4 Workplace Assessments – And My Reviews on Them

I've had the good fortune to take part in many personality assessments over the years.  I've had the pleasure to use 4 in the workplace with staff.  I’ll only be reviewing assessment which I've both taken personally, and used as a facilitator.  I've used these assessments to infuse teams with collaboration, to enable them to work more effectively, and to provide insight that allows them to work better on a personal basis.  Each of these assessments also provided me with some insight, or solidified the characteristics I already knew about myself.  The assessments I’ll be discussing include:

• Strengths Finder (www.strengthsfinder.com)
• Myers Briggs Type Indicator (www.myersbriggs.org)
• Interaction Styles (www.interactionstyle.com)
• In Color Insight (www.incolorinsight.com)

Let’s get right into it:

Strengths Finder:  I started with this one, because Strengths Finder is a bit of a cult favorite among HR and managers in terms of assessments.  To take the assessment, you must purchase the “Strengths Finder 2.0” book and use the code in the book to take the online assessment which consists of several questions you will answer on a likert scale.  You only have 20 seconds to respond to each question so as to get your “gut” response.  The assessment gained exposure and notoriety through its affiliation with Gallup.  The idea behind this assessment is to focus on strengths, rather than shortcomings because focusing on strengths yields the best results and most potential for growth.  The idea is that if one focuses on a weakness, they will improve, but will likely only ever be mediocre at the skill or characteristic.  Focusing on traits that are already strengths allows one to move from “good to great”.  The Strengths Finder book argues that encouraging your staff to focus on strengths also yields high employee engagement.  After answering the questions, the assessment identifies your top 5 strengths (out of a total of 34 themes).  You can then use the book to learn more about the strengths, and gain ideas for leveraging those strengths.  People really love this assessment.  I would venture to say it is probably the most widely popular assessment of this kind, and for that reason it’s easy to get individuals engaged in using it.  While I generally agree with focusing on strengths, I think one must be careful with that message, as it can send a mixed signal for some individuals whose developments are barriers to growth and progress, hence stalling their development.  While this assessment has earned a top rank among HR practitioners and even academics, this is not an assessment that I’m particularly fond of.  I found that I didn't really learn anything about myself by taking the assessment, and that the terms are difficult for me to relate to.  Further, I found that there is a real lack of actionable advice that goes with Strengths Finders.  However, it is entertaining and interesting to read about the results this assessment spits out.

Myers Briggs Type Indicator:  Myers Briggs (also known as MBTI), has been around for some time, and it is used widely in both educational and professional settings.  MBTI is based on the psychological research and theories of C.G. Jung, specifically noting his ideas around introversion/extroversion, archetypes and pulling upon the idea of personality “preferences” (i.e. we prefer to act certain ways, particularly when focused or under stress). 

• Favorite world: Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own inner world? This is called Extroversion (E) or Introversion (I).
• Information: Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning? This is called Sensing (S) or Intuition (N).
• Decisions: When making decisions, do you prefer to first look at logic and consistency or first look at the people and special circumstances? This is called Thinking (T) or Feeling (F).
• Structure: In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to get things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options? This is called Judging (J) or Perceiving (P).

Your Personality Type: When you decide on your preference in each category, you have your own personality type, which can be expressed as a code with four letters.  The assessment is typically taken online, and the results, along with accompanying information about the type are typically provided.

The 16 personality types of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument are listed here as they are often shown in what is called a “type table.”

ISTJ	ISFJ	INFJ	INTJ
ISTP	ISFP	INFP	INTP
ESTP	ESFP	ENFP	ENTP
ESTJ	ESFJ	ENFJ	ENTJ

I’m really quite a fan of MBTI.  It’s been around for ages, so I've taken it three different times, and I suppose I’m rather consistent, because I've gotten the same results each time.  For the record, I am a INTJ.  I find that this assessment provided me with the most robust self reflection tools of any assessment.  So, if self-reflection is the goal of what you’re trying to accomplish – I think MBTI is your best choice, hands down.

Interaction Styles:  Interaction Styles is similar to other assessments, but focuses more heavily on the ways in which people interact with each other, rather than on the internal personality.  The idea is that most people regularly behave out of their propensity of a style.  Most also enjoy being treated as they behave (a different approach than the In Color Insight).  There are four different styles:  Relater, Expresser, Analyzer and Director.  There are two axes that make up the four quadrants of the Interaction Styles.  The horizontal axis is called the “Action-Oriented Dimension” and the vertical axis is called the “Emotion-Oriented Dimension”.  Your propensity for both action and emotion determine your interaction style.  

One of the biggest benefits to this assessment is the fact that it is available in a paper format, rather than just electronically.  For this reason, this particular assessment is good to use with front-line staff or staff that are not savvy with technology.  I also find this is a good assessment for individuals who are taking on either a new leadership role, or who are taking on a very different leadership role than they've held previously.   It gives a good framework to work from for such transitions, and can be easily translated to most low-skill or mid-level position workers.  Because this assessment does not require technology, it can be a good one to use as a complementary exercise during other trainings, and generally keeps participants highly engaged since they must work through the questionnaire on the spot.

In Color Insight:  This last one is rather new to me, but perhaps one of my favorite assessments, which is why I left if for last.  In Color Insight utilizes the Personal Insight Inventory (PII) which uses a short word-association survey to provide a profile of an individual’s behavioral preferences, energy drivers, and expectations for interpersonal interaction – using color to depict orientations toward action, people, ideas and structure.  InColor Insight operates on the finding that human beings intuitively associate certain qualities and feelings with certain colors.  Using the universal language of color, the profiles communicate easily using four primary colors to represent behavioral orientations:

Action-oriented – Red

People-oriented – Yellow

Structure-oriented – Green

Ideas-oriented – Blue

After answering the questions, the assessment reveals a full report outlining your personality according to the colors different “systems”.  The assessment first outlines your behavior system (how you prefer to act), your expectations system (how you expect yourself and others to act), and your energy/need system (your subconscious, or the way you act under stress).  The assessment is based upon the research and theories of many people over time and tries to incorporate the significant ideologies of many other assessments.  The simple scheme creates a fun and memorable shared language teams can use to apply the insights gained from the assessment.  From my experience with this assessment, the common language it creates lives long beyond the debrief exercise, and it probably has the most lasting impact within teams for that reason.  I believe this assessment is the best at providing team building while also providing some self reflection.  Using the colors, teams can talk about their interactions with one another, and find ways to better collaborate using the new shared language of color.  I highly recommend this assessment if you are working with teams that are newly formed, or that are going through significant change.  It’s also a good tool to use with teams whose working relationships may have become stale.  If one of the main goals of doing a session with an assessment includes team building, this is by far the best assessment of the four.

As you can tell, I believe each of these assessments has a place; otherwise, I wouldn't bother mentioning them.  There are many assessments out there that I've used that are not worth the paper they are written on.  So be careful when choosing to use assessments with your staff.  Carefully determine what your goal is before using any type of assessment with your employees.  By knowing what you hope to get out of it, you’ll better be able to choose and leverage the tools available to you.

What other assessments do you like using with staff?  List them in the comments below!