for development. Thanks to that their organization will be able to better match development activities to their needs, such as trainings or coaching. They will also receive clear guidelines regarding what they should pay particular attention to in order to realize their tasks and function in the organization in a much better way. Thanks to DC the organization can notice a lot of diamonds in the rough.
Objectivised assessment
A superior doesn’t always have the possibility to observe an employee in particular situations, that’s why you’ve been invited to participate in DC research. It is worth remembering that a boss is the only person who sees an employee from their perspective only; moreover, they do it from a very specific superior-subordinate kind of perspective. Thanks to the realization of DC, apart from the opinion of a boss, we have the opinion of a few qualified assessors who are impartial as they do not know them and have nothing in common with them.
Process
Development Centre is a process in which participants take part in special exercises, such as group discussions, case studies, analysis of documentation, role-play, test, interview, presentation.
During such tasks they are observed by assessors who determine the level of their competencies according to the criteria which they previously set together with HR. DC is most often created on the basis of a competency model in a given company.
The process of realization of Development Centre looks as follows
1. Development Centre Session:
- Introduction for participants
- Doing exercises
- Lunch break
- Doing exercises
- Closing
- Assessor discussion
2. Compiling reports
3. Individual feedback for participants
4. Feedback for superior and HR
6-8 participants and 3-4 assessors usually take part in one DC session which lasts around 7 hours.
Glossary:
- guidelines – wskazówki
- assessment – ocena
- superior – przelożony
- subordinate – podwładny
- apart from – oprócz
- impartial – bezstronny
- to have in common – mieć wspólnego
- to take part – brać udział
- role-play – scenka
- to last – trwać
Idiom of the month:
diamond in the rough
meaning:
- A person or thing with exceptional qualities or characteristics that cannot be seen from the surface.
- Someone that has a lot of potential but first requires a lot of work.
in Polish:
- Nieoszlifowany diament
- Osoba posiadająca potencjał, który może wydobyć i wykorzystać dzięki odpowiedniej pracy
examples:
- He’s a diamond in the rough—a little hard to take at times, but very smart and helpful.
- Kate may seem shy and ordinary right now, but give her two weeks – she truly is a diamond in the rough.
Exercise:
