Today, Crucial Learning, a learning company with courses in communication, performance and leadership, announced that it has acquired Core Strengths, a California-based assessment and training company.

Core Strengths is home to the Strength Deployment Inventory (SDI 2.0), a best-in-class assessment that delivers powerful personal insights into why we behave the way we do and how we relate to others. People learn how their core motives and values drive their behaviors, both in productive collaboration and in moments of conflict. The self-awareness gained from these insights helps people improve their performance and strengthen relationships.

People experience the SDI 2.0 assessment through the Core Strengths Platform which allows clients to access their individual assessment results as well as the results of their colleagues. This broad access to results extends the life of the assessment and ensures anyone can access valuable relationship intelligence on-demand to improve team collaboration and performance.

Effective immediately, Crucial Learning will acquire the Core Strengths products, technology, processes and workforce. In coming months, the SDI 2.0 and Core Strengths Platform will be integrated into the Crucial Learning product suite which includes the award-winning courses Crucial Conversations® for Mastering Dialogue, Crucial Conversations® for Accountability, Crucial Influence®, The Power of Habit™, and Getting Things Done®.

Crucial Learning leadership says the acquisition allows them to broaden their solutions and better serve their clients.

“We have been looking for a world-class assessment tool to help us respond to client interest and demand,” said Andy Shimberg, CEO of Crucial Learning. “We are confident we’ve found the right partner in Core Strengths. The SDI 2.0 meets our high standards of quality and client experience. Not only does it deliver performance-enhancing personal insight, but it has also helped organizations improve collaboration, teamwork and bottom-line results for the last 50 years.”

The SDI 2.0 assessment and corresponding Core Strengths learning solutions are complementary to the Crucial Learning offerings and will help clients experience the following:

• Improve relationship intelligence. The SDI 2.0 measures people’s core motives, how they experience conflict, their strengths, and how those strengths can be overdone. With these four views, it delivers personalized insights to help people develop trust and build productive relationships.
• Apply dialogue and accountability skills more effectively to increase collaboration. The SDI 2.0 reveals cues as to why people experience conflict, stress and tension. When armed with these relationship insights, participants can use dialogue and accountability skills more effectively.
• Build better teams. When people learn why they behave the way they do – how their core motives and values drive their behaviors—and when they have this same insight about others—they can build healthier, happier relationships and more effective teams.

Ultimately, the pairing of the Crucial Learning skill-based content and unique ability to produce world-class learning courses with Core Strengths’ assessment and platform represents an exciting new phase of growth and opportunity for the organization.

“We are thrilled to add the Core Strengths products and team to Crucial Learning,” said Shimberg. “Not only does this acquisition allow us to better serve our clients, but we are better equipped than ever to deliver on our mission to improve the world by teaching people skills to improve themselves.”

The acquisition was made effective on January 1, 2024.

About Crucial Learning

Crucial Learning improves the world by helping people improve themselves. We offer courses in the areas of communication, performance, and leadership, focusing on behaviors that have a disproportionate impact on outcomes, called crucial skills. Our award-winning courses and accompanying bestselling books include Crucial Conversations®, Crucial Accountability ®, Crucial Influence®, The Power of Habit™, and Getting Things Done®. cruciallearning.com

About Core Strengths

Core Strengths’ mission is to make work better by helping people improve their relationships. Built on 50 years of science, Relationship Intelligence (RQ) empowers leaders and teams to build trust, generate commitment, and drive results. Over 5 million users in organizations worldwide rely on Core Strengths to assess personality, develop employees, and build winning teams.

MEDIA CONTACT: Brittney Maxfield, +1-801-755-2809, brittney.maxfield@cruciallearning.com