BLOG: Just what does Mindsonar measure?

Since we launched Mindsonar in the UK, I have had many people say to me: ‘What exactly does it measure?’

It’s a good question. There are so many psychological profiling tools out there for consumers that all work in different ways.

 The beauty of Mindsonar – and one of the main reason why I am a passionate advocate of it as a learning tool – is because it measures two things i) your thinking style and ii) what is important to you.

Let’s start with the second of those things – what is important to you? That may be simplified as your criteria. You may see that as your value base as a person. Or what you see in others and maybe what you appreciate about an environment. What you believe in.

Graves Drives

We codify that within a value base called Graves Drives which derives from spiral dynamics and there are seven Graves Drives that it measures.

Then it measures 12 different styles of how you think. Are you pro-active? Are you reflective? Do you like to create possibilities? And so on. It also identifies how you take information in and how you learn. Or you visual, auditory or kinaesthetic?

Mindsonar measures a lot but it is very granular and precise. As you know, your thinking style changes on a regular basis, whether you are with the kids, your partner, going to work or cutting the lawn, in a project meeting or closing a deal.

Mindsonar can work in different environments and can solve different problems. Its appeal is broad in so many walks of life and yet so specific .

It has the ability to be multi-functional. It has the ability to not have a set way of judging and saying a leader is like X, a coach is like Y, and a teacher is like Z.

Strengths and blind spots

What it will say is ‘this certain style of thinking will be more useful in this context’. It identifies strengths and blind spots (and I intentionally don’t use the word weaknesses because Mindsonar assumes you can change your thinking style).

It doesn’t say you are a colour, or a set of words. It assumes you think differently within a different context.

In my previous career as a nurse, I would spend time listening to patients (external pattern) and think of the different possibilities for care (options pattern). But should that person suddenly have a cardiac arrest, I would move straight into a procedural mode and jump in and start to resuscitate (proactive, process and activity pattern)

That shows we all have different thinking styles in different contexts and that is why Mindsonar has such a broad appeal as a modern-day thinking tool.

Read more: How Mindsonar can help the self-employed