What is a VMP at all?
A VMP is a structured questionnaire that produces a written read of how someone operates under pressure.
Not a personality test. Not a label. A profile, a description of the patterns that actually drive someone's performance in their specific context. The output is designed to start a conversation, not deliver a verdict.
The letters change with the sport or profession. Same engineering, different language:
| Profile | Stands for | For |
|---|---|---|
| CVMP | Cricket Values & Mindset Profile | Cricketers |
| FVMP | Football Values & Mindset Profile | AFL footballers |
| NVMP | Netball Values & Mindset Profile | Netballers |
| BVMP | Basketball Values & Mindset Profile | Basketballers |
| HVMP | Hockey Values & Mindset Profile | Hockey players |
| PMP | Performance Mindset Profile | Managers, officers, defence and frontline leaders |
Why do they exist?
Most performance tools measure the obvious, technical skill, fitness, output. The VMPs measure the less obvious thing that explains why two equally-skilled performers get different results under pressure: the patterns of mindset, identity, values, and self-awareness that show up in real moments.
When you are behind in the final session of a Test match, or 20 minutes into a complex policing call, or chairing a board through bad news, the technical skill is already in. What is left is your operating pattern under load. That is what a VMP describes.
What does someone actually do when they take a VMP?
They sit down with a phone or laptop, work through 50 to 90 short questions, and get a written report. No timer. No right answers in the traditional sense. They can pause and come back.
After being dismissed cheaply in back-to-back matches, a younger player in the squad is now averaging more than you. You notice yourself:
- Motivated by it, you want to reassert yourself and prove you belong ahead of them.
- Using it as information, if they are succeeding, what could you learn from how they are doing it?
- Aware that it bothers you more than it should. You tell yourself it does not matter, but your training energy says otherwise.
There is no right answer. Each option is plausible. The pattern across many questions is what tells the story.
What do they get at the end?
A written report. Usually four to six pages. Structured around:
- Scores on eight dimensions, like Competitive Drive, Adversity Response, Identity Anchoring
- What each score means in their specific context, not generic boilerplate
- Patterns, combinations of scores that tend to play out a certain way
- A practitioner read, what is worth talking about in coaching
- A credibility check, whether the responses look honest or whether someone tried to look better than they are
The report is written to be used with a coach in a 60 to 90 minute debrief, not read alone and put away.
The product range, who gets what?
For sportspeople
| Product | Length | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| CVMP-Pro / FVMP-Senior | 76 items, 30 to 40 min | Senior, professional, elite players |
| CVMP-Pathway / FVMP-Pathway | 54 items, 20 to 30 min | Pathway, academy, school players |
| CVMP Profile / FVMP Profile / NVMP / BVMP / HVMP | 93 items, 14 to 16 min | Self-serve buyers, any sport |
For elite assessment
| Product | Length | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| FVMP-Draft | 60 items, 25 min | AFL list managers assessing draftees |
For managers, officers, and senior staff
| Product | Length | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| PMP-Frontline | 62 items, 30 to 35 min | Emergency services workers, Australian Defence Force officers |
| PMP-Executive (coming) | TBC | Managers, senior leaders, founders, sole operators |
| PMP-Healthcare (coming) | TBC | Doctors, nurses, allied health managers |
Why this is not just another personality test
Three real differences from Hogan, Saville, Myers-Briggs, DiSC, and Predictive Index.
1. Designed to be USED, not just read.
Most assessments produce a label ("you are an ENTJ"). The VMPs produce a conversation map, three or four specific themes the leader and their coach should talk about, with starting questions. The deliverable is engagement, not a stamp.
2. Designed to resist gaming.
The newer instruments use a technique called forced-choice ipsative scoring, every question pairs two equally desirable statements. You have to pick one. Backed up by lie-scale items, consistency check pairs, and behavioural memory anchors that bypass the cognitive-justification reflex.
3. Designed for coaches, not HR.
Most psychometric tools are built for selection, who to hire, who to promote. The VMPs are built for development conversations with someone who is already in the role. That changes everything about the tone of the output. No verdicts. No judgements. Just patterns and questions.
The evidence base
Every dimension on every VMP is anchored to peer-reviewed psychological research. A few of the key construct families:
- Achievement Goal Theory (Elliot, Dweck), mastery vs ego orientation
- Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan), autonomy, competence, relatedness
- Authentic Leadership (Walumbwa, Avolio), self-awareness, values alignment
- Psychological Capital (Luthans), hope, efficacy, resilience, optimism
- Mental Toughness (Clough, Earle), four Cs framework
- Self-Discrepancy Theory (Higgins, 1987), actual, ideal, and ought self gaps
- Meta-cognition (Flavell, Schraw), thinking about thinking
- Naturalistic Decision Making (Klein), judgement under uncertainty
- Theory of Challenge & Threat States (Jones & Meijen), physiological readiness under pressure
The instruments are evidence-anchored, not invented. Tuned to specific populations, cricketers, police officers, AFL draftees, but built on established constructs that survive peer review.
Who would benefit from one?
Honestly, most people who operate in high-pressure environments would learn something useful. The question is whether the timing is right and whether there is a coach to debrief it with.
Strong fit
- Athletes serious about their craft, junior or senior
- Anyone just promoted into more pressure than they are used to
- Emergency services workers and Australian Defence Force officers
- Senior managers in complex organisations
- Founders and sole operators under uncertainty
- Coaches wanting a structured starting point with a new client
Less useful for
- Someone purely interested in a label or a "type"
- Selection and hiring decisions in isolation, the VMPs are not designed for that
- Anyone who wants validation rather than information
How long it lasts, and how often to retake
A VMP is a moment-in-time snapshot of operating patterns. Worth retaking every 12 to 18 months for someone in coaching, or after a major life or career transition. The longitudinal comparison is itself useful, what has shifted, what has not, what has emerged that was not there before.
The portal saves every assessment a person has taken, so the same player can have CVMP-Pro from January 2025 and CVMP-Pro from January 2026 sitting side by side. The patterns of change between them are the most useful data of all.
A VMP is a structured way of asking a high-pressure performer "what do you actually do, and what does that mean?", and giving them a clean, evidence-anchored read they can take to a coaching conversation.
Not a personality test. Not a verdict. A mirror.