What How Why Who

Human beings are complex.  Yet when it comes to performance assessments, performance appraisals or psychometric assessments, we find there is a tendency to adopt a “one size fits all” approach. Confining ourselves to assessing only one aspect of the human condition is a disservice to the individual and counterproductive to the organization’s human talent management goals.

For example, emotional intelligence is recognized as a key leadership trait and in some circles the flavor of the month in assessing managers and executives. However by itself, emotional intelligence does not tell the whole story. How will we understand the leader’s actual behavior? Human emotions affect human behavior and vice versa. Additionally, motivations and decision-making styles are also intertwined with behaviors.

Working with TTI, a national assessment company, ETI has many performance assessments that we use with all clients be they small business owners, sales professionals or much larger organizations, depending on their specific need. Each tool gives us another dimension of the individual. In general, we can break this down into “What” makes them up, “How” they apply those attributes, “Why” they do what they do, and their capacity to interact  with “Who” on a daily basis.

What: Based on the work in axiology by Dr. Robert Hartman, we measure  attributes that individuals use in their decision-making framework.

How: Behaviors that individuals use in the workplace reflect the degree to which they utilize their attributes. Since behaviors impact relationships, ETI uses DISC most frequently with team-building and communication workshops.

Why: To understand and get the most out of behaviors and attributes, motivators and values must be examined. Leaders who tap into the motivators of their team members are consistently some of the most successful.

Who: We measure the Emotional Intelligence to manage our emotions and adapt to others’ emotional states

Additional assessments, like 360s, aptitude towards learning, current job alignment, etc are available to fine-tune or highlight specific requirements.

Performance assessments are great tools to build a foundation from which to build and move toward the desired behaviors and results. However, they work much better when more than one are used and there is alignment in the organization.