research and insight into members of
the team.
A strong first step in building team
cohesion and efficiency can involve
team-building retreats that use per-
sonality assessment tools. These tools
can effectively help people under-
stand themselves and their coworkers
in areas relevant to both personal and
work situations. Diversity is promot-
ed through a shared understanding
of our own and others’ interests and
strengths. They also provide the av-
enue toward the rea l trust that comes
from clearly seeing other people —
their perspectives, points of view and
strengths, as well as their areas of dis-
comfort or disinterest.
Why use the personality assess-
ments? Because they facilitate the
much-needed conversation: I’m differ-
ent from you and you’re different from
me, and that’s OK. Coworkers often get
frustrated with their colleagues if they
have different styles. Personality as-
sessments offer teams the opportunity
to have a conversation about accepting
styles other than their own.
So which one is best? It depends.
Below, I examine the pros and cons of
the three most popular personality as-
sessments.
MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR
The purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator is to make the theory of psy-
chological types described by C.G.
Jung understandable and useful in
people's lives. The test identifies per-
sonal preferences — that is to say,
those areas and activities on which
people prefer to focus their attention.
Are you an extrovert or an introvert?
Do you make decisions based on feel-
ing or thinking?
The test measures traits on 16
personality types and eight prefer-
ences, which are labeled with letters.
Even if you remember your personal
four-letter descriptive code — like
ENTJ, which stands for extraversion,
intuition, thinking, judgment — you
probably have quickly forgotten the
four-letter profiles of your co-work-
ers. (I’m sure your manager has it in a
file somewhere.)
The system is complex and easily
forgettable. But there is another, more
documented, problem: The test has
been shown to be inconsistent. Your
preferences can easily change with
mood, seasons and context. Addition-
ally, since it is widely known that ENTJ
is the preferred personality profile in
corporate America (these people tend
to exhibit charisma, confidence and
personality), it makes it easy to dismiss
others’ styles as inferior. This is a good
assessment for self-reflection, but too
complex if you don’t have time to dig
into the results.
DISC PROFILE
Significant differences exist between
Myers Briggs and the DiSC profile sys-
tem. Briefly, MBTI measures what you
want to do, whereas DiSC measures
how you do it. Four measurements of
work style are measured: dominance,
influence, steadiness and compliance
— all four necessary parts of a func-
tioning team. For example, do you
tend to spend meetings brainstorming
and innovating (influence) or follow-
ing a carefully crafted agenda word for
word (compliance).
While most people soon forget their
explanatory initials derived from the
Myers-Briggs test, the brightly-colored
pie charts from DiSC results help with
recall. Sponsors of DiSC (and there are
several different companies selling the
test) claim a higher level of reliability,
but these claims have not been as rig-
orously researched as Myers Briggs.
While DiSC is not as robust, it is easier
to remember, so for a half-day session
— choose DiSC.
STRENGTHSFINDER
The StrengthsFinder (now rebranded
as CliftonStrengths) identifies 34 po-
tential strengths, both in personal-
ity preferences and productivity style.
When you take the test, you are told
your top five. This is a popular tool
since it emphasizes what people do
well. The emphasis on strengths makes
for a comfortable jumping off point for
fruitful team discussions that empha-
size positive attributes, rather than
the potential judgments that might be
derived from the other personality in-
ventories. Emphasizing strengths also
makes the results inherently memora-
ble. And people love talking about how
great they are, so it’s usually popular.
StrengthsFinder is a great tool — and
my favorite.
Regardless of which personality as-
sessment tool you choose, making the
time to have conscious conversations
about different working styles is worth
your time as your team works toward
mutual understanding. It’s a necessary
and needed step in the right direction.
Their primary goal is to help people
coordinate and cooperate. They can
help coordinate vertical thinkers (deep
and thorough, if sometimes narrow)
with the lateral thinkers (fast and en-
compassing, if sometimes shallow).
What is necessary in the corporate
world as in the private world is an un-
derstanding that your way isn’t the only
way. An escape room won’t create that
understanding but these tools might.
And if facilitated well, hopefully your
employees won’t want to escape. n
Jessica Kriegel, Ph.D., is an organiza-
tional development consultant and an
expert on generational issues. For more,
visit www.jessicakriegel.com.
Which personality assessment
tool do you swear by?
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