As a long-time workshop facilitator, I’ve learned through plenty of trials and errors what makes for a good training session (or not). A big problem with much of today’s leadership training is that it often doesn’t meet the audience where they’re at in their specific leadership journey. The audience might get exposed to theories that sound good and might apply generally but that don’t feel applicable for each person in their specific circumstance.
That’s why I often issue a well-researched and validated self-assessment that participants can take before they deeply engage in the subject matter at hand. If well done, self-assessments force each audience member to examine the topic carefully and contextualize it in a personal, relevant way. Assessments produce a measurement, which naturally makes the brain more curious: “I score well here, but not there, I wonder how I compare? I wonder how I might improve?”
And just like that, the subject matter now matters.
Here are five steps for creating an effective self-assessment. To illustrate, we’ll examine the self-assessment I designed for my new book and workshop, The Mentally Strong Leader. (You can take the assessment yourself at scottmautz.com/mentallystrong.)
1. Begin the assessment by reinforcing the “What” and piquing interest
As you’ll see in The Mental Strength Self-Assessment, I start by providing some context on what the assessment is about and what it measures – which is, mental strength. I provide a definition of mental strength, i.e., the ability to manage internally, so you can lead externally – at work and in life. It’s the leadership/self-leadership superpower of our times. I go on to illustrate that mental strength consists of six elements, or mental muscles (that the workshop later helps the audience strengthen, according to their needs): Fortitude, Confidence, Boldness, Decision-Making, Goal-Focus, and Messaging.
So, right up front, the participant understands what’s being measured and why. Hopefully, their interest for engaging in the assessment is piqued as well.
2. Create a simple, consistent scale
All 50 questions in the Mental Strength Self-Assessment are on a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being “Never,” 3 being “Sometimes,” and 5 being “Always.” Thus participants can reflect on their answer to the question, not try to figure out the scale. Simple is best. Consistently applied across each question is a must.
3. Readers should learn something from the questions themselves
Participants can quickly tire of assessments. So each question should count, teaching the reader something about a) themselves, b) the topic, or c) the help they can expect to get (after all, you wouldn’t be measuring something you weren’t going to help them improve on, right?) Great assessment questions do all three.
For example, here’s one question in the “Mental Strength Self-Assessment” from the Fortitude section:
“How often do you stay motivated despite the ‘daily grind’?”
From this question, the reader reflects and might realize their daily grind is starting to wear them down. They also learn that managing the daily grind is part of mental strength. And they get a hint that they’ll receive help on this front.
Here’s another question from the Confidence section:
“Do you feel like you’re ‘enough’?”
From this question, the reader might have a powerful moment of reflection and admit they often don’t feel this way. They see that feeling like you’re “enough” is part of mental strength and that they will get help managing that.
In each case, the reader learns something from the question and feels compelled to find out, “What will they ask me next?” That’s good because you want the reader to be almost disappointed when the assessment is over rather than glad.
4. The participant should be able to quickly assess where they stand, and what to do next
In the Mental Strength Self-Assessment, the participant gets an overall MSS (Mental Strength Score), and they see what tier they fall into (Beacon, Source, Determined, or Novice). They also get specific, tailored guidance on what to do next, and what exercises to engage in later on (either in the book or workshop). Furthermore, they get scores and guidance for each area of mental strength.
This cascade of data approach helps the participant feel like they are understanding themselves in layers, and are getting advice/assistance at a much deeper, more tailored level.
5. Offer reality and hope throughout
Any self-assessment should offer equal parts reality and hope. After all, you might ask the participant to consider some hard truths, so couple that with empowering thoughts. Throughout the Mental Strength Self-Assessment, the participant gains an understanding of exactly where they stand, but they are also surrounded by encouragement and empowerment. For example, even if the participant lands in the lowest tier of mental strength (Novice), they find this message:
“You have a baseline of mental strength to build from, but you have a lot of work to put in to become mentally strong – and that’s okay! (You’re far from alone) Think about it this way: you’re in the early stages of weight training. Meaning, to become mentally strong, you need to add more weight in two ways:
- Give the concept of mental strength more weight (more importance) and a commitment to working on it.
- Add more weight as you go to get stronger. In other words, start building your mental strength with some of the easier, ‘low-hanging fruit’ habits that are shared in the book/workshop, then build up from there to more and more difficult habit-building challenges (adding more “weight” as you go).”
The Mental Strength Self-Assessment even ends with an empowering section titled “Strength in Numbers,” which starts as such:
“Congratulations! You know where you stand now on your mental strength and where to put in the work. That’s the strength of this self-assessment: the data-based, research-backed, guiding numbers it provides. But also know you can draw from strength in numbers, in knowing the truth that you’re not alone. We all have some elements (or many elements) of mental strength that need some “leveling up.” And remember, you’re not either mentally strong or mentally weak; we all have a baseline of mental strength to build from.”
So, consider these five steps for creating your self-assessment, and you’ll assess success!
