16 May 2017

How to create a cohesive team using personality tests

Table of contents

One of the great concerns of a leader is to have a cohesive team that works like a perfect, well-oiled cog. However, achieving this is not so simple and it is necessary to take some factors into account.

Not only do you need time and good organisation, but you also need individuals who are a good fit with each other. There are personalities that are totally antagonistic and will never work well together; for example, two people who like to lead.

In order to create a cohesive team, it is important that it is balanced, and to achieve this, the personality of each member must be taken into account. But how can you achieve this? The answer is simple: by including personality tests in your onboarding process.

The advantages:

  • Increase empathy: when people understand each other, they work better together. Not only will your employees get to know themselves better, but they will also be able to see things from their colleagues' point of view.
  • They are a better fit for their job: having a broader picture of a person's skills and behaviours allows you to better match them to their role within the company.
  • Balance the team: there needs to be a mix of profiles - what if you had a group of very analytical people and no one creative? Or someone impulsive with no one who pays attention to detail?

Make sure your team is diverse and varied. Not only will it work better, but it will also be able to approach problems from different points of view.

Steps to create a balanced team

If you want to put it into practice, just take the following 4 steps:

1. Make personality tests part of the onboarding process.

Once you have found the right person to join your company and they have been with you for a few days, ask them to fill in a personality test.

He uses the information to focus his work on the areas he is most passionate about or where he can realise his full potential.

2. Use the tool to determine personality types.

There are many tools, tests and methods that allow you to analyse the personality of each member of your team (see below).

Use them to find out “who is who”, optimise their work and put them in the right place for each other.

3. Commitment to diversity

Remember that the most important thing in all of this is that you create teams with diverse personalities, which will help them work better and be more successful at the task at hand.

Different types of skills and aptitudes should be represented in your ideal team.

4. Rotate roles according to the status of the project

Some people are much better at starting a proposal and designing it and others, for example, excel at selling the product and promoting it.

Assess who should do what within a project and at what point in the project you will be able to make the most of their skills.

Personality test

As we said, there are different methods that can be used to analyse a person's personality.

Choose one and always use the same criteria to compare the information between them.

DiSC method

80 years ago, the psychologist William Marston discovered that behavioural characteristics could be grouped into 4 main divisions. With him we can determine:

  • The compartmentalisation of the person according to his or her environment.
  • The strengths and weaknesses of an individual's character.
  • The knowledge it brings to the company.
  • What is the working environment that allows you to develop your skills to the maximum.
  • That person's self-image.
  • How the person reacts to other types of personalities.

The four possible personalities are as follows and are described by these adjectives:

  • Decision: dominant, direct, decisive, high ego-strength, problem-solver, risk-taker
  • Interactioninfluential, enthusiastic, confident, optimistic, persuasive, talkative, impulsive, emotional...
  • Serenity: stable, good listener, possessive, predictable...
  • Compliance: analytical, fact-finding, high standards, systematic, precise...

Online test

You can also have your employees fill out one of the online tests that exist today. Two of the most recommended are 16personalities and Truity.

Send your employees a link and then share the results with each other to get to know each other better.

In this way, by using personality tests, you will obtain valuable information about your team that will allow you to manage it much more efficiently.

Edenred Spain

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