Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation™ (FIRO®)

Enhance workplace performance with the FIRO tool

The Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation™ (FIRO®) assessments help people understand their interpersonal needs and how those needs influence their communication style and behavior. These accessible and universally applicable personality assessments have helped individuals, teams, and organizations around the world grow and succeed. In a recent survey, more than 90 percent of FIRO‑B® customers improved teamwork within their organization or for their clients.

Apply data-driven results to improve performance

The FIRO assessments can be used to repair broken relationships and improve already good, functional relationships, unlocking potential in workplace interactions. Based on social need theory, they facilitate behavioral change by providing insight into people’s working relationships and requirements. FIRO results provide critical data on how people tend to behave toward others and how they want others to behave toward them. This information can be used, for example, to help people improve their interpersonal communication skills and address issues and potential misunderstandings with co-workers. 

How the FIRO assessment works

Enriching interpersonal relationships

The FIRO assessment helps you in: 

  • Relationship enhancement—By uncovering areas in which individuals may not meet the interpersonal needs of customers and stakeholders, the FIRO assessments promote behavior changes that can help people build better relationships and performance.
  • Team building—FIRO insights accelerate team building and enable team members to recognize and overcome potential barriers that could prevent them from working together effectively.
  • Leader and executive development—The FIRO assessments help leaders and executives unlock performance improvement by better meeting the needs of peers, direct reports and others.
  • Conflict management—FIRO results empower people to recognize when the way they express themselves is likely to conflict with the needs of others, thereby enabling them to avoid, assess, and resolve interpersonal challenges.
  • Emotional intelligence development—The FIRO model builds success on the fundamental awareness that different people have different needs.
Expressed behaviors Expressed behaviors Expressed behaviors are the behaviors you initiate towards others Total Expressed Total Expressed Your Total Expressed score indicates how much you like to take the initiative. Total Wanted Total Wanted Your Total Wanted score indicates how much you like others to take the initiative. Wanted behaviors Wanted behaviors Wanted behaviors are the behaviors you want to receive from others. Overall Overall Indicates the strength of your need for general interpersonal contact and interaction. Total Inclusion Total Inclusion If this column is highest it indicates Inclusion is your interpersonal need that most strongly influences your behavior in relationships Total Control Total Control If this column is highest it indicates Control is your interpersonal need that most strongly influences your behavior in relationships Total Affection Total Affection If this column is highest it indicates Affection is your interpersonal need that most strongly influences your behavior in relationships. Inclusion Inclusion Inclusion is the need to belong Control Control Control is the need for influence Affection Affection Affection is the need for intimacy. Expressed Inclusion Expressed Inclusion is the extent to which I make efforts to include and involve others in my activities. Wanted Inclusion Wanted Inclusion is the extent to which I want others to include and involve me in their activities. Expressed Control Expressed Control is the extent to which I make ef - forts to control and influence others. Wanted Control Wanted control is the extent to which I want to be in an environment that provides me with structure and clarity. Expressed Affection Expressed Affection is the extent to which I make efforts to be warm and friendly to others. Wanted Affection Wanted Affection is extent to which I want others to make efforts to be warm and friendly to me.

The FIRO suite includes the FIRO-B assessment and the FIRO Business® assessment. Both measure interpersonal needs on three scales but use subtly different language: FIRO-B reports describe interpersonal needs for Inclusion, Control, and Affection, while FIRO Business reports describe interpersonal needs for Involvement, Influence and Connection for greater traction with senior leadership. 

Get FIRO Certified

Become a FIRO® Certified Practitioner and discover how to help people effect positive behavioral change and build better relationships.

GET FIRO CERTIFIED

What our customers are saying

Our patients depend on us for high-quality, compassionate care. To accomplish this, we must develop strong leaders. The FIRO instrument supports our efforts.

— Joan Evans, Chief Learning Officer, Moses Cone Health System

The FIRO-B assessment facilitates greater self-awareness in my clients, expanding their interpersonal orientation congruent with their personality type and leadership situation.

— Herb Stevenson, Organizational Development Consultant, Cleveland Consulting Group

The FIRO-B assessment provides an ability to understand behaviours, possible motives, and areas where additional coaching is needed.

— Lisa Robbins, HR Director, Presbyterian Church USA

The FIRO-B assessment has allowed me to coach executive leaders with greater depth, providing them with real data to support necessary changes.

— Martie Adler, Organizational Development Consultant, Indiana University

The FIRO-B assessment helped our team understand their team members’ various wants and needs.

— John Levock, Chief Learning Officer, Executive Office of the President

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