Saville Wave and TT38
With Wave, you assess yourself. TT38 doesn't guess.
Wave asks people to assess themselves; what they want, what they can do. These are honest questions, but the answer comes from within. TT38 looks at what that self-assessment misses – what truly energises the individual, even when they believe it's something else.
Wave
Wave is exceptionally detailed: 4 clusters, 36 dimensions, 108 facets. Each facet is asked about twice; whether one wants to and whether one can. This reveals where desire and self-confidence don't align, and links personality to a competency framework with solid documentation.
TT38
Wave asks what one believes they can do. TT38 asks something different: what actually provides energy when doing it. Many can tick a box for a skill mastered to perfection. Yet, it can still drain one's energy – and self-assessments don't capture that.
Saville Wave measures across 108 facets. Here, we distil it down to one question at a time – and show you at a glance where Wave provides answers and where TT38 helps.
Wave
TT38
Motive and self-assessed ability – do they align?
Wave’s distinctive feature is the split between Motive (will do) and Talent (can do, self-assessed). This shows where motivation and self-perceived ability don’t match. TT38 adds whether the self-perceived ability rests on a genuine talent pattern.
Resilience vs. exhaustion – why do they burn out?
Wave’s resilience component measures robustness under pressure. It doesn’t capture the slow exhaustion from working daily outside one’s natural talents. That’s what TT38 measures.
Talent as an energy source – what motivates them?
Wave’s Talent component is the respondent’s own assessment of their abilities. TT38 maps naturally recurring talent patterns – not what one thinks they can do, but what provides energy.
Match – is it talent or motivation?
Wave’s competency potential can indicate a match. TT38 shows whether it’s a talent-based match or merely a motivation match – the difference between someone being passionate about the role and having the natural aptitude for it.
Development – what should they focus on?
Wave describes how a person works and where motivation and self-assessment diverge. TT38 answers the question that feedback often leaves unanswered: what am I actually best at, and what should I focus on?
Team tasks – what energises whom?
Wave provides a good picture of the team’s competency potential. TT38 shows which specific task types energise and which drain individual members.
Level of detail – how fine a picture do you get?
Wave is among the most detailed tools on the market: four clusters, 36 dimensions, 108 facets. TT38 doesn’t go broader, but deeper into what energises the individual.
Competency linkage – do they match the framework?
Garuda describes how a person is and opens up a good conversation about it. TT38 provides the direction that the conversation often leaves: what am I naturally best at, and what should I focus on?
If you need to know more, let's delve deeper
Wave is built on a great idea: to ask both what someone wants to do and what they believe they can do.
When the two don't align, there's something to discuss. Perhaps an employee undersells themselves, or another overestimates their grasp of a task.
It's valuable to identify this.
But both figures come from the same source: the person themselves. And self-assessment has a blind spot; one can be good at something and yet be drained by it, without fully registering it.
The difference lies between being able to do something and being energised by doing it.
The former can be ticked off on a form. The latter only becomes apparent over time.
Rarely one or the other. If you already have the detail of Saville Wave, there's no reason to let go of it.
Because it captures nuances that few other tools come close to.
TT38 comes in at a different point: not by asking what people think they can do, but by showing what actually keeps them going.
So weigh it against your own.
If the need is a deeply detailed, competency-linked profile, Wave delivers. If it's more about why a skilled employee still runs out of steam, the needle points towards TT38.
And TT38 can stand alone without Saville. If you don't already have a tool, both function perfectly well as the core themselves.
So, what should you choose?
Do you have a talent for what drives you?
What people are good at is not always what they thrive in.
If you have your free TT38 profile reviewed with one of our talent advisors, you will leave the conversation with a clear picture of where and why you perform best.
And you will have gained a better understanding of how to see the same in your team.