Dr. Steven Chen is a certified Highlands Ability Battery consultant and has been an affiliate of The Highlands Company for 25 years – and has administered, interpreted and coached thousands of individuals.

The Highlands Ability Battery (HAB) is an assessment that measures natural abilities.  The person taking the assessment performs exercises and their results are used to assess natural abilities.  The results are based on performance, which is a more reliable measure of abilities than opinion or self-perception.

It takes approximately 3 hours to take the entire assessment which includes 19 parts.  You don’t have to take the entire assessment all at once.  You can break up the various sections and it is administered online.

Research indicates that natural abilities stabilize around age 14.  If your natural ability is high in a particular area, it makes tasks or activities easy to complete, requiring less time, effort, and energy to perform.  When you are in an environment where you use your natural abilities, you are happier and perform your best.  Conversely, when you are in an environment that doesn’t utilize your natural abilities, you have more difficulty completing tasks and you may be more frustrated and stressed.  As compared to Abilities which are your natural talents, skills can be learned over time, with repeated practice.

The HAB measures the following abilities:

Visual speed and accuracy

Ability to work with numbers and designs

Inductive reasoning

Analytical reasoning

Idea flow

Verbal aptitude

Structural visualization

Musical aptitude

Memory

Vocabulary (a learned skill) which is helpful in professions such as law or business

After you complete the assessment, you will receive a customized report that provide insight into how you think and where you will thrive.

Your natural abilities are categorized into three areas:

Personal Style

1. Extrovert – finds interactions with others energizing.  They find interacting with others the best way to think through ideas, problems, and plans.
2. Introvert – wants to work alone. They take breaks from people when continuously working or studying around others.  They take time to think reflectively before speaking.
3. Time-Frame – measures the amount of time you naturally plan. Some people focus on the here and now or possibly plan up to one year.  Others focus on long term plans, making goals for years in advance.

Driving Abilities

1. Classification – refers to the ability to solve problems diagnostically, identify unifying principles, and synthesize information.
2. Concept Organization – refers to the ability to reason analytically. It refers to the ability to organize different processes, decision making and communication skills.
3. Idea Productivity – the ability to generate many ideas at one time.
4. Spatial Relations Theory – measures 3-dimensional abstract reasoning.
5. Spatial Relations Visualization – measures 3-dimensional structural reasoning.

Specialized Abilities

These are abilities like design, observation, verbal, tonal, and rhythm memory.

If you would like more information about how the HAB can benefit you and your life, please contact Dr. Chen.