Ready for what, under which conditions?
Useful evidence gives a person a next step and gives an organization a clearer basis for assigning responsibility. It also makes the unknowns visible.
For individuals, L&D, and talent teams
One record, two useful conversations
In an illustrative rollout exercise, a participant notices that a successful pilot omitted an important customer group. They recommend a restricted release and explain the support it would need.
For the person: “You checked who the evidence covered. Next, practice explaining your recommendation to a sponsor who wants a full launch.”
For the organization: “We observed attention to pilot coverage in this task. Negotiation with the sponsor and consistent performance across other situations remain unobserved.”
Both accounts draw on the same observation, and neither needs a general thinking score.
Keep observation and interpretation separate
Record what the person did and said, the information available, the help provided, and the outcome. Then explain what you think the record supports.
A good outcome can follow weak reasoning; a poor outcome can follow a defensible choice under uncertainty. Examine both the process and the result. Invite the person to correct omissions and explain context.
Use the right evidence for the question
A well-designed written test can assess more than recall. NBME's item-writing guidance explicitly includes application and critical thinking. The relevant question is whether the task supports the claim you want to make.
Work samples, explanations, simulations, observations, and performance records offer different views. Completion records answer a narrower question. One observation rarely justifies a broad claim about a person's capability.
Make the limits part of the record
- Responsibility: Which task, job requirement, or initiative does the evidence concern?
- Conditions: What constraints, information, and support were present?
- Observation: What behavior and reasoning were captured?
- Interpretation: What conclusion is supported, and what else could explain the record?
- Next evidence: What needs to be observed again or in another setting?
A skill that went unobserved may simply never have had an opportunity to show, which says nothing about whether the person has it.
Try the launch decision to see what a short exercise reveals and what it leaves unanswered.
Start with the concepts
Begin with the responsibility, then design the evidence
A job title is too broad, so name the task, the conditions, and the support available, then decide what you would need to see before building an assessment.
Writing on this
Working through a decision or a learning design? Talk with Mike.