Directing my employees to take a personality quiz before hiring and during their employment was a game-changer for us all!
Three Major Benefits
[1] In the most positive of ways, discovering, understanding and practically applying the results of these business psychology quizzes or tests allowed us to interact with each other in a whole new way – with a higher level of empathy, compassion and grace. That’s one benefit.
[2] Secondly, where possible, my team’s roles and tasks were adapted in ways that better-suit their skills and personality traits as determined by the quiz results. (Of course, you have to use wisdom and discernment here, but these were small positive shifts that made a big difference.)
[3] It’s funny because, clearly my team and I knew who we were before taking the tests. So, third and finally, personality quizzes, especially ones that are created from a business psychology perspective – allowed us to give language and legs – words and actions – to who we are and how we work and move best in the working world. It enabled us to work more frequently at our highest level of functioning where we can most easily operate in flow state – in our unique gifts, talents and strengths.
Questions to Ask Yourself
Do you want to work more frequently in your gifting in your career or workplace?
If you run a business or team, would you like your team to work more effectively individually and collectively?
Finally, surely you want to see yourself and your team smile more because they truly enjoy what they do?
I’ve no doubt you answered a resounding, ‘heck yes!’ to these questions.
So let me tell you, I’m not a professional business psychologist (although I am considering taking a masters in the subject in the next academic year), but I do have over five years of experience running a business – taking it from a £0 start-up to a six-figure revenue and profit-generating SME – managing people and teams, assigning roles, failing and succeeding, hiring and …letting people go.
So, I may not know all the theoretical underpinnings of organisational psychology, but I have learned and up-skilled myself in the practical, real world of business psychology and organisational behaviour.
These tests remove so much strain from trying to figure out who’s who and why somebody does what they do.
I receive no endorsements or revenue from you taking these tests, quizzes or whatever you want to call them, but I know I’ll be happier knowing your workplace is a more productive, empathetic, higher-functioning place because you’ve taken, discovered, learned and applied what you’ve learned from these quiz results.
Application is key, by the way. I feel that goes without saying, but I also don’t want to assume that’s moot.
How do you apply these test results?
[1] Results’ Debrief & Application Meeting
An initial diarised meeting to discuss the results. Honesty and transparency is key. Discussion of how the role fits the employee’s personality and how it doesn’t so he or she can be better supported or up-skilled in a certain area to strengthen his or her weaknesses and bolster strengths.
[2] Regular review meetings
Monthly meetings were normal previous to us having taken these quizzes. But then, quiz results and applications were integrated into meeting conversations where we discussed personal and professional growth metrics, opportunities and challenges individually, within the team and in their own world.
For transparency, above you can download the employee engagement and performance review form I’d ask my team to complete each month before our meetings. There were so many benefits to this form, but I’m sure you’ll discover that yourself.
And, if you’re an employee, why not complete this form before your next review meeting with your manager so that you can do a bit of self-reflection and perhaps have a clearer, more purposeful conversation?
[3] Upgraded Company Values
I redefined the company’s values to embed the positive impact of the quiz results. One such redefinition became ‘excellence with empathy‘, rather than the value of ‘excellence‘. Excellence is a value I try to uphold personally and professionally, but one that allowed me to fall into my default of excessive criticism or seeing flaws in everything versus the brilliant messiness of the ‘first draft’ from which both praise then constructive feedback can follow.
P.s. Excellence is already an adapted or, rather an updated value for me as I seek to move away from the trap of ‘perfectionism‘ – a near-impossible standard that causes me to stagnate or, even worse, retreat.
The Two Business Psychology Tests
So, here are the two business psychology tests that I’m a fan of for supporting higher employee engagement and more efficient and compassionate team management:
From the Table Group created by Patrick Lencioni, author of the popular business leadership book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.
The six types of working genius follow the acronym – WIDGET – Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanising, Enablement, and Tenacity and is a 10-minute assessment that costs, at time of publishing this post, $25.
Although not entirely focused on business, this is a free test that provides an overall view of your personality in relation to career, friendships and significant others, and more. For more in-depth reports and further quizzes, the platform offers paid options.
Under the label, ‘career’, the pitch is: ‘get better at navigating the professional world and achieving your goals – without burning out.’ And, in fact, that’s such an important benefit of these tests – being able to operate more frequently in your gifts and strengths means you feel less depleted at the end of each day and week. How? Energy expenditure is shifted from ‘pushing through’ as you work in areas that do not maximise your core competencies and natural behavioural strengths to ‘powering through’ as you work in alignment with who you are and find your flow.
Energy expenditure is shifted from ‘pushing through’ as you work in areas that do not maximise your core competencies and natural behavioural strengths to ‘powering through’ as you work in alignment with who you are and find your flow. #CPD
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P.s. Test results and dominant personality traits can change over time, so it’s ideal to retake tests at regular intervals, e.g. every 6-12 months.
Finally, if you want to immediately apply the test results in your workplace, why not download my monthly employee engagement and performance review form?
