Why are personality assessments beneficial in the workplace? Why does it matter if an employee chooses “false” versus “mostly true” to the assessment question “I like to buy things that are on sale”? How do their answers benefit the organization?

Personality assessments serve a purpose and are greatly rewarding to organizations and individual employees personally and professionally.

What are Personality Assessments?

According to Tony Robbins, entrepreneur, #1 New York Times bestselling author, philanthropist, and life and business strategist, personality assessments are systematic assessments that aim to measure various aspects of someone’s personality and behaviors, such as interpersonal skills, values, temperament, introversion, extroversion, what drives them to succeed, and more.

What are Different Types of Personality Assessments?

Here are a few of the most popular tests:

• DISC Assessment is a personal assessment tool to determine one’s communication style. This assessment is most effective when paired with DISC training so employees can understand what their assessment means and how they can apply this new knowledge to better communicate and collaborate. HSI offers over 15 DISC training courses. Here is a sampling of one of HSI’s DISC trainings.

• Hogan Assessment is based on one’s avert behaviors and social skills. The assessment provides insight into what the employee wants, how they will get what they want, and what will get in their way. Pairing the assessment with a mentorship program and career development training is beneficial.
• Caliper Assessment is designed to be used throughout the employee’s career from the hiring stage to promotions. It can also be a valuable tool for team building and succession planning.
• Open Source Big Five measures traits in five different areas: extroversion, openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The results of a personality test can help predict how people will respond in real-life situations, thus showing how someone may react in a particular role.
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator provides a measurement of a person’s traits. It defines the person’s personality type as one of 16 types. The test assesses whether the person is more introverted or extroverted, whether they rely on intuition or sensing behaviors, if they’re more of a thinking or a feeling individual, and, whether they tend to judge or perceive. It’s important to note that the Myers-Briggs organization strongly recommends not using this assessment for hiring purposes. They assert it’s more useful for which employee would be best for a specific assignment and how someone communicates.
• CliftonStrengths Assessment by Gallup reports how the person scored in 34 possible strength areas. This assessment is for bringing teams together so they can readily see how each team member can complement and support each other. Soft skills training would pair nicely with this assessment. Soft skills can influence everything from the way employees communicate with each other to the way they solve problems. It allows pros to become better communicators and better employees.

The Benefits of Personality Assessments

The benefits of personality assessments are plentiful. Here are just a few:

1. Streamlines the hiring process. The overall interview process is shortened as pre-employment assessments specifically designed for the hiring process reduce the number of unqualified potential candidates making it to the interview stage of the hiring process. This is accomplished by better insight into the prospect’s workplace skills and typical work behaviors. Specifically, they can help employers recognize potential strengths, such as leadership attributes, to see if the candidate’s qualities are in alignment with the role’s needs.

Hiring assessments also foster diversity in the workplace by unbiased assessment intel aside from what can be seen or heard during the standard face interview process. Personality assessments can be valuable tools in the hiring process, but it is crucial to ensure they are used in a way that avoids unconscious bias and promotes fairness. A great way to do this is to choose personality assessments that have been rigorously validated and have demonstrated reliability. Look for assessments that have undergone extensive research and testing to ensure they accurately measure the traits they intend to assess.

Ultimately, hiring assessment tests help ensure the new employees are a good fit for the position. This typically results in a higher job performance success rate.

2. Facilitates personal and professional growth through learning and development. This in turn accelerates career advancement.

Personality assessments provide valuable insights into an employee’s behavioral preferences, communication style, and decision-making processes. Understanding one’s personality can lead to increased self-awareness, which is the first step toward personal development. Learners can identify areas where they may need to improve or adjust their approach to be more effective in their roles. Training such as developing self-awareness, making sense of feedback, and practicing emotional intelligence may be beneficial.

Assessments can quickly address employees’ personality strengths and areas of interest so management can more quickly identify where current employees can add value. For example, assessments can be particularly valuable in identifying leadership potential and specific leadership styles. This can help in curating leadership training that nurtures leadership soft skills in aspiring employees.

Personality assessments also help to identify factors that may be hindering an employee’s performance. By addressing specific traits or behavioral patterns, it can be determined where employees need to improve and what types of training they need and upskill training for continued growth.

Assessments also identify specific personality traits which allow development training to be tailored to enhance specific skills, improve performance, and foster personal growth. For instance, when conflicts arise in the workplace, understanding personality differences can be instrumental in finding resolutions and providing appropriate soft skills training, such as conflict management training.

Assessments also show how individuals handle stress, and targeted resources and soft skills training can help learners develop coping mechanisms and increase resilience.

3. Builds a collaborative company culture. Working relationships are strengthened as assessments give managers valuable insights into their team members’ personalities. Teams can build a better understanding of other employees’ work styles, decision-making processes, and communication styles. In turn, this helps employees find common ground and work better together.

4. Increases employee productivity and engagement. Assessments relay communication preferences and roadblocks. This knowledge allows teams to be more collaborative, with less time wasted on unnecessary back and forth.

Assessments allow managers to discover different ways to challenge their employees as they have insight into their hidden strengths, motivations, and passions. Thus, employees are more engaged and productive as they are challenged in a way that focuses on their passions and motivators.

5. Improves employee retention. As personality assessments help identify career paths that align with an individual’s strengths and interests, managers can have impactful conversations about their employees’ career paths and personal development plans. For example, introverted individuals may excel in roles that require deep analysis and focus, while extroverted individuals may thrive in customer-facing roles. When employees know they have a career path supported by management and learning and development training they are more likely to stay and not seek out employment elsewhere.

Sharing personality test results allows employees to get to know each other better and form a connection with each other. Job satisfaction levels are higher when assessments are conducted and shared. The DISC assessment is perfect to share with team members to help understand individual communication styles.

HSI Can Help!

When you utilize personality assessments, you’re creating a learning culture. Ready to put personality assessments in place? Specialized training in personality assessments is a good start.

HSI offers the following personality assessment training courses:

• For Hiring
• Choosing an Assessment
• For Existing Team Members
• Considerations When Using Assessments

After assessment training is in place, offer a self-directed employee training and development program to support the personality test results. You can improve your reputation as an employer by supporting personal and professional growth through learning and development.

HSI’s Business Skills library has all the courses you’ll need. You’ll be able to curate a soft skills training curriculum that fosters expanding and refining employees’ skills. It will suit individual needs, as well.

Many of HSI’s clients open the library so learners can access the courses as needed. For example, if someone feels stressed, they can search for courses on work-life balance. An IT help desk employee might look for courses in customer service training to better support their internal customers. Someone wanting a promotion might proactively take courses to improve their management skills.

HSI has 30+ sample training courses you can view for free right on our website, or request a free trial.

Additional Resources

• HSI Employee Training and Development
• How to Conduct Employee Training Assessments
• DISC Training: Getting the Most Out of DISC for Your Organization
• Training and Development: An Integral Part of Employee Recruitment and Retention