Personality Assessment and Leadership
We all have valuable characteristics to contribute to our team. As leaders, it is up to us to identify these characteristics in ourselves, and our team. Assessing personality traits, as the majority of Fortune 500 companies do, is one component of the hiring and team building process (Grant 2013). That is not to say that leaders should solely rely on personality assessments, but rather simply take them into account.
Personality assessment has met much resistance from critics who fail to see the value. One such criticism is that the results may vary when taking the test more than once. This is true. Your profile is based on your responses which can change due to a variety of variables like your mood or recent events in your life. However if you are extremely introverted, this is unlikely to change, and visa versa.
Although one of the most popular assessments is the MBTI which measures such characteristics as extroverted vs. introverted, sensing vs. intuition, thinking vs. feeling, and judging vs. perceiving. Let's not get too bogged down on the specifics of the test, instead use it as a management tool that can help you assign the appropriate person to the task at hand. This tool can help you build a dynamic team that supports each others strengths and weaknesses.
When I was in business school we read the short book Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath which also came with a personality assessment. The general idea was to find your strength and further strengthen those characteristics. Although, INTJs make 2-4% of the population, in general, the majority of us were INTJ (CAPT 2017). I was shocked there were so many introverts in my class. In my mind, I envision successful business people as Type A, extroverted "movers and shakers". Like so many preconceptions, that is just not the case. Rath discusses the problems that come along with trying to strengthen weaknesses versus putting that effort into further strengthening what you are naturally adept at.
We all have preconceptions, first impressions, and personality traits which can remain dormant until the right situation presents itself. However, knowing the general personality traits of your team can be extremely valuable. Don't make the highly introverted but excellent researcher do cold sales calls. Don't stick your talented extrovert in the mail room dungeon. Realize your strengths and those of your team to improve efficiency and effectiveness!
Center for Applications of Psychological Type. (2017) Estimated frequencies of the types in the United States population. Retrieved on October 19, 2017 from https://www.capt.org/mbti-assessment/estimated-frequencies.htm? bhcp=1.
Grant, A. (2013). Goodbye to MBTI, the fad that won't die. Retrieved on October 19, 2017 from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-grant/goodbye-to-mbti-the-fad-t_b_3947014.html
