DDI Invests in Start-Up Company Rhabit for New Tech That Brings Fast, On-the-Job Feedback to Leaders

PITTSBURGH, April 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Did your boss do a poor job delegating work across your team this week? Swipe left. Did a fellow manager do a great job coaching you through a project? Swipe right.

Global leadership consulting firm DDI today announced that it is investing in Rhabit, a start-up talent development company whose new software makes it as simple as a swipe on a smartphone for employees to give feedback about how their leaders are performing. DDI intends to integrate Rhabit's software into its leadership development programs to help measure how well leaders apply what they've learned on the job.

"Too often the focus of leadership training is on what goes on in the classroom, but what really matters is what leaders do when they walk out of it," said Doug Reynolds, Ph.D., executive vice president of innovations and technology at DDI. "Since DDI was founded in 1970, we have made it our mission to not only develop great leaders, but to measure how well leaders practice and apply the skills we teach them. With our investment in Rhabit, we look forward to making it faster and easier for people to give feedback on how leaders are doing, enabling leaders to build their strengths and quickly spot areas for improvement to boost their performance."

DDI's capital investment in Rhabit is through DDI's Innovation Fund, a strategic corporate venture fund for DDI's investments in cutting-edge companies and technologies that complement DDI's existing suite of leadership selection, leadership development, succession planning, and consulting solutions.

"At Rhabit, we are obsessed with measuring, understanding, and growing great people and work cultures for our clients," said Kevin Kelly, CEO and Co-Founder of Rhabit. "Because DDI works alongside many of the world's top companies on their leadership development initiatives, they are an ideal partner to help us bring our technology to a wide range of companies whose people are as passionate as we are about creating high-performance work cultures. We look forward to building a powerful relationship with DDI that will help leaders around the world become more effective in their jobs."

What is the Rhabit platform?

The Rhabit platform is an easy-to-use workplace feedback tool that enables people to regularly and anonymously give feedback to their team members, providing key insights to help managers become more effective leaders. The platform measures a wide range of behaviors that align with company values such as effective delegating, communicating, planning, and coaching. The platform sends simple prompts to employees about once a week to encourage them to report whether they've observed these behaviors in their leaders by responding with a quick swipe left, right, or down on their smartphone. The process is quick, simple, and psychologically safe.

Rhabit helps team members at every level of an organization gain self-insight. Leaders use Rhabit to understand how others are perceiving their actions, helping them identify strengths and areas where they may be struggling. Beyond helping individual leaders, the software plays a crucial role for human resources professionals who need accurate data to help build a high-performance culture, identify their top performers, and inform their strategic investments in employee development.

"We see ourselves as creative scientists willing to push the boundaries of traditional talent management," said Chief Scientist and Co-Founder Alexander Schwall. "We make beautiful, useful software that helps grow engaged, productive work cultures with minimal time investment for both implementation and user input."

How will DDI and Rhabit work together?

DDI will integrate Rhabit's technology into its leadership development programs to measure how well leaders demonstrate leadership skills before, during, and after the program. The data will help leaders see how well they're using new skills, and how changes in their behaviors can improve their effectiveness in their jobs.

"One of the biggest problems learning and development professionals have is how to ensure that investments in development programs deliver long-lasting change in how well their leaders perform," said Reynolds. "This technology will help us demonstrate proof of impact in real time. In addition, it will help HR gain commitment from leaders to develop their skills as they see measurable impact on the job."

About DDI

DDI is a global leadership consulting firm that helps organizations hire, promote and develop exceptional leaders. From first-time managers to C-suite executives, DDI is by leaders' sides, supporting them in every critical moment of leadership. Built on five decades of research and experience in the science of leadership, DDI's evidence-based assessment and development solutions enable millions of leaders around the world to succeed, propelling their organizations to new heights. For more information, visit ddiworld.com.

About Rhabit

Born from a love of analytics and organizational psychology, Rhabit makes beautiful, human-centered software that helps companies build high-performing work cultures through feedback. Rhabit envisions a world where people have an incredible amount of agency and support for finding ways to be effective and engaged in their work life, regardless of where they fall in the organizational structure. Rhabit empowers companies to observe, measure, and grow quickly and effectively. It was founded by Kevin Kelly and Alexander Schwall, Ph.D., in 2017 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA.

Contact:

Beth Almes
PR Manager, DDI
[email protected]
412-257-3623

SOURCE DDI