So says Fast Company in an article in the November 2004 issue. I am not so sure I would choose that same term, though, because it’s not a matter of revenge or settling an old score. It’s just smart management.

In another article on the renewal of interest in testing that appeared in Toronto’s Globe and Mail on Wednesday January 26, 2005, a Professor Peterson with the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management had this to say: “Companies that use procedures that measure intelligence and innate skills will have such a competitive advantage that everyone is going to be using them.” He further points out that traditional job interviews are poor predictors of success. Looking ahead at even more intense global competition, Prof.  Peterson says, “as the economy becomes more global, companies are going to have to identify high performers to compete.”

Driving the increased use of testing today seems to be a clearer understanding of the  benefits of testing. As the Fast Company article points out, tests should be used as a learning opportunity for both employees and their managers, and a helpful vehicle to uncover the causes of why employees may be disengaged from their work. Emphasizing what all our clients have known and understood from their training, tests can also prevent people from ending up in jobs where the environment is not amenable and where they would be demotivated. Smart management is a win-win proposition.