Case Study 3
BBC Values in Recruitment - Recruitment, Assessment and Selection and Change Management
What was the client need?
The BBC Making It Happen team, led by Greg Dyke, had identified the need to change the way that leaders and team members were selected for the BBC. As part of this ambitious organisational change programme it was decided that people should be recruited into the BBC on the basis of their skill and a shared set of values.
What approach was used?
I led the Assessment Strategy strand of the BBC Values in Recruitment project, including the selection of a provider of psychometrics. Working with SHL® we developed an integrated expert system that generated tailored interview guides for each applicant (either Leadership or Team Member level) on the basis of their personality questionnaire profile. I had previously led the Assessment & Development team to define the BBC Leadership Competency Model and this was used as the basis of the BBC Values Statement, the expert systems and the BBC 360 Degree Feedback system. I also helped to design a web facility to enable prospective candidates to find out more about the working culture of the BBC. I also led the development of consistent assessment and psychometric standards with BBC Recruitment.
What was the outcome?
After a great deal of initial resistance, the Executive Committee (The Board) of the BBC approved the initiative as part of the Leadership Strategy and Making it Happen programme of work. To convince the board of the merits of objective assessment I led the development of a short discussion video clip with a director who had worked on Panorama. This featured programme makers around the BBC discussing the pros and cons of objective assessment. The implementation plan focused around initial experimentation in a few key divisions and the response was very positive. Objective assessment in recruitment and selection is becoming much more accepted and valued across the BBC as a result.
See: www.bbc.co.uk