In every organisation we have to interview, evaluate and counsel managers and staff so they may act out their roles efficiently and effectively. We have to select, install, support and coach people, and review their performance behaviours as individuals and in groups. We have to make decisions about who will be encouraged and fostered and who we will let go.
At the same time, we need to be aware of how our own behaviours affect what we want to achieve personally. We need some means of self-evaluation.
What you learn from our assessments can contribute to your personal growth and progress, benefit other people as individuals, and bring advantages to whole teams and organisations. They do this by describing, in detail, behaviours that underpin everything we do, behaviours that directly affect personal, group and organisational effectiveness. The universal characteristics described by these assessments will be as relevant in tomorrow's world as they are today's.
When you understand these behaviours and the way they affect you and the people you associate with, you can recognise ways and means to bring change for the better. Your understanding has practical applications in everything that interests and involves you.
With experience, you will be better able to analyse and assess issues, situations, problems and opportunities that affect the success of each person, and the whole organisation. The information and insights you gain will give you the advantage of finding both cause and effect. From those, you may define solutions, methods for improving performance, and possible methods of change.
But, we accomplish nothing unless we take action – and see it through to its conclusion. You have the opportunity to understand what you have now, and compare that with what you think is needed in its place. You can know whether people or their environment need to be developed and in what ways. You can then take specific action.
When people understand and accept things in the same terms, they find it easier to reach agreement on what should or should not be done and the priorities for doing it. With some effort you can have the means to get people ‘on the same wavelength’. You can improve decision making because it is based on understanding of issues that affect people and organisations.
Your own understanding will enable you to play a key role in bringing this about. Results come when you apply effort and resources constantly and consistently toward a predetermined end. Your results depend on committing yourself to pursuing selected objectives, focusing your energy and your resources on what you do, taking assertive action, protecting your plan, and gaining the collaboration of others.
If you do want to help someone, start with yourself and find a balance between self-indulgence and self-neglect. You need to look after yourself to make it possible to help others. You’re likely to fall short of everyone’s expectations and needs, including your own, when you let your skills lapse, ignore fresh knowledge in your field, take on inappropriate attitudes or try to be expert beyond your capability. You need to learn and grow with experience.
