“I’m a Maximizer.” “My top DiSC style is influence.” “I’m an ENTJ.”  

These phrases have become increasingly more common in professional settings, which reflects the growing use of personality and behavioral assessments in organizations. These tools not only help individuals understand their strengths and weaknesses but also build a sense of self-awareness – a component needed to enhance team dynamics.  

By understanding and leveraging assessments, organizations can empower employees to recognize their motivations, communication styles, and decision-making processes. This level of self-awareness is the key to unlocking a more sustainable and high-performing work environment. 

Understanding Personality and Behavioral Assessments in OCM

It’s important to first distinguish between personality and behavioral assessments. Personality assessments measure an individual’s motivations, interests, and interpersonal interactions, while behavioral assessments focus on observable actions and tendencies. These assessments in the workplace can provide valuable insights about employees, but they serve different purposes in organizational development.  

Organizations can leverage these assessments to “…help predict long-term performance by measuring traits that have been relatively stable throughout a person’s life.” These tools are particularly helpful in change management contexts, where understanding individual differences can significantly impact the success of organizational transitions by tapping into employee engagement in the workplace. When managers understand how these “…traits impact job satisfaction and motivation… (it can help them) …tailor responsibilities and team dynamics… to create an environment where employees feel valued and understood.”  

Common Personality Assessment Tools

• CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder): Identifies an individual’s top talents across 34 themes and focuses on maximizing strengths rather than fixing areas of weakness. 

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) / 16 Personalities: Categorizes personalities into 16 unique types based on four dichotomies: Extraversion/Introversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving 

Common Behavioral Assessment Tools

• DiSC: Profiles individuals into four behavior types: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness, and focuses on highlighting how people approach tasks, their interaction with others, and how their response to challenges. 

• Social Styles: Measures both the individual’s perspective and how they are perceived by their peers, producing results that help them focus on adaptability and versatility in communication and interaction styles. 

What are the benefits of having this information, and what can I do with it?

There are advantages to knowing how you rank on different assessments, but it could be argued that the biggest benefit is not the specific assessment. The true value obtained is leveraging the information for enhanced self-awareness, to lean into individual strengths, and for the overall management of internal and external relationships.  

Companies often conduct the same assessments with their employees. This can provide several benefits. For example, Clarkston works with some clients using Gallup’s Strengths Finder across their organization. They use this information to help blend skills across teams and across the organization to create high-performing teams. It also provides a common language to communicate effectively because they understand each other better. Employees who understand their own strengths better understand the activities they will excel at, leading to more job satisfaction. Managers can use this information to help assign work to individuals where they can apply their strengths and be set up for success.  

What problems can you solve?

When individuals understand their strengths, as well as the strengths of others, there is more appreciation that not everyone works the same way, and it’s easier to reap benefits leveraging diversity in working styles. Data gained from different assessments can help build stronger teams. Often teams are based on functional expertise or individuals have a similar personality to their managers. It can be more effective to build a high-performing team based on shared work values.  

By looking at personality and behavioral traits across the individuals on the team, you can reflect on the best way to work with other team members. Individuals who can lean into their strengths are often happier and feel more successful. Understanding how you and others work leads to stronger and more fulfilled teams. Assigning work based on demonstrated strengths goes better than when individuals are asked to perform tasks that don’t help them excel or there are differences on approaches.  

For example, there may be an individual who maximizes their work and another individual whose focus is to get the task completed as quickly as possible. For some activities, it might be important to complete the tasks and for others it may not. Understanding different working styles can help compromises to occur easier so the right amount of time is focused on the task and the right team member is working on it. 

Another use case example of these working style assessments in action is around conflict management. A company implementing a new tool or system may experience resistance from an employee who is more Analytical (Social Styles), as they likely desire detailed proof of its benefits before adopting it. Meanwhile, someone who is more Expressive (Social Styles) may quickly embrace the tool, excited about the new features and capabilities, but potentially overlooking key implementation details. Without being aware of these differences, frustration can quickly build up within the team, and the Analytical person may see the Expressive person as impulsive, while the Expressive person may see the Analytical person as slow to adapt to change. Assessments can help teams resolve conflicts by recognizing differences in communication and decision-making preferences and equipping them with resources and strategies to adapt their approach when working together. 

Understanding strengths and behaviors not only helps when working within your organization, but also helps when interacting with individuals from other organizations, clients, vendors, etc. Even if you don’t have an assessment to tell you their strengths, you can take an educated guesses and then lean into their styles of work. It is the self-awareness of how you approach things that can help you manage your working style to establish more productive working relationships. Mapping personality and behavior types is not exact science, so you need to look at it as providing guidance and information you can use to manage your relationships. 

Empowering Teams and Working Together 

Self-awareness not only shapes self-perception but guides how we navigate interpersonal dynamics. When employees understand the motivations, behaviors, and dynamics of their teammates, they are empowered with valuable information and a common language, which makes them better equipped to be successful.  

By incorporating assessments into change management strategies, organizations can have more engaged employees and ultimately, stronger organizations. There are benefits to leveraging assessments, but it can be overwhelming to get started with trying to choose the best tool and understand how to integrate it into your organization for change. That’s where Clarkston can help in supporting how to tailor assessments to your organization’s unique needs and building our transformation efforts.  

Reach out to our Change Management experts at Clarkston.