Lean principles can be applied to improve your talent assessment by defining value from the customer's perspective, identifying and eliminating waste, implementing continuous improvement, and empowering people and teams. In talent assessment, customers are the candidates, hiring managers, and organization. You need to understand what they expect, need, and value from the process and outcomes. Waste can be anything that does not add value to the customer or process. This could include unnecessary steps, redundant data, inaccurate tools, irrelevant criteria, or poor communication. Continuous improvement involves collecting and analyzing feedback, data, and best practices to refine your methods, tools, and standards. Empowering people and teams means giving them the autonomy, authority, and accountability to make decisions and take actions that improve the process and outcomes. This could involve involving them in designing, executing, and evaluating the talent assessment methods and criteria.