Tool 8: Assessing Your Values, Decision Style, and Readiness for Change Using the Hartman Value Profile

The Hartman Value Profile (HVP) is not a personality test like Myers-Briggs or the DISC Profile (though if you like those kinds of tests, you will probably enjoy this one too). This tool is an assessment instrument developed by Christian philosopher Robert S. Hartman in the mid-20th century.

What Is the HVP?

A test that you can take for free in 15 minutes or less, the Hartman Value Profile is designed primarily to help you understand what you value and in turn to illuminate how you make decisions, choices, and judgments.

Results are broken down into two parts—one related more to doing in the external world (how your values and judgments affect how you work) and the second to being (who you are on the inside). The test even has spiritual implications, with its concepts of values and judgment being rooted in the Old Testament idea of wisdom (hokma) and the New Testament idea of discernment (sophia), which Paul saw as a spiritual gift.

Why Take the HVP?

The HVP will help you understand your life and yourself in the present; results can vary over your lifetime (since values and decision-making styles change), and they can even differ from one year to the next. The HVP can specifically help you answer questions related to:

Your ability to handle life changes or transitions
Your readiness to retire or to move to a new phase in your career/work
Whether you are headed for a personal crisis (midlife or anytime) or—if you’re already in a crisis (or recovering from one)—aspects of your decision-making style that may be helping or hurting you
Frustrations, recurrent troubles, or nagging dissatisfaction in your personal or work life
Personal tendencies that may be causing you to shoot yourself in the foot

The Hartman Value Profile is unlike personality tests in several ways, starting with the spiritual commitment of its founder. The HVP is based on a branch of philosophy called axiology rather than on Freudian-based psychology. In addition, the HVP will result in a mathematically valid score that is objective, unlike subjective personality tests. And results don’t tend to stay static—therefore, it’s good to complete it more than once.

Take the HVP for Free, and Get a Special Recalibrate Report

You can take the HVP at https://gladwoodllc.com/recalibrate. In addition to a free standard report of your results using the “Byrum Method” (Steve Byrum was a first-generation student of Hartman himself—it’s truest to the original intent of the HVP), as a reader of Recalibrate Your Life, you will also receive an exclusive “Readiness for Change” report. This special report pulls out certain aspects of the HVP results that speak directly to life change. Specifically, it provides insight into the following questions (including suggestions for how to address weak spots or problem areas):

How strong am I at dealing with change?
How good of a decision-maker am I, especially in high-pressure situations?
How much problem-solving energy do I have?
When I’m faced with a problem, how much information do I need to make a decision?
Can I balance my resources and energy to meet both my own needs and the needs of others?
Can I identify what is most important in a complex situation?
Am I more realistic or idealistic?
How well do I maintain a positive, productive attitude in the face of personal stress?
How do I respond to criticism, both from myself and from others?
Will my attitude toward my daily tasks/work help or hinder me in a stressful transition?
What value do I place on social contacts, relational engagements, and interpersonal activities?
What value do I place on doing tasks, engaging with projects, and working to accomplish some productive goal?
What value do I place on learning new information, making connections between ideas, and being mentally stimulated by new environments?

If you’re in the middle of a life transition right now, we recommend you take the test now and again six months to a year from now. Although it’s optional, for a fee you can add a half-hour consultation session with an expert who will help you interpret your results after you receive them. (We highly recommend doing this because it tends to be illuminating and helps you know what to do with your results.)

Hartman Value Profile Testimonials

"[The HVP and subsequent consulting] decisively provided insights soaring well beyond any tool … we had worked with previously. … We use the HVP assessment at JANSON as a component of our HR [human resources] program. The results of this critical assessment provide an additional layer of intelligence that has aided in the strengthening of our organizational alignment."

"I consider the Hartman Value Profile as astoundingly illuminating for me personally, and a divine tool for fostering business development and team cohesion."

"Never in the past have I experienced such a remarkable and accurate assessment!"

Recalibrate Your Life: Navigating Transitions with Purpose and Hope

Times of transition, especially in midlife or later life, are ideal moments for recalibrating our priorities and habits. Gain practical tools and the eternal perspective needed to evaluate your God-given gifts, skills, wisdom, resources, and opportunities in order to life meaningfully now and for the rest of your earthly sojourn.