During the justification of the
in-tray exercise
your notes and prioritising methods (post-it’s, numbers or letters
in a specific corner) will enable you to be more efficient and
effective in your answers as you won’t be thumbing through all the
items to find what you want to support your answers. By spending
time at the end of the exercise to put all the in-tray items into
orderly piles, with clear notes to help you, you’ll easily and
quickly be able to refresh your memory if your justification
follows a break from the initial in-tray exercise. You will also
be able to show how other items in the in-tray supported or
influenced your decisions. This will illustrate your aptitude and
skills in organisation and evaluation of information and raise
your marks with the Assessors.
When you are performing the in-tray exercise you must remember to
perform the task as if you were the actual character working in
the fictional organisation given in the initial brief, not as
yourself in your current position and organisation. If you do the
latter even though you may resolve many of the issues raised in
the in-tray, you will achieve lower marks because you will not be
exhibiting the necessary behaviours required for the new role. So
it is vital that when you are practicing the in-tray exercise you
put yourself in the appropriate mindset.
You must also be prepared to describe what strategies you used
during the process and how you divided up the time allowed for the
exercise. Be prepared to offer a detailed explanation of how you
arrived at your decision and what factors you used to make it.
Also, how and why you prioritised the items in the way you did and
how you believe this reflects the objectives of the organisation.
If you are asked to justify your decisions then the assessors will
be trying to determine some or all of the following things about
you:
- Do you become defensive when
your arguments is scrutinised?
- How well do you deal
with criticism?
- Are you able to demonstrate a
sound basis for your decision?
- Can you be flexible?
- Are you open to altering your
decision if a better solution presents itself?
- How easily can you be drawn
from your decision?
- Are you a people, or results,
person?
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One of the most important things you will need to demonstrate
is that your decisions match what you are saying and describing in
the justification. You must be able to show that you have a clear
understanding of the main issues raised in the items and of how
you arrived at your decision. They will want to see that you are
consistent in your arguments or approaches to a problem. It is
important that your justification for each item matches your
previously written answers, especially as there may be several
hours gap between the two.
Your assessors will be looking to see if you can identify with the
individual who’s role you have played and with the sort of issues
and problems he or she faced. They may even ask you to describe
the sort of person you think he or she is.
A favourite question which can come at the beginning, or the end,
of the justification, is ‘If you were doing this in-tray exercise
again would you do anything differently?’ If the question is used
to open the discussion then you can reply that you are happy with
your decisions and you feel that the exercise went well. But if
you are asked at the end then your answer will be influenced by
how well the discussion has gone.
What is important is that you reply honestly. Just be aware that
if you respond by saying that you may do some things differently,
then be ready for the next question of ‘Why didn’t you do it this
way in the exercise?’ You may then use some of the feedback you
have received during the discussion to back this up.
Often assessors will ask what you thought of the in-tray exercise
itself and it is extremely important that you respond in a
positive way. You can say that you felt it was a true
representation of the issues and problems someone in the role
would face and has provided you with the opportunity to illustrate
how well you could perform the role. Under no circumstances should
you criticise the exercise as this will be seen as negative and
destructive.
If appropriate, you may wish to add that you felt the
in-tray exercise
has helped you to quickly gain an impression of the organisation
and the issues that it faced. You may also want to highlight where
you would want to know additional information to accurately form a
view as to the likely success of the organisation and its partners
or stakeholders.
See In-Tray Exercise > Introduction
See In-Tray Exercise > Maximizing Your Score
See In-Tray Exercise > Working Through the Items
See
In-Tray Exercise > Justifying Your Decisions
See In-Tray Exercise > Explaining Your Answers
Everything you need to pass
psychometric tests
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