Conflict management consultants were part of an initiative at Hastings Borough Council: use of street wardens to promote community safety. Maybo assessed potential recruits in their skills for the job. Visit www.maybo.com
Wardens provide visible uniformed patrols in public areas. Their emphasis is deterring anti-social behaviour and caring for the physical appearance of the area, tackling environmental problems such as litter, graffiti and dog fouling. Hastings asked Maybo to carry out the assessments on the job applicants because of past issues concerning retention and suitability of employees in certain roles. John Hawes, principal environmental health officer and project manager for street wardens, said: ?Maybo has been working closely with us and providing conflict management training for some of our employees. The recruitment of street wardens, a role requiring the key skills of conflict management and communication, provided the ideal opportunity to trial the assessment centre approach.? Charles Polkey, people development manager at Maybo said: ?Our task was to devise tests to see how the applicants could handle conflict situations. Street wardens must be able to diffuse, and not aggravate, using appropriate body language and verbal communication. There is also a need for accurate reporting, which some good potential candidates slipped up in.?
Maybo?s assessment centre approach uses a mix of written exercises, role play and group discussions. Charles said: ?For the assessment centre we devised three exercises to allow the candidates to demonstrate their skills in conflict management, communication and listening. We also identified the best method of assessing and scoring the candidates against the skill profile for the job. One of the big advantages of the assessment centre is that it guarantees the application of a fair recruitment process, both in grading skills and in ensuring equal opportunities. It also enables some of the more subtle behaviours to be observed. For example, body language in a conflict situation is very important and it was interesting to see how candidates reacted during the role play, in which an angry person stands up, leaving the candidate sitting.?
Maybo does not make the final candidate selection: ?We provide the client with graphical data to enable them to see how candidates performed against the required skills matrix for the job, and it is the client who makes the final decision.? The assessment centre was carried out in March 2002 and the seven successful candidates have been in position for a year. “I?ve been delighted with the whole process,” said John Hawes, “When recruiting into roles such as the street wardens, where interpersonal skills are so important, an interview does not allow any real testing of candidates skills levels. The assessment centre has provided us with much more useful information to enable us to make the right choices. As far as I am aware this is the first time such an approach has been used in the selection of street wardens or neighbourhood wardens.”
Maybo trained its own assessors for this assessment centre, so providing complete impartiality. Or Maybo can train clients? representatives, to enable a ?self-sufficient? recruitment process. Charles added: “Employing people who naturally have the right skills for managing violence is a huge step forward in keeping staff and customers happy.?
