General Chat

Hi Heidi, 

I have used 16 Personalities It is fun, free, and has a lot of other connections that can be used after the initial work. We have a mini-lab that I do with not only the supervisor, but with their whole team. There is great conversation and we are 'done' in 45 minutes. I then do a follow up with the supervisor after our lab about the team dynamics, how they used their new knowledge about their team members perceived self-assessment, and what might be the next step for them (or their team). 

I sent you an email, too! :-) 

At a previous role we used 5 Voices, and I really loved it. It gave our team shared language around how we communicate and make decisions, which helped a lot, especially across functions. One of the biggest takeaways for me was realizing that certain “voices” were unintentionally left out of meetings or discussions. Knowing that, we became more intentional about making sure every voice was heard. It genuinely improved how we collaborated, and gave me a lot of insight into myself and how I work best.

For frontline supervisors, who hadn't been introduced to any type of personality assessment before, I went with a behavioral styles assessment.  It's simple, and the most effective way to quicklly understand how to work with others.  I used the HRDQ version because it was really inexpensive - it looked at 'do you show emotions or hold them in' and 'do you using asking or telling language.'  

I think DISC has been very useful. It is validated / unbiased and people view it as offering very basic critical insights to increase self-awareness, improve communication and support team-building. We introduced it across our organization and found that team supervisors were seeking to delve deeper with a Team-Building session around the results. There is a phrase "know your audience". Well, I apply it here, it helps people understand the way they communicate and how it is received, and in a group setting when DISC styles are shared, you're able to understand a little more about your colleague to better communicate for each audience.

Another resource that is very useful is Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) which is used to guide individuals, teams and organizations on their intercultural development journeys. While culture is typically defined by national and/or racial and ethnic boundaries, the IDI, recognizes that it may also include region, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religion, etc. IDI terms "my culture" as the culture group to which I feel I belong the most. IDI terms "people from different cultures" as groups to which I do NOT feel I belong. I am a Qualified Administrator (QA) for the IDI.

If you have budget to dedicate to it, I'd definitely recommend Wiley EverythingDiSC Workplace. I've experienced a number of different assessments and honestly feel DiSC is the best for providing a clear framework for communicating work style preferences without getting too bogged down in details or clinical, so it's easier to apply to teams. A possible con is that to get the most out of the tool, it probably shouldn't just be the supervisors taking it, but also their direct reports so they can see everyone's styles and how they connect together (the Catalyst site gives them the ability to do this themselves). They also have a new additional tool called Worksmart that provides focused, one-hour training sessions and on-demand action planning to help managers apply DiSC insights to real-world workplace challenges.

I facilitated DiSC for hundreds of employees internally at my previous org and recently transitioned to being a external partner provider, so feel free to reach out directly with any questions. (LinkedIn Profile)

I'll echo the same message that everyone has mentioned, Wiley DiSC and Gallup CliftonStrengths are pretty successful assessments. Both may be seen as pricey, but the support and use rate for organizational growth has been great. We integrate DiSC in both our individual contributor courses and our managers/supervisor trainings all the way up to our Sr. Leader programming. I would say the level of implementation and filtering through the onboarding story for new employees, current managers/supervisors, and continuous development to show the value and opportunity of not just making it an assessment for 1 time completion and not integrating it into data, change management, collaboration and a part of the core values/mission for the organization. 

As a follow-up, we found a less expensive approach to purchasing the DISC assessment via www.truity.com. It may offer more reasonable pricing for a company's budget. They also have resources for DISC in the workplace. It does not include aggregate data for your company, so it is more individualized.

I am a big fan of the Hogan personality assessment and their full suite of assessments. One important aspect of using personality assessments is defining what you plan on using them for. For leader development I find the Hogan to be very useful. Other assessments like the Predictive index or 16PF can be used for team building. Before you start looking at assessments, make sure that you and your team understand what the tool will be used for. One thing to avoid is stigmatizing people for their personality. There's no such thing as a "bad" personality just different behaviors that may or may not fit the job or culture of the organization. Please feel free to reach out directly if you have any questions.