Technical Assessment

Technical assessments are best conducted by the individual's own manager and one other senior manager who knows the individual's work and is technically competent to judge the individual's performance.

When making the assessments, considerations may include:-

• The extent to which the person being assessed understands the basic principles and commercial 'rules of thumb';
• How that person has applied technical knowledge in real, practical situations; 
• Evidence of that person providing technical guidance to others.

A scale helps to categorise levels of technical knowledge 

Level C
Basic Knowledge: trained in the basics, with at least one year's experience working in the area, normally under the guidance of someone more experienced.

Level B
Fully Competent: technical training, followed by appropriate experience in the area; capable of leading straightforward projects and developing technical skills of other staff; may need to refer matters of technical complexity or principle.

Level A
Expert: 8-10 years' experience in technical area, continually developing technical capability; involved in practice leadership within a group and developing new service ideas; provides technical leadership and development to colleagues.

Record the agreed rating ('B-' or 'C+' etc. can provide useful subtle distinctions) and a brief rationale for the assessment. It is often useful to summarise the individual's strengths and development needs.  These are not simply the highest and lowest ratings; they take into account the individual's role, needs for the future and the relative scarcity of the technical knowledge within the organisation.

Assessment Comparisons *

A good way to check the accuracy of ratings is to compare them with others of the same technical family.

Transfer the ratings to a Assessment Comparisons Matrix *

• Consider each individual in turn and check if the 'rank order' of technical strengths makes sense.
• Consider the ratings across all assessments for each technical area in turn.  Check that the ratings are logical and 'feel right'.
• Where there are variations, reconsider the evidence and make any necessary adjustments.

This cross checking process should increase confidence in the ratings.

* Examples of assessment rating forms and Assessment Comparisons Matrix can be downloaded.