As businesses of all sizes face mounting pressure to win the talent war, assessments have become essential tools for staying competitive. But is your business making the most of them? Employee assessments offer immense potential to drive workforce development and business success, but companies face significant challenges that limit their effectiveness.
Cloverleaf, the leading provider of automated coaching technology for businesses, recently surveyed top talent leaders about how they leverage assessments to drive results—and where others are falling short.
Before we explore the challenges, let’s look at three key benefits of employee assessments.
- Improved Employee Performance: 66% of those surveyed say this is the most significant benefit, highlighting how assessments create actionable insights that empower employees to excel in their roles.
- Enhanced Conflict Resolution Skills: 51% emphasize the role assessments play in fostering stronger interpersonal dynamics, enabling teams to navigate conflicts more effectively and maintain productivity.
- Effective Training and Development: 48% acknowledge the importance of assessments in identifying skill gaps and tailoring development efforts, ensuring employees are equipped to meet evolving business challenges.
Obviously, assessments are an essential tool for managers, but they present several challenges. Based on our survey data, the following represent the top challenges faced by talent leaders—and solutions to address them effectively.
1—Aligning Assessments with Organizational Goals (17%)
The Challenge: Many businesses struggle to connect assessments to overarching business priorities, such as improving retention or enhancing collaboration. Without clear alignment, assessments risk becoming siloed and underutilized.
Solution: Centralized Governance
Action Step: Establish a centralized assessment procurement and management strategy to eliminate redundancies, streamline costs, and align tools with broader organizational objectives.
Insight for Success: Budgeting for assessments should be treated as any other strategic investment, such as leadership training. A well-defined budget and plan prevent disruptions caused by year-to-year fluctuations and ensure that assessments remain a cornerstone of talent strategy.
When full centralization isn’t feasible, communities of practice provide a valuable alternative. These groups, brought together by shared interests in talent strategies, help drive consistency, solve problems collaboratively, and promote best practices across your company. According to survey respondents, nearly two-thirds of companies utilize communities of practice, with HR managers playing a pivotal role.
2—Ensuring Consistent and Fair Application (11%)
The Challenge: Inconsistent application of assessments across departments creates perceptions of unfairness, reduces credibility, and limits trust in the process.
Solution: Strong Data Privacy Practices
Action Step: Adopt consent-driven approaches that give employees control over their data while ensuring compliance with international privacy regulations like GDPR.
Insight for Success: Data privacy builds employee trust while protecting businesses from legal risks. With just 31% addressing compliance considerations, prioritizing clear standards is essential for credibility and ethical application.
3. Tracking and Measuring the Impact of Assessments (8%)
The Challenge: Businesses struggle to quantify the ROI of assessments, making it difficult to secure leadership buy-in and demonstrate their value.
Solution: Define and Track Impact Metrics
Organizations often struggle to demonstrate the ROI of assessments, which can hinder leadership buy-in. Connecting assessment strategies to measurable talent outcomes—like improved retention, engagement, and performance—can bridge this gap.
Pro Tip: Clearly define which assessment data is necessary for tracking current skills, competencies, and leadership effectiveness.
Additional Impact Areas:
Coaching Effectiveness: Using team-level data enables personalized coaching that addresses specific team dynamics.
4—Validating the Effectiveness of Assessment Tools (7%)
The Challenge: Without proper validation, businesses risk using tools that fail to provide accurate or actionable insights, undermining the credibility of their strategies.
Solution: Demonstrate Scientific Validation
Action Step: Ensure all assessment tools used in the company meet rigorous validation standards, including evidence of reliability, accuracy, and relevance to the company’s needs. Partner with reputable assessment providers who can demonstrate validation through peer-reviewed research or industry-recognized certifications.
Insight for Success: Validated assessments provide confidence that the tools are not only credible but also effective at delivering meaningful insights. Ensuring scientific rigor, businesses strengthen the quality of decision-making, build trust in the tools, and maximize the ROI.
5—Gaining Buy-In from Leadership (6%)
The Challenge: Securing leadership support remains a critical barrier, as some leaders struggle to see the direct connection between assessments and organizational priorities.
Solution: Leadership Engagement and Alignment
Action Step: Facilitate strategy alignment workshops where managers can clearly see how assessments align with and drive key business outcomes, such as improved performance metrics, leadership development, and team collaboration.
Insight for Success: Leverage the influence of HR managers and department heads to act as champions. Their advocacy reinforces the strategic value of assessments, fosters alignment, and ensures smoother adoption across the business.
The Future of Talent Assessments
Businesses invest billions in assessments yearly, yet too often, this spending happens without a cohesive strategy, resulting in overspending on tools that fail to deliver the behavior change they’re designed to inspire. Without a clear plan, assessments become reactive, disjointed, and underutilized, failing to drive meaningful outcomes.
But emerging trends are reshaping what’s possible. By combining data with machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, assessments can evolve into proactive, personalized solutions that transform employee experiences. These innovations don’t just reduce waste—they drive measurable improvements in retention, productivity, and brand value, creating meaningful impact.
Darrin Murriner is the co-founder and CEO of Cloverleaf, a technology platform that brings automated team coaching to the entire business through real-time, customized coaching in the tools employees use every day (calendar, email & Slack / Teams), resulting in better collaboration, improved employee relationships, and a more engaged workforce.
Darrin is also the author of Corporate Bravery, a book focused on helping leaders avoid fear-based decision-making.
