Harvard EASEL Lab
Anchor Organisation Lead, PSS-SEL Toolbox Phase II
Most people development fails at the foundation. We measure it first.
Thrive by Design is a behavioural assessment and development system for organisations and universities in Pakistan. It shows what your people development is built on, which programs change how people work, and where to invest next.
The problem
The biggest waste in L&D is the training that never changes behaviour.
Pakistani organisations spend heavily on training. A two day program can cost PKR 180,000 to 250,000 per person (SKA analysis of local provider rates), which by our estimate adds up to several million rupees a year for a mid-size company.
The failure is rarely the trainer or the content. It is the sequence. Training installs visible skills on a behavioural foundation no one has examined, so the skills fade.
25%
of respondents to a McKinsey survey said their training programs measurably improved business performance
McKinsey, 201010%
at most of training spend may result in transfer to the job
Georgenson, 1982, in Baldwin and Ford, 19880
nationally norm-referenced workforce behavioural datasets in Pakistan
SKA analysisAssess. Map. Develop. Reassess.
Assess
Assessment
Map
Competency Mapping Engine
Develop
Capacity Building
Reassess
See what changed
Closes back to Assess
- Assessment. Measure the behavioural foundation across Purpose, People and Performance.
- Competency Mapping Engine. Map your own competency framework to Harvard’s future-ready skills taxonomy and see what it actually measures.
- Capacity Building. Develop the skills the evidence points to, in the right order.
- Reassess. See what changed.
Assessment is only the beginning. The value is not the score but what the organisation does with it. Each product feeds the next, and you can start at any one of them.
“Can you help us understand what our existing system is actually measuring against the standards set globally?”
Proof
The work, in the room.
Standard Chartered.Jubilee Life Insurance.Amreli Steels.
Leaders took the assessment before anyone else, then set week one and 30 day commitments together.
An HR team turned a scored baseline into a live conversation about purpose and growth.
Leaders set their first behavioural baseline, then built a six month development roadmap from it.
“I got to know a lot of things I had never thought about previously.”
Recognition
Already building and recognised.
gLOCAL 2026
Panelist, When SEL Travels, Evaluation Week
Standard Chartered WomenInTech Accelerator
Cohort 8, one of 10 selected nationally
Nine years of practice
Field tested with 300+ adults in Pakistan
About SKA
A behavioural intelligence and research translation firm.
Sarah Khan Associates (SKA) is a Karachi-based behavioural assessment and development firm, founded by Sarah Khan, that measures and develops the human skills behind workplace performance.
Sarah Khan is the Founder and Principal of SKA. She is a PhD candidate in Psychology at the University of Karachi, and Anchor Organisation Lead for Harvard EASEL Lab’s PSS-SEL Toolbox Phase II.
We build the measurement layer beneath people development in the Global South, so organisations can invest in behaviour the way they invest in anything they take seriously: with a baseline, a method and evidence of change.
See where your people development stands.
One conversation. We will show you where to look.