Psychometric Assessments
Psychometric tools, assessments and feedback
We are offering all Fellows the opportunity to access a psychometric assessment and follow-up feedback session with a certified practitioner.
Psychometrics provide you with valuable insights to develop your leadership.
As well as psychometric assessments, we also offer Fellows one-to-one coaching and 360 feedback coaching.
About psychometrics
Our individual psychometric assessments offer you an online survey and assessment, personalised report and one-to-one feedback session at a time of your choosing.
Psychometric assessment and feedback sessions can help you:
- gain a deeper understanding of yourself and your needs, motivations, and behaviours
- recognise more fully how others may differ from you and the implications of this
- acquire frameworks and approaches that you can use to adapt and develop your communication and behaviour.
How the scheme works
We are initially offering Fellows the opportunity to choose one of the following assessments and arrange a feedback session:
- Myers Briggs Type Indicator
- EQ-i 2.0
- Strengthscope
- Belbin Team Roles (for your whole research group)
As we monitor budgets, it may be possible for you to undertake further assessments. If you have already completed one assessment and wish to undertake another, please do contact us and we will do our best to arrange this for you.
Your assessment must take place within the following timeframe:
- If you are a Fellow appointed in Rounds 1-3 or were nominated to join the Network by one of the Research Councils, you must claim your psychometric assessment by October 2023.
- If you are a Fellow appointed in Rounds 4-6, you must claim your psychometric assessment by December 2024.
Psychometric assessments available
For you as an individual
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the most widely used psychometric tools in the world, helping people to identify their own personality preferences that influence how we interact and collaborate with others.
The insights which MBTI offers are especially useful to leaders, e.g. how you like to plan work and projects, how you communicate and take in information, your preferred way of giving and receiving feedback, your orientation towards decision-making, what you value in a team and working environment.
Crucially, MBTI also suggests ways in which others’ preferences can differ from, or even conflict with, our own. Recognising and respecting those differences can enable us to manage our working relationships more effectively and tackle misunderstandings before they become serious problems.
More information about MBTI can be found on the Myers Briggs Foundation website.
As you move in to leadership, your focus and challenges become far more about people than tasks. Emotional intelligence skills are critical for building relationships and teams, resolving conflict, solving problems, leading effectively, and building resilience.
The EQ-i 2.0 provides you with a detailed assessment of your areas of strength and potential areas for development. You will receive a comprehensive leadership report describing how your EQ competencies work together for effectiveness. It also provides suggested strategies for bringing your EQ competencies into balance for greater effectiveness.
The leadership report focuses on your leadership effectiveness in the context of emotional intelligence across five EQ composite areas:
- self-perception
- self-expression
- interpersonal
- decision making
- stress management
The report also provides a detailed interpretation of how effectively you are using 15 EQ competencies and how, by balancing these competencies, you can significantly improve your well-being, workplace and leadership performance, interpersonal relationships and communication.
More information about the EQ-i 2.0 assessment can be found in this blog post on the MHS website.
People who use their strengths deliver better outcomes and generate greater value for those around them and their organisations. Identifying and then using our strengths makes us more confident, engaged with work, productive and able to build better relationships with colleagues.
Strengthscope® compiles 24 different strengths broken down into the four categories: emotional, relational, thinking, and execution. Your Strengthscope report will build your awareness of your unique strengths and how to optimise these. It will help you to learn:
- What energises you most and how to stretch these to perform at your best
- Which strengths may become counter-productive when not used effectively
- What energises you least and which may impact your performance
- Empowering strategies to help you take action to stretch yourself in areas of strength and reduce the impact of any performance risks
- Positive, practical ways of working that will improve your confidence, motivation and success in any situation
- How to strengthen relationships and work more effectively with people whose strengths are different from yours by allowing more honest and authentic conversations across all levels
More information about this tool can be found on the Strengthscope website.
For your research group
Based on the work of Dr Meredith Belbin, Belbin is one the world’s most well-known tools for improving team performance. It uses nine clusters of behaviours, each with strengths and weaknesses that contribute to the way a team operates.
Belbin provides a framework and vocabulary to constructively discuss teams and understand your contributions to the team. It will help you recognise areas of potential team tension because of overlaps or gaps in the team behaviours, as well turning areas of potential conflict due to opposing behaviours into complementarity that can become a team strength.
This assessment is available to you along with your research group and would include individual assessments and a workshop tailored to your group. The overall objective would be to help everyone to understand themselves and each other better, so everyone can contribute to the team in way that is constructive and valued, therefore boosting the individual and team performance.
More information about Belbin team roles can be found on the Belbin website.
Meet our practitioners
MBTI practitioners
Robin Henderson is the founder of MY Consultants, one of the leading Higher Education development consultancies in Scotland. He has a background in HE and has held research, academic (including leading a small research group) and professional service roles. He has been consulting within the HE sector for the past 20 years, working across over 35 UK HEIs.
Robin has extensive experience of supporting the academic community and has coached over 150 academic staff within UK universities across a broad range of roles (PIs/Heads of School/Directors of Research). This exposure to staff at all levels of organisations informs his coaching practice where he is able to offer a supportive yet challenging environment to encourage clients to consider the perspectives and experiences of a wide range of stakeholder groups.
Coaching areas where he has specific expertise include developing research strategy, leading complex research projects, managing challenging relationships. academic career progression, developing research profile, communicating and engaging more effectively with stakeholders, and building research groups.
Within his coaching work Robin brings a pragmatic approach to supporting individuals focus on changing behaviours and developing solutions.
Steve is the Head of the Postdoc Academy at the University of Cambridge. He has been working with research staff for over thirteen years, including five years as a Postdoc Careers Adviser and, latterly, four years as Head of Researcher Development.
Steve works closely with Dr Tracey Stead to plan and deliver the Network’s training and development programme, including leadership retreats, the bespoke 360 Feedback and Coaching Programme, and the wider coaching and psychometric assessment offer. He has led sessions on self-leadership, inclusive leadership, and career management.
Steve is Co-Lead for the Future Leaders Fellows Development Network’s Training & Development Working Group.
Katy’s passion is serving those who work or study in higher education. Often her clients are juggling the challenges of their professional role with the demands of family life and the pressure to manage everything else. Through humour, story telling and challenge she provides her clients with a supportive, pragmatic space and, more importantly, an even keel.
Katy empowers her clients to identify their own priorities and work towards achieving (career) success however they define it. The positive change that her clients experience is testament to her ability to coach with integrity, honesty and to put my clients at the heart of everything she does.
Since completing her PhD in Human Geography, Katy has managed a career development programme training academics at 22 UK institutions; coached and trained researchers online and face to face across seven continents and developed a specialism working with women researchers and medics seeking support with confidence after returning from career breaks.
Today she owns her own coaching business and, as an accredited executive coach, now blends the skills she has honed over two decades in university settings to run the Researcher Coaching programme.
Twitter: twitter.com/researchercoach
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/katyrmahoney/
“No one should feel frazzled, derailed, or unsupported, but many do.” Jamie works with people who want to become calmer, more effective, and happier – in their career, and in their wider life.
Jamie has been around higher education since 1990 as a student and researcher; and as a coach, trainer, and facilitator for 22 years. Since 2004, he has been a certified professional coach and started working in experiential education in 1988. He is trained and qualified in a range of tools for understanding ourselves, and others, better.
Together, this gives Jamie a wealth of experience of working with university people on all kinds of subjects. He is equally comfortable working on the academic bread and butter of publishing, teaching, promotion, research, and collaboration as with subjects from client’s lives outside academia.
His areas of specialism include:
• balance
• resilience
• motivation
• confidence
• mindfulness
• looking after yourself
• leadership
• direction, vision and career
• collaboration
• tricky conversations.
Website: www.jmcd.co.uk
Paul is a Learning & Development Consultant at Queen’s University Belfast, co-ordinating a range of development activities for research staff. He manages the Queen’s Fellowship Academy and supports mentoring across the University.
After 12 years in a research-intensive university, Kim now operates independently as a leadership consultant, facilitator and coach. She remains a trusted partner and associate in the university sector to both professional services and academic colleagues, whilst also supporting organisations and their leaders in health, finance, defence and media.
Qualified in ILM Level 7 Executive Coaching and Mentoring, Kim helps her clients explore and challenge their mindset, behaviours and action through a combination of questioning, assessment and feedback to provoke deeper thinking and generate greater awareness. They value her pragmatic approach and use of ‘real’ work to build trust, foster accountability and improve performance.
Kim’s approach works well for those who are willing to take time and space to think and explore what they do and how they do it, are open to reflection and healthy challenge, and are committed to making a change.
Significant themes around which she has coached include:
- transition from management to leadership roles
- leadership presence and personal impact
- confidence and personal resilience
- courageous conversations and conflict
- leading through change and uncertainty
- leadership behaviour and performance (individual, team)
- stakeholder management and engagement.
Website: www.kimnewtonwoof.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kimnewtonwoof
Sara is the Head of Researcher Development at the University of Edinburgh and leads on the University’s Concordat response. She has a particular interest in inclusive research cultures, collaboration and wellbeing.
As Director of the Future Leaders Fellows Development Network, Sara engages with our partner organisations and their broad range of networks, promoting the Network and our Fellows to global and national leaders in research and innovation.
Tracey Stead is a trainer, facilitator and certified professional coach, with over 20 years of experience that spans academia and research, public and private sector. Following her PhD, Tracey spent several years as an analyst in UK Central and Scottish Government evaluating policies and practices relating to social deprivation and sustainable development.
Tracey subsequently returned to academia where she pioneered a comprehensive skills development programme for researchers at the University of Bath.
Over the past nine years Tracey has established a successful training and development consultancy working across the UK and internationally. She specialises in leadership coaching, training and development with researchers and facilitating collaborative events with researchers, stakeholders and funders.
Tracey is a certified CPCC Co-Active Professional Coach, MBTI Practitioner, Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Practitioner and EQ-i 2.0 360 feedback practitioner.
EQ-i practitioners
Robin Henderson is the founder of MY Consultants, one of the leading Higher Education development consultancies in Scotland. He has a background in HE and has held research, academic (including leading a small research group) and professional service roles. He has been consulting within the HE sector for the past 20 years, working across over 35 UK HEIs.
Robin has extensive experience of supporting the academic community and has coached over 150 academic staff within UK universities across a broad range of roles (PIs/Heads of School/Directors of Research). This exposure to staff at all levels of organisations informs his coaching practice where he is able to offer a supportive yet challenging environment to encourage clients to consider the perspectives and experiences of a wide range of stakeholder groups.
Coaching areas where he has specific expertise include developing research strategy, leading complex research projects, managing challenging relationships. academic career progression, developing research profile, communicating and engaging more effectively with stakeholders, and building research groups.
Within his coaching work Robin brings a pragmatic approach to supporting individuals focus on changing behaviours and developing solutions.
Lara Isbel is a highly experienced coach working within the Higher Education sector. Lara worked at the University of Edinburgh for ten years, most recently as Assistant Director of the Institute for Academic Development, before setting up her own coaching consultancy in 2017. She trained as a coach in 2013 and holds an ILM Diploma in Coaching and Mentoring.
Lara has worked with researchers at every stage of their career from PhD students to Professors taking on senior leadership roles and has particular experience of supporting researchers during career transition.
In her previous role, Lara led a team of 14 people and has first hand experience of recruiting, managing and developing a diverse team.
Lara understands the challenges of balancing work and family life and has supported researchers with time management, work-life balance and return to work after parental leave.
Earlier in her career, Lara specialised in research communication and public engagement and supported academics to plan their external engagement activities and boost their research profile.
After 12 years in a research-intensive university, Kim now operates independently as a leadership consultant, facilitator and coach. She remains a trusted partner and associate in the university sector to both professional services and academic colleagues, whilst also supporting organisations and their leaders in health, finance, defence and media.
Qualified in ILM Level 7 Executive Coaching and Mentoring, Kim helps her clients explore and challenge their mindset, behaviours and action through a combination of questioning, assessment and feedback to provoke deeper thinking and generate greater awareness. They value her pragmatic approach and use of ‘real’ work to build trust, foster accountability and improve performance.
Kim’s approach works well for those who are willing to take time and space to think and explore what they do and how they do it, are open to reflection and healthy challenge, and are committed to making a change.
Significant themes around which she has coached include:
- transition from management to leadership roles
- leadership presence and personal impact
- confidence and personal resilience
- courageous conversations and conflict
- leading through change and uncertainty
- leadership behaviour and performance (individual, team)
- stakeholder management and engagement.
Website: www.kimnewtonwoof.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kimnewtonwoof
Tracey Stead is a trainer, facilitator and certified professional coach, with over 20 years of experience that spans academia and research, public and private sector. Following her PhD, Tracey spent several years as an analyst in UK Central and Scottish Government evaluating policies and practices relating to social deprivation and sustainable development.
Tracey subsequently returned to academia where she pioneered a comprehensive skills development programme for researchers at the University of Bath.
Over the past nine years Tracey has established a successful training and development consultancy working across the UK and internationally. She specialises in leadership coaching, training and development with researchers and facilitating collaborative events with researchers, stakeholders and funders.
Tracey is a certified CPCC Co-Active Professional Coach, MBTI Practitioner, Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Practitioner and EQ-i 2.0 360 feedback practitioner.
Strengthscope practitioners
Cath is trained in Relational Coaching (Ashridge Business School) and is conversant with a range of psychological theories and approaches which underpin human behaviour. (TA, Gestalt, CBT). More recent influences include the fields of Positive Psychology and Strengths Development.
Cath is qualified and accredited in the use of a range of psychometric tools including Strengthscope, Strengthscope360 and Strengthscope Team. Cath is also trained in the delivery of 360 feedback using a number of market-leading instruments.
Cath has been an independent consultant since February 2006 delivering coaching, development programmes and consultancy for clients from a range of sectors including Professional Services, Research Institutes, Public sector and Third Sector. Prior to this she held HR/OD roles operating at a senior level, having moved into HR following a career in recruitment and business management.
Sarah Williment is an organisational development consultant and systems coach working as part of a team at Farleigh Performance – a purpose-led performance consultancy providing organisational, leadership, team, and individual development, into a wide range of global clients spanning all sectors.
Sarah has worked in many and varied leadership roles within the public and private sector, including 11 years at the University of Bath, during which she led the Skills Centre as well as coaching, mentoring, and delivering Strengthscope, to academic and professional services staff.
Bringing over 25 years’ experience from both the adult and higher education sector, where she worked in policy development, communications, skills development and learning technologies, Sarah is passionate about finding ways to enable us to be our best selves at work, and in life more broadly. She draws her energy from working with others in this context. Sarah believes that we can take some of our greatest rewards from our ‘connectedness’ with others, through sharing, collaboration, and partnership, as well as contributing to bringing about social good in the world.
She is an experienced mentor, certified Coach and Strengthscope Practitioner, all of which contributes to her passion for supporting and enabling the development of others.
Belbin practitioners
Geraint is a training consultant, and founder and director of Cambridge Training Associates.
After his PhD and two years in the biotech industry, Geraint changed career direction and worked as a Researcher Development Consultant at the University of Cambridge, coordinating, designing and delivering transferrable skills training for early career researchers in the life sciences.
In 2014, he left and started his own company, which delivers training and facilitation in the academic and corporate sectors all over the world. During this time, he had also been an associate at Belbin, which is a globally recognised tool for team development.
In the last twelve months, Geraint has delivered team development training using Belbin for a wide range of clients including Yokohama Tyres, Moët & Hennessey, Amazon and Gusto. Geraint is also qualified as an MBTI facilitator and a practitioner of LEGO Serious Play.
Apply for an assessment
To request a psychometric assessment and feedback session, use our online booking form below. However, if you have further questions before you are ready to request an assessment, please email us at coaching@flfdevnet.com.
