Assessment Centre
Multi-dimensional assessment of managerial competencies through simulation exercises. Instead of an opinion about a candidate — observable behaviour, scored by several assessors against one competency profile.
What problem we solve
Nobody knows who is ready for a managerial role. An interview and a line manager's opinion measure how a person talks about themselves, not how they act under pressure, in a conflict of interests, and with incomplete data. The promotion decision therefore rests on one person's impression — and cannot be justified or repeated.
Who it is for
How we work
01 Competency profile
- Workshop with the client: which competencies actually decide success in this role
- Behavioural definitions — what specifically counts as evidence of a competency, and what does not
- Scoring scale and decision thresholds agreed BEFORE the session, not after it
02 Design of simulation exercises
- Exercises chosen so that every competency in the profile is observed in at least two situations
- Scenarios built on the client's own operating reality, not on an off-the-shelf set
- Exercise × competency × assessor matrix
03 AC session
- Individual and group exercises plus a role-play conversation
- Independent observation by several assessors
- Assessor calibration session — reconciling scores and naming divergences
04 Reports and feedback
- Individual report: strengths and development gaps against the agreed benchmark
- Feedback conversation with every participant
- Consolidated report for the client with development recommendations
05 Support for rolling out development plans — scope agreed after the previous stage
- Translating development gaps into individual development plans
- Matching trainings and development formats to specific gaps
- Repeat session after an agreed interval — measuring the change
What the organisation receives
- Competency profile for the role, with behavioural definitions and decision thresholds
- Set of simulation exercises with an exercise × competency × assessor matrix
- Individual report for every participant
- Consolidated report with development recommendations for the client
- Feedback conversation with every participant
Format and timing
One session day per group, preceded by agreeing the competency profile; individual reports within 2 weeks after the session
Experts
Practitioner experienced in running AC/DC sessions for managerial roles; owns the competency profile and the consistency of scoring across assessors
Observes simulation exercises and scores behaviour against a single behavioural scale
Owns tool selection and calibration, and the feedback conversation with each participant
Who is ready for this role?
That question is usually settled by an interview and a line manager’s opinion. Both measure the same thing: how a person talks about themselves. Neither shows how they behave when the data is incomplete, the interests conflict and there is not enough time — the conditions a manager works in every day.
An Assessment Centre reverses the direction of measurement. Instead of asking about competencies, it sets exercises in which those competencies have to surface — and asks several assessors to describe independently what they actually saw.
What makes the result worth anything
A profile agreed before the session, not after it. Competencies and decision thresholds are defined together with the client in an opening workshop. A profile set after the session stops being a measurement and becomes a justification for a decision already taken.
Every competency in at least two exercises. One situation shows how someone handled that one situation. Whether the behaviour repeats only becomes visible across several.
Several assessors and a calibration session. Divergence between observers is not a problem to hide — it is information. Calibration means naming where that divergence comes from, before the report is written.
Exercises drawn from your own reality. Scenarios are built on situations that actually occur in your organisation. An off-the-shelf set measures how people handle an off-the-shelf set.
What you receive
An individual report for every participant — strengths and development gaps against the agreed benchmark. A consolidated report for the client with recommendations. And a feedback conversation with every person assessed, because a diagnosis the participant never hears translates into no development at all.
A boundary worth knowing
Assessment Centre is a consulting service, not a training course. It has no syllabus, no level and no open enrolment date — it has a competency profile, a session and reports. If what you need is to build talent-management competencies in a workshop format, the trainings linked from this page are the right path.
Let’s talk about the profile of the role you need to fill — the shape of the whole session follows from it.
Frequently asked questions
How does Assessment Centre differ from Development Centre?
In what the result is for. An Assessment Centre informs a decision — who takes the role. A Development Centre informs a development plan for people already in a role. The observation method and behavioural scoring are the same; the scope of feedback and who receives the report differ.
How many assessors score one participant?
Every competency in the profile is observed by more than one assessor and in more than one exercise. This is not an organisational detail: a single observer's score in a single situation is indistinguishable from an impression, and replacing the impression is the point of the method.
Does the participant receive their own report?
Yes. Every participant has a feedback conversation and receives their individual report. What is passed to the client is agreed before the session and communicated to participants in advance.
How long does the whole process take?
The session is one day per group. It is preceded by a workshop agreeing the competency profile and followed by individual reports within two weeks. The schedule is adjusted to the number of participants.
Can this be run remotely?
Some exercises can, but observing behaviour in group exercises loses the most when run remotely. We therefore run AC on site or in a hybrid format, with the diagnostic part held in person.
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Trusted by us
We work with teams at the largest Polish companies
Interested in this service?
Get in touch — we agree the scope and the schedule around your organisation's needs.