Expand your leadership toolkit with assessments
I’ve always found assessments helpful not only for personal development and self-knowing, but also for helping organizations develop a shared language around important topics in how we work together. Assessments should be used carefully and judiciously in the employment setting: personally, I’m not a fan of mandatory assessments or centralized results evaluation and use (except for in environments where participant have meaningful bargaining power to opt in or out as they wish). I am a huge supporter of using assessments personally for self-discovery and increasing your understanding about yourself, your default modes, and non-default options for behavior.
In my work with 1:1 coaching clients and in our organizational work, we rely on a number of assessments and tools. This is a running list of resources with links to the best original source I’ve been able to locate; if you have a better or more reputable original source for any of the below items, please drop me an email and I’ll update the list.
Burnout
Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)
Developed by Christina Maslach and Susan E. Jackson in 1981, the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is a widely recognized assessment tool designed to measure burnout in individuals, particularly in the workplace. It assesses three key dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. The MBI is the gold standard for assessing burnout, making it a valuable choice for organizations and healthcare professionals seeking to identify and address burnout-related issues. Use the MBI when you want a comprehensive evaluation of burnout to understand its impact and design effective interventions for employees, healthcare providers, or other professionals experiencing burnout.
Sense of Coherence-13 (SoC-13) scale and SoC-29 (Orientation to Life Questionaire) (no assessment source currently available)
The Sense of Coherence-13 (SoC-13) is an assessment tool developed by Aaron Antonovsky in the late 1970s. It measures an individual's ability to make sense of their life experiences and perceive the world as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful. The SoC-13 may be a valuable instrument for evaluating a person's overall sense of coherence and their ability to cope with stress and challenges; it’s not commonly used as an assessment these days, but I still find the dimensions helpful especially in the context of burnout:
Comprehensibility , the cognitive dimension, refers to the extent to which one perceives internal and external stimuli as rationally understandable, and as information that is orderly, coherent, clear, structured rather than noise—that is, chaotic, disordered, random, unexpected, and unexplained (Antonovsky, 1991, p. 39). The ability to create structure out of chaos makes it easier for us to understand one’s context and one’s own part in it, for example, one’s role in the family or in the workplace. A prerequisite to be able to cope with a stressful situation is that one can to some extent understand it. What one comprehends is easier to manage.
Manageability , the instrumental or behavioral dimension, defined as the degree to which one feels that there are resources at one’s disposal that can be used to meet the requirements of the stimuli one is bombarded by (Antonovsky, 1991, p. 40). Formal resources include, for example, social services and care staff in public and private organizations. Informal resources include, for example, family, circle of friends, colleagues, and significant others; in other words, people who are trusted and who can be relied on difficult situations. Coping also requires that one is motivated to solve the problems that cause stress, is willing to invest energy to solve the problem, and finds meaning in being able to manage the situation. This leads to the third dimension of the sense of coherence, meaningfulness.
Meaningfulness, the motivational dimension, refers to the extent to which one feels that life has an emotional meaning, that at least some of the problems faced in life a face are worth commitment and dedication, and are seen as challenges rather than only as burdens (Antonovsky, 1991, p. 41). One needs to have a clear desire to resolve difficulties, and willingness to invest energy to get through experiences of stress that have the potential to cause distress.
Healthy Person Index
I was introduced to the Healthy Person Index at one of my previous workplaces, and have since lost track of the original source (and searching online has not yielded the original source). The Healthy Person Index is an energy scoring model on four factors: Physical Energy, Emotional Energy, Mental Energy, and Spirit Energy. The assessment yieldsw an “energy score” that indicates burnout, “fading fast,” and a progressively higher level of energized. A aprt 2 enables you to assess the activities in your life for their drain or gain on your energy, which leads ot creation of “rituals” to reclaim and protect your energy. Email me at hello@redcurrantco.com for a copy.
Conflict Handling and Conflict Handling Modes
The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI):
Developed by Kenneth W. Thomas and Ralph H. Kilmann in the early 1970s, the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) is an assessment tool for understanding how individuals handle and respond to conflicts in various situations. The TKI assesses an individual's conflict-handling style by identifying their preferences among five primary conflict modes: competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating. This instrument is an invaluable resource for individuals, teams, and organizations seeking to improve conflict resolution and decision-making. It provides a framework to recognize one's natural tendencies in conflict situations and helps users make more informed choices when faced with disputes or disagreements. The TKI is particularly useful in professional development, leadership training, team building, and conflict management workshops, making it a go-to choice for enhancing interpersonal and organizational communication and problem-solving skills.
Taking the TKI was a life-changing experience for me (personally); what I learned about my default conflict handling modes opened my eyes to ways I was selling myself short by avoiding conflict and being overly deferential to others. In 2023, after 16 years of working with the model, I completed certification in basic, advanced, and group use of the TKI, and achieved a Certificate of Completion for Advanced Training in Conflict Management, and am qualified to use the TKI in individual and group settings.
Strengths
I took my first Clifton Strengthsfinder test (now, Gallup CliftonStrengths) during a board retreat somewhere around 2010ish and again: it gave me life and career-changing insight into not only language for my strengths, but also, recognition that some of what comes so naturally to me it doesn’t feel like work are actually valuable skills. Over a decade later, that original insight helped me gravitate toward work and career that “fit” me better than what I’d been doing previously; and, has helped me have a framework for guessing at the strengths of my coworkers, collaborators, clients, and team members, to help remind me that my way isn’t the only way, and that it takes a diversity of thought and approach for groups to do their best work. Developed by Donald O. Clifton, a psychologist, and Marcus Buckingham, the CliftonStrengths assessment, formerly known as the StrengthsFinder, was introduced in 2001. It's designed to help individuals identify and understand their natural talents and strengths across 34 different themes. CliftonStrengths is an excellent choice for personal and professional development, as it empowers individuals to recognize and leverage their unique strengths for career growth, team collaboration, and personal fulfillment. Organizations and individuals often choose CliftonStrengths when they want to enhance self-awareness, build on strengths, and improve performance by aligning roles and responsibilities with an individual's innate abilities.
The Cappfinity Strengths Profile is an assessment tool developed by Cappfinity, a UK-based talent assessment and people analytics company. This tool evaluates an individual's strengths across three core categories: realized strengths, unrealized strengths, and learned behaviors. It's a valuable choice for individuals and organizations aiming to identify untapped potential, guide personal development, and improve employee engagement. The Cappfinity Strengths Profile provides a unique perspective on strengths, focusing on both what individuals are naturally good at and the skills they've acquired over time. People often opt for the Strengths Profile when they desire a comprehensive view of their capabilities and when they want to nurture hidden talents while making the most of their existing strengths. I first used the Cappfinity assessment when working with an ADHD coach, and have found it particularly helpful compared to other assessments for clients and participants who are neurodivergent.
These are the assessments that influence my work to the greatest degree; we do use others in specific situations, also. Bookmark this page and come back to it: I’ll add additional assessments as I use them!