Online assessment
20-30 minutes
- Self-guided online questionnaire
- Immediate results across the four views
- Downloadable personalized report
- Access to the SDI Platform
The starting point for everything else.
Assessment
SDI · Strength Deployment Inventory
Healthy relationships drive better results. The SDI helps you understand what drives you, how you use your strengths, and what happens inside you when conflict arises, so you can improve the way you work, collaborate, and relate to others.
The challenge
Relationships drive results
Relationships at work directly influence people's wellbeing and performance. When we don't understand what motivates others or how they react to conflict, collaboration suffers and misunderstandings multiply.
When a relationship isn't working, the question isn't who's to blame, but who's willing to change how they relate in order to achieve a different result.
When a relationship isn't working, the responsibility to change belongs to whoever wants a different result.
What it is
What is the SDI
The SDI is a personality assessment that provides insights about you and how you relate to others. It measures your motives, how you experience conflict, your strengths, and how those strengths can limit your effectiveness when overdone.
It is grounded in Elias Porter's Relationship Awareness Theory (1971) and has been experienced by more than 5 million people across more than 50,000 organizations.
What the SDI measures
The four views
The SDI provides four related views of a person: two about personality and two about behavior.
- 01
Motivational Value System (MVS)
The blend of three motives—people, performance, and process—that drives you when you're at your best.
- 02
Conflict Sequence
How your motives change, in a predictable sequence, as conflict intensifies.
- 03
Strengths Portrait
How you prioritize the strengths you use most in your working relationships.
- 04
Overdone Strengths Portrait
How a strength used too much or in the wrong context can be perceived badly and trigger conflict.
The workshop
The SDI workshop
A facilitated session to explore the four views as a group and apply them to your team.
- 01
The SDI
Introduction to the assessment and Relationship Awareness Theory.
- 02
Motives (MVS)
Discover the motives that drive you when you're at your best.
- 03
Conflict
Understand how your motives change as conflict intensifies.
- 04
Strengths
Explore the strengths you use most in your working relationships.
- 05
Overdone Strengths
Recognize when an overdone strength works against you.
Delivery
SDI formats
From the individual assessment to the team workshop and in-house certification.
Facilitated workshop
3.5-hour session
- Guided exploration of the four views
- Group team activities
- Application to your team's real cases
- Certified facilitator
To get the most out of it as a team.
Live virtual workshop
Remote facilitated session
- The same experience, delivered remotely
- Live activities with an instructor
- Integrations with Teams, Zoom, Outlook, and Slack
- In-house facilitator certification available
Bring the SDI to distributed teams.
Results and reach
A proven foundation
More than fifty years of practical theory and social science.
5M
People have experienced the SDI worldwide.Crucial Learning
50,000
Organizations have used it.Crucial Learning
14,000
Certified facilitators administer it.Crucial Learning
14
Languages available, including Spanish.Crucial Learning
A solid foundation of practical theory with more than fifty years of history.
Who it's for
Who is it for?
For people and teams who want to improve the quality of their working relationships, collaborate better, and reduce misunderstandings.
- Teams that want to collaborate better and reduce misunderstandings.
- Leaders who want to understand what motivates their teams and align those motivations with the organization's goals.
- Organizations that want to build relationship intelligence as a foundation of trust.
- Those responsible for team and leadership development.
- Coaching, mediation, and conflict-resolution professionals.
- People teams that build the SDI into their onboarding.
- An especially good fit combined with the Crucial Teams course.
Upcoming sessions
Upcoming workshop sessions
Check the upcoming workshop dates or request a tailored session for your organization.
Request information Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions
What is the SDI (Strength Deployment Inventory)?
The SDI is an official Crucial Learning personality assessment that reveals your motivation system, how you experience conflict, your strengths and how those strengths can limit you when overused. It is grounded in Elias Porter's Relationship Awareness Theory (1971) and has been experienced by more than 5 million people.
How long does it take to complete the SDI?
Between 20 and 30 minutes. It is a self-guided online questionnaire with immediate results across the four views and a downloadable personalized report.
What languages can I take the SDI in?
It is available in 14 languages, including Spanish, English, French, German and Italian.
Is the SDI a test, a course or an assessment?
It is an assessment, with an optional group workshop to get the most out of it: 3.5 hours in person or a facilitated remote session, where the four views are explored and applied to the team's real cases.
Is the SDI a personality test like MBTI, DISC, Hogan or the Enneagram?
Not exactly, and that is its advantage. Most of those tests classify traits or types: MBTI (Myers-Briggs) boxes you into one of 16 types, DISC describes observable behavioral styles, Hogan predicts performance and "derailers," and the Enneagram groups people into nine personality types. The SDI does something different: instead of labeling you, it measures your motives (the "why" behind your behavior) and, above all, how those motives change as conflict escalates. That makes it far more actionable for improving real relationships: it doesn't stop at "this is who you are," it explains why you clash with someone and what to do about it. That is why it is usually described as a relationship-intelligence tool rather than a conventional personality test.
Why do I always clash with one teammate even though neither of us is "the bad guy"?
Usually because you have different motives and, under conflict, those motives shift in predictable sequences that the other misreads. The SDI makes that clash visible and gives concrete ways to adapt instead of labeling each other.
What are the four views of the SDI?
There are two views on personality (your motives at your best and how they change in conflict) and two on behavior (the strengths you use most and the ones you overuse). Together they explain why you act as you do and how others perceive you.
What is the SDI used for in a company?
To improve cross-team collaboration, reduce misunderstandings, connect people's motives with organizational goals, and as a foundation for leadership programs. It pairs especially well with the development of the organization's key skills.
Can the SDI be used for a whole team and delivered privately for my company?
Yes. The platform lets you map and compare team results to improve collaboration, and it can be deployed privately in person or virtually, including internal facilitator certification.
Bring the SDI to your organization
Discover the power of relationship intelligence. Request information or check the upcoming workshop dates. Available tailored to your organization, including in-house facilitator certification.