Research in Personality Analysis – IPA Core
Understanding human development as an integral journey
Highest Rating
As an author, Flemming Anders Olsen was responsible for developing a personality assessment that achieved the highest rating among Nordic providers. For more than 30 years, Cand. Phil. Flemming Anders Olsen has developed analytical tools for people in working life. His long career in the field spans multiple theoretical angles on how individuals understand themselves professionally. His work includes classical trait theory, Belbin’s and Adizes’ models on roles and leadership styles, and a unique concept concerning personal values, inspired in part by Ken Wilber’s and Robert Kegan’s developmental psychology.
Olsen has also conducted the core research underlying IPA Nordic’s analytical tools, bringing extensive experience to ensure the quality of the company’s assessments. In collaboration with a Nordic consulting firm, he authored a personality assessment that received the highest evaluation among Nordic test providers. The evaluation was performed by STP (Stiftelsen för tillämpad Psykologi) and assessed by researchers from multiple Swedish universities. He has since carried out further research projects for Scandinavian organizations. The research forming the basis of IPA Nordic’s assessment tools is rooted in his extensive expertise and is recognized by IPA Nordic’s clients as leading within Denmark.
Theoretical Foundation
IPA is founded on the assumption that people develop through qualitative leaps. These shifts occur between mental platforms defined by personal patterns of thought, interpretation, and self-perception. Each platform differs fundamentally from the others, yet development follows a clear direction where the movement from one platform to the next represents a significant personal and historical shift toward a higher level of consciousness.
IPA identifies four qualitatively different mental platforms, expressed as four Core Factors. Development on one platform depends on what has been developed on the others; the human being is viewed as an integrated, dynamic whole.
Transitioning to a new platform involves integrating the strengths of the previous one. What was once a goal becomes a means for new ambitions, new personal standards, and a new way of understanding oneself and interpreting one’s role in the world. A new platform embraces all previous platforms, allowing earlier assumptions to be examined consciously rather than lived unconsciously.
The core questions addressed by IPA Analysis correspond directly to the four Core Factors:
– How do I perceive reality, its boundaries, and its possibilities?
– How do I handle adversity and resistance on the path toward my goals?
– How do I connect with and approach other people?
– How do I realize my personal potential and find my own way?
The model also explores the relationship between personality, job performance, and job satisfaction, identifying which aspects of personality are relevant for a specific role or team. The four platforms clarify how an individual will approach and manage a given job. Method, Result, and Relation factors function together as a dynamic developmental cycle.
Individuals may move through these developmental phases multiple times throughout life. Significant life events may require a complete rethinking of one’s worldview, prompting a renewed understanding of earlier assumptions, personal identity, relationships, and fundamental questions about the meaning of life.
Psychometrics
IPA Analysis is grounded in extensive normative research based on a database of tens of thousands of assessments, with thousands added annually. Comparisons of median and mean values across populations show robust underlying normal distributions on all scales.
A correlation matrix across pairwise trait combinations supports the existence of:
– a common factor for Method
– a common factor for Result (impact)
– a common factor for Social (Relation)
Personal Growth does not form a unified meta-factor; its traits affect growth potential but do not stem from a single underlying personality source.
Type & Norm Groups
Type
IPA Core Personality is an ipsative assessment using forced-choice formats, where respondents must choose between several equally weighted statements. This technique enables precise, differentiated feedback on individual tendencies.
Norm Groups
Results are presented relative to norm groups. Scores are converted into percentile distributions benchmarked against a demographically representative sample (e.g., the Danish norm group).
Validity
Face Validity - Participants’ immediate sense of recognition and transparency - is exceptionally high for IPA Nordic’s assessments. Additional validation is supported by:
– comparison of median and mean values confirming normal distribution
– correlation matrices as part of meta-factor analysis
A correlation matrix across pairwise trait combinations supports the existence of:
– a common factor for Method
– a common factor for Result (impact)
– a common factor for Social (Relation)
Personal Growth does not form a unified meta-factor; its traits affect growth potential but do not stem from a single underlying personality source.
IPA Research
The Integral Idea is an analytical framework describing the human developmental journey. IPA research focuses on personality analysis within this developmental perspective. Every stage represents a distinct way of thinking, feeling, and acting, shaping how individuals perceive reality, overcome challenges, form relationships, and create meaning.
Kegan’s developmental theory underpins the model: development arises from the dynamic tension between Integration and Differentiation. Movement through stages requires shifts in consciousness, where old assumptions are transformed and integrated into new perspectives. Development requires cognitive understanding, emotional anchoring, and behavioral execution.
IPA’s four mental platforms translate developmental theory into measurable behavioral factors. This operationalization allows the assessment of concrete actions, interpersonal behavior, needs, motivations, and the ways individuals address challenges. The model recognizes that each developmental shift requires time, reflection, and emotional integration before it becomes stable behavior.
Introduction to the Integral Idea
The IPA Core is founded on the principle of understanding human development as an integrated journey. Just as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs provides a framework for understanding motivation, the Integral Idea synthesises existing psychological theories into a unified view of how individuals evolve through life.
This perspective sees personal development as a continuous process that can be studied, described and measured through research in personality analysis. IPA’s work builds on this foundation to explore how people think, feel and act—and how these patterns shape our experiences and relationships.
The Core of the Integral Idea
At the heart of the Integral Idea lies the concept of developmental stages. Each stage represents a qualitatively different way of perceiving the world and relating to others. Human growth, in this view, is not only about change but about expanding our capacity for understanding ourselves and our surroundings.
IPA’s research focuses on mapping these shifts in perception and behaviour, providing insight into how personality develops across life stages and how these insights can be applied in assessment, leadership and organisational development.
Our Life and Development Journey
Human development is not a linear process but a journey through distinct stages—each representing a qualitatively different way of perceiving and engaging with the world. As in Maslow’s model, development follows a natural direction, where the shift from one stage to another marks both a personal and historical leap in consciousness.
According to developmental psychologist Robert Kegan, one of the leading thinkers within Integral Theory, our world is created and experienced through relationships. Human beings are fundamentally relational: we exist in constant movement between two essential poles—
Integration, the capacity to connect with and be like others, and
Differentiation, the ability to define and express ourselves as unique individuals.
Personal growth happens in the dynamic tension between these two forces. Throughout life, we develop both our inner world—our self-perception and identity—and our outer world—our understanding of others and how we are perceived by them. Genuine maturity depends on maintaining a balance between these perspectives.
The Central Point of Conflict
At the heart of human development lies a constant interplay between self and other. Growth always involves expanding our awareness of ourselves in relation to others—and of others in relation to ourselves.
Maturity is not about resolving this tension, but about learning to navigate it. It means deepening self-awareness, building responsibility toward others, and cultivating the ability to perceive complex systems, paradoxes, and dilemmas.
To mature, therefore, is to strengthen the ability to balance the need for individuality with the need for belonging. This balance is never static; it evolves as the individual learns to move more fluidly between these two poles in response to new experiences and challenges.
The evolving self
As Robert Kegan describes, human development is not a fixed state but an ongoing process of meaning-making — a continuous movement between integration and differentiation. Our growth lies not in the stages themselves, but in the very activity of transformation between them.
“We are not our stages, we are not the self that is lodged at a given balance at this moment in our evolution. We are the activity of organizing and reorganizing our meaning systems. We compose our stages, and we experience this composing.”
— Robert Kegan, The Evolving Self (1982, p. 169)
Development as a Qualitative Leap
Human development is marked by qualitative leaps in consciousness. As we move from one stage of development to another, we integrate everything we have learned so far into our new way of perceiving the world. We may revisit earlier perspectives depending on the situation, but now we do so with awareness. Evolution is a qualitative change of consciousness: old assumptions and truths are replaced with new ones, while the insights of prior stages are carried forward consciously. Each stage builds on previous ones, forming the foundation of our research in personality analysis.
Each developmental stage describes both:
Ways of thinking – how we create structure, coherence, and meaning in what we do
Ways of feeling – how we experience events and the internal processes they trigger
IPA Analyses – Operationalising Development
In the context of IPA analysis, these developmental stages are expressed through observable behaviour. This includes:
How we act with other people and interact in social contexts
Which needs and goals drive our actions
How we cope with challenges and realise our potential
IPA Analysis operationalises and concretises the behavioural aspects of each developmental stage, making it measurable. It focuses on four qualitatively different main factors of individual behaviour, which represent the “tip of the iceberg” above underlying motives, values, and beliefs.
Personal development is a lifelong journey. True change, moving from one stage of development to the next, occurs when experiences, reflections, and thoughts become emotionally embedded and manifest in action. For any qualitative transformation to occur, three elements must work together: thought, feeling, and action. This is the core of IPA’s research in personality analysis.
Researchers
Flemming Olsen
Flemming Anders Olsen holds a Cand.Phil. degree and has spent more than 30 years developing personality analyses for people in working life. His work combines academic depth with practical application, offering multiple perspectives on how individuals understand themselves, their roles, and their development at work.
Throughout his career, Flemming has worked with classical trait theory, as well as recognised role and leadership models such as Belbin and Adizes. In addition, he has developed a unique approach to personal values, inspired by developmental psychology and the work of thinkers such as Ken Wilber and Robert Kegan, focusing on individual maturity and development over time.
Flemming is responsible for the research foundation behind IPA Nordic’s analyses and has led multiple research projects for organizations across Scandinavia. In previous collaborations with a Nordic consultancy, he authored a personality analysis that achieved the highest certification rating among Nordic providers. The certification was conducted by STP (Stiftelsen för Tillämpad Psykologi) and formally evaluated by researchers from several Swedish universities.
His long-standing research experience and methodological rigor ensure the quality and reliability of IPA Nordic’s analytical tools, which are recognised by customers as among the leading solutions in Denmark.
Steen Wæver Poulsen
Steen represents the user-oriented research and development approach at IPA Nordic, with a strong focus on transforming solid academic foundations into tools that are easy to use and deliver clear value in practice. He has been the driving force behind the development of the IPA Basic Profile and the Organisational Due Diligence analysis, and has contributed as a co-developer and sparring partner on many of IPA Nordic’s other analytical solutions.
His core strength lies in bridging method and everyday application. Steen specialises in making complex concepts operational, enabling leaders, HR professionals, and consultants to work more precisely with recruitment, development, and organisational balance.
Alongside his research and development work, Steen brings substantial commercial and leadership experience. He has held senior executive roles in Danish, Swedish, German, and Dutch companies, and is known for his strong business focus and ability to create value across markets and cultures.
Steen has completed three MBA programmes: an MBA in Strategic Management, an Executive MBA in Business Psychology, and an Executive MBA in Corporate Entrepreneurship. This combination underpins his ability to connect human insight, strategy, and innovation into practical, decision-ready models.
Summary
Central to the Integral Idea is that our life and developmental journey—shaped by the way we think, our values, and our identity—unfolds in stages. Each stage is characterised by the way we fundamentally perceive and engage with the world.
Each stage describes both:
Ways of thinking – how we create structure, coherence, and meaning in our actions
Ways of feeling – how we experience events and the internal processes they trigger
In the IPA Analysis, stages are primarily expressed through observable behaviour.
The quality of development in one area of the IPA Analysis model depends on what has been developed in the other areas. As we evolve from one platform to the next, we integrate the best of the old stage into the new. What was previously an end in itself now becomes a means to grow from the new platform, with new goals, personal standards, and a new way of experiencing and interpreting ourselves and the world.
The leap from one stage to the next marks both a historical and personal jump to a higher stage of consciousness. Personal development is driven by the pendulum swing between Integration—connecting with others—and Differentiation—being oneself as unique and distinct. These positions are inseparable, and growth arises in the dynamic between them.
As we move through life, we develop both the self, creating personal identity from the inside out, and relationships, learning to see the world from the outside in. Balanced self-awareness requires both perspectives.
IPA Nordic’s research in personality analysis spans more than 30 years.
Have a good journey.
IPA Nordic
Flemming Olsen, Researcher
