What you should be ready to show
The day is a practical exercise on a realistic piece of work. Assessors look at how you work through it, not only at how quickly you finish.
Plan the work
State the goal, the steps you will take and the order you will take them in.
Explain your choices
Say why you chose an approach, in plain words a colleague outside your team could follow.
Flag gaps early
Name a missing input or unclear instruction and say what it affects.
Record the handoff
Leave a written note with what is done, what is open and who picks it up next.
What assessors observe
Assessors watch three things: your approach, your explanation of choices and the completeness of your handoff. Speed alone is not the measure. A participant who finishes early but leaves no handoff note has shown less than one who finishes on time with a clear one.
Worked example: the missing input
In a sample exercise, a participant is asked to prepare a weekly service summary. Partway through, they notice the escalation counts for Thursday are missing from the source sheet.
- They flag it aloud: "Thursday's escalation counts are missing, so I can't confirm the weekly total."
- They explain the effect: "I can finish the other four days, but the trend line for the week is not reliable yet."
- They record the owner in the handoff note: "Open: Thursday counts. Service Desk lead to confirm before the summary is sent."
This shows all three observed areas in one short moment. You are not expected to solve everything, but you are expected to say what is unresolved and who should resolve it.
Practice before the day
- Pick a task from your own week and talk through it aloud as if to a colleague who will take it over.
- Write a five-line handoff note for it: done, open, owner, next step, date.
- Ask a teammate to point out one step in your explanation they could not follow.
Sample day-of sequence (authored example schedule for 18 June 2026)
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08:30
08:30: Arrival and check-in
Meet the event coordinator at the registration table and collect your session card with your room and assessor group.
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09:00
09:00: Orientation
A 20-minute briefing on the format, the materials available to you and how questions are handled during the exercise.
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09:30
09:30: Practical exercise
Work through the scenario for 90 minutes. Talk through your choices as you go; assessors may ask short clarifying questions.
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11:15
11:15: Handoff note
Spend 15 minutes writing up what is done, what is open and who should pick it up.
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11:45
11:45: Assessor discussion
A 20-minute conversation with your assessor about your approach and the choices you made.
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12:15
12:15: Close and feedback handoff
The coordinator explains when written feedback will reach you and who to ask if you have questions.
Reference matrix: prompts and what a clear demonstration may show
Guidance for preparation and assessor conversations. It is not a scoring policy.
| Area | Sample prompt | A clear demonstration may show |
|---|---|---|
| Plan the work | "Walk me through your first three steps." | A stated goal, an order of steps and a reason for that order. |
| Explain choices | "Why did you pick this approach over another?" | One alternative named and a plain reason it was set aside. |
| Flag gaps | "What did you not have that you needed?" | A specific missing input, its effect on the result and who can supply it. |
| Record handoff | "What does the next person need to know?" | A note covering done, open, owner and next step. |
Feedback and next steps
How feedback reaches you in this sample process, and what to do with it.
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1
Assessor writes up observations
Within five working days, your assessor records what they saw against the four readiness areas, with one specific example for each.
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2
You receive written feedback
Feedback is shared with you and your manager. It describes what was shown clearly and what to practise next.
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3
Book a short follow-up conversation
If anything in the feedback is unclear, ask your assessor for a 20-minute conversation to go through it.
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4
Agree a development focus with your manager
Choose one area to practise over the next quarter and note how you will show progress in your next one-to-one.