Personalities matter in the workplace, especially when working together to solve an ever-changing set of problems.
Many organizations employ personality tests when hiring to create a compatible team of colleagues who work well together. Some businesses also use these tests to build employee-personality profiles, which can help them understand their team members better and enable them to perform at their full potential.
However, there are many personality tests on the market, and the right one depends on the people who will use it and for what purpose.
For this reason, you need to have a strong understanding of what you want from a personality test before you start comparing your choices. Spending time considering this will make it easier to decide which personality tests are most suited for your organization.
Using personality tests for employee screening
Screening during the interview process is the first thing that most employers think of when using personality tests. Fortunately, many assessments on the market focus specifically on this scenario to help you. The results of these can provide you with a variety of insights. So it is crucial to be clear about what you want from the results before you start.
If team compatibility is the priority, it’s a good idea to test each member first to acquire the most desirable results. It’s also wise to note that a group of people with very similar personality traits may not necessarily lead to a high-performing team. Many of the top teams in the industry have at least some level of internal conflict that drives passion and high performance. What’s critical is for various personality traits to interact constructively for overall performance.
Some employers prefer to forgo personality tests at an early interview stage and perform a simple “yes or no” test instead. The results of a personality test shape the interview stages that follow. They can help you have interviews that are more effective—those that allow candidates to show their best selves. And they can also help organizations that are hiring multiple people in identical or similar positions build a team that is highly compatible and will perform strongly.
Personality tests to improve team performance
Teams already working together can also benefit from using personality tests. However, instead of looking for particular traits, employees are more likely to benefit from a detailed analysis of how they work, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they can harness these traits to maximize their full potential.
Good assessments for this purpose will often provide detailed examples of the situations in which an individual’s traits may come to the fore. They will then give information about various strategies as to how to manage these traits and how colleagues with similar or conflicting personality types can use their core strengths to help that individual perform at his or her very best.
These tests also come in various forms. Like prescreening tests, employers have the option of giving their team a multiple-choice test that produces standardized information and guidance.
However, more in-depth tests are also available. These assessments must be carried out by a qualified professional and provide subjects with much more information about their personalities. The best will depend on your budget, time, and the outcomes you want from the process.
Making the most of the results
While personality tests provide a great baseline to help team members understand each other, it’s important to keep in mind that traits can change over time and even in response to circumstances and events. All of us react to stress differently, and this can influence the way that we interact with others too.
You may also want to consider making an employee who has been with a company for a long time with their roles and responsibilities changing during that period take a new personality test. This ensures that their colleagues can still efficiently and productively work with them.
Effectively using personality tests in a business also requires the full support of employees. You have to make sure that your teams have an in-depth understanding of the motive of the assessments.
They should also be able to trust that the process will be to their benefit. Confirm that they comprehend how the test works, what types of results they will get, and how they can use those results to work better with their colleagues. Allow yourself time to explain these before you begin testing so that everyone will feel comfortable with the process.
The best personality test is the one that is right for the company’s specific purpose. It should also be the one that will receive the full support of your team. Getting the most value for everyone involved is a journey that requires cooperation between employees and employers. Getting this right can bring immense value to organizations of any size and shape across Asia.
People Dynamics offers various personality assessments suited for your needs, such as the DISC Personality Profiler, Personality Type Indicator, Occupational Interest Profiler, Work Importance Profiler, and Profiles Ethics-Oriented Personality Assessment. For more information, you may e-mail us at solutions@peopledynamics.co or contact us here.
