Psychometrics – or the study of behaviour has been around a long time.

Hippocrates (c.460-377/359BC) and Plato (428-348BC) discussed personality and character. At that time (and probably earlier) there was a strong link between how we were and health. Galen (131–201 AD) developed thoughts on how to make people “better”. Many of his thoughts spread round the world and for instance using leeches to blood- let is an example of a method used to bring the humours back into balance.

We know them as:

Sanguine – courageous, hopeful, amorous

Choleric – easily angered, bad tempered, excitable

Melancholic – despondent, sleepless, irritable

Phlegmatic – calm, unemotional

It is noticeable that there are 4 humours – and in much work on behaviour – there are also 4 principle “humours”.

For example the Eysenck brothers illustrated how they saw emotional stability linking with the humours in 1958

There are also links between the 4 humours and Carl Jung’s work. Commonly used indicators such as Myers Briggs have produced character types that involve intuition (N) – where the individual has a sense of what is possible and sensing (S) - where the individual works with what they know.  There are also feeling (F) and thinking (T), where individuals either have a sense of what is right (F) – principles develop from a feedback from society and peers. Alternatively individuals develop a sense of what works or what can be done – as a feedback from thought processes and logic.

Thus the phlegmatic person may have a lot in common with the NT or rational (Myers Briggs). From other psychometrics you may find a correlation to Dominance (Disc), Fiery Red (Insights) and Miro call this Driving.

The choleric is said to be NF (Myers Briggs), linking to Sunshine Yellow (Insights), Influencer (Disc) and with Miro it is called Energising.

Most of the early thoughts concern abnormal behaviour – and how to bring someone back into “balance”.

William Moulton Marston felt that most of us were “normal” and behaved normally. Rather than bring someone back into balance he was more concerned with how we could be the best person we could be. So for instance if we enjoy D or dominant behaviour – what tasks can we do where we will be engaged and motivated – where we are most useful.

Whilst there is no doubt that in a team a balance is a very useful thing to have – each behaviour can have a role – and one or more persons can have a valid contribution to make. If you have a team of one sort of person – how behaves in a similar way – you may find that a number of necessary tasks get ignored.

Today “humour” is more commonly about laughter and finding something funny. To be in “good humour” is about having the propensity to find something funny. Clearly there is a link – however faint to the 4 humours and a sense of wellness.

Many people name their children at birth. That name is more about the parents and social trends than the child.

Native Americans added names or replaced names as people grew up. In that way your name said something about where you came from and who you were ie your behaviour.

Who are the people below? (Are they who we say they are?)

The Enforcer (politics)

Beefy – (Sport)

Percy – (music)

Dubya – (politics)

Sicknote – (Sport)

The Pelvis – (music)

The Red Baron (Military)

The Iron Lady (Politics)

Gazza, Hezza, Wazza and Prezza (Sport and politics)

Bambi (Politics)

Goldenballs (Sport)

Blackbeard (Pirate)

Coco (Fashion)

Posh (music?)

Captain slow, The hamster, and Jezza (Presenters??)

The Virgin Queen

I have missed out wrestling, boxing, darts, the underworld and many others – apologies

“Madder than a box of frogs” was used to describe the French football coach Raymond Domenech.

The French team just qualified for the 2010 World Cup ahead of Ireland courtesy of a “hand of god” incident involving Thierry Henry.

During the finals the rumours are that the players and the coach are not getting on.  Nicholas Anelka was sent home for swearing at the coach and then refusing to apologise. The team has subsequently refused to practice.

The team have been described as “spoilt brats”. The coach “madder than a box of frogs”.

The shame here is that there is a really talented team that are not going to fulfil their potential. The media will be more concerned with sensation, because often as a public we enjoy that more.

Consider reality programmes such as Big Brother. The aim is to put “normal people” under the spotlight and see who cracks. Perhaps there are lots of people who would like (others) to do a “madder than…” psychometric.

Unfortunately Miro Assessment takes the view that the vast majority of people are OK or normal. Behaviours that we use are “OK” or understandable. Sending a player home causes grief, frustration, anger, and hurt for all concerned and the team does not perform as well as it might.

In a workplace the same emotions may be present after similar (albeit less dramatic) events. Individuals may still feel very deep emotions about what happens.

For the French team the discussion is all about “who’s fault is it?”. The simple answer is “all of them”. The language that has been chosen has not worked. There is communication breakdown.

Understanding how we are all different, yet have something to offer, can be difficult. Psychometrics can make this easier. A Miro report helps individuals choose the right language when talking to other people. This can help reduce confrontation and intense emotional situations. A Miro Communication course helps individuals and teams improve communication, even when under pressure.

Councils have pressure to reduce their budgets. The obvious answer (from the present government) is cutting paperwork and inefficiency. The difficulty is that when they cut (as they will), how do they tell the difference between a well constructed defence and what might be possible?

To illustrate this point I have a strong personal belief is that the Water companies in the UK invented bureaucracy.

3 years ago I needed to move a drain (it was a big one for the whole village).  It was a very frustrating experience. Initially I asked a builder to arrange (I thought it was simple!) who took 6 months with a surveyor getting nowhere.

Actually they did get a response asking them to do a variety of different things. This difficulty was that they did not fully comply. As they did not, the application proceeded no further. Full engagement and help was not available until we had finished this bit.

It was eventually solved by camping on the doorstep of the water company and doing each part of their list in turn until there was a “tick”.

We had to then bridge the gap between the contractor and the water company. References, insurance, and qualifications counted for nothing. We needed to break the entire job and people down into a proper “project” and detail this for the water company. This included all the certificates and training details of all the people who would be on site.

In addition the site had to be inspected at various levels of completion.

Whilst on one hand this meant that the project was in a lot of detail. The company doing the work felt “invaded”, and that they added to their costs significantly in preparing for the installation. Yet they complete ground works on a regular basis – just not for the water board.

At the end of the job – which was quite straightforward – it was signed off. A year later it had to be inspected again to make sure it was still of good construction. Only then could I get my deposit back.

I recently sold the house (I have built another in the meantime). When selling I had to organise a search on the drainage. The paperwork had yet to be loaded – as up came an old diagram showing the location of the old sewer.

Why are water companies like this?

Partly because “they can”. On one hand they do have some high quality people who are very knowledgeable about water and drainage. On the other there are no alternatives. You cannot get permission to move a drain or sewer from anyone else.

The main motive is risk aversion. They do not want bad PR from a sewage drain leaking, complaints from residents, or bad jobs being completed from a professional perspective. Commercial awareness is less important in this situation.

People who are attracted to the planning and contracting team will be very knowledgeable about water. They do care about the environment or how they affect the environment. They will earn less money than commercial contractors and possibly principles are more important than income.

In councils you will also get very knowledgeable and caring people. Their principles may be more important to them than commercial awareness.

If you have a team like this they may not be the most efficient or most effective. They may well point to Oil disasters as a reason to support their paperwork and checking systems – which can seem to be quite powerful. Quite simply the team and teams like this are out of balance.

If organisations worked with their teams and made sure that there was an even mix of people (ie not just risk averse bureaucrats), then some teams may be more able to create solutions to improve efficiency.

An engineer and a marketeer had been sent to the North Pole to catch Polar bears.

When they first got there the engineer began to get out his Polar bear trap. It was in lots of pieces and quietly he got to work putting it together.

“How long are you going to be?” asked the marketeer

“a good few hours” the engineer responded

“I’m off for a walk then” replied the marketeer, and off he went.

About an hour later the marketeer comes rushing past …… “I’ve got the first one, and I’m off for the second”

The obvious answer to this predicament is that the marketeer should not go for a walk. Alternatively the engineer could have involved the marketeer in putting the trap together.

Who is at fault?

Neither! Each person is behaving in a way that is comfortable to them. Both will have had some success in the past.

How might psychometrics help them?

An assessment will help them understand themselves a little better. With some facilitation, possibly by their manager, they may learn about the other person. In particular about the language and drivers that they like to use.

What we really wanted here was some co-operation, discussion, and involvement. Is it realistic that a good marketing department will just sit and wait for engineering or R+D to play with “toys” for as long as they want?

Miro assessment reports do suggest how different people can find ways of interacting. Miro practitioners also facilitate teams and help individuals appreciate the value of others.

In times of change there are sometimes cuts or changes to groups.

Nicknamed the “Grim Reaper” in jest a leader was charged with making sizeable cuts in their organisation. In jest again they were accused of cutting all the people they did not like, and as an accountant, this was mainly marketing personnel. It was suggested that they leave a calling card with a scythe, and that they dress in a long black cloak.

Modern organisations rarely use solely cost and personal opinion to make decisions. More often they do look at capabilities, qualifications and a range of other measures before tinkering with an organisation.

What role can psychometrics play in change management?

Psychometric assessments can be used to show the behaviours that individuals prefer, and therefore feel most comfortable using. For teams to function effectively both as a team and to work with other teams within the workplace each team needs to access all behaviour modes. In the case of MiRo Behavioural Mode Assessment this is Driving, Energising, Analysing, and Organising. For other assessments examples include:

• Myers Briggs, Intuitive thinkers, Intuitive feelers, Sensor feelers, and sensor thinkers
• Insights, Cool Blues, Sunshine Yellows, Fiery Red, and Earth Green
• Disc, Dominance, Influence, Compliance, and Steadiness

Each mode can be plotted for a group  so that you can see at a glance the make up of a team.

Miro Psychometric team map

The above example is a team behaviour map produced with MiRo Behavioural Mode Assessment.

The tool helps identify which behaviours the team are good at and which areas are lacking. This is then either a training issue, or perhaps identifying that additional or a different mix of people should be in this team.

Following change teams can have less resources and find that there are increased demands on them. The needs to work more effectively together increase, as do the demands of working with other teams. Through understanding each others differences and preferences for behaviour it is possible to communicate more effectively.

For instance at MiRo we understand that Analysers are prone to being perfectionists. Energisers on the other hand may not be good with detail, but enjoy being creative. The potential clash may be that Energisers want to move on, to get new ideas, and may not spend enough time planning, researching, or getting the delivery of a service or product fully operational. Analysers on the other hand may find it hard to move on. They may not want to release a report until it is “perfect”.

In conversation someone with the Analyser Mode engaged may find that conversations with energisers can be improved if they:

They may find this different to their normal behaviour, but they may well manage to engage the other person and get their support.

As a manager you can use psychometrics as a way of getting a balanced team and improving the way they all work together. Team charts and individual charts help to give a picture or overview. Reports contain  practical suggestions tailored to each individual. If you have knowledge of this then you can give better more targeted feedback to individuals on how they are performing.

MiRo Psychometrics is committed to developing the way that their psychometric assessment can be used. Once trained a manager has full access to our system and they can construct teams, initiate assessments, and get different views of teams. With organisations that work closely with us we can integrate our tool into your infrastructure.

“Roland Webster Training, Facilitation & Mediation services have found the MiRo assessment a valuable and accessible tool to help individuals and teams improve their understanding of themselves and others. Our work, incorporating MiRo, has helped clients achieve personal and team development leading to improved business performance.”

Roland Webster, Roland Webster Associates

“Dimensional Performance Limited is an organisational development and training company that makes a tangible difference to business performance through developing people. By using the MiRo Psychometric tool we have helped our clients to develop, leaders, teams, employees and their organisational dynamics.”

Amanda Fisher Director DPL

“Skill Boosters has found the MiRo Assessment an invaluable development tool for both our own organisation and our clients.”

Peter Thorpe, Director Skill Booster

“Nexus are proud to be practitoners of the MiRo Behavioural Mode Indicator and find the tool to be easy to adminster and explain.”

Dave Jones Director Nexus