The popularity of personality profiling has grown rapidly over time: according to BBC Worklife, a 2001 US survey found that 29% of employers had used a psychological assessment or measurement; by 2014 a different survey found that 62% had used a personality assessment in hiring. Today, with the rise of online and remote recruitment taking the place of in-person interviews, it’s likely that the number is even higher.
So, with hundreds of different personality tests on the market and millions of people taking the assessments each year in countries all around the globe, it’s time to debunk some of the myths and misconceptions about personality profiling.
Myth: Personality profiling is just a new fad
While it’s true that personality profiling is currently more popular than it has ever been before, it’s certainly not a new thing. People have always been interested in categorising different types of personalities; in the ancient world many people believed that the ‘four humours’ (blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm) of Ancient Greek and Roman medicine impacted a person’s temperament and personality, for example.
However, it was not until the birth of modern psychology that people started creating assessments to categorise personality types. In the 1920s, psychologist William Moulton Marston published his book Emotions of Normal People, proposing DISC theory. This method for categorising personality was then used in a self-questionnaire by Walter Clarke – the first ever DISC assessment.
Meanwhile, psychologists Henry Odbert and Gordon Allport in the 1930s were conducting lexical research into words to describe personality, forming the basis for what would later become the Big 5 (also called Five Factor Model) personality test. And, in the mid 20th century, Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers created their MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) using the work of Carl Jung.
While personality profiling rose to great popularity in the last quarter of the 20th century and continues to grow today, it’s by no means a short-lived fad. People have been searching for ways to better understand personalities for many hundreds of years, and now modern psychology is being used to support this. In fact, it’s likely that the future will only bring new and improved versions of these tests!
Myth: Personality profiling is just for hiring
One of the biggest misconceptions about personality profiling is that it is only used for hiring. This is one of the most important myths about personality assessments to debunk because organisations are missing out on some of the best features of personality profiling by only using it in the hiring process.
In reality, personality profiling has a range of uses beyond recruitment. It can be used as a coaching tool to help employees improve their interpersonal and soft skills, identifying areas for personal growth. Personality assessments can also be used to enhance the way teams work together by opening discussions about different communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution styles. Moreover, personality profiling can be crucial when promoting or selecting leaders, allowing individuals to learn best how to lead their team.
In short, if you’re using personality profiling just to help you pick out candidates you’re missing half the story. Embedding personality assessments and open dialogues about different behavioural styles in your organisation is not only a way to help employees reach their full potential. It’s also a way to make the business more inclusive, celebrating differences and the valuable strengths and perspectives different personality types bring.
Myth: All personality assessments are basically the same
DISC, Myers-Briggs, Big Five, Enneagram, they’re all basically the same, right?
Wrong. Based on different psychological theories, using various assessment methods, and providing different types of results not all personality assessments are created equal. While there is some conceptual overlap between the different types of personality profiling, each test has its own pros and cons.
For example, both the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Big Five test categorise people based on introversion and extroversion, but they do it in very different ways. While Myers-Briggs only allows a binary result (i.e. you are either extroverted OR introverted), the Big Five positions a person on a spectrum of introversion to extroversion. So, while the MBTI results are easier to understand and remember, the Big Five provides more nuance in its categorisation of personality.
Moreover, some personality assessments are better for use in the workplace than others. While the complicated long list of possible results provided by a Myers Briggs or Enneagram personality assessment may be great for self-understanding in an individual’s personal life, the complex and highly personal nature of these tests makes them less suited to the workplace. Likewise, the Big Five is great for nuance but its complicated sliding-scale results make it less useful at a glance in a work scenario.
For workplace use, the personality assessment that stands out from the crowd is the DISC assessment, a personality assessment that identifies four memorable personality types: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Compliance. With each person being categorised as one of these types or as a mix of multiple types, the DISC assessment provides results that are easy to remember and apply to workplace scenarios. The insights provided by DISC are also the most relevant and actionable for the workplace, helping individuals who take the assessment identify their strengths, limitations, and opportunities for growth within their careers.
Overall, while it may appear at first glance that there is a lot of overlap between the different personality assessments, it’s important to carefully consider which is most useful for your workplace.
Myth: Personality tests are a waste of time
This misconception is unfortunate because it means that many of the busy individuals and organisations which could benefit most from personality profiling discount it because of their assumption that it will waste their time. In fact, personality profiling is a great use of time for two key reasons.
Firstly, personality assessments do not take much time to complete. In fact, most can be completed in under 15 minutes, if not less than that. The DISC assessment, for example, is a very quick and easy test because it’s designed to be answered instinctively and intuitively – there’s no need to spend hours pondering your choices for each question.
Secondly – and this is the crucial point to understand – personality profiling is a great use of time in the long term because the benefits gained from the assessment continue to multiply over time.
For example, consider a newly promoted team manager who is ambitious, confident, and assertive. They’re excited to take on this new role of responsibility because they feel confident in their ability to make quick decisions and delegate tasks. However, they may soon notice that their team members are not sharing their ideas freely in meetings or coming up with new strategies. With the new manager making all the decisions and planning all the strategies, innovation is actually stagnating within the team. What’s going on?
Having the whole team take personality assessments can be a great way to diagnose the problem and identify ways to combat it. If they take a DISC assessment, for example, the new manager may learn that they’re a textbook case of the ‘High D’ personality: competitive, assertive, decisive, and task-oriented. However, their team is full of S and I types, two people-oriented personality types who sometimes struggle to voice their true opinions for fear of causing conflict and upsetting their team members. The manager may realise that their assertiveness has been discouraging team members from sharing ideas, while the team members may realise that their manager isn’t trying to dismiss them but rather is a naturally independent and assertive person. With this greater understanding among the team, it’s easier for everyone to communicate and approach conflict together for better effects.
Thus, the benefits of doing a short personality assessment and taking some time to understand your own personality type and those of the people you work with can have vast benefits for the future. Better interpersonal skills, understanding, and communication are always worth the time.
Use personality profiling to unlock your team’s potential today
As powerful tools for helping individuals and teams unlock their full potential, it’s no surprise that many of the world’s leading businesses now use personality profiling. Personality assessments pave the way for greater self-understanding, team cohesion, business performance, and much more.
Interested in giving personality profiling a go in your organisation? DISC Group has a wide range of different training, certifications, and personality reports. Using the tried-and-tested DISC Flow® model, their enhanced personality assessments are a great way to boost your team to greater success. Why not try it today?