01 Apr Personality Testing: What You Need To Know
Personality Testing: What You Need to Know
Personality testing can offer valuable insights into what motivates your people. However, it’s an area where it can difficult to know where to start. The sheer number of personality tests on offer can be confusing. Do you chose something you have heard of, such as DISC or Myers Briggs test (MBTI)? Or do you seek advice from a business psychologist on which personality test would suit your organisation’s needs?
Of course, you know what I am going to say, but there are sound reasons behind it. All personality tests have their own strengths and weaknesses. Some are great for building teams, others are useless in a recruitment scenario. Some concentrate on strengths, while others group people together by their behaviour. How would you know the difference?
Personality Testing: how to choose the right one.
How can you find the right personality test for your business’ needs? First, decide what your need is. Will you be using a personality test to recruit new members of staff? Are you going to use it for assessment and development? Do you want to invest in your team and allow them to work on their strengths and skills? Perhaps you are an entrepreneur who would like to invest in your own professional development? These people are so often “doing” that they fail to take the time out for contemplating their own development.
Personality Testing For Recruitment
Personality tests are incredibly useful in a recruitment context. They can help you identify those people that would fit in well with a team and culture,. It can help you fill gaps and source skills currently missing. We’ve all worked with people who don’t fit in with everybody else. To be honest, they often leave of their own accord in the end. In the meantime, they can cause issues, and impact morale. Quite frankly, recruiting them is an expensive mistake.
It’s important to chose a personality test that has been created for recruitment. Many of them, including the well-known Myers Briggs, are not to be used in these circumstances.
Personality Testing For Development
Personality testing for development is an investment in your staff. It allows them to consider them own personal development. It also gives you an opportunity to see the needs of the team or company as a while,. This could be more team building, enhancing emotional intelligence (EQ) or introducing a mentorship scheme. You will want to chose tests that they will find easy to fit into their busy working day. Plus tests that are right for the needs of the organisation at the time. Personality testing will include feedback with each participant. This could prove invaluable in their professional journey, not to mention allow them “a voice”.
How we do Personality Testing
Quite often people are a little suspicious of personality testing, especially within a development scenario. Will revealing their weaknesses mean they’ll be put on a hit list? How will their organisation use this information? Something we can do is run a short, hour-long workshop. This will introduce them to fun side of personality testing and the insights it will give them. This is often done within a few days prior to the getting the test to pique their interest. It is also an opportunity to answer any questions they may have.
With a few days they will then get a link to do the test. We will come in approx a week to ten days later to deliver feedback with all the participants. These interviews are totally confidential, Finally, we will have an meeting with the organisation to present findings from the testing. These could include suggestions for staff development. It may be pin-pointing individuals who are management material, or giving feedback on processes and systems that could make people’s working life easier and more productive.
If you would like a conversation about personality testing for your business or organisation, please contact us here and we will be back in touch to arrange a call.
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