How Does The HBDI? Compare To Other Assessments?

Chances are in the modern workplace every individual has at some point taken part in some kind of personal assessment designed to give an insight into personality, thinking and behavioural preferences; essentially, who we are and how we do things. At a minimum, these assessments will provide entertaining discussions on a team day, but, at their most impactful, they can lay the foundational framework to excel personally and professionally and to enable ongoing success individually, as a team and as an organisation.

Our preferred assessment at Cerebration is The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument? (HBDI?). HBDI? is a powerful psychometric assessment that defines and describes the way people think and process information. Click here if you would like to get a bit more information on Whole Brain? Thinking & the HBDI? .

The HBDI? assessment is a key aspect of our Whole Brain? Thinking workshops in which we focus on how to apply the information from the assessment to solve organisational challenges. These workshops are met with anticipation and excitement, however, understandably, any assessment is met with some degree of critical appraisal, particularly from seasoned staff who have undergone a multitude of professional profiling.

A recurring question that is normally at the front of participants’ minds ‘How does HBDI? differ from other profiles that I have done before?’ It can be hard to tell what each assessment is setting out to measure, and what the value is for you and your team by going through these assessments.

In this article we will explore what the most popular assessments measure and how the HBDI? compares and contrasts with these tools.

Different assessments measure different traits

Assessments do not measure the same aspects of individuals, though some do overlap more than others. Even those that measure similar aspects might use different methods to obtain or have different interpretation of that data. Here are some examples of what popular assessments set out to measure...

• MBTI??Measures personality preferences
• DiSC??Measures behavioural styles
• Insights??measures psychological type
• HBDI??measures thinking preferences

Understand the premise

To answer the question of how HBDI? compares to other assessments, we first need to understand the foundation on which profiling assessments are constructed. In the world of assessments, the premise impacts what information people gain from the assessment.

Four commonly used premises for profiling assessments are...

• A thinking preferences brain-based assessment considers: “How do I process information?” -?The HBDI? is a brain-based assessment.
• A talent/interest/career assessment considers: “What are my natural talents and interests?” -?StrengthsFinders is an example of a talent/interest/career assessment.
• A psychologically based assessment considers: “What does this mean about me?” -?The MBTI? is an example of a psychologically based assessment.
• A behaviour-based assessment considers: “How do others perceive me?” -?DiSC? and 360s are examples of behaviour-based assessments.

While each type of assessment provides unique information of people, there are some similarities in the information provided and what the person can learn. However, because each assessment provides information that describes the person in the language and terminology of its premise, assessments based on different premises will have limited compatibility with each other.

The premise for HBDI? & it's validation

Any understanding of the brain relies heavily on metaphors and analogy because it is an integral part of science communication. It is essential that we have effective tools for thinking about the brain, as it helps us solve the problems we encounter/experience in life.

HBDI? utilises a brain metaphor as the basis for exploring our thinking preferences with the premise being that we all have a brain, we just each use ours differently.

The HBDI? is a validated assessment; a number of assessments are not.?Key areas of validation include test/retest reliability, face validity and internal construct reliability.

"By understanding yourself you can learn to understand and value others."

- Ned Herrmann (Creator of HBDI? and Whole Brain? Thinking)

HBDI? Profile's can also combine results of two or more individuals to provide insights into how those who have undertaken the assessment compare, contrast and collaborate together. The Team Profile? provides a composite view of the similarities and differences in team member thinking preferences. Using this information, the group can make adjustments to greatly improve processes, outputs and outcomes on a range of different applications.

HBDI? is designed for business application

One of the unique aspects of The HBDI? is it’s not just an assessment that exists in isolation from application. The assessment is partnered with a practical, solutions focused application model called The Whole Brain? Thinking model. The Whole Brain? Thinking model is an approach to understanding what our preferences mean for the way we interpret our work and world. This understanding is a powerful way of thinking that equips individuals with a shared understanding of individual preferences.

The Whole Brain? Model, which serves as a “meta-model”, that can describe a wide variety of mental processes that thinking can be universally applied to many different contexts such as:

• Decision making
• Working in teams
• Communication
• Mitigating Bias
• Strategic planning
• Customer Viewpoints
• Corporate Culture
• Difficult Conversations

Got you thinking?

So, now you know a bit about Whole Brain? Thinking, perhaps you’d like to find out more and explore how this could be helpful to you and your business. Why not book in a 30 minute, no obligation virtual meeting with one of our Herrmann Certified Practitioners who can give you more information and answer any questions you might have?

Click here to schedule some time with me.