Personality tests and employee engagement -four reasons to give personality tests a try
I am a fan of personality tests and often use them as a personal development tool. However, they are maligned by some due to their apparent lack of scientific rigour. In my attempt to encourage their use, I contend that from an employee engagement perspective, they can be helpful for the following four reasons:
- Encouraging self-awareness: According to Forbes, “employee engagement” is the “emotional commitment the employee has to the organisation and its goals”. In my view, an employee needs a certain level of emotional intelligence to determine their motivators. Personality tests ask thought provoking questions – which even if you do not agree with the final conclusion of the test – provide an opportunity for introspection and an assessment of one’s own strengths and weaknesses.
- Career development: This goes hand in hand with the above point. With self-awareness goes the ability to take control of one’s career rather than just being lead by chance and circumstance and with however an employer sees fit.
- Strengths based team structures: Some organisations are using personality tests to ensure that team members are working in a manner which best uses their strengths. For example, there is a personality test model by Talent Dynamics which focuses on looking at the core strengths of each individual to determine how their skills could be best utilised within a team structure. Enabling staff to work “in flow” i.e. where they are fully engaged as much as possible, will clearly assist in creating healthy work environments. This will, in my view, clearly have a positive impact on organisational productivity.
- Reducing workplace conflict: Many personality tests recognise two key temperament types: extroverts and introverts. Succinctly put, extroverts draw energy form the world around them and therefore typically enjoy social interaction and teamwork. Conversely, introverts draw energy from their own personal worlds and can therefore prefer solitude and working alone. This difference can create tension in workplaces where either the extrovert or introvert does not feel that their needs are being met. Therefore, an awareness of an employee’s preference for extroversion or introversion can help reduce workplace conflicts. For instance, the extroverted manager who may enjoy lots of team meetings will perhaps be more sensitive towards one of her introverted colleague’s need for more alone time without taking offence.
I am not suggesting personality tests are full-proof nor would I advocate for them to be used as recruitment tool for determining who should be appointed. Instead, such tests can be used as part of the on-boarding process when hiring new staff, or on a periodical basis such as at appraisals or promotions to see if people’s preferences have changed over time.
I would recommend that everyone take at least one personality test in life – even the greatest cynics. At worse it could be a waste of 15 minutes whereas the benefits of better self-awareness could be manifold.
So try one –I would love to know your results!
- Myers-Briggs based test by 16 Personalities
- The Color Code
- The Big Five