The Personal Skills Needed At Work
A soft skills assessment measures how developed a person's non-technical workplace skills currently are. It turns qualities that usually get described in vague performance-review language — "good communicator," "needs to be more strategic" — into named skills with a development level attached to each one.
TTI DNA is a soft skills assessment that measures 25 of them, sorted into how a person thinks, works, and relates to others.
Key Takeaways
- A soft skills assessment names and grades specific behaviors. It replaces general impressions with a per-skill reading from developed to needs development.
- TTI DNA measures 25 named skills across three categories. Seven Thinking skills, seven Working skills, and eleven Relating skills, each reported individually.
- A free quiz and a structured instrument are not substitutes. Quizzes give a person a rough self-reading; structured instruments give an organization comparable data across people.
What Is a Soft Skills Assessment?
A soft skills assessment is a structured measurement of a person's skills that transfer between jobs, as opposed to technical skills tied to one role. It produces a per-skill score rather than a single result or personality label.
The distinction that matters is between measuring a trait and measuring a skill. A behavioral instrument like DISC describes how someone naturally tends to behave, but a soft skills assessment asks a different question: how well developed is this specific skill right now, and what could improve it? That is why soft skills results can change with deliberate effort while behavioral style usually only changes over time or after significant life events.
TTI's research team reports that for many jobs, personal skills contribute as much to superior performance as technical skills, and that personal skills transfer across roles while technical skills usually do not. Supporting research is available at the TTI research portal.
The 25 Soft Skills TTI DNA Measures
TTI DNA measures 25 personal skills grouped into three categories: Thinking (7 skills), Working (7 skills), and Relating (11 skills). Each skill is reported on its own scale from developed to needs development.
| Category | What it covers | Skills measured |
|---|---|---|
| Thinking | Analysis, creativity, learning, and judgment | Continuous Learning · Futuristic Thinking · Creativity and Innovation · Conceptual Thinking · Tactical Thinking · Planning and Organizing · Problem Solving |
| Working | Execution, initiative, and goal-directed action | Resiliency · Personal Accountability · Flexibility · Goal Orientation · Self-starting · Time and Priority Management · Project Management |
| Relating | Trust, connection, and collaboration with others | Recognizing Potential · Customer Focus · Appreciating Others · Interpersonal Skills · Employee Development/Coaching · Teamwork · Creating Alignment · Conflict Management · Influencing Others · Diplomacy · Negotiation |
The format is built for a development conversation, not for a filing cabinet.
See the actual output. The TTI DNA sample report is available to read in full, no form required.
TTI DNA is a structured skills instrument. It is often paired with DISC or 12 Driving Forces in a multi-science report.
Can A Quick Online Quiz Reveal Soft Skills?
A free self-assessment can be a useful starting point when someone simply wants a quick sense of their own strengths. But when an organization needs to measure, compare, and develop competencies across a group, a structured assessment like TTI's DNA is built for the job.
The difference comes down to what you can do with the results. A quiz may give you a general idea of your skillset, but it typically isn't designed for meaningful comparison across people or for tracking development over time. TTI's DNA assessment provides a consistent, structured way to measure competencies over time, giving organizations data they can use to make better development decisions.
For example, if an L&D leader is developing a program for 12 managers, DNA can reveal patterns across the group, such as nine managers showing an opportunity to strengthen Creating Alignment. That insight can shape the curriculum, prioritize development areas, and help the organization focus its resources where they can have the greatest impact.
The value isn't simply knowing what one person does well. It's being able to see the capabilities of an entire group, identify patterns, and turn those insights into targeted development.
Where a Soft Skills Assessment Fits in Your Organization
Soft skills data is most useful at four moments: benchmarking a role before a requisition opens, structuring a development plan, mapping capability across a team, and reviewing a succession bench.
DNA is a versatile assessment that can be used for individuals, teams, and entire organizations. Here are some of the ways you can use a skills assessment:
Organizations use TTI DNA across four workflows:
- Hiring and Selection — Identify which personal skills a role genuinely depends on, as one input among several.
- Team building — Map where a team is collectively strong and where a single gap is affecting everyone.
- Professional development — Create an individualized development plan workers can act on immediately.
- Succession planning — Reveal the distance between a high performer's current skills and the skills needed for a new role.
The DNA assessment is delivered through TTI's Internet Delivery Service and is used in more than 100 countries through a network of over 7,000 partner experts. Consultants and coaches who want to deliver it with their own clients can do so through TTI's certification programs.
"At Dale Carnegie, we use the DNA Report as the foundation of an individual's personal and professional development journey. It allows us to pinpoint specific skills to elevate during our programs and helps participants approach growth in a focused, strategic way. Even more valuable, the report serves as a long-term development tool that continues to deliver insight and impact well beyond the moment."
Jennifer HagarVP Operations and Client Services, Dale Carnegie Training St. LouisSoft Skills Assessment FAQs
What is a soft skills assessment?
A soft skills assessment is a structured measurement of a person's interpersonal, cognitive, and self-management behaviors at work — the skills that transfer between jobs, as opposed to technical skills tied to one role. It produces a per-skill score rather than a single result or label. Unlike a personality test, which describes how someone naturally tends to operate, a soft skills assessment reports how developed each specific skill is right now. TTI DNA measures 25 such skills individually across Thinking, Working, and Relating.
How many soft skills does TTI DNA measure?
TTI DNA measures 25 personal skills. Seven fall under Thinking, seven under Working, and eleven under Relating. Each skill is reported on its own scale from developed to needs development, with an explanation of what the skill is, how it shows up at work, what others notice, and how to develop the skill.
Can a soft skills assessment be used for hiring?
It can, within limits. Any assessment used in a selection decision is a selection procedure under the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures at 29 CFR Part 1607, which places the burden of demonstrating job-relatedness and monitoring adverse impact on the employer. TTI DNA reports current development level rather than a pass/fail score, and should never be used as a standalone hiring cutoff. Used properly, it is one input inside a structured process built on a documented job benchmark.
What is the difference between soft skills and hard skills?
Hard skills are technical capabilities tied to a specific job, such as operating a piece of software or reading a balance sheet. Soft skills are the personal and interpersonal capabilities that transfer between jobs, such as Conflict Management or Personal Accountability. TTI's research team reports that for many roles, soft skills contribute as much to superior performance as technical ones, which is why they are worth measuring rather than assuming.
See Where Your Skills Actually Stand
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