CALMET 2012: Questions? Roadblocks to assessment?

Good evening,

What are you hoping to get out of this session? If you have any questions or specific topics related that to competency-based assessment that you would really like to discuss, please feel free to post those here and we can make sure that we address all of them over the course of the next two weeks.

Another question that I’ll leave you with is this: What sort of roadblocks have you faced while doing competency assessments in the past?

I can give you an example from here in Canada. When the WMO/ICAO Aeronautical Meteorological Forecaster competencies were first introduced to our organization about two years ago, there was some concern expressed by forecasters. Some people were worried that somebody was going to come along, point out all of their mistakes, and tell them that they are now no longer qualified to do their job. This of course was a real fear and a valid concern for some people, and so it was important for us to really communicate with people and help them understand that this process was not about trying to point out faults or mistakes but more about demonstrating that we meet these particular standards. By letting forecasters know what the competencies were and telling them how the assessment process was going to unfold, it helped to alleviate some of that fear and anxiety about the process. And once we started actually conducting the assessments, I think a lot of people realized rather quickly that the whole process was not as scary as they had thought it would be for them.

How about you? What sort of obstacles have you experienced in regards to competency assessment?

~Natalie

Re: Questions? Roadblocks to assessment?

بواسطة الأربعاء، 24 أكتوبر 2012، 9:14 AM - Erik Hagemark

Dear Natalie,

Thank you for the clear presentation, I have just downloaded and viewed the recording.

I am currently in the middle of preparations for our competency assessment here at Met.no (Norway) and found this very useful.

I have a question on choosing assessors: In your presentation you have stated that you use experienced forecasters. First, do they first have to go through the assessment before there are given the "green light" to become an assessor? Second, what is your view on giving the assessor role to a leader, or person formally in charge of forecasters?

Thanks and best regards,

Erik

Re: Questions? Roadblocks to assessment?

بواسطة الأربعاء، 24 أكتوبر 2012، 11:35 PM - Natalie Werbitski

Hi Erik,

Thanks for your questions. I’m glad to hear that you have found the presentation to be useful.

We decided that we would have all of our assessors undergo assessment first before they were given the so-called “green light” to assess others. So we had a team of about 5 or 6 initial assessors in our office, and we assessed each other first. This allowed us to experience both being an assessor, as well as being the assessee. We decided that it was only fair that we should first demonstrate that we met the AMF competencies before assessing anybody else. In my own personal experience, this also helped me to be a better assessor, since I knew what it was like to be one being assessed. This was also beneficial since it gave the rest of the staff an opportunity to observe what the assessment process would look like, before they themselves would be assessed. Once all of us assessors had undergone the assessment process and were certified as AMFs we then begun to assess the rest of the staff.

As per your second question in regards to the assessor role being assigned to a leader or manager, I suppose that this is something that will probably differ from organization to organization. In our case with our team of assessors, each one of us has a role as either a sector lead or a shift supervisor, meaning that when we work in forecast operations, we are in charge of either a forecast sector or the entire shift respectively. I don’t think that this was necessarily a conscientious factor though in our selection of assessors; it was more about selecting forecasters with a decent amount of forecasting experience (at least 5 years in), and as it happens to be in our office, our more experienced forecasters end up taking on supervisory roles in forecast operations. Being in a supervisory role though, it is important not to abuse that authority over others. This is another reason why having more than one assessor can be beneficial, as it helps to maintain broader objectivity during the assessment.

I hope that this helps to answer your questions; if you need more clarification, please let me know!

Good luck with your assessments, and in all of your preparations.

Regards,

Natalie