Calibration
Aligning interviewers, and later managers, on what "meets the bar" means, so that the same capability or performance earns the same decision whoever assessed it. It rests on shared standards, on evidence counting for more than advocacy, and on a joint review of the evidence when two assessors disagree.
Evidence grade: practice A widely adopted practitioner model with clear provenance.
Use it when
Any hiring or promotion evaluation with more than one assessor; performance ratings across teams; reading leaders across organisations.
Where it stops working
It decays into horse-trading as soon as ratings are negotiated instead of evidenced. If the most assertive manager's people are consistently rated highest, it has stopped being calibration.
Where the standard uses it
- PL-3Hiring and onboardingStructured evaluation, calibrated standards, assessing capability rather than tool access.
- PL-4Performance managementExpectations, support, honest consequences, and fair process.
- PL-5Career development and growth pathsOne-on-ones, promotions, the Staff+ track, and the IC/manager choice.
Used alongside it
- Fair process practice
- Growth ladders and competency matrices practice
- Hiring as a system practice
- Managerial leverage practice
- Readiness practice
- Skill and will practice
Cite this model
Chicago, BibTeX and licence →Engineering Management Academy. (2026). Calibration. In Engineering Management Academy Body of Knowledge (Version 3.1, TEC.calibration). https://www.engineeringmanagement.academy/body-of-knowledge/techniques/calibration