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Maximizing Team Building Using Personality Assessment Techniques

Christine O'KellyBy Christine O'Kelly
Aug 5, 2009
As the economy is forcing more and more companies to downsize, employees are working harder and doing more with less than ever before. Because of this, it has become even more important for companies to recognize the significance of corporate team building in order to maximize productivity and make sure employees stay happy with their jobs.

Why Personality Assessments Matter In Teambuilding

Many people don't think of personality assessment as it relates to corporate team building, but it's actually incredibly important. A team, whether it's the entire company or just a small group of employees, works better if everyone plays up to their strengths. Team members can improve the way they relate to each other if they're aware of each other's personality strengths and weaknesses.

Employers can actually help the teambuilding experience if they conduct a simple personality assessment. While there are many different assessments available, the most commonly used are the Myers Briggs and the DISC assessments. After using one of these personality assessments, employers can create teams that are sure to work well together because they'll understand how employees of different personalities develop new skills, manage their time, problem solve and make decisions.

One Popular Assessment Method - Myers Briggs

The Myers Briggs personality assessment is probably the most popular way of determining personality type. The test uses over 40 different questions and the employee's answers determine where he or she falls within four different sub-groups.

The four sub-groups determine whether someone has an extroverted or introverted attitude, if they are sensing and thinking or intuitive and feeling and lastly if they're judging or perceiving. While some of the terms, like judging, have a negative connotation, that doesn't mean that people who fall within that preference are more judgemental - it just means that they process information in a different way than someone who falls within the perceiving section.

Each person falls somewhere between the coordinating pairs and it's important to realize that there isn't one ideal personality. Employers who use the Myers Briggs personality test for teambuilding purposes will find it useful to play to personality strengths and many find personalities just as important as workplace knowledge when teambuilding.

Another Assessment To Maximize Productivity - DISC Assessment

Another useful team building tool is the DISC assessment. This is typically easier to administer than the Myers Briggs test because the results use a simple, four letter acronym: dominance, influence, steadiness and conscientious. Each letter is rated as a high or low and the test lets employers know which employees are naturally comfortable being leaders, which are the most patient and comfortable with change and which ones need structure and rules vs. independence.

Corporate team building should take advantage of these personalty assessments because oftentimes, personalities are just as important as job knowledge. Many employers may find it better to reassign employees according to personality rather than job skills because it is easier to retrain than change natural personalities.
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