Team and Talent Assessment Options

As a manager, executive, or HR leader, you have a large number of assessment choices when you want to better understand yourself and your team members.

Generally speaking, our philosophy at Kutsko Consulting is that the more you know about yourself and those you work with, the better. The more tools you have at your disposal the better. We don't find it very useful to argue and debate about which assessment is best. Rather, you need to choose the right tool for the right objective. You can learn something valuable from nearly every assessment you can find. However, they can be used for the wrong purpose. When assessments are used for hiring and especially to automate parts of the hiring process they can inadvertently keep the right people from being hired for a job they are a good fit for. Like with any tool, you must know how to use it and use it well. In the wrong hands or when used without the right training, good tools can be used for harm.

We rely on a variety of assessment partners to provide the best assessments to our customers. Here is an overview of some of the assessments we utilize:

Self Awareness and Reflection Assessments

16 Types
The 16 Types assessment is a measure of temperament and is based on Carl Jung's original Theory of Psychological Types. The results are broken down into four categories: Extrovert or Introvert, Sensing or Intuitive, Feeling or Thinking, Judgment or Perception. The 16 Types assessment should never be used alone to make hiring decisions.

Enneagram

The Enneagram assessment relates a lot to how we were "nurtured" early in our lives. It shows us where we focus our attention as well as our underlying wounds and driving motivation. At times, it can be too vulnerable of a tool to use with new teams that are early in their forming lifecycle. The assessment reveals the healthy, average, and unhealthy levels of each of the 9 personality options. The Enneagram assessment can be used to improve interpersonal skills and communication as well as a personal growth tool to better understand yourself and others in your life. The Enneagram assessment should never be used alone to make hiring decisions.

Behavioral Assessments

DISC
The DISC assessment measures how people behave across four areas: Problems & Challenges (D),  People & Contacts (I), Pace & Consistency (S), and Procedures & Constraints (C). Because it is a measure of behavior and not personality and it has been applied so widely, it is a very effective assessment to use in the workplace. Generally, it should not be used alone to make hiring decisions but can be an extremely powerful predictor of job fit when combined with other sciences and facets of a person's overall talent. 

Strengths & Skill Assessments

Strengthscope®

Strengthscope's® mission is to reveal the unique strengths of people across the world, enabling you to bring your most authentic and inspired selves to work and to life, every day.

CliftonStrengths (Formerly StrengthsFinder)
The CliftonStrengths assessment was developed by the Gallup organization and is based on 2 million interviews which derived 34 different patterns or themes that are consistent and prevalent themes of human talent or strengths. 

VIA
The VIA assessment identifies 24 character strengths which are capacities or possibilities within us for thinking, feeling, and behaving in ways that can bring benefits to ourselves and others.

Emotional Intelligence

Understand a person’s ability to sense, understand, and regulate self and social situations that enable high levels of collaboration and productivity.

DNA - Soft Skills

Examine 25 unique personal skills that identify which skills have been most well developed, providing a prediction of a person's strengths and weaknesses in the future.

Culture Assessments

Culture Pulse
The Culture Pulse assessment measures values, norms, beliefs, and behavior, and demonstrates how culture controls the way employees behave among themselves as well as with people outside the organization. 

Motivating Values or 12 Driving Forces

Motivating Values are the, "why" behind our behavior. When we understand what drives us and the people on our team we can align our responsibilities with the activities that naturally bring us energy. This is how some work can feel like play to some people and not to others. They are  Also called 12 Driving Forces. Assessments that combine motivation and behavior like the Talent Insights assessment from TTI Success Insights can be an extremely useful tool for deciding who to hire on your team in order to achieve the desired team culture.

Instinctive Drives

The I.D. is a questionnaire that reveals a person’s natural and best way of doing things. An individual’s I.D. Result is their personal success code. It directs them to insights and practical strategies to help them achieve greater and more consistent levels of success and fulfillment, and to minimize their levels of stress and frustration at work.

Productivity Assessments

Energy Rhythm

The Energy Rhythm Assessment is an assessment of people’s chronotype- what their energy patterns are like over the typical 9-5 workday, what types of tasks are easiest for them to excel at during certain times of day, and what the flow of a team might look like, day-to-day.