PXT Select Scoring Distribution

Learn more about how the PXT Select scores are normed and what they means when you are analyzing results.

Score Distribution for the PXT Select

In this video I want to talk about the distribution of the scores on the PXT Select. When you look at your own scores or the scores of others, you’ll notice that they fall either far-left, far-right, or in the middle. That has bearing on the way that we look at those scores for a couple of reasons.

The Bell Curve

First let’s look at the distribution of the scores so that we can put it in the context of why it’s important. Think about the shape of a bell curve that’s laid across the range of one to ten. As you can see, when we get too far-left or far-right there’s fewer people who score there. Only 2.5 percent of the working population as an example would score far-left or far-right.

Then as we go towards the middle we get a higher concentration of distribution. That’s important because when we have a score again for ourselves or for somebody else that falls in that very pronounced outside range it means that the score, I’m sorry, it means that the trait, will come out more frequently. It will be stronger when we see it. It will be less likely to shift or to change to the other style, because it’s it’s just more pronounced, sort of dug in if you will. For any scores that fall in the middle there’s a greater likelihood and a higher amount of ease for that individual to flex those muscles, to shift a little left or a little right depending on the situation or depending on the individual that they’re speaking to.

Again neither of these situations is right or wrong; it is what it is. But when we can put that in the context of how somebody is going about the particular task at hand or how they’re interacting another person we understand the degree to which that trait is is coming out throughout that work task or interaction.

PXT Score Distribution in Practice

Let’s look at an example so we could see how this would play out in a real life. For instance the decisiveness scale. People who score on the far-left are ones that really like a lot of information and data before moving ahead. The people who score on the far-right are going be wanting to keep it going with whatever information that they have and assume that risk. Imagine two people on different ends of that scale trying to work together to make a decision within the same parameters and the same timeline. It could be very frustrating one wants to say “wait, we need more information” and the others like “we need to keep this going.”

Without an appreciation of the value that each of those styles bring it’s hard to make an adjustment and it’s harder for somebody who’s sort of dug into their natural way. Raising that awareness of your own approach and the needs of the situation will really help both parties work together for the best end outcome.

As I always say there’s no right or wrong or good or bad, but how pronounced these traits are will make a difference for how the person comes into the situation. Keeping that in mind will help you understand more about the individual and how to improve communication.