Q4 • 2022


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More sophisticated approaches, however, can yield a mountain of additional benefits. Ross Slater, Partner and Vice President at


Reach Capabilities Inc., a Toronto-based consulting company, contends that personality assessments can lead to the following:


• Self-awareness on the part of individual team members— “The more


f-a ivi


mo someone can be aware of how they get things done, the better they can self-manage,” he says.


• Mutual understanding— Awarenes ess


of others’ communication styles and howthey best perform makes the workplace more pleasant and productive, with fewer misunder- standings that can lead to tension, dissatisfaction, and employee turnover.


• Better teamwork— Members’ strengths can be capitalized on and their weaknesses compensated for when assigning


joint projects.


• Potential new levels of achievement


em — These


can compass enc impr ved


s


ove training pr msogram and leadership


develop nt. pment


Identifying Your Needs “Everyone’s looking for a silver bullet. They’re looking for the one test that will help them,” Slater says. “But there’s no one perfect thing.” When helping businesses improve


tea


performance, Slater looks at three different facets of how individuals function, each of which has its own testing


fun ng models.


• Cognitive function and related aspects,


n includes i intelligence ts such as memory,


which are measured by IQ and proficiency tests.


• Affective functioning is tied to emotions and moods; theMBTI is a type


pe of


affective test in that it gauges, among other things, whether a person is apt to make decisions based largely on emotions t


o change. For instance, someone who rates highly for extroversion and openness to experience might relish a switch froma cubicle farmto an open office layout, while a colleague who scores higher on inflexibility and introversion would likely dread it.


To determine which sort of testing will


rove team t


suit your department, “you need to know what you’re trying to solve,” Slater says. “A lot of companies don’t take the time to figure out what they need.” A plethora of personality assessment


tools are out there, along with just as many workplace situations that could be improved by those assessments. Let’s look at a few.


ions rather than intellect. Affective tests might suggest how individuals


would react to certain types of feedback or


Team conflicts Whether the conflict involves the design of a pamphlet or the setting of the office thermostat, a conflict-resolution assessment could show team members how they and their colleagues tend to react and, just as importantly, how they could better resolve issues. Managers can also learn about their own conflict-resolution styles so that they can discover new methods of resolving conflicts among their staff.


• Conative functioning relates to how an individual’s instincts translate into actions. A person who needs to acquire a great deal bef


al of information efore eginning


beginning


a project would approach a task


differently from someone who just gets the basic facts before plunging in. In the workplace, the Kolbe A™ Index is the premier type of conative testing.


Task assignments On your creative team, a copywriter who works intuitively might not be the best person to assign to a technical white paper, just as a designer who is highly precise may be better suited to designing detailed corporate collateral rather than creative sales pitches. Knowing individuals’ affective and conative traits can help you manage them more effectively. Some people work best when given a long-term deadline, while others are more effective when assigned multiple short-term milestones per project.


Communication among team members Individuals both receive and disseminate information differently. A big-picture, results-oriented person might quickly tune out information given by a deliberate, detail-oriented individual. Someone who emphasizes tact might fail to get a point across to a more blunt, outspoken colleague.


Client and shareholder communications When you can recognize that a client or a member of the C-suite tends to be more enthusiastic and instinctual than systematic and analytical, you can learn how to understand them and ensure they understand you better and more quickly.


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