TAIS | Locus Performance - Maryl Eva TAIS

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TAIS (The Attentional and Interpersonal Style Inventory) was developed by psychologists and has amassed over 500 academic and practical articles on it's implementation and results. TAIS was developed to identify and predict how an individual behaves under pressure, and has been used by the most elite performers in the world, from Olympic champions to Tier 1 military personnel, and executives from Fortune 500 companies.

History

The Attentional and Interpersonal Style Inventory (TAIS)

The Attentional and Interpersonal Style Inventory (TAIS) was developed in 1976 by psychologist Dr. Robert Nideffer to identify how an individual behaves under pressure.

TAIS is a tool that identifies behavioural predispositions which allows coaches to develop programs that help people improve their performance and help leaders get better results.

TAIS quickly became a staple in sports psychology and was featured in the Coaching Association of Canada's training and certification manuals for youth to Olympic athletes. After success in sports, TAIS was adopted by business executives and the military. Today, TAIS continues to be used in these areas and has been embraced by organizations to aid in change management, talent development, and effective hiring.

Success

Reliability of TAIS

TAIS has the advantage in predictive validity when comparing psychometric assessments. If you want to understand how you behave under pressure and what your ideal environment is, or you want to accurately predict how someone will behave in a role, TAIS is the tool you need.

There is a reason that the Navy SEALs, Olympians, and CEOs trust TAIS. When everything is on the line, accuracy is essential.

More about the Reliability and Predictive Validity of TAIS.

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What does TAIS measure?

There are 20 different scales that TAIS measures and certified TAIS coaches help clients decipher to help make better personal and organizational decisions. To ensure that you are getting the most out of your experience, your coach will look at your goals and the TAIS data to determine what information is most essential to focus on during your sessions, but you will touch on each scale and how it affects/predicts your performance.

How we prefer to pay attention

Understanding which attentional style is most and least sustainable is essential to strategic performance. Can a University student who finds organic chemistry boring and exhausting do well on an exam? Of course. Are they going to have to spend more energy than someone who is excited by organic chemistry? Of course.

Knowing which style we default to does not mean we can't perform tasks that use our other styles – it just means that we will have to use more conscious energy doing those things. Understanding what attentional style our teammates prefer also helps us understand where they fit, how to leverage their strengths, and how to support them.

TAIS identifies how an individual prefers to pay attention and offers a snapshot of the level and types of distractions that they might be facing. Understanding what distractions are particularly triggering can be helpful to begin to reduce the distractions and design an ideal environment for success.

Awareness – The Lifeguard. You can take in information from your environment quickly and react intuitively. Like a lifeguard, not much gets by you.

Analytical – The Strategist. You enjoy "connecting the dots", coming up with solutions to new problems, and can see cause and effect easily. Like a strategic coach, you can adjust your plan easily as the environment changes.

Action Focus – The Disciplinarian. You are able to focus on what needs to be done and block out distractions with ease. You can rehearse and get incrementally better at tasks until you succeed.

How we interact and communicate with others

Many of us have taken personality tests online that tell us if we are an extrovert or an introvert. We likely already have an understanding of how much personal time we need, if we are someone who "overshares", if we avoid conflict, and if we enjoy a positive and warm workspace over a more logical one.

TAIS dives into five scales that identify and predict interpersonal behaviour: Extroversion and Introversion (on separate scales, unlike most assessments which have introversion and extroversions as opposites of the same spectrum), Expression of Ideas, Expression of Criticism, and Expression of Support.

By understanding how we and those around us most organically act around others, we can tailor our communication and expectations to help ourselves and others thrive.

Outside of increasing self and general awareness, knowing how we and our teammates communicate has practical implications. If we have a teammate who is more introverted, they will likely perform their best when they have time alone to process an idea before brainstorming. A true extrovert is likely going to perform best if they can have a teammate they can process verbally with. Someone who is higher on expressing criticism and anger will be less exhausted if they have to conduct uncomfortable performance conversations.

Interpersonal factors are more than just identifying who might enjoy going to a party.

Being armed with this knowledge makes a difference.

Other driving forces that influence and predict behaviour

Attentional and interpersonal preferences are at the core of what TAIS measures. Having that level of self-awareness helps you understand yourself and others. Understanding the other factors that influence and predict our behaviours, the building blocks of performance, puts you on par with elite performers.

Perhaps one of the most influential factors to understand is decision making. Some people are well-suited to making quick, intuitive or strategic decisions where there is not a "right" and "wrong" answer (think hiring, high level strategy, "on the fly" decisions). Others are better at making decisions that require combing through options or considering logistics to find the most correct answer (making large purchases, choosing IT systems, decisions that require a lot of details). Knowing how you and those on your team make decisions helps you put the right people in charge of which decisions.

Other factors that TAIS looks at to build strategic teams and sustainable success include leadership aptitude, confidence and self-critical, competitiveness, comfort with risk, and performance under pressure.

Get in touch to find out what else TAIS looks at and the life-changing effects our program can have.

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