For Employers, Managers & Supervisors:
How to Introduce the MBA Inventory Successfully
Personality inventories and a wide range of psychological instruments are all over the Internet and are frequently used in employment settings. Many individuals have taken self-administered tests on the Web for a variety of purposes – career direction, as part of online relationship matching services, or to investigate whether they have ADHD (or some other medical self-diagnosis).
As a result, people have two common responses to being asked to fill out the Managing By Appreciation Inventory:
a) “Oh, I’ve done that before” (referring to some other personality assessment tool), or
b) fear and anxiety that you are trying to figure out what is wrong with them.
To address these two issues (as well as others), we have found the following introduction to be helping in creating the proper understanding and context for individuals to take the MBA Inventory, with good results.
We suggest you communicate something like the following, either verbally or in writing, to your staff.
“ Our management team is interested in finding out how we can best support and encourage our team members in the good work you are doing. We have become aware that different individuals are encouraged differently. We want to know how best to show our appreciation for the work you each do – in ways that are the most meaningful to each of you individually.
Therefore, we would like each team member to fill out an inventory which we believe will show us best how to do this. The Managing By Appreciation (MBA) Inventory is a brief online assessment tool that will help identify each person’s primary ways they can feel appreciated and encouraged in a work setting.
The MBA Inventory is not a personality measure and there are no right or wrong answers. Its purpose is solely to identify the best ways to communicate appreciation to team members. (You may not feel a need for this information but we, as a management team, want to make sure each team member knows they are appreciated and valued and this tool should help us in this endeavor.)
Thank you for your willingness to take 15-20 minutes of your time to fill out the questionnaire. We believe it will be a valuable investment of your time. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or your direct supervisor.”