Reliable and Effective

A wealth of research conducted over the last 50 years has established the credentials of the ADC as a highly reliable method of assessment - the most effective way of identifying individuals who have the potential to be further developed. ADCs are fair and objective; they allow ALL candidates the same opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities, using the same exercises and being assessed in the same way. The use of a variety of exercises ensures that a full picture of the aptitudes, skills and abilities of the candidate can be obtained.

Potential to progress

The ADC is an examination of potential, not whether or not you are competent within your current role. This means you can be excellent at what you are currently doing, but may not be quite as strong given a different set of responsibilities. Not everyone is Chief Fire Officer material, as much as we might all think we are! Neither is everyone cut out to be a Firefighter, so if you are one of the few who has got through the very rigorous selection process, you have already succeeded where the vast majority of applicants have not. If you are not meeting the necessary criteria to pursue promotion, the chances are you will be much happier where you are. We all feel more positive and effective when we are doing something we are good at. It can be demoralising to be faced with a role you don’t feel confident about. The ADC can help work out which category you fall into, without putting you in a situation you may not be ready or suited for.

The ADC assesses how you do things not what you know.

Evidence not opinion based

Assessors are trained to only measure behaviours they observe against the PQA criteria which is essential for development. The scoring and assessment process simply does not allow them to let any personal opinions influence their decisions. Every decision is backed up with the evidence that the candidate presents throughout the exercise. This can later be used to help the individual with their personal and professional development. 

The candidate has the opportunity of ‘showing’ what they can do instead of just ‘saying’ what they can do.

Underlying qualities versus technical skills

The exercises are designed to create opportunities for candidates to demonstrate the type of skills needed for success in future management positions. The exercise scenarios are based external to the FRS to allow everyone to have the same opportunity to demonstrate their skills all based on the same information. This is because not all candidates may have the same level of experience or knowledge and it would not be fair to disadvantage them on the basis that they have never had temporary promotion, or worked in Fire Safety for example.

As all candidates will be subject to similar development programmes if they are successful at the ADC, it is not as important what specific knowledge they have, technical and operational knowledge and procedures can be learnt through later development programmes. Underlying personal qualities such as Commitment to Diversity & Integrity and Openness to Change will shine through irrespective of exposure to different roles and responsibilities, and it is these assets that later development programmes can build upon. Of course technical skills are extremely important, without these the FRS could not function. But what the ADC is looking to identify are the individuals who can demonstrate more than this i.e. the individuals who have management potential.

What makes a good Manager?

A Manager might know all the procedures and technical skills there are to know, but whether they are judged to be a good manager by their team and colleagues will be far more about their personal skills than their technical ones. Technical skills can be learnt. Personal skills, such as how to motivate a team, how to recognise their needs, how to negotiate with outside agencies, how to communicate clearly under pressure, how to weigh up options and how to get everyone behind a plan, are underlying characteristics.

Many of the PQAs can be considered as essential to the overarching concept of ‘leadership’. This is not in the traditional sense of directing others and taking charge, but an alternative definition, which is about the individual’s willingness to serve a higher purpose. This can include factors such as prioritising organisational goals, and a preparedness to believe that they can have a positive impact on change and development. Not everyone who attends the ADC will have these qualities. Those who stand out as a cut above the rest will have.

Other assessment methods

By using ADCs the FRS are very progressive. Many organisations still use unstructured interviews as their primary method of assessment, and these are notoriously unreliable as indicators of future potential. Interviews tend to rely on the subjective opinions of interviewers who are often not trained, and are not required to gather any evidence to support their personal opinions and preferences. The outcome of these assessments can be based on the opinions of two or three individuals, who have no set criteria to guide their judgements. This is the reason why the FRS uses PQA Based Interviews which are carefully structured, managed by trained individuals and criteria based.

The key ADC performance criteria is clear to both candidates and assessors through the PQAs. Candidates have open access to these. It is no secret what the FRS is looking for (see section on PQAs), which makes the ADC system both open and transparent.