Are personality tests a good idea to 10x your impact?

Are personality tests a good idea?

Personality tests have been criticised for being unreliable, culturally biased, and lacking scientific validity.?

They often categorise people into rigid categories that may not accurately reflect the complexity of human personality.?

Additionally, this can be particularly problematic for Black women or other marginalised groups, due to having a different social experiences and culture.

Many personality tests are designed and validated based on norms and values that are rooted in eurocentic westernised cultures, which may not be applicable to any ‘other’ or marginalised experience.?

For example, women of colour with neurodivergent conditions such as autism, ADHD, or dyslexia will have a different cognitive style and communication pattern that will not be captured by traditional personality tests.

As a result, maybe misdiagnosed or misunderstand based on some traits, leading to negative consequences such as stigmatisation from the misinterpretation of behaviours.

Some of you maybe reading this and doing an eye roll, thinking?nothing new there then?!

But, perhaps sometimes we get so preoccupied with the failures we can miss the bigger picture!

Missing the Bigger Picture

I remember really wanting a job and believing it was my dream role.?

'As someone who has worked in various organisations, I know that everyone has their own unique perspective and experiences, when it comes to personality we are all different!'

I even went through quite a tough three stage interview process, the initial phase a set of tests, including a personality test. Then a presentation to a panel, and the final stage, a one to one interview with one of the Directors.

I asked in this stage of the interview, when it was finally my turn to ask questions, which is usually at the end of the process!!!?

'What initiatives they had in place to create a more diverse leadership team?'

I said I had noticed all of the leadership team were male, except one woman and nobody looked like me!?I think he liked that challenge because I got hired!!

Despite, having the skills, experience and ‘right personality’ fit.

I have seen firsthand and experienced how sometimes the role and organisation just aren’t a fit. And, just how hard it is for both the candidates and organisations to work this out during the interview despite all the processes to try to find the right fit! ?

My personality was just not a fit for that role or the culture and sometimes we know it, but life kicks in and we have responsibilities and bills to pay.

Hence, sometimes we may need to compromise as the role or organisation may not completely align to our expectations.

I am currently using the GC Index as a metric to open up avenues of conversation, which may not otherwise arise and help diverse women to understand where they fit into an organisation and how they can have their greatest impact, despite not always feeling it's a complete fit.

If personality tests are just part of the recruitment toolkit and never to be used in isolation, or are used as a tool to support an ongoing conversation in someones career development to increase impact, then perhaps they can be useful?

What is the GC Index?

The GC Index??is an organimetric that profiles an individual’s strengths or proclivities, it is not a personality test, but a metric for making your best contribution to a team and organisation.

For me this provides a language framework that moves us away from success and failure, or good and bad to identify individual behavioural preferences, styles and motivations.?

I really want to help the women who I work with to 10x their impact, without sacrificing their mental health, so you can show up authentically and take bold action.

Regardless, of the external environment you can still make your biggest impact.

'It can be really difficult to have your own back when daily faced with the challenges of being ‘the only one’ inside of an organisation. To be honest it is quite exhausting and the cost is often your mental health and wellbeing'

5 ways to acknowledge your biggest strengths and 10x your impact

We really get underneath some of the internal narratives that often make women feel like they are ‘not good enough’ or an imposter.

Here is what the strengths based conversation is centred on;

? What keeps them motivated?

? Where do they get their energy from at work?

? What tasks keep them feeling energised or happy in their role?

? How can you illicit support from your team or where it is possible to be vulnerable and ask for help?

? Where are your biggest spheres of influence and how can you support your colleagues or the organisation to have a bigger impact?

I don’t want to minimise or diminish the reality of some of the systemic structures in organisations, that quite frankly need to be dismantled to make work better for everyone, and no personality test will ever be able to impact this!

However, I do recognise there are several layers of this work and my focus is always on individuals, who I can add the most value to and help them to focus on making a tangible impact.

If you are a kind and interesting people leader who cares about increasing representation of marginalised groups or maybe you are women of colour who is experiencing some of these challenges. I would love to hear from you!

I can't think of a time where we haven't ended with a more thoughtful understanding of themselves and feeling understood.

Are you ready to see a visible shift and acknowledged your biggest strengths? Book a discovery call here

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