A test to identify the organizational abilities of a leader, a test on the topic. Assessment of management competencies Online test to identify managerial abilities

They say that a bad soldier is one who does not dream of becoming a general. However, before applying for high management positions, it would be a good idea to check whether there are suitable prerequisites for this. Well, if you are already a manager, then test yourself anyway: the proposed test is an additional opportunity to assess your capabilities.

Instructions. After reading the question, choose one of the options that matches your habits and character. Next, using the key table, calculate the amount of points you scored as a result of self-assessment.

1. Imagine that starting tomorrow you will have to manage a large group of employees who are somewhat older than you. In this case, you would be concerned that:

a) you may be less knowledgeable about the essence of the matter than they are;

b) will ignore and challenge the decisions you make;

c) you will not be able to complete the work at the level you would like.

2.If you experience a major failure in any business, then you:

a) try to console yourself by neglecting it, considering what happened to be unimportant, and go to unwind, for example, to a concert;

b) you will begin to feverishly think about whether it is possible to blame the blame on someone else or, in extreme cases, on objective circumstances;

c) analyze the reasons for the failure, assessing what your own mistake was or how to correct the matter;

d) you will experience despair, become depressed, and “give up.”

3. Which of the following characteristics is most suitable for you:

a) modest, sociable, indulgent, impressionable, good-natured, slow, obedient;

b) friendly, persistent, energetic, resourceful, demanding, decisive;

c) hard-working, self-confident, reserved, diligent, efficient, logical.

4. Do you think that most people:

a) likes to work well and diligently;

b) treats work conscientiously only when their work is paid properly;

c) considers work a necessity, nothing more.

5. The manager must be responsible:

a) for maintaining a good mood in the team (then there will be no hassle with work);

b) excellent and timely completion of tasks (superiors and subordinates will be satisfied).

6. Imagine that you are the leader of a team and must, within a week,submit a plan for certain work to higher authorities. What will you do?

a) draw up a draft plan, report it to your superiors and ask them to correct it if anything is wrong;

b) listen to the opinions of your subordinates and specialists, and then draw up a plan, accepting only those proposals made that are consistent with your point of view;

c) entrust the drafting of the plan to your subordinates and will not make any significant amendments to it, sending your deputy or other competent employee to a higher authority for approval;

d) develop a draft plan together with specialists, and then report the plan to management, justifying and defending its provisions.

7. In your opinion, the best results are achieved by the leader who:

a) vigilantly ensures that all subordinates accurately perform their functions and tasks;

b) involves subordinates in solving a common problem, guided by the principle: “Trust, but verify”;

c) cares about the work, but in the hustle and bustle of things does not forget about those who do it.

8. When working in any team, do you consider responsibility for your own work to be equivalent to your responsibility for the results of the work of the entire team as a whole?

9. Your opinion or action is met with criticism by others. How will you behave?

a) do not succumb to an instant defensive reaction and do not rush into objections, but will be able to soberly weigh all the pros and cons;

b) don’t give up, but try to prove the advantages of your view;

c) due to your temperament, you will not be able to hide your annoyance and may become offended and angry;

d) remain silent, but do not change your view, you will act as before.

10. It solves the educational problem better and brings the greatest success:

a) encouragement;

b) punishment.

11. Do you want:

a) so that others see you as a good friend;

b) so that no one doubts your honesty and determination to provide help at the right time;

c) cause others to admire your qualities and achievements.

12. Do you like to make independent decisions?

13. If you have to make an important decision or give an opinion on a particular important issue, then:

a) try to do it immediately and, having done it, do not return to this matter again and again;

b) you do it quickly, but then you are tormented for a long time by doubts: “Wouldn’t it have been better to do it differently?”;

c) try not to take any steps for as long as possible.

Calculate the number of points for the key.

Interpretation of results.

If you typed more than 40 points, This means that you have a lot of potential to become a good leader with a modern style of behavior. You believe in people, their knowledge and good qualities, and are demanding of yourself and your colleagues. You will not tolerate quitters in your team, and you will not try to gain cheap authority. For conscientious subordinates, you will be not only a boss, but also a good comrade who, in difficult situations, will do everything possible to help in word and deed.

If you typed from 10 to 40 points, then you could manage certain objects and work, but would often encounter difficulties (and the more often, the fewer points you scored). They would try to be a guardian for their subordinates, but sometimes they could take out their bad mood and anger on them; would provide them with assistance and give all kinds of advice, regardless of whether there is a need for this.

If you typed less than 10 points, That, Let's face it, you have little chance of achieving success as a leader. Unless you have the willpower to reconsider many views and abandon ingrained habits. First of all, you need to gain faith in people and yourself.

Test to identify organizational skills.

Instructions:

Determine your organizational skills, i.e. the ability to actively influence people. To do this, answer the questions below quickly, without thinking. Answers must only be affirmative (yes) or negative (no). When answering, try to reproduce your actual behavior in a specific situation.

1. Do you often manage to win over most of your comrades to your side?

2. Are you good at navigating a critical situation?

3. Do you enjoy doing social work?

4. Do you easily give up on your intentions if some obstacles arise in their implementation?

5. Do you like to invent or organize various games and entertainment?

6. Do you often put off until other days those things that should be done today?

7. Do you strive to ensure that your comrades act in accordance with your opinion?

8. Is it true that you do not have conflicts with your comrades because they fail to fulfill their promises, obligations, and duties?

9. Do you often take initiative in solving important matters?

10. Is it true that you are usually poorly oriented in unfamiliar surroundings?

11. Do you get irritated if you fail to finish the task you started?

12. Is it true that you get tired from frequent communication with your friends?

13. Do you often take the initiative when resolving issues that affect the interests of your comrades?

14. Is it true that you rarely strive to prove that you are right?

15. Do you take part in social work at school (class)?

16. Is it true that you do not seek to defend your opinion or decision if it was not immediately accepted by your comrades?

17. Are you willing to start organizing various events for your friends?

18. Are you often late for business meetings or dates?

19. Do you often find yourself in the spotlight?

20. Is it true that you don’t feel very confident in the company of a large group of your friends?

After you answer the questions asked, calculate the total points you scored. Please note that each affirmative answer to odd-numbered questions and negative to even-numbered questions is worth 1 point.

Result

15 points or more indicates a high level of organizational skills;

13-14 points - about average;

below 13 points - about a low level of development of organizational skills.

If your level is low, do not despair; if you wish, you can develop your organizational skills.

When managing a team, managers are often more fascinated by the status and exciting functionality of the manager than by caring about the quality of management services provided.

Nevertheless, the manager is responsible precisely for the competent implementation of management. After all, even if the organization has a strong leader who will inspire the team, show the goal and challenge, without effective implementation of processes it is pointless to count on a good result.

Will management skills pass the test?

Becoming a great manager requires a wide range of skills, from planning and delegation to communication and motivation. From this list, it is enough to use only a few components and this will already give some kind of result. But if your goals are more global, and your ambitions do not allow you to be satisfied with little, then you need to develop yourself in all facets of leading people.

Before starting any development, it is important to transparently understand the level of proficiency in each competency that is important in management. This approach will allow you to hit the target, saving time on analyzing illusions and images of an imaginary result. The test below will help you evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, thereby extracting maximum benefit from the former and managing the latter.

Test instructions

The test contains 20 statements. For each of them, you need to write down a score for the answer that most corresponds to reality. When taking the test, it is important to describe the actual situation, and not the one in which you would like to find yourself and which is considered correct. Upon completion of the test, you must sum up the resulting scores.

Test:

20 statements		Never	Rarely	Sometimes	Often	Always
1	When I have a problem, I try to solve it myself before asking my boss what to do.	1	2	3	4	5
2	When I delegate work, I give it to someone who has more windows in their schedule.	5	4	3	2	1
3	I correct team members whenever I see their behavior negatively impacting customer service.	1	2	3	4	5
4	I make decisions after careful analysis rather than relying on intuition.	1	2	3	4	5
5	I do not allow the team to waste a lot of time discussing strategies and assigning roles; many changes can still occur during the implementation of tasks.	5	4	3	2	1
6	I wait before disciplining an employee, giving them a chance to improve on their own.	5	4	3	2	1
7	Being able to do the job my employees do perfectly are the skills I need to be an effective manager.	5	4	3	2	1
8	I set aside time to discuss with the team what is going well and what needs improvement.	1	2	3	4	5
9	During meetings, I take on a facilitator/facilitator role when necessary. This helps the team reach a better understanding of the issue or reach consensus.	1	2	3	4	5
10	I fully understand how business processes work in my department and eliminate bottlenecks.	1	2	3	4	5
11	When it comes to assembling a team, I determine what skills are needed and look for the people who best meet the selected criteria.	1	2	3	4	5
12	I do everything I can to avoid conflicts in the team.	5	4	3	2	1
13	I try to motivate people by tailoring my approach to suit each employee's needs.	1	2	3	4	5
14	When the team makes a big mistake, I report it to the boss and then review the importance of the lesson learned.	1	2	3	4	5
15	When conflict arises in a new team, I perceive it as an inevitable stage in its development process.	1	2	3	4	5
16	I discuss with team members their individual goals and integrate this with the goals of the entire organization.	1	2	3	4	5
17	If I form a team, I choose similar personalities, ages, length of service in the company, and other characteristics.	5	4	3	2	1
18	I think the statement: “If you want it done well, do it yourself” is true.	5	4	3	2	1
19	I find an individual approach to everyone to ensure effective, comfortable and productive work.	1	2	3	4	5
20	I keep team members informed about what is happening in the organization.	1	2	3	4	5

Result:

Point	Interpretation
20 — 46	Managerial skills urgently need to be improved. If you want to become an effective leader, you need to learn how to organize and control the work of a team. Now is the right time to develop these skills and increase the success of your team.
47 — 73	The right path to becoming a good manager has been chosen. A number of competencies have already been successfully developed and provide a certain amount of comfort at work. At the same time, certain skills and abilities still need to be upgraded. It is necessary to focus on those elements where the lowest score was obtained.
74 — 100	Strong work being done in team management! It is important not to stop there and continue to build your skills. Competencies with a lower rating are those that await improvement!

Effective management requires a wide range of skills, each of which is complementary. The manager’s task is to develop and maintain all these competencies in order to guide the team to achieve stable results. It is important to remember: as soon as development stops, degradation begins! Below is a “feed” for the brain that allows you to become even stronger and more professional as a leader.

Model of effective management

The test is based on eight essential management skills. These are precisely the fundamentals, the secret of success that demonstrates aerobatics in managing people.
Understanding team dynamics and developing good relationships.
Personnel selection and development.
Effective delegation.
Motivating people.
Discipline management and conflict management.
Information exchange.
Planning, decision making and problem solving.

Understanding team dynamics and forming good relationships

Questions: 5, 15, 17
Competent management implies awareness of the principles of team work. As a rule, each team adheres to a certain development model:
1) Formation.
2) Conflicts.
3) Rationing.
4) Execution (effective work).
It is important to encourage the passage of each stage of development, this contributes to the rapid formation of an effective team. When forming a team, the manager's role is to ensure balance in recruiting the diverse skills of team members. Undoubtedly, it is easier to manage a homogeneous group, but only with the maximum diversity of people can mistakes be almost completely avoided. The most valuable competency in this area will be the ability to direct all differences in the right direction.

Selection and development of people

Questions: 11, 17
Finding the right people and developing them is the shortest path to success. Systematic training and analysis of the need for it quickly take the team to a new level.

Effective delegation

Questions: 2, 18
Some managers, especially those coming up from lower positions, tend to do most of the work themselves. They are convinced that only this will allow them to produce high-quality results. In such cases, a valuable rule is forgotten: a leader is needed to manage, not to execute. And the team can achieve much more if all the work is distributed among the right people, rather than concentrated on one person. Sometimes it is difficult to trust; in this case, it helps to realize that if the team has the appropriate functionality, people are trained and motivated, and, as a rule, the work will be done efficiently.

Motivating people

Questions: 13, 19
Another skill needed in management is motivation. Motivating yourself and motivating someone else are completely different things. It is necessary to remember that motivation is individual and what warms one is completely uninteresting to another. Just as life values ​​and goals differ, so do the methods of motivation. If you have warm, trusting relationships with team members, then motivation will not be difficult.

Discipline management and conflict management

Questions: 3, 6, 12
Sometimes, despite all efforts, some subordinates have difficulties in their work: systematic failures, underachievement of indicators. If you turn a blind eye, letting things take their course, and not adjusting or correcting such failures, this will have a negative impact on the entire team. Staff motivation decreases when they have someone working next to them who consistently fails to meet expectations.

There are often cases when direct conflicts arise between employees due to differences in values. The manager’s task is not to panic, but to facilitate the solution of the situation. But it is important to remember that disagreement also has a positive side; it highlights systemic problems and areas of possible failure in the organization. In any case, when conducting confrontation, it is necessary to work with the cause of the disagreement, and not to suppress symptoms or avoid them.

Information exchange

Questions: 8, 9, 16, 20
The ability to communicate and convey information correctly is significant in any profession, but for a manager it is of particular value. It is necessary to convey to the team everything that is happening within the company. Employees need to understand the nature of decisions made, job changes and other situations. This not only eradicates rumors, discussing issues allows you to establish contact.

Planning, decision making and problem solving

Questions: 4, 10
This competence acquires particular significance when a manager is promoted from an ordinary employee. At the initial stages, priorities shift from planning and resolving team issues to developing yourself as a former specialist. Without changing your development priorities, without switching to improving your management skills, you can very quickly end up in a puddle and return to your previous position. You need to constantly make sure you are focused on what matters most!

How to avoid common manager mistakes

Questions: 1, 7, 14
Building interaction in a team helps to avoid a number of difficulties and simplifies procedures. A common mistake is the reluctance to think for yourself and the inability to ask yourself the question “What can I do myself to solve the situation?” Often, novice managers knock on the doorsteps of their leaders, urging them to solve the problem that has arisen, thereby distracting them from completing more global strategic tasks.

Another mistake is shifting development priorities when moving from a line employee to a management position. It is necessary to tell yourself “stop” in time, otherwise the entire routine of the department may fall on the shoulders of the manager, because he will try not to teach others to do tasks correctly, but to take on more responsibilities than he should.

Delegation, motivation, communication, and understanding team dynamics are some of the key skills needed to be a leader. With these skills, along with patience and a developed sense of balance, they reach incredible heights in management.

TEST DESCRIPTION LeaderChart methodology is intended for diagnostics managerial potential and allows us to identify the general level of readiness to lead people in a team, as well as the range of individual psychological characteristics associated with success in management and leadership potential. This is a unique and innovative technique that includes: solving management cases with unique sets of answers; leadership of real teams, unfolded over time; comprehensive coverage of intellectual, motivational and personal spheres; projection of results onto key management functions; recommendations for an ideal deputy who can most effectively compensate for the respondent’s weaknesses and support him in managerial work; the ability to customize the methodology in accordance with the effective leadership model of successful leaders of your company. TYPICAL TASKS Assessment of managers (assessment at the early stages of selecting candidates for management positions, to eliminate those who are clearly not suitable for management) Formation of management teams: assistant-manager pairs

STRUCTURE OF THE METHOD

The LeaderChart test consists of five blocks (five subtests).

The test time is about 60 minutes.

PRESENTATION OF RESULTS

There are three report options:

business report (assessment of the respondent’s management potential);
for a specialist (detailed psychological portrait of the respondent);
for the respondent (soft feedback).

"Report for a specialist" And "Report for the respondent" contain the respondent’s assessment on the following primary test scales:

Block "Case solution"

• Success in solving cases(assessment of the correspondence of the respondent’s answers with the answers of successful managers)

Block "Intellectual abilities"

• Intelligence(assessment of intellectual potential)

Block "Personal qualities"

• Closedness(isolation, restraint in communication) – Sociability(active position in communication, contact)
• Passivity(lack of self-confidence, indecisiveness) – Activity(energy, initiative, determination)
• Mistrust(rigor, rigidity) – Friendliness(responsiveness, willingness to empathize)
• Independence(independence, desire for self-affirmation and dominance) – Conformism(the importance of the opinions of others, the desire to be accepted by the group, the willingness to give in)
• Moral flexibility(freedom from moral standards, focus on personal gain) – Morality(the desire to adhere to moral, ethical standards)
• Impulsiveness(flexibility, restlessness) – Organization(discipline, accuracy, accuracy, desire to follow plans)
• Anxiety(caution, tendency to fear) – Equilibrium(calmness, stress resistance, mental endurance)
• Sensitivity(aesthetic view of things, sensitivity to beauty, shades in relationships) – Insensitivity(functional view of things, practicality, straightforwardness)
• Intellectual Restraint(selectivity regarding new information) – Curiosity(openness to new knowledge, information, willingness to learn new things)
• Traditionality(focus on preserving and maintaining traditions, classical solutions) – Originality(the need to stand out from the crowd, the desire for everything unusual)
• Specificity(sensory type of perception and processing of information, accuracy in detail) – Abstractness(intuitive type of perception and processing of information, desire to highlight the main thing)

Block "Motivation for leadership"

• Motivation for leadership(readiness to exercise leadership)

Block "Social sensitivity"

• Social sensitivity(the respondent’s ability to correctly understand and evaluate the motives behind the behavior of the people around him, and to respond adequately to them)

The “Business Report” is the main one and contains an integral indicator of management potential and a forecast of the success of performing individual management functions:

Block "Potential for leadership"

• Potential for leadership(an integral indicator that allows you to build a forecast of the respondent’s success in a leadership position)

Block "Manager's functions"

• Making decisions(ability to select the best alternatives from existing ones, take initiative; responsibility and determination)
• Strategic Thinking(the ability to set long-term goals, predict the consequences of one’s own actions and the actions of subordinates, foresee the final result of the efforts made, quickly process large volumes, including contradictory, information)
• Influence(the ability to influence the behavior, feelings and thoughts of other people, to use one’s own authority to achieve the goals of the organization, to set a personal example to subordinates, to use a variety of persuasion tactics)
• Delegation(the ability to transfer part of one’s own functions and powers to subordinates, to optimally distribute responsibility between subordinates)
• Control(ability to control subordinates, check the quality of their work, maintain performance discipline in the team)
• Organization(the ability to carry out administrative functions in relation to the work of the team, coordinate employees, determine the necessary resources and provide them to subordinates, evaluate the result of work)
• Leadership(the ability to infect others with an attractive vision of the future, awaken employees’ interest in realizing common goals, taking advantage of new opportunities, unite the team around common important tasks, increase and maintain involvement)
• Communication(the ability to communicate competently, be sensitive to the context of various communication situations, manage formal and informal contacts between subordinates, correctly convey information to employees and senior management)

A unique feature of the LeaderChart test is the presence of a special section "The Ideal Deputy": depending on what personal characteristics the respondent has, it is recommended to “supplement” him with a deputy with certain character traits. The strengths of the deputy will help offset the possible shortcomings of the respondent as a leader and help the latter achieve maximum results. This block is especially useful when forming a personnel reserve and there is a need to build several levels of management in a particular company.

REVIEWS AND EXAMPLES OF USE

"We used this methodology to assess the leadership potential of our managers who are in the personnel reserve for higher positions. The test helped us get to know in more detail certain characteristics of employees, such as: motivation and readiness for leadership, skills in making management decisions in a short time (with the help method cases). I would like to note the ease of use of the online platform, the form for adding participants and sending invitations - everything is very clear and accessible, and works without failures. What’s especially nice :) The employees also had no questions about using the platform - a clear interface and clear instructions for the user make testing much easier. Thank you very much for an interesting and useful tool." Vasyanovich Alexandra Vitalievna Personnel assessment specialist Personnel Assessment Department of Urban Group Group of Companies

HISTORY OF CREATION

The first version of the LeaderChart test was released in 2014. Authors of the development: Altukhov V.V., Belorusets A.S., Portnova D.S., Rybnikova M.K.

In May 2014 A.S. Belarusian and M.K. Rybnikova created the first research version personality test block. This subtest was notable for the content of the test tasks: all statements outlined the respondent’s behavior in work situations and did not relate to other areas of life, but were an expression of the general properties of temperament and character inherent in a person.

Development case block was multi-stage. In February 2014 V.V. Altukhov and D.S. Portnova analyzed the main theoretical principles of management psychology and the methodology of case tests (situational judgment tests). The Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership model and the Dressler-Sibbett team creation model were taken as the basis for constructing the block, which made it possible to reproduce the dynamic development of a team in the test and build a sequence of problem situations related to leadership that would be as close as possible to real management practice. The block also included a model for sequential assessment of the candidate’s behavior as a leader in connection with the development of management activities over time.

After this, preliminary versions of 4 mega-cases were created, each of which consists of 10 mini-cases - ten problem situations within the framework of managing one team, interconnected and sequentially unfolding over time.

Options for solving each of the mini-cases (the most successful and unsuccessful actions) were proposed by management experts (from 4 to 10 people for each of the mega-cases) in free form; the realism of the cases was also assessed and their adjustments were proposed. Subsequently, the most significant actions were identified from the experts’ responses through content analysis, and the final formulations of the cases themselves and their solutions were approved. Primary testing took place on a sample of volunteers (119 and 74 respondents in two series) with different experience in managing a client’s situation. The procedure for assigning keys in the final version of the case block was also multi-stage and took into account both the number of mentions by experts of a certain action during the collection of free-form responses, and the results of testing: now the calculation includes both the respondent’s choice of moderately successful and unsuccessful actions, and the lack of choice in favor of the most successful and unsuccessful of them, and mistakes in elections.

The keys were later tested on another sample of successful executives. As a result of the check, it turned out that the standard answers formulated by experts from the first sample, in the vast majority of cases, coincide with the choices of successful managers from the second sample, which indicates the good performance of the cases.

The next stage of testing was carried out in volunteer companies to obtain data on the external validity of the methodology when testing in an examination situation. A total of 137 people took part in the re-testing. Based on this material, the test norms were recalculated, as well as the distribution of scores on test scales was checked for normality.

In addition to the principle of constructing a case block and calculating keys, the form of presenting mega-cases has no analogues: each respondent is presented with one of the four existing ones at random in order to eliminate differences between respondents in terms of their experience in managing specific teams or the lack of this experience as such.

The basis intelligent block The tasks of the standardized test of intellectual potential “Business IQ” were assigned, the content of which was recognized as the closest to management practice (scales of Calculations, Vocabulary, Erudition, Information Processing, Spatial Thinking, Abstract Logic). The block uses an expanded (triple) bank of tasks, equalized in degree of difficulty; their presentation is random, however, in each of the unique testing sessions there are questions from all of the above areas.

Motivational block is a questionnaire that allows you to collect biographical information about the respondent and assess his overall readiness to carry out managerial activities.

The section of the business report deserves special mention “ Ideal Deputy": it is based on the results of a special compatibility study conducted by employees of the R&D department of the Humanitarian Technologies Laboratory in 2013-2014.

The second version of the LeaderChart test, consisting of four blocks, was prepared in November 2014 and launched for secondary testing on volunteer companies to obtain data on the external validity of the methodology when testing in an examination situation.

In 2016, the third version of the methodology was released, consisting of five blocks. At the same time, the personality block was replaced by the 11LF test, which showed better results in practice, and the case diagnostic block of Social Sensitivity was added to the methodology (the scale of the same name from the EmIQ test - Emotional IQ - Humanitarian Technologies Laboratories).

PSYCHOMETRIC PARAMETERS

You can read in detail about the psychometric parameters of the personality and intellectual blocks of the test in the annotations to the 11LF and Business IQ methods, respectively.

1. Criterion validity of the test

The criterion validity of the methodology was assessed by comparing test data with external criteria for the success of test participants in the manual. The first series of studies involved more than 400 respondents with varying degrees of success in management experience (about 40% had no experience in management, about 60% had varying degrees of success in management experience). Self-report data were used as success criteria; the study was conducted in the format of voluntary testing for the purpose of self-knowledge.

In 2016, a validation study was conducted on a group of bank managers. The study revealed significant differences between the groups of successful and unsuccessful managers on the Social Sensitivity scale. Successful managers score higher on this scale, with 65% percent of successful managers scoring above average. While unsuccessful managers rarely get a high score.

In addition, a connection was found between leadership success and such personality traits as: Sociability, Moral flexibility, Curiosity, Originality, Abstractness.

2. Representativeness of the test

Initially, the test norms of the personal and intellectual blocks of the methodology were calculated on a gender-equalized sample of about 200 people, the age of the respondents was from 17 to 73 years (median - 30 years). Test norms for the case and motivational blocks were calculated on samples of about 150 people, the age of the respondents was from 18 to 56 years (median - 34 years).

Test standards were updated in the summer of 2015 on a sample of about 500 people who were tested in an examination situation. The age of respondents ranged from 23 to 59 years (average age 38 years), women - 46%, men - 54%. Managerial experience of respondents:

• no experience - 8%;
• less than 2 years - 16%;
• from 2 to 5 years - 28%;
• more than 5 years - 48%.

Age and gender norms are not provided for in the methodology due to its more frequent use for the purposes of vocational selection, rather than career guidance, development or self-knowledge. Within the framework of professional selection, it is more important to be able to accurately compare one candidate with another (without taking into account gender and age), rather than identifying the age or gender characteristics of each candidate.

3. Connections between test results and personal data

Based on the results of secondary testing in an examination situation, the connections between the data of the motivational and self-esteem questionnaires with scores on the test scales were analyzed. The following results were obtained:

A. Results on all scales of the Business Report (except for the Delegation scale) were associated with responses to the motivational questionnaire. Highly motivated respondents score significantly higher on secondary scales.

B. A number of interpretable relationships were identified between indicators on secondary scales and leadership experience. In general, respondents with more experience and more subordinates score higher on secondary scales.

EDUCATION

Training in working with the test methodology is available as a distance course. Individual (or in small groups) face-to-face training is also possible under the program of individual user support. A methodological manual has been developed, which is provided free of charge to all users of the test.

Many people think that when hiring a new manager, he can be assessed only after an interview and a trial period, but for a manager at any level - from the head of a department to the CEO - hiring tests can be even more relevant than for an ordinary employee.

Surveys of HR managers conducted in 2018 showed that 72% of companies in Russia with more than 100 employees use testing when hiring. It is estimated that by 2020 this number will reach 85-87%.

And the higher the position for which the company is looking for an employee, the more likely it is that psychological tests and assessments will be used for the initial assessment of applicants.

According to SHL in 2017, worldwide, employment tests are used to select candidates for 60% of entry-level positions and 75% of middle management positions, ranging from department heads. For senior management positions, this figure is 81%.

In Russia, this distribution is slightly different: in our country, tests are used more to evaluate entry-level positions and positions at the level of department heads, while to select senior management, companies rely more on traditional recommendations, personal connections and business intelligence. In Russia, employment tests are used:

• for 66% of entry-level positions (most of all in the banking sector - 81%);
• for 83% of entry-level and middle management positions;
• for 61% of senior management positions.

Thus, the chances of testing and the assessment center are highest if you are applying for a job as an entry-level or mid-level manager - this is a large number of positions, they are fundamentally important for companies and there is the highest competition for them.

In this article we will look in detail at tests for precisely such positions - middle managers.

Objectives of tests for managers

Companies use tests to identify managers with the experience and skills needed to perform specific job duties and quickly weed out unsuitable people.

In addition to employers, tests for managerial competencies in Russia are now actively used by state competitions for managers. The most famous and popular among them is the Leaders of Russia competition. Read more about the management potential test phase of this competition on HRLider:

What can you do to pass these tests, get the job you want and be able to quickly grow in your career?

First of all, don't try to deceive them by trying to fit in. You won't be able to do this anyway. But it’s worth getting acquainted with such tests in order to better understand their format and, in general, increase your chances of passing them.

If you have already taken such tests before, then you are more likely to be able to show your best side. Also, using the proposed tests, you will be able to more qualitatively assess your potential place of work - this is a valuable source of information for a competent candidate.

Employers take pre-employment tests very seriously, and you should take them seriously too.

What do executive tests measure?

The first mentions of exams for candidates for officials - prototypes of tests for leaders - are found already in ancient China of the Han Dynasty. The most famous developer of ancient employment tests is Confucius and his followers in the imperial office of the Middle Kingdom. The leaders of that time were searched for intelligence, knowledge and moral integrity through many tests.

Modern tests were introduced to select officials and commanders in the military departments of the United States and England during the First World War, and after the Second World War this process became widespread in private business to evaluate managers at all levels.

Nowadays, pre-employment tests are an integral part of the HR process in most large companies. The use of tests allows you to significantly save time and resources for the initial assessment of applicants. This is a fast, accurate and objective way to screen a large number of candidates.

When evaluating applicants for leadership positions, companies primarily look for three key qualities necessary for success: competence, work ethic, and emotional intelligence. Although employers primarily look for these qualities in resumes, references, and interviews, they require additional information to make hiring decisions. The success of the entire company depends on the quality of selection of employees for management positions, and a resume and an interview alone are not enough. Testing allows you to make a much more accurate forecast of a manager’s future success than analyzing his education or experience.

Let's look at these three qualities needed by leaders in more detail.

Competence

Competence is usually tested by intelligence tests, which are multiple-choice questions or problems. These are so-called aptitude tests, which are designed to assess the general level of mental abilities of the candidate. They can range from well-known IQ tests to highly specialized tests of specific knowledge and skills, but in general they are tasks to determine what you know, can do, or will be able to do in the future.

The most common types of such tests are numerical, verbal and logical tests. For employers, these tools are a great addition to a resume, especially when all candidates have similar characteristics.

An important thing about aptitude tests for you as a candidate is that you don't have to practice them to perfection. Companies rely on them just to make sure you have the right level of intellectual ability to rank among the top candidates. To do this, it is enough to score 80% or higher correct answers, which is quite achievable results after 3-4 days of preparation.

A relatively new trend is the use of psychological tests to evaluate management candidates. Other names for such tests are situational or behavioral. Like intelligence tests, situational tests present you with a specific problem, but the answers present several possible solutions to it and none of them are clearly right or wrong. The criterion for the correctness of answers is determined by experts or representatives of the employer - they themselves determine which answers are valuable and which are not. Behavioral tests for executives are usually open-ended and focus more on experience and knowledge than general intellectual ability. In addition, in situational tests their content is related to the performance of a specific managerial role, whereas in aptitude tests the roles are not prescribed.

To prepare for situational tests, you will need to study the values ​​and principles of the company you are applying for - this is the same preparation you need to do before an interview.

Work Ethic

Most companies are looking for managers who are ambitious, reliable and trustworthy. These qualities of a mid-level manager determine not only his success in completing assigned tasks, but also how well he will fit into the structure of the company and how well he will interact with other employees at all levels. To determine these qualities, questionnaires or questionnaires are usually used, such as psychological tests, which make it possible to clarify the typical behavior patterns of an applicant in a certain situation. Such tests can show how a person will behave in a difficult work situation that requires choice. For example, as in the task below - intervene or pass by - something that is very important to know for most employers.

I wrote "most" because there are companies that are looking for a more specific set of work ethic qualities. For example, Reckitt Benckiser, a well-known manufacturer of FMCG goods, to promote many of its brands, for example Durex, is looking for people who are “cool to the point of impossibility”, so much so that they can even behave in a provocative manner. This example is a reminder that different companies and different departments within the same company may be looking for different people for different tasks.

Since psychologist Daniel Goleman introduced this concept, companies around the world have paid great attention to this quality and it is well-deserved. Many studies show that emotional intelligence is closely related to overall job performance, entrepreneurial potential, and leadership talent. For managers at all levels, the importance of emotional intelligence is even higher, because a manager is someone who constantly interacts with different people.

Employers typically assess emotional intelligence in interviews, but a growing trend is to use psychological tests for managers. Such behavioral tests can take the form of personality questionnaires or situational tests with a detailed scenario and answer options. Your choice of answers can create a very accurate and objective picture of your most likely courses of action when dealing with other people, for example in interpersonal conflicts. The main purpose of psychological tests for emotional intelligence is to determine how capable you are of empathy and understanding of the feelings of other people.

Situational tests for managers can include a huge number of variations. They typically assess your ability to make decisions under emotional pressure or when faced with the most appropriate response within your work etiquette.

Some companies have gone even further in using situational tests for managers. For example, Heineken uses them in real life during interviews in the form of unexpected or uncomfortable situations. This could take the form of a greeting handshake that becomes too strong and intrusive, or a situation where the interviewer who greets you is late for the meeting and then pretends not to notice you and walks by. These situations are actually situational tests designed to assess your emotional stability, communication skills and team spirit.

While some behavioral test scenarios for executives may seem overly simple and even silly, they allow employers to paint a fairly accurate picture of an applicant's emotional intelligence and responsiveness—traits that are vital to certain roles and organizational cultures.

Types of situational tests for managers

There are several basic types of behavioral tests for managers at all levels.

Most and least effective answer

In this type of psychological test, you are given a scenario describing a problem and 4-5 answers suggesting your response to this scenario. You are required to determine the most and least effective answer.

See the answer and explanation of this test at the end of the article. Try to find the answer yourself first.

Rating questions on the performance evaluation scale

In such questions, you need to rank all the answers from the most productive to the counterproductive. Sometimes the same rating can be used only 1 time, and sometimes more than once.

Rating questions that require answers to be ranked by effectiveness from 1 to 5

Where 1 is the least effective and 5 is the most effective. Sometimes the same rating can be used only 1 time, and sometimes more than once.

Most and least likely answer

A variation of the test with the most and least effective answers is the test with the most and least likely answers. They require you to identify the responses that you are most likely to do and those that you are least likely to do.

Tests with one correct answer

The main type of behavioral tests for managers remains a test to determine one correct answer - your first answer, your best answer, and so on.

See the answer and explanation of this test at the end of the article. Try to find the answer yourself first.

Once you understand the types of executive tests and the qualities employers are trying to determine, here are some tips on how you can improve your ability to solve behavioral executive tests quickly and accurately.

Practice

When preparing for the Unified State Exam, schoolchildren take hundreds of practice tests - this is the best way to take the exam and pass it successfully. The same applies to getting a job. Taking sample behavioral practice tests can give you a significant advantage.

According to our data, approximately 50% of job applicants prepare for tests or assessments in one way or another. And this is the right tactic: after quality preparation, the average score increases by 20% - usually this is more than enough to successfully pass the testing stage even for high-level management positions.

If you are applying for a management position, then there is a high probability that you will have to take psychological tests for managers. On HRLider you can prepare for all the main types of executive tests currently used by companies in Russia.

An American study of 50 scientific papers, including 130,000 participants, proved that pre-training improves performance on all types of tests for four reasons:

1. It reduces anxiety. The more practice tests you take, the more familiar they become to you and the more confident and calm you will feel during your next test, even though the stakes are higher.
2. Pre-training helps you identify your weak areas so you can address them early and improve your performance.
3. Practice reinforces proven test-taking tactics such as skipping and returning to difficult questions. You will learn to ignore irrelevant information and avoid mistakes in understanding tasks. This significantly increases the speed of passing behavioral and any other types of tests.
4. Pre-training can enhance those specific qualities that employers are looking for. This is the most valuable result of the practice of situational tests for managers.

Of course, practice will be more effective if you know exactly what types of tests your employer uses. Feel free to ask about this and ask for sample tests from the employer's HR representatives or other people from this company. Recruiters are paid for successful applicants, and in most companies (Sibur, Gazprom and Gazpromneft, etc.) existing employees are rewarded with bonuses for recommending new candidates.

Taking into account personal characteristics

The 2016 NCBI study shows that personality type, daily activity patterns, and stimulant use significantly influence mental performance. This also applies to behavioral tests for managers at all levels.

For example, neat and non-conflict people cope better with tests in the first half of the day and they should avoid taking stimulants, nootropics, even coffee, since at this time they are already at the peak of their physical and mental activity. For extroverted creatives, the opposite is true: they need time and coffee to get going in the morning, but in the afternoon and late afternoon they become more active and can use stimulants. So, if you can choose when to take your tests, consider your personality type and choose your nutrition and stimulants wisely.

Be yourself (within reason)

This recommendation is most suitable for psychological and personality tests on the competencies of middle managers. Don't lie - sometimes this can somewhat increase your chances of getting a job, but it doesn't guarantee that the job will be right for you. Quality tests have mechanisms to recognize anomalous or bogus responses, and experienced HR professionals are quick to spot discrepancies between test responses and actual behavior. However, when taking tests and assessments, it is still better to be your best self - clearly demonstrate your strengths and not expose your weaknesses.

For example, in most cases it is worth showing yourself as a passionate person, but not to the point of criticizing others or acting unethically. Smart employers try to look for managers with moderately high levels of ambition or a combination of high ambition and altruism. When there is too much of something it often leads to negative consequences.

Most large companies test management candidates using already proven competency models. This is a set of skills, qualities and values ​​inherent in their best existing employees (for example, heads of departments) according to the criteria of which new candidates for the same positions in management are assessed. Before taking the tests, you should carefully study these company values ​​and priorities before employment and try to follow them in tests and assessments. Typically, this data is widely publicized on corporate websites and other open sources.

Since employers consider behavioral tests for managers to be a valuable source of information about applicants for management positions, you should be prepared for all types and types of such tests. Most companies use simple questionnaires with 4-5 answer options, but more and more complex situational tests of managerial competence are appearing on the market. For example, with elements of gamification (games), where you need to earn points or chips. Some companies study and use data from your social networks and create tests based on it. Particularly for experienced professionals and executives, tests are expected to become increasingly complex and innovative.

Important recommendation: When preparing for psychological testing, consider tests not as a way to extract secret confessions from you, but as a way for you to learn more about your potential employer. Behavioral tests for managers can give you valuable information about the company you are interested in - how it does business, how success criteria are defined, what traits are valued most. Tests give you the opportunity to gauge employer expectations, which can be very useful in your career.

Last tip from HRLider: Remember, preparation is the key to success. If you are facing testing that includes behavioral tests for executives, start training without wasting time. On our website you will find all the main types of tests for entry-level and mid-level managers. Give yourself an advantage - prepare.

Answers and explanation of tests:

1. You are the head of customer support in a large call center. You just heard your employee tell a client over the phone that he was “taking things too personally” and then that he “needed psychiatric help.” You don't know what the conversation was about, but the employee has ended the conversation and you can go over and talk to him.

The strategy for answering tests where you need to find the most and least effective answers is to first determine the overall positive and negative answers.

In this task, answers 2 and 3 are positive. Answers 1 and 4 are negative. Of the positive, answer 2 is clearly better, since answer 3 - an order to call an irritated client back and apologize - most likely will not solve the problem. In some cases, this answer could even be classified as a negative answer.

Of the two negative answers, we need to choose the worst one. In this test, this is not as easy to do as it seems. There are clearly different directions in the development of events in these answers. Answer 1 – the threat of firing an employee for some employers, where among the highest priority values ​​is team spirit and team relationships, may be the least acceptable scenario and will be considered the worst answer. But if the company’s priority is first and foremost quality customer service, then the worst answer would be answer 4 – ignoring the employee’s rudeness towards the client.

Thus, the best answer (most effective) is 2, the worst answer is 4 (least effective).