This is a series of extra discussions around an upcoming trU Tips related to using assessments in your business. It will come out next week. If you are interested in receiving this special trU Tips, please sign up for the mailing list here.
All assessments are not created equal. Here is a document I published that summarizes my opinion of nine assessment tools that I have used or taken in my career. Most of the big ones are covered, and I have excluded 360 tools because that is a whole different topic. The right tool for your depends on what you want to accomplish, your budget, and several other factors.
Here is a summary of some of my recommendations.
Leadership Transitions? The tool I use in my practice is the Birkman Method. It’s unique approach for measuring differentiating between usual behaviors and needs is unique, and the stress behaviors that it identifies when needs are not met. It is a very powerful tool for transitions and also can easily be used for performance issues and career coaching. It is the best that I have found, but probably more important is the process involved in assessing risks and priorities. I have recently been introduced to an onboarding assessment that looks more at organizational factors vs personal style that is very powerful. More to come on this. . .
Team Development? I use Birkman, and as a result it is the tool that I would use with clients. The tool that I really like in this area is the Kolbe because of how it summarizes energy for a team and presents it back. There are many drawbacks to using the Kolbe that I highlight in my matrix, but it creates a great conversation within a team.
Fun Team Development/Team Building? I have used StrengthsFinder with over 400 people and over a dozen teams. It is inexpensive and can offer insight into a variety of career or job related questions. For the money, I would recommend it or DiSC® because of the cost and ease of access to experts if there was a desire to use it across an organization.
Any opinions? I would welcome them and sharing of tools that I might have overlooked. trU Tips 18 will be out tomorrow focused on this issue. Sign up here if you would like to hear more.