Highlands Ability Battery is a bit of an unsung hero in my view.
There are quite a few psychometric tests designed to identify personality traits and preferences but Highlands Ability Battery fulfils a different purpose. Understanding this will help you get the most out of it.
Here are 3 things you need to know about it:
It’s about ability – not preferences
The common raft of personality tests, Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), NEO Personality Inventory, Margerison-McCann Team Management System, Kirton Adaption-Innovation Inventory and even Belbin Team Role Inventory all have one thing in common. They assess your preferences based on your answers to a set of questions.
Highlands Ability Battery is different because it assesses your innate abilities. It makes the assertion that some abilities are what it calls driving abilities. These are core to us. Used well, they will be powerful allies in our quests to do well. Ignored or unfulfilled, they can lead us to become frustrated and stressed.
This is what makes Highlands Ability Battery an ideal adjunct to, say, MBTI. The two can work in parallel. Better yet, combined with a 360° appraisal and a description of your current, or potential job’s activities, it can form part of a powerful toolkit to enable you to improve your performance and find the best fit between yourself and your work.
It’s testing but worth it
Highlands Ability Battery is a set of nineteen discrete tests carried out on a computer, over a three-hour period. It is a battery of tests in both senses of the word. It is tough and it tests you to the point where you simply cannot do any more. But it’s worth it!
The tests vary in length with an average of about nine minutes each. Once started, each test needs to be completed. However you can take a break between each one – in fact most people need to stop and re-charge after three or four tests.
It’s unpredictable
It is really difficult for a user to gauge their success (or otherwise) in any of the tests. Some people find they do really well in the tests they felt had gone badly and vice versa. My advice is to forget the preceding test and just focus on the one at hand.
Go into it with an open mind, commit to it wholeheartedly but relax. There are no rights and wrongs!
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