Personality Tests and Better Team Management

Many companies in the Philippines aquire various screening tools that include personality tests to determine the candidates' fit with prospective jobs. More often than not, the results of these tests don't reach or are not explained to prospective supervisors or managers.  After determining if the candidate passed or failed this part of the screening, the results are filed in the 201 record if the candidate is hired or elsewhere if the candidate failed to meet expectations.

I feel that failing to explain the result of a test whether, aptitude, pshycological or personality to a future boss is a waste of a great opportunity to lead or manage a team better. Why so, let me explain my points.

First, I hope you agree with me that better understanding of the personalities in the team is useful to leaders who want to match their "strokes with the different folks" that they have on board.  I believe that a properly explained assessment result can help managers do this.  Let me cite my experiences as examples.

Better ROI from Change Driven Training

A few weeks ago, I received a request to conduct a Customer Service Training.  As usual, I asked the client why they want to have it. The answer I hoped  to hear was that they plan to launch a customer service program and that they expect the training to be customized to equip the employees to perform under the new program and policy. As usual, what I got was the typical answer that in effect says their employees lack the skill. And as usual, this triggered me to passionately lecture about the importance of having a training program that support organizational change initiatives as opposed to having a stand-alone program conducted as a knee-jerk reaction to a perceived training need.

A well thought out  organizational change initiative provides a motivation for people to learn the required skillls both through training and workplace practice. A launching of  a Performance Management system for example will entice people to learn how to manage performance based on the embraced concept. A sales training based on the organization's adopted sales methodology enables people to demonstrate what is expected. Implementing a quality improvement program like quality circles or Kaizen will allow employees to use problem solving and decision making  tools immediately after the training. A creativity and Innovation training works best when the company that sponsored it is deliberately cultivating a culture of creativity through a culture building iniative. I can go on and on with examples but I'm feeling that you already get the drift.