Indicator Tool
FAQs
Shirlaws Compass is a suite of behavioural assessment tools designed to help people understand how they communicate, lead, make decisions and work with others.
Unlike personality profiling, Compass focuses on behaviour in a business context. The aim is not to put people into boxes, but to give individuals and teams a practical language for understanding their natural preferences, recognising differences and adapting their behaviour when circumstances require it.
Shirlaws Compass is a suite of four behavioural assessment tools designed to improve self-awareness, communication, leadership, decision-making and team performance.
- Think Feel Know (TFK) — explores how people naturally process information and communicate.
- Entrepreneur Leader Manager (ELM) — identifies preferences across entrepreneurial, leadership and management behaviours.
- RISK — explores attitudes and behavioural preferences around risk and decision-making.
- PACE — helps people understand their natural working pace and how this affects performance and collaboration.
Individually, each indicator provides useful insight. Used together, they create a broader picture of how an individual or team operates in a business environment.
Compass focuses on behaviour rather than personality.
Personality assessments often seek to describe relatively enduring characteristics of an individual. Compass is designed to explore behavioural preferences in a practical business context — how someone tends to communicate, lead, make decisions or approach their work.
This distinction matters because behaviour can be recognised, discussed and consciously adapted.
Compass therefore isn’t about telling someone who they are. It helps them understand how they tend to behave and what they might do differently when the situation requires it.
No.
Compass identifies behavioural preferences rather than assigning people to fixed personality types.
Someone may have a strong natural preference for a particular behaviour while still being perfectly capable of using other behaviours. The value comes from understanding what feels most natural, recognising where different situations require something different, and developing the ability to adapt.
The indicators create a common language for discussing those differences without suggesting that one style is better than another.
Compass can be used by individuals, leadership teams, managers, organisations, coaches, consultants and facilitators.
It is particularly useful when organisations want to improve:
- communication and collaboration;
- leadership effectiveness;
- team dynamics;
- decision-making;
- organisational change;
- role clarity;
- management capability;
- coaching and development; and
- individual and team performance.
Compass can be used as a standalone development tool or incorporated into wider leadership, coaching, team-development and organisational programmes.
Think Feel Know (TFK) is a behavioural communication indicator that explores how people naturally process information, form conclusions and communicate with others.
The model identifies three behavioural preferences:
Think — a preference for logic, analysis, evidence and structured reasoning.
Feel — a preference for considering people, relationships, reactions and emotional impact.
Know — a preference for intuition, instinct, experience and reaching conclusions without necessarily needing to work consciously through every step.
Everyone can Think, Feel and Know. TFK explores the relative preference an individual has for each behaviour rather than assigning them to a single fixed type.
No.
Think, Feel and Know each bring different strengths.
A Think preference can bring analysis and logical challenge. A Feel preference can bring awareness of people and relationships. A Know preference can bring intuition, speed and pattern recognition.
Problems are more likely to arise when people assume that everyone else processes information in the same way they do.
Understanding TFK helps people recognise those differences and adapt how they communicate accordingly.
TFK helps people understand that communication is not simply about what we say, but also about how another person prefers to receive and process information.
For example, someone with a strong Think preference may want evidence and reasoning before reaching a conclusion. Someone with a Feel preference may want to understand the impact on people. Someone with a Know preference may reach an intuitive conclusion much more quickly.
Recognising these differences can reduce misunderstanding, improve meetings, strengthen relationships and help teams communicate more effectively.
Yes.
Some workplace conflict is caused not by fundamental disagreement but by differences in how people process and communicate information.
A Think preference may perceive a Know conclusion as insufficiently evidenced. A Know preference may experience a detailed Think explanation as unnecessarily slow. A Feel preference may notice interpersonal consequences that the others have overlooked.
TFK gives teams a neutral language for recognising these differences.
Instead of assuming “they don’t understand me”, the conversation can become “I may need to communicate this differently.”
Behaviour is influenced by context, experience, role and environment, so how someone behaves can certainly change.
Compass should therefore be viewed as a picture of behavioural preference rather than a permanent label.
The purpose of TFK is not to predict how someone will always behave. It is to help them understand what tends to come naturally and where consciously adapting their approach may improve communication and performance.
Yes.
TFK can be particularly useful when teams work remotely because many of the contextual cues available during face-to-face communication are reduced.
Understanding whether colleagues tend to prefer detailed reasoning, interpersonal context or concise intuitive conclusions can help teams adapt emails, meetings, presentations and online conversations to the people receiving them.
Entrepreneur Leader Manager (ELM) is a behavioural indicator that explores an individual’s preferences across three important business behaviours: Entrepreneur, Leader and Manager.
Entrepreneur behaviour tends to focus on opportunity, ideas, innovation and what could happen next.
Leader behaviour tends to focus on direction, engagement, alignment and bringing people with them.
Manager behaviour tends to focus on structure, organisation, delivery, process and making things happen consistently.
Everyone uses all three behaviours. ELM helps identify which come most naturally and which may require greater conscious effort.
The distinction is primarily about behavioural focus rather than job title.
An Entrepreneur tends to ask: What could we do?
A Leader tends to ask: Where are we going and how do we bring people with us?
A Manager tends to ask: How are we going to deliver it?
Healthy organisations need all three.
ELM helps individuals and teams recognise where these behaviours are strong and where gaps or imbalances may be affecting performance.
No.
Entrepreneur in ELM describes a behavioural preference, not whether somebody owns a company.
Entrepreneurial behaviour can appear anywhere within an organisation. Someone may naturally identify opportunities, challenge assumptions, generate ideas and imagine different possibilities regardless of their formal role.
Similarly, someone with the title of entrepreneur or founder may actually display stronger Leader or Manager behavioural preferences.
ELM can reveal the behavioural balance within a leadership team.
For example, a team with strong Entrepreneur behaviour may generate many opportunities but struggle to convert them into consistent execution. A heavily Manager-oriented team may deliver efficiently but devote insufficient attention to future opportunities. Strong leadership behaviour may help create direction and alignment but still require entrepreneurial and managerial behaviours around it.
There is no universally perfect combination.
The value lies in understanding the team’s current balance and whether it is appropriate for what the organisation is trying to achieve.
The Compass RISK indicator explores behavioural preferences around uncertainty, opportunity and decision-making.
can interpret the same opportunity or situation very differently. One person may focus naturally on the potential upside while another immediately considers what might go wrong.
Neither response is automatically right or wrong.
Understanding these preferences helps individuals and teams have better conversations about risk rather than assuming everyone sees risk in the same way.
Differences in risk preference can influence strategy, investment, innovation, recruitment, acquisitions and everyday business decisions.
More risk-oriented individuals may become frustrated when others appear overly cautious. More risk-conscious individuals may believe colleagues are moving too quickly or overlooking important consequences.
Making those differences visible allows the team to distinguish between the actual risk being considered and their behavioural response to that risk.
That can produce more balanced and deliberate decision-making.
PACE explores an individual’s natural behavioural preference around the speed and rhythm at which they work.
Different people can be highly effective while operating at very different natural paces.
Understanding those differences can help individuals manage their own performance and help teams recognise why colleagues may approach urgency, deadlines, workload and decision-making differently
No.
Speed and effectiveness are not the same thing.
Different situations require different levels of pace. Some circumstances demand rapid action, while others benefit from reflection, consistency and sustained attention.
PACE is not designed to identify who works hardest or fastest. It helps people understand their natural preference and recognise when they may need to consciously accelerate, slow down or work differently.
Each Compass indicator is designed to be straightforward to complete and typically takes around 8–12 minutes.
Once completed, the results provide a practical basis for individual reflection, coaching conversations, team discussions and facilitated development sessions.
Yes.
Compass can be particularly powerful when individual results are brought together to create a team-level view.
This allows teams to explore patterns that may not be obvious from individual reports alone, such as dominant behavioural preferences, potential gaps and areas where differences could be creating friction or opportunity.
The objective is not to create an ideal team profile. It is to understand the team you actually have and how its behavioural composition may affect the way it operates.
Compass is primarily designed as a development and performance tool, not as a simple pass/fail recruitment test.
Its greatest value comes from helping people understand behavioural preferences and creating better conversations about communication, leadership, decision-making and performance.
Where behavioural information is considered as part of recruitment or development, it should be interpreted in context rather than used in isolation to determine whether somebody is suitable for a role.
No assessment can reliably reduce future success to a single behavioural profile.
Compass identifies preferences and provides a framework for understanding behaviour. It does not label particular profiles as successful or unsuccessful.
Different environments, roles and challenges require different behaviours.
The important question is therefore not “Is this a good profile?” but “What does this profile tell us, and how can we use that understanding effectively?”
Yes.
Compass is particularly effective when used as a starting point for coaching, leadership development and team conversations.
The indicators provide a shared language that allows discussions to move beyond general observations such as “we need to communicate better” and toward more specific questions about how people are behaving, where differences exist and what could be consciously adapted.
Not necessarily.
Individual reports are designed to provide useful insight in their own right. However, facilitated conversations can add significant value when Compass is being used with leadership teams, during organisational change, or as part of a broader development programme.
A facilitator or licensed practitioner can help teams interpret patterns, explore differences and translate the results into practical actions.
Yes.
Each indicator explores a different aspect of behaviour:
TFK — how we process and communicate information.
ELM — how we approach entrepreneurial, leadership and management behaviour.
RISK — how we approach uncertainty and risk.
PACE — how we approach the speed and rhythm of work.
Using the indicators together provides a broader behavioural picture and can help explain why people who are equally capable may approach the same business situation very differently.
No.
There is no universally correct Compass profile.
Every behavioural preference can create strengths in one situation and challenges in another.
The purpose of Compass is therefore not to tell people what they should be. It is to increase awareness of their natural preferences so they can make more conscious choices about how they behave.
Awareness creates choice — and choice creates the opportunity to adapt.
Start by considering where the results feel familiar and where they challenge your assumptions about yourself.
Then consider three questions:
- Where does this behavioural preference help me?
- Where could it limit me?
- What might I consciously do differently?
When Compass is used within a team, the next step is often even more valuable: comparing preferences and discussing how those differences affect communication, decision-making, leadership and performance.
The purpose of the assessment is not the report itself.
The value comes from the conversations and behavioural choices that follow it.
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Individuals, business teams and entire organisations can all benefit from taking Compass indicators.
Complete a single indicator or invest in a Compass 4 pack to receive a holistic overview of all four behaviours.
I would recommend Think Feel Know to any company that wants a fast and simple way to first understand and then improve communication across the business.
Sara Daw, The FD Centre
Compass is incredibly practical, easy to grasp and actionable.
Kate Anderson, morph b2b
Entrepreneur Leader Manager is a powerful tool which unlocks partnership dynamics and supports understanding of differences.
Roddy Cameron, UK
Entrepreneur Leader Manager proved to be a powerful predictive tool for the strategic focal points that emerged from our planning session and helped set the tone for open, constructive dialogue and fast, aligned decision-making amongst the partnership.
Chris Cook, Canada
ELM has really good cut through into why a business might not be functioning as well as it could be and not achieving what it should.
Alastair Kight, Juma Investments
We have been using Compass Pace Indicators with our clients for many years now and find them extremely beneficial and complimentary to our programs. Their online systems are well designed and user friendly and they always provide prompt and professional support.
Karen Finucane, Captain of Logistics, Next Evolution Performance
The Risk indicator was truly eye opening. It revealed how each of us makes decisions and enabled us to address some underlying frustrations in our team.
Kathy Ryan, Chair & Founder, RoseRyan
Now I know my Risk profile and my team’s Risk profile, I know we have the right team to implement our strategic plan. I think it’s an incredibly powerful exercise to do.
Belinda Vesey-Brown, MD, Brio Group