The success of organisational development strategies are intrinsically linked to the engagement and participation of people in the workplace. High performing organisations demand high performing individuals who will engage with change and respond to challenge.

Using a comprehensive and in-depth development questionnaire (MTQ48, as licensed from AQR Ltd) will help organisations gain insight into how individuals respond to pressure. With the challenge of changing working environments, pressure to deliver, restructuring and emphasis on delivery, the need for resilience has never been greater, whilst our ability to manage pressure seems to have reduced.

Benefits to Organisations

Understanding the Mental Toughness of key people in organisations is essential for several reasons:

• Allows better diagnosis of what is happening – enabling interventions to be better focused
• The ability to measure change and know it is related to performance – MTQ48 is therefore a major contributor to ROI
• It helps individuals to become more personally responsible, thereby fostering accountability for actions
• Engaging with the development process that supports mental toughness will allow organisations to make more informed choices about where individuals can add greatest value

What is Mental Toughness?

Mental Toughness is a concept often associated with the sporting world but it is recognised as a valuable concept for the world of work. The MTQ48 questionnaire focuses on four components all of which have implications for individuals and teams at all levels in the organisation.

1. The extent to which we feel in ‘Control’ of our lives and emotions (high scorers believe they control their destiny while low scorers believe destiny controls them)

2. How we respond to ‘Challenge’ or unplanned change (high scorers see a test as a chance to shine while low scorers fear an opportunity to fail)

3. The extent to which we ‘Commit’ to demanding goals and targets (high scorers stick at things, low scorers walk away)

4. Our ‘Confidence’ in our abilities and in our dealing with others (high scorers have high levels of belief in their abilities, low scorers don’t)

Understanding Mental Toughness levels can provide a great insight into organisational and individual stress levels and tolerances. It can also identify sources of potential conflict and help organisational change initiatives to be more successful. Themes and trends can be identified that provide essential information to guide the design of the appropriate organisational development intervention.

To find out more, contact our offices directly, or email od&change@primeast.com.

Back to OD & Change homepage