Image: Kevin Matos on Unsplash
Image: Kevin Matos on Unsplash
Many people who know the power of The Birkman Method® (TBM) just see it as the best tool for individual and executive coaching. Others recognise its immense effectiveness in enabling team development and performance discussions. Far too few realise that it is actually the ultimate ‘people operating system’ for the whole organisation. So in this article, I want to outline some of the ways in which Birkman can be delivered and applied at scale.
Stability and Long Shelf-Life
One of the key reasons that deployment of TBM at scale is even an option, is that TBM results are objective, accurate and extremely stable over time. By 15 or 20 years from the time someone first completed their Questionnaire, they may wish to retake just to see what has changed; but in practice, we have had clients who were still using — and getting new insights from — reports based on a Q they had completed over 20 years previously. This means that rolling out Birkman at scale is not an exercise you need repeat every 18-24 months; it is more about topping up regularly to include new employees.
In other words, TBM is incredibly cost-effective when delivered at scale.
Team Performance
In modern organisations, people tend not to be static: they move from team to team, teams merge, split, reform according to the requirement of the moment. And they collaborate.
For all these reasons, having TBM available throughout the organisation means that even ad-hoc project teams can be making instant use of their Birkman data when working together, instead of every new team formation requiring a new tool to be run for that grouping, requiring new budget approval and so on.
DeepView - Data Analysis
Elaura has developed extensive skill in visualisation of Birkman data, most often using Tableau®. This also allows organisational and TBM data to be combined to identify aspects of performance which may be driven by particular TBM characteristics, for example.
We once worked with a Marketing Team who were under pressure from leadership to deliver more and more with less and less; visualising their data made clear the surprising truth that although they were well equipped to do great work on marketing campaigns, they had no one who was likely to tell the story of all their successes to the rest of the organisation. In other words, Marketing and (even Internal) Selling are two quite distinct processes.
Whether you use Elaura’s in-depth visualisations, or just the visualisations ‘baked in’ to the Birkman Direct System, Birkman at Scale means diagnosing and solving organisational-scale problems.
Culture Mapping
A related area is understanding organisational culture. While a new CEO can declare that they are “going to change the culture’, the reality is that culture is based on widely-shared assumptions. Birkman data can suggest, for example, why an organisation may be struggling to become more customer-centric, or to explain why a change initiative is struggling; and also suggests ways to turn this around. Whether you are using external BCPs or have your own internal ones, they will be able to map organisational culture in a way that makes sense and drives practical strategies.
Talent Acquisition, Development and Retention
TBM offers Talent professionals an objective, non-judgemental way of understanding talent and potential and making decisions with long-term positive value. For example, it enables them to view manager feedback through the lens of the manager’s particular perspectives, rather than simply taking these at face value.
By having data available for the whole organisation, Talent professionals are able to see actual gaps and blind spots in the organisations makeup, and look for individuals who may offer currently untapped assets.
Learning and Development
L&D executed as “one size fits all” rarely ends well. Having TBM data for the whole organisation allows L&D professionals to do better, more objective TNAs (Training Needs Analysis) — and differentiate between (say) two managers who may be at the same level, but have different characteristics and whose potential lies in different directions.
Options for Delivery at Scale
Clearly, you can simply run everyone in the organisation through Birkman Signature, over time. The advantages of this approach are that you can stage the roll-out, and the one time cost for each Questionnaire. There are alternatives, however.
One is use Signature for the ‘upper’ portion of the organisation, and to use ‘lighter’ / lower-cost versions of the Birkman results (for example, Elaura’s Snapshot+ Report or expresso Platform) below that level. A variation of this theme is to roll out (say) Snapshot+ to the whole organisation, and then upgrade teams or individuals to Signature as required. (Every version uses the same Q as Signature, so there is no need for individual respondents to retake).
Finally, Birkman introduced Birkman Enterprise in 2024. Enterprise is a subscription based service with a minimum 3 year commitment, suitable for organisations of 130 pax and up. (You can use with a smaller organisation, but you are still paying for 130 pax.) The great advantage is that everyone can complete the Birkman Questionnaire on day one or as soon as you like; they immediately get access to their results via the MyBirkman app, and you can upgrade them to the Signature Report at no additional cost (other than the need to give them a debrief conducted by a BCP).
All the above options have clear advantages — talk to us to discuss what may work best for your organisation.
Enabling TBM in the Organisation: Options
With the exception of the “lighter” weight versions of Birkman mentioned above, which typically do not require it, TBM normally requires the involvement of a Birkman Certified Professional (BCP) in order to deliver initial results to individuals. And of course, in order to make sense of team or organisational data, BCP-level skills in interpretation are necessary to ensure the story doesn’t get confused.
The question then is “where are the BCPs?” There are three broad answers: internal, external, and hybrid.
Internal BCPs make obvious sense: the organisation already employs them, therefore any TBM work they do does not represent an additional direct cost. (Although of course they do have existing work roles, so the cost is there; just not easy to see!) Perhaps more importantly, they are within the culture and organisational milieu, so don’t have to ‘get up to speed’ in order to make sense of what they see. However, it can be very difficult — especially for senior leaders — to entrust themselves to Internal BCPs for coaching etc.
External BCPs have the advantage that they are outsiders, who can be brought in as needed, and sent away when not. They often make a more comfortable match for senior leaders — but they cost (additional) money, which makes them a major cost component for any deployment at scale.
Which brings us to the hybrid model: making use of internal BCPs but supplemented by one or more external BCPs as advisors, trainers and as capacity for working with more senior leaders. While we have seen all three of these models work well, the hybrid model offers the most flexibility and effectiveness when deploying TBM at scale.
In Conclusion: TBM at Scale
To summarise then, TBM is the ideal framework for enterprise-wide deployment. Getting Certified is usually the starting point, whether you are an in-house professional, or external consultant. But contact us now if you would like to discuss a particular opportunity and we can help you build a workable menu of options for your context.
Applying The Birkman Method at Scale
Written by Jon Mason
