Personality tests are more than just Buzzfeed time-wasters. They can be tools for understanding coworkers, building better teams, and becoming more self-aware. So which personality assessments are the most helpful and how do they apply to marketing?
What are some of the personality assessments out there?
- Myers Briggs: 16 personalities with 4 different categories
- Enneagram: 9 personalities
- DISC profile: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness
- Right Path: 16 blended profiles
- Strengths Finder: several different strengths ranked
How does GreenMellen get into using personality assessments?
- We have always been a team of do-ers. We get things done, we are task-oriented. This was great for projects, but when it was time to grow our services, we hit a wall.
- After one of our business coaches suggested a team personality assessment, we learned we how best to work with one another.
- Just “being nice” isn’t the right approach.
Are personality tests perfect? What are the pros and cons?
- Pros: Quick shorthand to understanding how people think and operate, fun to do as a team, gives you language around types of people and behaviors
- Cons: can be overly generalized, overused to make big decisions, hard to know which one to use, not obvious how to put the results into practice.
- People can “own” them a bit too much and try to become what the test said they should be, which is certainly problematic.
What does this mean for marketing and your business?
- Make sure you have the right people on your team.
- Know what roles and tasks motivate people
- How to communicate properly with people
- Think about what personality each of your audience personas has
