Birkman – What Is It? Does It Work?
Many people ask, "What the heck is a Birkman, and does it really work?” Others have commented “We’ve done all of that personality stuff before, and it has never made any difference. Does the Birkman work?”
The answer is a resounding YES! It is uncannily accurate and provides a much-needed boost to help individuals, teams and leaders address the profound workplace changes that are disrupting the old-world systems that can no longer compete.
Here are three of the greatest impacts we have seen when leaders and teams take this assessment and use WorkLife LLC programs to enhance creativity.
1) Leaders who are looking to boost self-awareness. In the Birkman assessment, we can identify where passion and strengths are but most importantly, identify needs and motivators, so that the individual can avoid slipping into stress behavior.
We’ve witnessed amazing transformations and several AHA!” moments when an individual can see, maybe for the first time, what he/she needs to regroup and recharge individually.
2) Women who want to stand up and step up and stop apologizing. Understanding the Assertiveness score in the Birkman results has helped many women we've coached to individually and collectively learn to ask for what they need.
The score identifies the individual’s ability to speak up and express opinions openly and forcefully and, when combined with WorkLife LLC’s rehearsal approach, can actually unleash new, undiscovered skills!
3) Teams who are able to share a common language and embed the learning in the organizational drinking water do so with insights into one another which is the foundation of trust and psychological safety. When teams can celebrate true diversity of thought and celebrate another individual’s point of view, engagement goes up and employees are committed.
These three areas can readily be seen in organizations that are going through change. As we think about this and remember that all of our major projects over the years have centered on helping leaders and teams grapple with the disruption of ongoing change.
In one case, a private jet/business aviation company suffered with a retention rate of 22% in its pilot ranks due mainly to an erratic schedule and old style “command and control” leadership.
With the application of the Birkman to build greater self-awareness and our creative and entertaining team agility program combined with individual coaching with the leadership, in one year the retention rate was reduced to 2%!
In another case, a large, old line utility company was being seriously impacted by industry deregulation, old hierarchical systems were crumbling, and an employee survey showed deep and disturbing trends in worker confidence and engagement.
The application of the Birkman Method career and goal assessment reports, cross-functional team building, and senior leadership coaching with the results of the very powerful Birkman 360-degree feedback tool, soon realigned team focus and commitment along with new attitudes and empowerment from senior leadership.
One senior leader commented that “we just reinvented the wheel, no one lost their job, and our company credibility increased without any nasty organizational bloodshed!”
BTW it’s Birkman’s 70th anniversary. Talk to us about anniversary specials coming up.
Schedule a Birkman chat and discover the secret sauce of this amazing tool!