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The Birkman Method

Download Sample: Birkman Signature Report

It is a good question: why do we insist on using Birkman? It is not as if there aren't plenty of other options, many of them better known.

The simple answer is that we have had the opportunity to take on any number of other assessments over the years; and we haven't, because they can't do what Birkman does for our clients (both individuals and organisations).

Surely we have had people who have done Birkman, then tell us something else was better?

Yes, and much to my surprise, I once took a client through their Birkman results - and then had them tell me they much preferred their MBTI report. And I really was baffled: there are very good reasons why MBTI can't be taken seriously as a psychometric, or used as anything other than as a discussion starter. When I reflected on this client's scores, I realised that their MBTI report gave them immense scope to create their own narrative - which was something that would absolutely appeal to them. But it wasn't going to help them ever make any change in their life.

And that really is the only example I have. Many of our clients have previously done Hogan or Lumina or DiSC or StrengthsFinder2.0 or a version of the Big Five or a KornFerry tool or whatever else; and for whatever reason, not one of them - except the person I already mentioned - has ever told us that the other thing was better.

That is the argument from silence, I know. So let me give you the positive reasons why this has never surprised us.

Birkman is unique in many ways - its fine-grained data, generated by a Questionnaire taking only 35 minutes to complete, but with much more insight than most two- or three-day Assessment Centres can produce; its applicability across language and cultural boundaries; its calibration, so that the same scores will mean the same observable behaviours; its rich motivational data.

But the fundamental difference between Birkman and every other assessment on the market is its ability to read what is going on beneath the surface. Some other tools try to extrapolate to this from what a person says about themselves; only Birkman is able to measure this as a second, and independent, set of data. This in turn opens up a wealth of additional data, including predictive data on how people will react in adverse situations, as well as insight into their meta-perceptions.

This is why people recognise themselves so deeply in their Birkman results, this is why Birkman is so effective in driving sustainable positive change; and this is why we use Birkman.