Based on the teachings of a Bolivian spiritual teacher, Enneagram divides people into nine personality types. While knowing your employees’ types can help you understand what motivates them, you will also learn who’s most likely to be vengeful, lazy, cowardly, melancholic, and deceitful. Fun!
The MBTI has been giving introverts permission to stay home from parties since 1921. This famous test is a self-guided sorting hat for 16 of Carl Jung’s 32 psychology types. Results can tell you how your employees see the world and make decisions and who needs a door on their office.
Developed by psychologist Raymond Cattell, 16PF is a taxonomy of …drumroll… 16 personality traits that can be used to explain the differences in peoples’ personalities. With categories such as “Social Boldness” and “Emotional Stability,” 16PF can allow you to predict who will be a problem at the holiday party.
This cognitively challenging, multi-dimensional, forced-choice test is designed to tell you how a potential employee will fit in the role they’re applying for. This test strikes such fear into job-seekers that it spawned an army of “psychometric coaches” who ensure people are ready to game the system on test day.
The DiSC test measures (just!) four personality dimensions (hallelujah!), such as Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. In no way, shape or form does the DiSC test translate the four dimensions as Rude, Bossy, Boring, and Do-Gooder, so get that out of your head right now.
By testing for “strength themes” used to explain someone’s “talent DNA,” this assessment brings to light what people naturally do best and “where they might need to ask for help.” In other words, the bad news is you suck at your job; the good news is it’s not your fault.
The Working Genius model categorizes people into six types of genius as indicated by where they find happiness at work. With names such as “Genius of Wonder” and “Genius of Enablement,” this test is designed to help you round out your team and assign the appropriate hyper-inflated job titles.
This inventory measures someone’s “bright side” and “dark side” qualities. Bright side qualities emerge when an employee feels positive and in control, while the dark side appears when they are under pressure. This information can be handy when considering whether to hire someone like, say, Darth Vader.