Noelle Federico is CEO of Delta Hire and founder of youth literacy nonprofit A Generous Heart and consulting firm Fortunato Partners, Inc.
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Personality assessments have become a huge part of the talent management strategy for companies of all sizes and sectors. With the global market topping $7 billion and expected to reach $16 billion by 2028, personality assessments are quickly becoming recruiting and HR tools as companies look to invest more in solutions for optimizing talent and performance.
Companies rely on tools like Myers-Briggs, SIGMA, CliftonStrengths, True Colors or, my personal favorite, DiSC (my company is a licensed DiSC partner) to gain insights into the strengths and tendencies of the personalities on your team. They can even help guide managers in how to motivate, challenge and encourage employees to stretch outside their comfort zone, achieve growth goals and become the best version of themselves—if utilized in the right way.
As a certified practitioner of several assessment methods who has used them in my coaching practice for years, I've found that often leaders either have unrealistic expectations for what personality assessments can offer or they’re leveraging them for the wrong reasons. As a result, many organizations fail to get the most benefit out of this expensive and time-consuming process; when used poorly, they can even do harm.
To maximize the effectiveness and ROI of these valuable tools, here are some dos and don’ts for using personality assessments to optimize your talent and employee growth strategy.
Don'ts
Don’t conduct a pre-hire assessment.
Confronting candidates with a pre-hire personality test may come across as aggressive. You run the risk of turning off great candidates before you even get to know them; candidates may even back out of the hiring process entirely, fearing they won’t “pass” your test.
This approach can also mean that you’ll inadvertently hire people with similar personalities and end up with a very homogenous organization, therefore missing out on the richness that diversity brings. Besides, these assessments are costly—it makes no sense to spend that money until you’re certain someone will make a great fit with your team.
Don’t use static assessments.
Some assessments are a static Q&A—employees simply fill in the bubbles on a predetermined, universal set of questions. Not only are these types of tests not very helpful because of the low level of detail, but they’re also easy for people to fake based on how they think the company wants them to respond.
Dynamic assessments use adaptive technology to help home in on fine details with each individual. Each question is based on the answer to previous questions and the platform can ask the same question in multiple ways to discern one personality trait from another. This dynamic assessment results in more accurate and nuanced results, rather than cookie-cutter determinations.
Don’t make assumptions based on results.
Personality assessments typically indicate a person’s dominant traits, but it would be a mistake to assume that’s the end of the story. People are complex, dynamic and multifaceted; DiSC, for example, emphasizes the fact that everyone displays characteristics of all the various personality types, just with a stronger tendency toward one.
You wouldn’t want to pigeonhole an extrovert into a sales role or an introvert into accounting, for example. There’s value in having all types in every role for diversity of thought, approach and input.
Dos
Do invest in assessment analysis expertise.
Personality assessments generate dozens of pages of analysis, and without someone who’s able to spend the time to thoroughly review, interpret and mine that data, conducting the assessment is a waste of resources and energy. Further, lack of accurate analysis can lead to misinterpretation, confusion and dissatisfaction.
You’ll want to have an expert on hand who can help you understand what it all means and how to leverage what you’ve learned to formulate a strategy. Otherwise, the reports offer no benefit to the individual or the organization. Unless you’re committed to a solid training structure and program based on assessment results, don’t waste your money.
Do help staff leverage results.
Personality assessments aren’t just helpful for managers and trainers—they should be helpful for the individual as well. Share the results of their assessment with each individual, and offer a consultation with an expert, if possible, to help them better understand themselves and others.
The best assessments allow individuals to not only see and interpret their own results but also learn how to adapt to other personalities in real time. This can be helpful in navigating difficult relationships with co-workers, improving communication and identifying how they can stretch beyond their own comfort zone to become more effective as a colleague or leader.
Do use assessments to support development and growth.
Personality assessments are ideal for helping you better understand how to manage each individual, what motivates and engages them and how you can leverage their strengths while developing their areas of weakness. Assessments should be used as the basis of a robust onboarding and training program to support employee growth and career goal achievement, maximize personal and professional performance and, ultimately, provide the support needed for these individuals to reach their fullest potential.
This sends a message that the company is invested in each employee, increasing the likelihood of staff bringing their A-game to work as a result.
Final Thoughts
It's important to remember that while assessments are useful, they alone won’t curate the perfect workforce or solve engagement and performance problems. A personality assessment can be a valuable tool, for sure, but it’s not prescriptive. If executed in a strategic way, however, these assessments may lead to a more beneficial and prosperous workplace—for everyone.
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