The Development Needs Inventory (DNI)

The Development Needs Inventory (DNI)

 

The Development Needs Inventory™ (DNI™) is a 360-degree instrument that is administered over the internet and designed to allow managers, supervisors and others in leadership positions to better understand their strengths and development needs.  The information provided by the DNI will help facilitate the individual(s) growth and progress and as a result increase their effectiveness in the organization.  Designed for customization to the client’s needs, it consists of 15 Standard scales and up to 8 Optional scales.

 

The Standard scales are:		The Optional scales are:
Communication Empowerment Goal Directedness Decision Making Interpersonal Relations Motivational Skills Adaptability Concern for Productivity	Leadership Initiative Team Building Planning Time Organization Participative Leadership Style Development of Direct Reports	Delegation Assertiveness Disciplinary Action Commitment to Growth Innovation Persuasiveness Control Motivation Level *Optional scales can be added to any report at an additional cost

 

The results of the DNI, along with the Interpretation and Feedback Session, provide participants with a sound basis for setting development goals and tracking their development over a period of time.

The DNI was designed with one primary objective in mind – To help leaders lead more effectively.  Other objectives which support this primary objective are:

1. To help leaders identify their strengths and most pressing development needs.
2. To guide leaders in planning for their own leadership development and in moving from understanding to action.
3. To provide information that will allow leaders to make intelligent choices among alternative leadership practices.
4. To call attention to critical relationship between a company’s structure, culture, and typical leadership practices and the success and failure of a given leadership style.
5. To provide a framework within which companies can (1) make orderly transitions from traditional bureaucracies to flexible, rapid response organizations with team leadership or (2) make an informed decision not to make that transition.
6. To help leaders lead in ways that get results, that are personally satisfying and morally sound, and that empower rather than overpower subordinates.

Sample of Scale Definitions and Scores

The DNI serves three purposes:

1. To help you better understanding your own managerial practices.  This understanding will provide a basis for increasing your effectiveness as a leader and for planning your own career more realistically.
2. To help you understand how other persons in the organization view your leadership practices – that is, to help you understand whether you see yourself as others see you.  Armed with these insights, you can test the validity of your own self-perceptions, improve your human relations, lead and manage more effectively, and plan your career more realistically.
3. To serve as a basis for setting personal development goals and for tracking your development over a period of time.

 

It is improbable that all of the descriptions in the DNI are objectively correct.  The scores, are based on perceptions and perceptions differ.  The scores and verbal descriptions do not have to be correct in every way to be useful.  Keep in mind that the observable leadership practices – an individual’s actions, rather than self-image – determine how one individual will see and react to another.  A person’ may be a great leader but if the people around them think otherwise their ability to get results is impaired.