The Prevue Assessment was developed by Professor David Bartram and Dr Pat Lindley. It is a high quality comprehensive psychometric measure which assesses:

• Abilities - 3 areas + an overall measure
• Motivation and interests – 3 areas
• Personality – 13 areas

The Prevue Assessment has been designed to be quick and easy to use. It is useful for all occupations and can be used comfortably from age 15+.

What does the Prevue Assessment Measure?

It measures Abilities, Interests and Personality in one straightforward measure which takes about an hour to complete if handled in one sitting.

Abilities - Verbal, Numerical and Spatial Abilities – combining these to produce a general abilities scale

 Motivation & Interests - the extent to which the individual is interested in working with people, data and with things

Personality – 12 scales around 4 core themes (from the “big 5” model) – Independence, Conscientiousness, Extraversion and Stability. (The subscales measure cooperativeness, assertiveness, innovation, organisation, group orientation, outgoing ness, poise and excitability.)

 Social Desirability - The extent to which the individual presents a favourable picture of themselves

Mental Toughness describes the mindset that every person adopts in everything they do. It is closely related to qualities such as character, resilience, grit, etc. It is defined as: “A personality trait which determines, in large part, how people respond to challenge, stress and pressure, irrespective of their circumstances”. Most personality models and measures assess the behavioural aspects of Personality (how we act).

Mental Toughness differs in that it assesses something more fundamental – “how we think”. In other words, why we act and respond emotionally to events. It enables us to understand mindset in a very practical way. Research carried out under the direction of Professor Peter Clough of Huddersfield University identified by 2002 the four key components (constructs) of Mental Toughness. These are called the 4Cs. In 2017, work by Doug Strycharczyk, Dr John Perry and Professor Clough, allowed the concept to be expanded to eight factors to be understood and assessed around the 4Cs. This is shown below:

Mental Toughness Scale What does MTQ assess… the 8 Factors

Why is Mental Toughness important?

Published research and case studies from around the world show that Mental Toughness is a major factor in: • Performance – explaining up to 25% of the variation in performance in individuals

• Agility - Positive Behaviour – more engaged, more positive, more “can do”, dealing well with change

• Wellbeing – more contentment, better stress management, less prone to bullying

• Aspirations - more ambitious, prepared to manage more risk It is a major factor in retention, particularly in higher education, employability and is a key aspect of an organisation’s culture.

It has applications in virtually every sector. In the world of work, it is key for leadership and staff development, particularly within change programmes as well as in talent management programmes. It is also widely used for developing young people in education, in youth work and social mobility programmes.

Can we develop Mental Toughness?

We can. We can either help someone change their mental toughness or we can show someone how to adopt the behaviours that a mentally tough person would adopt. Either way, many of the benefits of developing mental toughness can be achieved. 

MTQ48 is a really valuable tool. It certainly makes you think about your performance and positive behaviour – and what you can do about both. We liked the report structure which equipped the manager/coach and the individual with relevant information and practical development suggestions.  -Liz Chandler Director for Corporate Development, Merseytravel

What is the Integrated Leadership Model (ILM72)?

The Integrated Leadership Model is the result of a major study carried out by AQR International in 2005. Carried out by Dr Nollaig Heffernan under the supervision and guidance of Professor Clough and Doug Strycharczyk, CEO.

The study looked at over 50 leadership models and found that all had their origins in the same components - 6 scales which represented the different aspects of leadership style.

This confirmed that the essence of leadership was consistently based on a number of key notions. The study did not develop a new model of leadership, more accurately it “brought order to the chaos that is leadership theory and practice”. Equally importantly it provided an accessible and very practical framework for understanding and developing leadership practice. Further research carried out by Clough & Strycharczyk within the same programme showed that there were three core competencies which are crucial for leadership effectiveness.

An important by-product of the programme was the development of a reliable psychometric measure - ILM72 – which assesses both the specific scales (style) and the global scales indicating leadership effectiveness. These map to almost all leadership models.

Assessing Leadership Style and Leadership Effectiveness

The ILM72 is a seventy-two item questionnaire which produces output on both leadership style and leadership effectiveness factors. The measure produces development reports for individuals, for coaches/managers as well as generating questions for reflection and understanding.

The measure can also be used to assess difference before and after an event to determine where development has occurred. Bringing effective evaluation into the picture.

A tool for organisational development

Importantly it is possible to aggregate data for a group or even a whole organisation, through an OD report, to get a picture of the prevailing leadership style – an important aspect of culture. This enables users to assess whether the given style is appropriate and exactly where leadership style might be developed. This is fundamentally important.

Participants report an increased level of selfawareness with regard to their own leadership style. The reports enable them to identify their strengths and areas for development, which are invaluable in their day to day role as a leader and in creating a personal development plan. -Sandra Keith, HRD Bristol