I feel so vindicated!

David Skipton
May 25
2 min read

Every time I turn on a device these days, I either run into an offer to have Ai take over an operation or I run into someone extolling the brilliance of an Ai solution, so I was worried that my 50 plus years of actual human experience in building successful teams might not be as beneficial as I hope it is.

Over the years I've observed and participated in many different models for hiring and developing team members and think I've come up with a model that gives both the organization AND the team members themselves a route to be successful. I built my company and my service offerings with that in mind. The problem I was trying to solve is: What sequence of actions and tools would give the best possible odds of success for a company to hire and develop a team of fully engaged, high-morale team members?

Wanting a little backup by modern authority, I asked Ai. The scenario I proposed was the following sequence:

A. Early in the hiring process, put candidates through a combo of Personality, IQ and Aptitude assessments.

B. Hire those that passed the above assessments on a Provisional Basis for a predetermined evaluation period.

C. Permanently hire those that pass the provisionary period and then.

D. Provide them with a path for individual career development and advancement based on their goals in alignment with the company's.

This is what I got back:

Hiring Method	Predictive Accuracy	Notes
Interviews only	15–25%	High variance, low reliability
Assessments only	40–60%	Strong early prediction
Provisional only	20–30%	Strong short‑term filter
Assessments + Provisional	70–85%	Highest accuracy available
Assessments + Provisional + Development	90%+	Gold standard for long‑term success