How Your Hidden Skills Show Up at Work

What an aptitude test actually tells you

In my last article, The Hidden Skills You Didn't Know You Had, I wrote about something I see all the time: the abilities that come most naturally to us are often the ones we have the hardest time recognizing. We talked about the difference between a skill - something you've learned to do - and a natural ability, which is the way you're wired to think, learn, solve problems, and approach your work.

That raises the next question, though: what does an aptitude test actually tell you about those natural abilities?

People sometimes expect an aptitude assessment to hand them a list of careers they'd be good at, or tell them what they should do with their lives. That's not exactly how I would describe my use of the Highlands Ability Battery at True Compass. People are far too complex and interesting to have one tool make specific precitions like that.

I use the Highlands Ability Battery to help students and adults understand how they naturally approach work - how they solve unfamiliar problems, organize information, generate ideas, think through complex systems, work with people, and more. Those patterns explain why some tasks feel energizing while others take real effort, and they give us language for abilities we've been using for years without ever naming them.

But before we look at what any of that means, there's something I need to explain to every client before we open the results.

High Doesn't Mean Good. Low Doesn't Mean Bad.

Highlands scores aren't grades — they describe different ways of approaching work, not different amounts of ability. One person naturally generates a lot of ideas; another would rather take one good idea and run with it. One person quickly recognizes patterns and jumps toward a solution; another naturally slows down, gathers the facts, and makes sure the solution actually holds up. One person loves designing a new process from scratch; another thrives once you hand them a good process and let them make it work.

Which of those people would you want on your team? Probably all of them, depending on what needs to get done that day.

That's why I've started giving the two ends of each Highlands continuum names that make their contribution at work easier to picture. The vocabulary for these pairs borrows from Suzy Welch's book Becoming You, which explores these same aptitude continuums — I've found her plain-language names make the aptitude results click for clients faster than the official terminology alone:

Highlands Ability	One End of the Continuum	Other End of the Continuum
Classification	Fact Checker — gathers information, draws on experience, works methodically	Diagnostic Problem Solver — quickly recognizes patterns and gets to the heart of a problem
Concept Organization	Process Supporter — works effectively within established systems	Sequential Thinker — naturally organizes complex information and creates structure
Idea Productivity	Focused Implementer — concentrates on strong ideas and moves them toward completion	Brainstormer — readily generates possibilities and alternative approaches
Spatial Relations Theory	Practical Thinker — focuses on concrete information and practical solutions	Conceptual Visualizer — sees relationships within complex systems and explores possibilities

The goal was never to land on the "right" side of this chart. It's to understand where you naturally fall and recognize the value that brings.

Classification: How Do You Approach a New Problem?

Classification is one of my favorite abilities to explain, because it shows up so clearly the moment someone hits an unfamiliar problem.

Someone with high Classification — I call them a Diagnostic Problem Solver — tends to make connections fast. They notice relationships between pieces of information that don't look connected at first, and they get to the heart of a problem quickly. Put them in front of something complicated, and their instinct is what's really causing this?

Someone with low Classification — a Fact Checker — approaches that same problem differently. Instead of jumping toward a solution, they want time to gather information first. They draw on past experience, follow a logical process, and make sure the facts actually support the decision before they commit to one. Once they have experience, they solve problems very quickly. Their instinct is what do the facts tell us? Or when have I seen this problem before?

Picture a company dealing with declining customer satisfaction. The Diagnostic Problem Solver notices a handful of seemingly unrelated trends and says, "I think I know what's happening." The Fact Checker says, "Before we change anything, let's look at the data and make sure that's actually the cause." One of them helps a team move quickly. The other helps a team avoid moving too quickly. Neither is a different level of intelligence — they're different contributions to the same problem. Highlands describes it the same way: low Classification as a preference for gathering facts and following a logical process, high Classification as a tendency to quickly connect information and diagnose the core issue.

Concept Organization: Do You Build the System, or Strengthen It?

Concept Organization looks at how naturally you organize complex information.

Someone higher on this scale — a Sequential Thinker — can take a messy pile of information and turn it into a plan, a schedule, a structure. Their instinct is how should we organize this?  They may not look physically organized, but their thoughts follow a logical sequence when problem solving, ananlyzing information or planning.

Someone lower on the scale — a Process Supporter — doesn't necessarily want to build that system from scratch, but hand them an established process and they're often the person who runs it smoothly and keeps it that way. Their instinct is more what's the process, and how do we make it work well?

Organizations need people who can design a good system. They also need people who can live inside that system every day, follow through consistently, and keep it moving. Your score just tells us which one tends to come more naturally to you.

Idea Productivity: Do You Generate the Idea, or Move It Forward?

This is a great example of why the specific score matters more than whether it's simply high or low.

I recently worked with a student who was surprised he hadn't scored higher on Idea Productivity — the ability that measures how readily someone generates ideas. So I gave him a scenario: "Say you're helping me with marketing. You come up with an ad idea, I'm not sold on it, and I ask you for three or four more options. Is that energizing for you — or are you thinking, that was a perfectly good idea, why don't we just run with it?"

He laughed. "Now I'm surprised I didn't score lower. I don't want to sit in brainstorming sessions."

That's one of my favorite moments in an assessment review — he didn't need me to tell him who he was. Once he understood what the ability actually measured, he recognized himself in it immediately, and a score he'd assumed should be higher stopped feeling like a letdown. He simply realized he'd rather move one good idea into action than spend an afternoon generating twenty more.

A Brainstormer's instinct is what else could we try? A Focused Implementer's is great -which one are we running with? Every organization needs both. Highlands describes lower Idea Productivity as a tendency to focus on developing and implementing one strong idea, and higher Idea Productivity as a tendency to rapidly generate possibilities and alternatives.

Spatial Relations Theory: Possibilities, or Practical Reality?

Spatial Relations Theory gives us another window into how someone naturally thinks.

Someone higher on this scale - a Conceptual Visualizer - naturally sees how the different parts of a complex system interact, and often enjoys exploring possibilities that aren't immediately visible. Their question is what if we changed this -what else would it affect? Someone lower on the scale - a Practical Thinker - stays more grounded in what's concrete and immediately useful. Their question is what will actually work here?

A team made entirely of people asking "what if" can generate incredible possibilities without ever choosing one. A team focused only on what's practical today can execute beautifully while missing a chance to rethink the bigger picture. Different problems call for different thinking, and Highlands frames it the same way - Practical Thinkers oriented toward concrete, applicable solutions, Conceptual Visualizers oriented toward imagining complex systems and possibilities.

So What Does an Aptitude Test Really Tell You?

Your results aren't really telling you you're good at this. They're giving you better questions to ask: How do I naturally solve problems? What role do I tend to play when a team gets stuck? Do I enjoy building something from scratch, or working within something that already exists? Do I generate possibilities, or want to move straight to action? Do I think first about the bigger system, or the problem right in front of me? And maybe most useful of all — where have I already seen these patterns show up in my life?

That last question is why I never just hand someone a report and explain what the numbers mean. We talk about it. I'll say, "Here's what this result tends to suggest - does that sound like you?" Sometimes the answer is an immediate yes. Sometimes a parent laughs because it's so familiar. Sometimes a student looks skeptical until we land on the right example. And every once in a while, we decide together that a result doesn't quite capture how that person experiences themselves - which is fine too. You know yourself better than any assessment does. The assessment gives us information; the conversation is where we figure out what that information actually means for you.

From Aptitude to Workplace Value

Once these patterns click, something else tends to happen. You start noticing that the things you've always written off as "just how I am" actually carry real value at work. The Fact Checker realizes careful, methodical research is a contribution, not just a personality quirk. The Diagnostic Problem Solver sees the value in spotting patterns quickly. The Process Supporter recognizes that keeping a good system running is every bit as necessary as designing it in the first place. The Focused Implementer realizes organizations are desperate for people who can actually carry an idea across the finish line.

It's one thing to understand about how you're wired. It's another thing entirely to be able to tell an employer, "Here's where I've used that ability, here's what I did, and here's the difference it made." That's what we'll get into next, with the help of my friend Jenna Bottolfsen, owner of Wallace Assocates.

Continue the Hidden Skills Series

Part 1: The Hidden Skills You Didn't Know You Had  - Why the things that come naturally to you may be some of your most valuable workplace strengths.

Coming next:  From Natural Ability to Workplace Skill - How to translate your abilities into resume language, and find the experiences that prove them.

At True Compass, we don't start by asking what job you should choose. We start by understanding you — because when you know who you are, you're much better equipped to know where you're going.