The Highlands Ability Battery

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Your consultant walks you through the process from start to finish. You get a personalized experience, with coaching focused specifically on your results and geared to help you act upon what you discover. 

Participants get their own assessments and personalized reports. The consultant-led debrief is a shared experience, with teams discussing how discoveries impact roles, productivity, and collaboration.

What we know from the scientific study of human engineering is that we are all born with innate abilities. What we have learned from decades of practical application is that by understanding the interplay between these abilities or how they synergistically contribute to our overall potential will provide valuable insights that will enhance our journey of self-discovery.

For over three decades the Highlands Company has assessed and evaluated human aptitudes for tens of thousands of students and adults in the pursuit of our mission to help people discover their natural gifts and talents and work where they can use them. It is known that when individuals focus on their natural abilities when constructing a strategic plan for life and career, they experience profound and lasting benefits: reduced stress, greater overall balance, decreased burnout and increased satisfaction.

Through our extensive experience in aptitude testing and research into what makes people successful, we have recognized the significance of connecting abilities, of putting them into context and in the understanding what aptitudes are and what they are not, preventing any misconceptions or misinterpretations. By doing so, we empower individuals with powerful insights enabling them to harness their unique talents effectively and chart a path toward personal and professional fulfillment.

Aptitudes and skills are distinct concepts that describe different aspects of an individual’s performance. Aptitudes are innate abilities that individuals possess often from birth or develop early on, while skills are acquired through external influences and can be honed through deliberate practice, learning and experience. Aptitudes tend to endure over time while skills will decline with disuse.

Many people assume their “performance” represents their aptitudes; it is what the outside world sees and evaluates. In reality, “performance” is a combination of abilities and skills. And, while the outside world understandably focuses on (and pays for) “performance”, individuals can lose sight of what needs expression, the contributions for which they want to be valued, and how their natural abilities contribute to their satisfaction, contentment and happiness over the long-term.

The results of the HAB provide a person insight into how their mind works naturally or what takes less time/effort/energy as well as what takes more time/effort/energy which is the difference between an aptitude and an acquired skill. However, it does not reflect the effort or choices a person has made, will make, or should make. This tool is priceless for career exploration and informing job performance and satisfaction.