Putting Your Personality to Work
August 7th, 2007 (6:00am) Dian Schaffhauser 8 Comments
Companies spend a fortune putting people through Myers-Briggs, 360-degree feedback and predictive indexing — in the hope of finding the silver bullet that will alleviate the inevitable clashes that arise in work.
Web workers who are telecommuters have to try even harder to reach out to co-workers and clients. Without that on-going on-site “face and feel,” we can become as ephemeral as avatars to those we most deal with in work. Add to that personality conflict, and reaching out can become a truly loathsome chore.
The book The Personality Code is meant for people like us. It includes access via a sign-in code to an online version of a personality test to teach you what kind of person you are. The test, named IDISC, is based on a 1928 volume, Emotions of Normal People, by William Marston (the same guy who invented Wonder Woman). By asking you to pick the adjectives that most describe and least describe your behavior from among 112 choices, the service instantly — well, after 15 minutes of test-taking — reveals which one of 14 personality types best describes you.
How can knowing your personality type help you? As author Travis Bradberry, president of TalentSmart, writes, “We found that as self-awareness increases, people’s satisfaction with life skyrockets, and they are far more likely to reach their goals at work and at home.”
Bradberry’s book provides plenty of readable anecdotes about how personality can help and hinder us. Two points to remember:
- We all have a little of each type of personality — architect, coach, diplomat, entrepreneur, researcher and so on — within us, and no type is more attractive than another.
- According to the author, one personality type rules in each of us, and the characteristics of that type determine how we respond to what happens in our lives. Having insight into our “type” can help us prepare for the changes that happen, even as our personalities remain static.
The chapter, “Managing the Fourteen Types,” will come in handy if you’re leading others. The strategies can help you relate to your team members better and help you figure out how to exploit each person’s strength to best advantage.
The section on personality clashes explains why there’s always somebody we’re tiptoeing around to avoid conflicts — it may be because our personality types are such poor mismatches.
The next time your personality clashes become distractingly clangorous, or your co-worker isn’t your best friend, it could be time to bid adieu. Or it may simply be time for a refresher on who we are at the core and what drives us — and drives us nuts.
8 Comments Post your own comment
Quint says: August 7th, 2007 7:27am
I think personality tests are bunk. They are a cheap way for companies to measure and label everyone and pigeonhole them based on a $15.00 scantron fill in the circle survey. People should be hired based on skills and past performance, and even on the gut reaction of the interviewer. I would trust that over a personality test any day.
How many excellent employees are passed over in organizations because some lame quiz said the applicant is an otter, and the hiring manager was looking for a camel because the metrics say a camel will fit in better with their team.
I don’t believe my “personality type” defines who I am, or how I will react in a given situation. If I am truly self aware, I can rise above the labels, and choose my reactions appropriately in the circumstance. I can change and adapt to my environment, and if I find my environment unsuitable, I can leave and find a new one.
Jeffrey says: August 7th, 2007 7:52am
Myers Briggs, in particular, is complete bunk. It was created by someone with absolutely no medical or psychological training and attempts to reduce the entire spectrum of humanity into just sixteen possible types.
Half of the people who take the Myers Briggs test turn out to have a different “personality type” the next time they take the test, which is the classic definition of pseudo-science.
If your employer tries to foist this junk on you, you should refuse. (A worker did this at Wal-Mart, sued them, and won.)
Luke Hoersten says: August 7th, 2007 9:39am
I’ve never taken one of these tests before but I’d like to in order to form a more accurate opinion about them. Does anyone know of any reputable free personailyt tests?
If they are anything like those job tests we all take in high school, then the personality test is nothing more than what we consciously see ourselves as.
Suzanne Doyle says: August 7th, 2007 10:10am
Hey, read the blog entry again before you get all grumpy. ;-) I didn’t see anything about employers testing employees in it. Suggesting we (wherever we are in the hierarchy) could test ourselves makes sense to me. Seems like it’s just more self-information, so we can do a better job of what Quint talks about at the end of his or her comment (be self-aware and adapt more effectively to those around us and the situations we’re in). For the price of a book instead of a career or ‘life’ coach’s fees.
David Yeiser says: August 7th, 2007 10:25am
On the subject of personality tests, I would highly recommend Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham. Like The Personality Code, you get access to an online personality test with very accurate results (at least for me). It’s based on two decades of research with interviews of over a million employees worldwide.
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Michael RoBards says: August 8th, 2007 5:03am
Personality type can be a great way to improve relationships at work and home, but it isn’t designed to base hiring decisions upon the results. There are other great tests that can provide more in-depth personality analysis. The Insight Game (insightgame.org) was developed by a psychologist, and has been in use by universities and Fortune 500 companies for 16 years. It’s free and as accurate as any other test available. Good luck!
Marc says: August 13th, 2007 2:57pm
I used to think/feel the same way as the first two responders above. However, I have come to recognize certain ‘default’ patterns of behavior that myself and others that I know tend to slip into. Yes, we can adapt in ways that are contrary to our nature, but once the crisis is over or the goal achieved, it takes great discipline to not slide back into our well worn grooves of behavior. These ‘tendencies’ exert a very powerful influence over our lives. Like the force of gravity, it is ever present in the background, exerting its inevitable influence over the long term. The smart thing to do is to place yourself in environments that leverage your natural strengths.
Labels are only bad if they are false to begin with, or are abused or misused. Labels aren’t needed if an employee has a work history to draw on when considering promotions, etc. Never-the-less, there are pigeon holes that are 100% accurate in defining our limits. Being labeled as a human means that I won’t be experiencing the world of air currents or of ocean currents in the way of an eagle or a whale anytime soon.