Unlocking Your Team's Potential: How Personality Assessments Can Help

In our previous article on assessments, we discussed different types of professional assessments to use in the workplace. In this article, we’ll be diving deeply into personality assessments–what they are, where they come from, different kinds, and how you can use them to develop your people, teams, and organizations to do work that’s more impactful and sustainable.

What is a personality assessment?

A personality assessment is a tool used to evaluate an individual's personality traits, behaviors, and characteristics. It typically involves the use of standardized tests or questionnaires that ask individuals to provide information about themselves, such as their attitudes, beliefs, interests, and preferences.

The purpose of a personality assessment can vary depending on the context. For example, it may be used in clinical psychology to diagnose mental health conditions, in human resources to assess job candidates, or in research to study personality traits in a particular population. For our purposes, we’ll focus on the workplace application of personality assessments.

Some popular personality assessments include the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator? (MBTI?) and the Resilience Innovator? Type Assessment (RITA), which both pull from the Five-Factor Model of Personality, also known as the “Big Five” and OCEAN. These assessments are designed to measure different aspects of personality based on the OCEAN-model, an acronym that stands for the following conceptual spectra:

O - openness to experience

C - conscientiousness

E - extraversion

A - agreeableness

N - neuroticism (also known as emotional stability)

Before we move on, let’s look at the origins of the “Big Five” model and its uses.

A Closer Look at the “Big Five” model

The origins of the Big Five Personality Traits model can be traced back to the 1930s and 1940s, when researchers began to identify clusters of personality traits that tended to occur together. However, it wasn't until the 1980s and 1990s that the Big Five model began to gain widespread acceptance in the field of psychology.

The term "Big Five" was coined by psychologists Paul Costa and Robert McCrae in the mid-1980s, and their work played a major role in popularizing the model. Costa and McCrae developed a personality inventory called the NEO Personality Inventory, which assessed the five broad dimensions of personality that are now commonly referred to as the Big Five or OCEAN.

Since then, the Big Five Personality Traits model has become one of the most widely used and studied frameworks for understanding personality. It has been validated across cultures and has been found to have robust predictive power in a variety of domains, from job performance to mental health outcomes.

Here’s a more detailed look at the OCEAN model:

1. Openness to experience: This trait refers to a person's openness and willingness to try new things, embrace new ideas, and engage in creative activities. People who score high on this trait tend to be imaginative, curious, and open-minded.
2. Conscientiousness: This trait refers to a person's level of organization, responsibility, and dependability. People who score high on this trait tend to be diligent, reliable, and detail-oriented.
3. Extraversion: This trait refers to a person's level of sociability, assertiveness, and outgoingness. People who score high on this trait tend to be energetic, outgoing, and enjoy being around others.
4. Agreeableness: This trait refers to a person's level of kindness, empathy, and cooperation. People who score high on this trait tend to be compassionate, considerate, and value harmony in relationships.
5. Neuroticism: This trait refers to a person's level of emotional stability and resilience. People who score high on this trait tend to experience negative emotions more intensely and frequently, such as anxiety, sadness, or anger.

The Big Five Personality Traits model has been found to be a useful tool in a variety of settings, such as in research studies, clinical psychology, and human resources. It can help individuals gain insight into their own personalities and behaviors, as well as provide valuable information for employers and organizations seeking to understand and manage their employees.

What are the benefits of personality assessments in the workplace?

Personality assessments are used by a variety of professionals and organizations for different reasons. For the purposes of this article, we’ll be looking specifically at the uses of personality assessments in the workplace.

Human resources professionals, team leaders, and managers can use personality assessments to grow their organization in a meaningful way. Some of the ways these assessments can be used include:

1. Candidate selection: Personality assessments can help HR professionals, team leaders, and managers to identify candidates who are likely to fit well with the job requirements and the company culture. By assessing candidates' personality traits, HR professionals can make more informed hiring decisions and select candidates who are likely to be successful in the job.
2. Training and development: Personality assessments can help HR professionals, team leaders, and managers to identify employees' strengths and weaknesses and to develop targeted training and development programs. By understanding employees' personality traits, professionals can design training programs that are tailored to their specific needs and preferences, which can improve job performance and employee satisfaction.
3. Team building: Personality assessments can help HR professionals, team leaders, and managers to create more effective and cohesive teams. By assessing team members' personality traits, professionals can identify potential conflicts and areas of complementarity, and can create teams that are well-balanced and productive.
4. Succession planning: Personality assessments can help professionals to identify employees with high potential for leadership positions and to develop succession plans for key roles within the organization. By assessing employees' personality traits, HR professionals, team leaders, and managers can identify those who have the necessary skills and characteristics to succeed in leadership positions, and can develop plans to groom them for those roles.

Overall, personality assessments can help professionals to make more informed decisions about hiring, training, and development, and can improve the overall performance and productivity of the organization.

An important caution when implementing an assessment in your hiring, development, and/or training processes is to practice ethical use. Over the last several years, the research behind certain personality assessments have been identified to be dubious at best and racist/sexist/classist at worst. Our philosophy on assessments is to use them as a tool, not a catch-all answer for building up your teams and people. Take what’s valuable to you and your team and leave the rest at the door.

What are some examples of personality assessments?

There are several different types of personality assessments that workplace professionals may use to develop their people and strengthen their teams. Each assessment comes with its own context, strengths, and limitations. Here are five examples of popular personality assessments with a brief exploration of those contexts, strengths, and limitations:

The Big Five Personality Traits model assessments:

Considering the fact that the Five-Factor model is a common basis for many personality assessments, it's only fitting that we mention an assessment that specifically measures the five broad dimensions of personality: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (OCEAN). The NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI), mentioned above, is a common example of a Big Five assessment.

The NEO-PI is best suited for those who want to know more about where individuals fall on the five spectra related to the broad dimensions. Strengths of using the NEO-PI are that it’s heavily research-backed and relatively easy to understand. Its limitations include its limited predictive power. Unlike other personality assessments, the results of the NEO-PI are not good indicators of how someone might behave or lead in the workplace.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator? (MBTI?):

The MBTI? assesses personality based on four dichotomies: extraversion/introversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving. It provides insight into an individual's preferences for how they perceive and interact with the world. The way that MBTI? communicates these preferences is through a typology that identifies where on the four dichotomies the individual falls. For example, if an individual falls closer to introversion, sensing, thinking, and perceiving on their respective spectra, that individual’s type would be communicated as ISTP. There are sixteen possible types that can be identified from in the MBTI?.

MBTI? is best suited for teams and individuals looking to explore their personality traits and preferences, and it can be further applied to teams who are looking to enhance their communication skills based on an increased awareness of the identified personalities. The limitations of the MBTI? are that it isn’t always the most budget-friendly option of the personality assessments. Additionally, MBTI? provides a limited insight into applying the output of the assessment to various workplace situations.

Resilience Innovator? Type Assessment (RITA):

RITA is a personality assessment that applies the OCEAN-model by assessing an individual’s resilience and innovation potential on five dichotomies. The measurement of traits aligned with these five dichotomies identifies an individual’s Resilience Innovator? type, of which there are ten options. These types provide insight into an individual’s personality specifically during moments of stress and crisis.

RITA is best suited for teams who are looking to enhance their team’s ability to work through challenging problems and using innovative solutions to do so. It provides a common language so that teams can communicate more efficiently and effectively under pressure. It’s also relatively cheap compared to other personality assessments on the market. The limitation of RITA is that it’s specific to measuring work in stressful times, which may not account for personality traits when they’re not under pressure.

16PF? (16 Personality Factors) assessment:

The 16PF measures 16 different personality factors, including warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, social boldness, sensitivity, vigilance, abstractedness, privateness, apprehension, openness to change, self-reliance, perfectionism, tension, and impulsiveness. The 16PF assessment is often used in selection and development contexts, as it can provide insight into an individual's personality traits and characteristics that are relevant to job performance.?

Strengths of the 16PF include its ease of use and similarity to MBTI?. Because these two assessments are similar, there might be a broader understanding of their benefits across various work cultures. A limitation of 16PF, however, is that it’s particularly lengthy.

CliftonStrengths? (formerly StrengthsFinder?):

The CliftonStrengths? assessment is a personality assessment that focuses on identifying an individual's unique strengths and talents. CliftonStrengths? uniquely ranks an individual’s strengths based on 34 previously identified themes based on four domains: Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. The assessment supposes that by ranking strengths based on these 34 themes, people who focus on developing their natural talents (e.g. their top strengths) are more likely to be successful and fulfilled in their work.

A strength of CliftonStrengths? is that its output specifically relates the strengths identified to the work of the assessee. The language of the assessment is designed to address this link outright. A potential limitation of using CliftonStrengths? is that the first tier of use limits the assessee to knowing just their top five strengths (individuals must pay extra to gain access to information about all 34 strengths). Additionally, CliftonStrengths? lacks an explicit feature that is centered on team communication, potentially limiting its use if enhancing your team’s communication skills is a top priority.

Professionals may choose to use one or more of these assessments, depending on their specific needs and the goals of the organization. It's important to note that no single assessment is perfect, and that assessments should always be used as just one part of a broader hiring or development process that includes interviews, performance evaluations, and other sources of information.

Which personality assessment is right for you and your team?

When deciding which personality assessment to use for your team at work, it's important to consider a few key factors:

1. Validity and reliability: You should choose a personality assessment that has been shown to be valid and reliable through research. This means that the assessment should measure what it is intended to measure and produce consistent and accurate results.
2. Purpose: Consider the specific purpose for which you will be using the assessment. Different assessments may be better suited for different purposes. For example, if you are looking to identify potential leaders within your organization, an assessment that measures leadership potential may be more appropriate than one that focuses on team-building.
3. Format: Personality assessments can take different formats, such as self-report questionnaires or interviews. Consider the format that will work best for your team, taking into account factors such as time constraints, ease of administration, and ease of interpretation.
4. Cost: Personality assessments can vary in cost, depending on the complexity of the assessment and the level of analysis provided. Consider your budget when choosing an assessment, and weigh the cost against the potential benefits to your team and organization.
5. Ethical considerations: It's important to use personality assessments ethically and to ensure that they are administered and interpreted by trained professionals. Consider the ethical implications of using the assessment and make sure that you are following best practices for ethical use.

By considering these factors, you can choose a personality assessment that is appropriate for your team and will help you achieve your goals. It's also important to keep in mind that personality assessments should be used as part of a broader hiring or development process that includes interviews, performance evaluations, and other sources of information.

In Conclusion…

The personality assessment is a great way to evaluate individuals in your organization, and depending on which one(s) you choose to use, you can help deepen self-awareness, enhance team collaboration, and promote more sustainable practices in your organization. It’s all about using personality assessments as a tool to your advantage.

The next article in this series will focus on the strengths, weaknesses, and origins of behavioral assessments.

This article was written by Nia D’Emilio, Learning & Events Coordinator for Epicenter Innovation. This article is part of a larger series about professional assessments, their benefits, and their use cases.