Shared understanding before the first application lands
If the panel disagrees on the role, the assessment is already broken.
Panels that have not aligned on what the role actually requires will disagree on what “good” looks like, and that disagreement will show up at deliberation, when it is too late to fix.
The APSC guidance is explicit: selection panels must have a shared understanding of the work-related qualities genuinely required for the role. That shared understanding is upstream of shortlisting, upstream of interview design, upstream of everything.
Run a pre-round panel meeting. Agree what the role needs to deliver. Agree the three to five work-related qualities that genuinely predict success. Write them down. Design every assessment step, written task, interview, referee questions, to evidence those qualities.