Understand and unlock the talents, capabilities, experiences, and expertise in your team – and your organization
During the day-to-day busyness of running an organization and working hard to fulfill your mission, it is nearly impossible to step back and take an objective look at your people, processes, plans, and performance. Just knowing where to start is hard!
At Brighter Strategies we believe that individual, team and organizational performance can be improved through the use of tried and tested psychometric assessments. They provide a powerful method of exploring typical hard-wired behavior in people and can provide insights into team development.
We partner with a variety of publishers whose sound, research-based assessment and feedback tools are known and trusted by professionals worldwide. Assessments, coupled with either one-on-one coaching or team coaching, can help foster openness and trust, help increase overall productivity and most importantly, supply a framework in which individuals can better understand and unlock the talents, capabilities, experiences, and expertise in your team – and your organization.
Your people are your organization’s most valuable asset. Invest time and money to improve their performance, and your organization will enjoy a healthy ROI.
Interested in learning more about how the assessments we use can help dramatically improve your organization’s performance?
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE INVENTORY, ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS INVENTORY & THE COVID-19 CULTURE MIRROR
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE INVENTORY® (OCI®)
Quantifying and managing organizational culture is critical for bringing an organization’s values “to life,” supporting the implementation of its strategies, and promoting adaptation, goal attainment, and sustainability. As with most organizational change and development initiatives, it makes sense to start things off with the metrics provided by a statistically reliable and valid survey.
The Organizational Culture Inventory® (OCI®) is the most widely-used and thoroughly-researched tool for measuring organizational culture in the world.
The OCI CAN BE USED FOR
- Signaling and/or validating the need for cultural transformation
- Planning and monitoring organizational development programs
- Supporting programs designed to enhance strategy implementation, employee engagement, organizational learning, quality and reliability, and/or customer service
- Facilitating mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances
- Enhancing managers’ understanding of culture and sustainability
- Managing diversity and corporate responsibility
- Measuring culture for teaching and research purposes
To help organizations set up meaningful learning and sustainable change during the Covid-19 crisis, HSI also offers a Covid-19 Culture Mirror. This three-step process helps organizations evaluate how Covid-19 has changed their organization, what elements of this change they might want to keep, and how they may need to adapt to accommodate future difficulties and the “new normal.”
ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS INVENTORY® (OEI®)
The OEI complements the Organizational Culture Inventory® (OCI®) by measuring the Causal Factors (Levers for Change) that shape culture and the Outcomes of culture at the individual, group, and organizational levels.
The OEI provides an actionable, impactful, and research-based alternative to employee attitude and opinion surveys, linking climate and culture in terms
- What people experience and perceive as members of the organization
- The impact this has on what they believe is expected of them (norms and culture)
- How culture in turn leads to important outcomes at the individual level (e.g., engagement), the group level (e.g., teamwork), and the organizational level (e.g., adaptability and quality)
This comprehensive survey, particularly when used in conjunction with the OCI®, assesses the most important internal factors and conditions likely to impact organizational performance and sustainability.
The OCI, OEI, and Culture Mirror tools are registered trademarks of Human Synergistics International. Graphics, text descriptions, and specific models are ©copyright of Human Synergistics International and are used here with permission. BRIGHTER STRATEGIES is a certified facilitator for the delivery and interpreting of these assessment tools.
KEYS to Creativity & Innovation
KEYS to Creativity and Innovation (from the Center for Creative Leadership) is a team and organizational survey that measures the climate for creativity and innovation that exists in a work group, division or organization. Use this assessment to:
- jump start creativity
- to communicate the importance of creativity and innovation within an organization
- as an assessment preceding any type of innovation or change intervention.
The tool helps identify the most important factors that support or inhibit innovation and creativity, provides suggestions for improving the climate for creativity and innovation and reveals pockets of excellence as well as areas with critical development needs when comparing categories such as departments, functions, or locations. Even better, the tool allows for custom group comparisons, as well as a comparison reports to the overall normative group or up to 17 industry profiles.
Interested in learning more about KEYS to creativity and innovation?
Skillscope
Interested in learning more about Skillscope?
Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI)
The Strength Deployment Inventory, or SDI, is a practical and useful self-awareness inventory that increases relationship effectiveness. It is designed to help assess the strengths used in relating to others under two types of conditions: when everything is going well in relationships with others and when one is faced with opposition or conflict. It is a life inventory based on relationship awareness® theory a validated self-assessment tool that delivers proven business and personal outcomes by decreasing the underlying conflicts diminish relationships.
The power of SDI is in how quickly and easily it gets people connecting and really talking to each other. SDI facilitates strong relationships through the insights people gain, the acceptance it encourages, the conversations it informs, the trust it increases, and the conflict it decreases.
Interested in learning more about the Strength Deployment Inventory?
Four Stages of Psychological Safety
Psychological safety is a crucial contributor to success for team performance. As the psychological safety on your team increases, inclusion, and innovation increase, creating both individual and organizational success.
The 4-Stages of Psychological Safety Team Assessment (from LeaderFactor) allows teams and organizations to measure the level of psychological safety within their environment. The 4-Stage model describes the level of safety in a team environment through several stages:
- Inclusion Safety: the ability to belong in a group, feel safe being yourself, and be accepted for who you are
- Learner Safety: the ability to learn and grow by asking questions, giving & receiving feedback, experimenting, and even making mistakes
- Contributor Safety: the ability to make a difference by using your skills and abilities to make a meaningful contribution
- Challenger Safety: the ability to make things better by speaking up and challenging the status quo when there is an opportunity for improvement.
In addition to measuring psychological safety, this assessment and workshop enable entire teams to examine internal norms and explore behaviors to deepen the level of Inclusion, Learner, Contributor, or Challenger Safety within a group.
Interested in learning more about Psychological Safety?
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) personality inventory takes the theory of psychological types described by C. G. Jung and makes them both understandable and useful in people’s lives.
As an outcome of the assessment individuals and team are assessed on four personality traits: Extraversion/Introversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving. These four scales combine into one of 16 possible types.
Individuals and team can use the tool to provide insights into personal and team development, improve communication, and help reduce conflict. The tool provides neutral language that helps emphasize the value of diversity and promotes continuous learning.
Interested in learning more about yourself or being a more effective, satisfied, and productive team?
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI)
The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) assesses an individual’s behavior in conflict situations—that is, situations in which the concerns of two people appear to be incompatible. In conflict situations, we can describe a person’s behavior along two basic dimensions*: (1) assertiveness, the extent to which the individual attempts to satisfy his or her own concerns, and (2) cooperativeness, the extent to which the individual attempts to satisfy the other person’s concerns. These two dimensions of behavior can be used to define five methods of dealing with conflict.
Interested in learning more about how your team deals with conflict?
DiSC
The DiSC assessment is a behavioral assessment that is based on the 1928 work of psychologist William Moulton Marston. The tool profiles individuals based on four interdependent dimensions/behavioral styles and identifies an individual’s preferred style. The four styles are:
· Decisive —defined as a preference for problem solving and getting results;
· Interactive — defined as a preference for interacting with others and showing emotion;
· Stability — defined as a preference for pacing, persistence and steadiness; and
· Cautiousness — defined as a preference for procedures, standards and protocols.
The DiSC profile is typically accompanied with a team debrief that focuses on helping individuals learn more about themselves and their behavioral strengths, as well as creating strategies for better team interaction.
Interested in learning more about the personalities on your team?
Testimonials
After attending their training workshop, I decided to hire Brighter Strategies to help my agency develop a logic model for a challenging grant application. Thanks to their help we got the grant! The consultant I worked with is experienced, knowledgeable and responsive. I confidently recommend them to anyone in need of nonprofit planning and management consulting.
David Neumeyer, Executive Director, Virginia Legal AidAs a nonprofit, we needed an outside expert who understood our unique structure as well as the services we provide. Brighter Strategies facilitated our strategic planning, empowered us to focus on quality and service while exploring our broader vision and delivered results. Their expertise has helped our organization measure success as we have moved forward in meaningful ways.
April Pinch-Keeler, President, MVLE, Inc.Brighter Strategies uses innovative tools to help us examine how our team is developing professionally and achieving our organization’s goals. We’ve had many ‘aha moments’ during our sessions using their ideas throughout the year to improve how we accomplish our work—from healthy group dynamics to understanding and mitigating conflicts to planning new initiatives.
Nathalie Lummert, Associate Director Children's Services, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Migration and Refugee ServicesIf you seek a partner who takes a fresh approach to your organization’s leadership concerns, goals or vision – there is none better than Brighter Strategies. Their approach to group process is so engaging that the very people who resisted will thank you for the learning opportunity.
Sabrina Sojourner, Executive Office Coordinator Office of the President & CEO, InterActionBrighter Strategies was a perfect match for our Rotary Club by providing excellent coaching for our Strategic Planning Process as well as enabling us to achieve a polished product in a very efficient manner. The Brighter Strategies team was always available for guidance in each step of our process, provided impartiality that was greatly needed among our very diverse thinking membership and led two very fast moving productive workshops resulting in our Club Vision and Goals for the year. Many kudos to a great organization!
The Rotary Club of Carroll Creek, Frederick, MD