Why personality tests are useless
One of my favorite expressions is “Know thyself.” I’ve always been a fairly introspective person, fascinated by my own psychology and eager to understand why others behave the way they do. In any leadership role, it’s essential to grasp what motivates people and how best to communicate with them.
So how do you uncover these insights about individuals? One way is to ask, but you'll find that people are often not great at accurately verbalizing these details about themselves. If you work closely with someone for long enough, you might start to observe some patterns, but this can be a slow and unreliable approach.
Personality testing has become popular, but unfortunately, these tests are largely unreliable. Have you ever taken a Myers-Briggs test? While it can be fun, it should not be used for business purposes. The test is based on largely debunked theories from Carl Jung in the 1920s. For the gory details, you can read this article. For the TL;DR crowd, here’s an excerpt.
“ Several analyses have shown the test is totally ineffective at predicting people's success in various jobs, and that about half of the people who take it twice get different results each time.”
“This isn't a test designed to accurately categorize people, but rather a test designed to make them feel happy after taking it. This is one of the reasons it's persisted for so many years in the corporate world after being disregarded by psychologists.”
DISC behavioral profiling differs from standard personality tests. Personality is subjective and can be highly influenced by your state of mind, environment, and other external factors. While Myers-Briggs results may vary from week to week, DISC tends to remain static for 3-5 years. DISC, unlike Myers-Briggs, is based in science. The results are shockingly accurate and reliable. The most common feedback I receive after people complete a profile is, “Spooky,” or “Bang-on.”
Do you use any personality or behavioural profiling in your hiring or staff management process? If you’d like to profile your team and find out what makes them tick, please get in touch and we can review.
Additionally, you might find value in my podcast episode, ERP096 - How To Think About Security.
