What 20 Years of Resilience & Innovation Research Tell Us

Are Resilience & Innovation Linked?

After working for nearly a decade in the emergency management and preparedness field, we knew that resilience and innovation were two of the biggest factors that saved lives before, during and after a crisis. For years, our motto has been “resilience and innovation go hand-in-hand.” This motto was hard earned by our team in the field working, leading, and innovating through disasters. After seeing these two constructs play vital roles in the success of leaders and the communities they served, we wanted to find a way to quantify them. If resilience and the propensity to innovate were innate traits in people, then we wanted to know how we could measure them so that professionals could learn how to strengthen them. With this goal, our background in professional development, and our internal interest in assessments, we set out to build the Resilience Innovator Type Assessment™ or RITA as we call it.

What is RITA?

The Resilience Innovator™ Type Assessment (RITA) is a first-of-its-kind two-part assessment that measures resilience and innovation, and it was developed by Epicenter Innovation and the UK’s leading business psychology firm. The first part of the assessment is a psychometric personality questionnaire. It’s similar to the Myers-Briggs assessment or 16 personalities if you’ve taken that.. The second part is a situational judgment test consisting of nine questions based around hypothetical real-world scenarios. Because resilience and innovation are measured by analyzing similar but different sets of characteristics, RITA’s two-part design is uniquely comprehensive.

Once you complete the assessment, your results, given in an 18-page report, will contain an archetype, two subtypes, results to the situational judgment test, a strengths in the workplace breakdown, a professional development worksheet, insights into all the types, and a personalized and ranked list of 50 Key Traits related to resilience and innovation.

The Archetypes

Our goal of  a Resilience Innovator™ typology came from our belief that typological frameworks have more utility in developmental contexts than trait-based tools. With a typology, we can create and you can seek out resources that are catered to your unique situation. Our research found that there are ten archetypes in the Resilience Innovator typology. The types and their dichotomies are illustrated below:

The five dichotomies exist because much of our research is based on the five-factor model, and they correspond in the following way:

• The Explorer vs. Traditionalist dichotomy reflects the high and low ends of openness to experience respectively.
• The Architect vs. Maverick dichotomy reflects the high and low ends of conscientiousness .
• The Influencer vs. Reflector dichotomy reflects the high and low ends of Extraversion .
• The Harmonizer vs. Warrior dichotomy reflects the high and low ends of agreeableness .
• Stoic vs. Guardian dichotomy reflects the high and low ends of emotional stability .

Your Resilience Innovator Archetype allows you to understand on which side of the dichotomies you most strongly identify. With this knowledge, you are better able to understand your strengths and weaknesses as they relate to your own resilience and propensity to innovate.

The Subtypes

Your RITA results will also provide you with two subtypes. When your results are calculated, your typology is determined by which archetype your answers are most aligned with. As such, your two subtypes are the second and third archetypes with which you most closely identify. This means that your RITA results include a bespoke typology that gives you a comprehensive overview of your unique strengths as they relate to resilience and innovation.

Situational Judgment Test

In our research, we discovered  that being a Resilience Innovator™ isn’t just about personality. There are external resources that impact our resiliency and propensity to innovate. Our personality may influence how we react to situations , but our life experiences may also have taught us to act against our innate preferences. In our research, we learned that  the following constructs transcend personality differences and are critical components to determining how we each embody resilience and innovation:

Sociability: Your ability to build strong relationships and utilize them in times of hardship or during the innovation process. Those with strong social resources are more likely to be resilient and innovative.

Grit: Your level of proactivity and tenacity. Those that are self-starting are more likely to innovate, and perseverance can help somebody to remain resilient and sustain attempts at innovation.

Attitude: Your attitude towards change and belief that you can influence events in a positive way such that things will turn out for the best. Those with positive attitudes and self-belief are more likely to be resilient and innovative.

In your RITA report, you’ll receive the results of your sociability, grit, and attitude on a scale of one to ten. These results indicate how your behavior complements or contradicts your innate personality preferences.

In reviewing 20 years of research and resilience subject matter expert interviews, we identified 50 key traits directly associated with an individual’s resilience and innovation. Your RITA report gives you a personalized, ranked list of the 50 Key Traits plus an in-depth look at your top five Key Traits.

How Can I Use RITA?

RITA has a variety of use cases and applications. If you’re looking for a comprehensive overview, check out this livestream we did about RITA use cases about a month ago. Generally speaking, RITA can be taken by anyone in any field. Its goal is to measure an individual’s resilience and propensity to innovate so that a person can be more aware of how they perform in crisis and/or under pressure.

While RITA is an individual assessment, we are excited about its potential as a team tool. For teams, RITA provides a common language to communicate more effectively and efficiently, especially in times of crisis. For example, if a team that has just come together for a specific incident takes RITA, each member will be able to understand their own behavior and the behavior of their colleagues during the stress of the event. For instance, if you are a Warrior and your colleague is a Harmonizer, knowing that could help you avoid communication conflicts related to agreeableness during the decision-making process. You might approach a problem without thinking to consult others while the Harmonizer might go along with a plan so they don’t rock the boat. Neither of your unique talents are being utilized in a situation like this. Understanding your teammates’ behaviors can result in:

• better communication
• deeper relational understanding
• efficient and effective decision-making
• resilient and innovative solutions when faced with a challenge 

RITA has been in the works by our team for over a year. Now that it has finally launched, we’re excited to share the Resilience Innovator™ Type Assessment with the world. After months of research, trialing, and revision, we’ve quantified the link between resilience and innovation, one we always knew was there. RITA is a resource to help build resilience in your communities and teams, foster a culture of innovation, and grow Resilience Innovators. We’re excited to share RITA with you and your team. Take RITA now.

This article was written by Nia D’Emilio, Epicenter Innovation’s Learning & Events Coordinator. It details the product journey of the Resilience Innovator™ Type Assessment (RITA), an assessment that is designed to help you identify, analyze, and harness your unique traits & style as a leader in crisis.