Key Concepts
Protu measures how people work, not what they know. This page explains the ideas behind the platform and the language it uses.
The Assessment
Section titled “The Assessment”Everything starts with a 15–20 minute conversation. No trick questions, no right answers — just natural responses that reveal how someone works.
The system observes how people respond across different contexts to identify consistent behavioural patterns. Those patterns become the foundation for everything Protu surfaces: individual profiles, team insights, and hiring intelligence.
Learn more about the research behind this model in Principles.
10 Behavioural Dimensions
Section titled “10 Behavioural Dimensions”Protu measures behaviour across 10 areas — we call these markers. Each one captures a distinct aspect of how someone works and contributes.
| Marker | What it captures |
|---|---|
| Growth Mindset | Orientation toward learning, embracing challenges, and development |
| Leadership | Ability to guide, influence, and inspire others |
| Creativity | Novel ideas, innovative thinking, and exploring possibilities |
| Open-mindedness | Receptiveness to different perspectives and tolerance of ambiguity |
| Accountability | Ownership, follow-through, and personal standards |
| Perseverance | Persistence, focus, and resilience under pressure |
| Social Awareness | Reading social dynamics, empathy, and interpersonal skills |
| Teamwork | Collaboration, relationship building, and group contribution |
| Transparency | Open communication, honesty, and information sharing |
| Self-awareness | Understanding own emotions, strengths, and limitations |
There’s no “good” or “bad” pattern — different roles and teams benefit from different combinations.
The detail underneath
Section titled “The detail underneath”Each marker is built from granular behavioural signals called submarkers. There are roughly 100 across the platform. They’re the operational layer that powers Protu’s analysis — markers summarise, submarkers provide the signal.
Here are some examples:
| Submarker | Parent marker | What it captures |
|---|---|---|
| Foresight | Leadership | Anticipating future needs and planning ahead |
| Collaboration | Teamwork | Working effectively with others toward shared goals |
| Adaptability | Open-mindedness | Adjusting approach when circumstances change |
| Emotional Regulation | Self-awareness | Managing emotional responses under pressure |
| Initiative | Growth Mindset | Taking action without waiting to be asked |
| Resilience | Perseverance | Recovering from setbacks and maintaining focus |
| Integrity | Transparency | Acting consistently with stated values |
| Ownership | Accountability | Taking personal responsibility for outcomes |
Impact and Influence
Section titled “Impact and Influence”Protu describes behaviour at two levels.
Impact
Section titled “Impact”At the marker level, Protu measures someone’s potential impact — how much they bring to a behavioural area. Impact is described in five levels:
| Level | Name | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | Exceptional | Among the strongest in this dimension |
| 4 | Standout | Notably strong, often visible to others |
| 3 | Established | Solid capability, continuing to develop |
| 2 | Developing | Building capability, room to grow |
| 1 | Starting | Early stage, significant growth opportunity |
Influence
Section titled “Influence”At the submarker level, Protu measures potential influence — how someone’s behaviour shows up in practice. Everyone has a dominant influence style: the way they naturally affect those around them. No style is better than another.
| Style | How they influence |
|---|---|
| Catalyst | Direct, transformative, visionary — sparks change and challenges convention |
| Supercharge | Energising, momentum-building — activates others and drives pace |
| Optimise | Relational, connecting, harmonising — builds bridges and strengthens relationships |
| Enable | Facilitating, adaptive, space-creating — helps others do their best work |
| Support | Grounding, stabilising, structural — provides consistency and reliability |
What You See in a Profile
Section titled “What You See in a Profile”Individual profiles translate behavioural data into practical signals.
Influences Through highlights the submarkers where someone shows notably higher influence potential relative to others.
Engage For identifies situations where someone’s behavioural patterns are especially valuable — helping teams recognise when to involve particular people.
Growth Opportunities highlight areas where someone has room to develop, with context for why it matters.
These insights help teams understand not only how someone measures, but how they may contribute in practice.
Team Intelligence
Section titled “Team Intelligence”When three or more team members complete assessments, Protu generates insights into how the team functions as a collective system — we call this Team Intelligence.
- Composition — the behavioural distribution across all markers within the team
- Dynamics — how individual patterns interact and where influence flows between members
- Gaps and Strengths — areas where the team lacks coverage or demonstrates strong capability
- Bridges — individuals on multiple teams, connecting groups through coordination and information flow
- Trajectory — how your team’s patterns are changing over time
- Opportunities — identified gaps that could improve composition and dynamics
- Stretched employees — people who may be behaviourally stretched thin across responsibilities
See the full Team Intelligence guide.
How intelligence compounds
Section titled “How intelligence compounds”Assessment responses produce ~100 submarker signals. These are weighted and mapped into 10 markers and inform influence classification. Individual profiles combine at the team level, where Protu analyses how patterns interact across members.
Each layer enriches the next. A person’s profile means more in the context of their team, and a team’s intelligence sharpens as more profiles complete.
Where intelligence appears
Section titled “Where intelligence appears”Protu spreads its intelligence across six connected views. Clicking names, teams, or insights links between them — there are no dead ends.
| Surface | What it shows | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Team Summary | Headline intelligence, stability, hiring pipeline | Quick team health check |
| Team Intelligence | Full composition, dynamics, scenarios, trajectory | Deep team analysis |
| Employee Profile | Individual patterns, growth opportunities, related profiles | Manager view of a person |
| Employee Insights | Personal profile with trait deep-dives | Employee’s own self-view |
| Candidate Insights | Behavioural profile and team fit | Hiring managers evaluating candidates |
| Candidate Profile | Personal profile with markers and submarkers | Candidate’s own self-view |
Behavioural Structure
Section titled “Behavioural Structure”Protu analyses teams by modelling how behavioural patterns combine and interact across members. Rather than categorising people into fixed roles, it examines how signals distribute across the team.
This allows the platform to surface patterns such as concentration of influence, missing perspectives, or areas of strong coverage. It’s what powers the Composition and Dynamics lenses.
Protu’s Approach
Section titled “Protu’s Approach”Discovery, not declaration. Protu identifies behavioural patterns through responses, not self-assigned labels.
Comparison, not fit. When evaluating candidates, Protu shows how someone would change a team’s behavioural structure — not whether they “fit.”
Insights over scores. Metrics are available, but the emphasis is on what they reveal and how to act on them.
Transparency. Every insight traces back to the markers and submarkers that produced it.
Language and Terminology
Section titled “Language and Terminology”Protu uses specific language to reflect how it thinks about behaviour. These distinctions shape how teams interpret and act on insights.
| Protu uses | Not this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Behavioural patterns | Personality traits | Behaviour is observable and contextual; personality implies fixed |
| Behavioural assessment | Personality test | Assessment captures patterns; tests imply pass/fail |
| Markers | Traits, characteristics | Markers are structured dimensions, not labels |
| Impact levels | Scores, ratings | Levels describe potential, not ranking |
| Compare | Match, fit | We show how someone would change a team, not whether they conform |
| Team composition | Team structure | Composition is about behavioural mix; structure is hierarchy |
| Intelligence | Analytics | Intelligence implies insight and action, not just data |
Glossary
Section titled “Glossary”| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Adaptability | How flexibly a team responds to change |
| Bridge | An employee on 2+ teams, connecting them |
| Candidate | Someone being assessed for a role |
| Cohesion | How tightly a team aligns in its behavioural patterns |
| Confidence level | How reliable Team Intelligence is (High/Moderate/Limited) |
| Employee | A team member who has completed (or been invited to) an assessment |
| Engage for | Situations where someone’s behavioural patterns are especially valuable |
| Impact | Potential contribution within a behavioural domain (measured by markers) |
| Influence | How behaviour shows up in practice (measured by submarkers) |
| Influence style | How someone naturally influences others (Catalyst, Supercharge, Optimise, Enable, Support) |
| Marker | One of 10 high-level behavioural dimensions |
| Opportunity | Identified gaps in a team’s composition |
| Role | A hiring position you’re recruiting for |
| Scenario | A “what-if” simulation of adding, removing, or replacing someone |
| Stretched | An employee behaviourally stretched thin across multiple teams |
| Team hiring | Evaluating candidates in the context of the team they’d join |
| Influences through | Submarkers where someone shows notably higher influence potential |
| Submarker | One of ~100 granular behavioural indicators within markers |
| Team Intelligence | Insights into how a team functions as a collective system |
| Trajectory | How a team’s patterns are changing over time |