Assessments

Tools for understanding the behaviors of organizations and individuals

Assessments are structured, research-validated tools to learn more about people and groups. They are used to measure aptitudes, tendencies, competencies, and values, and are designed as a systematic way to yield in-depth insight about a subject for analysis and comparison.

Whitney uses many assessments in her daily work; some she is certified to employ, others she just enjoys. These assessments are conducted during the Discovery phase of a new project, or ad hoc. They are either performed as self-assessments or administered by a third-party (Whitney or another expert).

 

Types of Assessments

360 Reviews
Cultural Assessments
Social & Emotional Intelligence
Leadership Styles
Impact Models
Maturity Models
Sustainability
B Corp Impact Assessment

 

What do Organizational Assessments include?

• A holistic review of your organizational culture
• What is working well within the organization and what can improve
• Synthesis of the shared competencies and needs across the organization
• Expert recommendations on new processes, practices, and changes to begin making now

 

What are the benefits of Organizational Assessments?

• A fuller understanding of the cultural norms, values, systems, practices, and conflicts within your organization
• Progress towards an environment in which all people feel heard, respected and safe at work
• Alignment of your operational practices and policies to accelerate your mission
• Overall improved organizational culture, as experienced internally and externally
• A process for ongoing culture review conducted internally, with appropriate trainings

 

Assessment Details

360 Review

Example process

Discovery:

• Conduct 1-on-1 interviews with # participants (in-person and via phone)
• Ensure interview participants represent a variety of roles, experience, background,
  tenure with organization, as well as geographic location; initial set of participants provided by sponsor to be supplemented with those most frequently recommended by interview participants, along with others who reach out directly to be interviewed
• Ask in-depth interview questions covering wide range of cultural issues across the organization (questions approved by sponsor and Board of Directors)
• Attend # management meetings and # all-staff meetings (in-office and via phone)
• Browse organization’s public Slack channels, policy document repositories
• 100% confidentiality maintained in all interactions and information received in fullest adherence with International Coach Federation’s Code of Ethics

Delivery:

• Synthesize findings across all interviews, observations and information gathered
• Capture what is working well as an organization and what needs to be celebrated
• Identify opportunities for improvement across the organization
• Assess organization’s cultural orientation and social-emotional competencies
• Offer high-level recommendations and next steps

 

Cultural Assessment

 

• Measures an organization’s cultural orientation
• Helps to identify strengths and developmental opportunities for functioning effectively in multicultural contexts
• Surfaces subconscious attitudes, beliefs, assumptions, and norms
• Includes seven Cultural Values orientations:
1. Individualism vs. Collectivism
2. Low Power Distance vs. High Power Distance
3. Low Uncertainty Avoidance vs. High Uncertainty Avoidance
4. Cooperative vs. Competitive
5. Short Term vs. Long Term
6. Low Context / Direct vs. High Context / Indirect
7. Being vs. Doing

 

Social-Emotional Assessment

 

• Measures an organization or individual’s ability to understand and manage self and relationships
• Helps to identify strengths and developmental opportunities for functioning effectively in emotional and relational situations
• Surfaces subconscious behaviors, reactions, interactions, and decision-making
• Includes four interconnected Social and Emotional Intelligence capabilities:
1. Self-Awareness: knowing one’s internal states, preferences, resources and intuitions
2. Self-Management: managing one’s internal states, impulses and resources
3. Social Awareness: awareness of others’ feelings, needs and concerns
4. Relationship Management: adeptness at inducing desirable responses in others