It always makes me laugh when employers ask, “Why would personality testing help me deal with employees?” It’s also amazing that most managers pay little attention to potential new hires testing results.
In this article I explain how to deal with employees, by analyzing what their Personality Tests tell you. If you need a test, check out the one I provide at The Perfect Personality Test
Why Does Personality Testing Matter?
We are all hardwired to:
Why most employers have trouble with employees, is that they don’t communicate directions in ways that employees understand.
Most Managers:
These managers then present their tasks based off of how they see the world. This is wrong! Great managers understand how their employees see the world, and present tasks in ways that the employees understand.
Real World Example
I was recently introduced to a manager that didn’t believe in testing. She was in charge of 36 assistant managers! I told here if I could test those employee’s, I could tell here which managers were the most successful (without meeting them in person). Here I’ll just present 2 different groups, to keep it simple. These are real people though!
Note: I label each individual with a personality type. For a report on that personality type, just click on the name. (It’s Free!)
Another Note: I specifically choose 2 manager’s with the same personality to show you how important the employee’s are to a manager’s success. In the bulleted section I am placing my guesses on what type of employee the person is.
Group 1 (I guessed this was the good office)
Sales Manager: (Jumping Bean Type)
Assistant: (Planner Type)
Worker 1: (Recipe Follower Type)
Worker 2: (Dreamer Type)
Worker 3: (Planner Type)
Worker 4:(Giver Type)
Group 2 (I guessed this was the bad office)
Sales Manager: (Jumping Bean Type)
Assistant: (Friend Type)
Worker 1: (Jumping Bean Type)
Worker 2: (Bull Type)
Worker 3: (Recipe Follower Type)
Worker 4: (Compassionate Type)
How Did I Do?
The manager was amazed that I picked the best office, but more because I was spot on with my descriptions. She went on to tell me that Worker 3, from the bad office, actually had quit. That worker, was the only one holding things together, and that’s why she even bothered to ask my opinion.
She stated that she didn’t like personality tests because even though these 2 managers had the same personality, their performance was not the same. I told her the reason why the performance was different, was that the employees personalities were different.
I Explain Why Office 2 Failed
All of the leaders in Office 2 were Adapters. Adapters like to juggle a bunch of projects at a time and then finish them at the last minute. Now Adapters are great because:
However, Adapters need a Planner around, to make sure the job gets done. The successful office was filled with multiple Planners. I refer to these people as Duty Seekers, because their sole purpose in life is to get things done. They include the:
I’m not saying you should only hire Duty Seekers, I’m just saying that the leadership in an office must be made up of at least one. The members of the other personality families have their purpose though
Action Seekers:
Knowledge Seekers:
Value Seekers:
To Finish Off
I also wrote an article on testing for self esteem Self Esteem Personality Test. In my opinion, anyone that scores high on that test will be a good employee and vice versa! Personality tests should be used often to help craft the best work environment for all. If you don’t, expect allot of problems.
Till Next Time
Think Tank
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