Why Employee Assessments Like DiSC Can Greatly Improve Your Business Efficiency

Mark Murphy, author of Hire for Personality, tracked over 20,000 new hires in the United States. Incredibly, 46 percent failed within 18 months. Lack of skill accounted for 11 percent; the rest—the overwhelming majority—was because their personality or attitude didn’t mesh with the team, the organization, or their role. This is why employment assessment tests can make a huge difference in getting a “right fit”.

Understanding personalities in the workplace is critical. It’s not necessarily the technical aspects; it’s the people who are going to move projects and objectives forward. Leaders must understand how best to do that.

Know Your Resources

Management is often described as “getting things done through others.” To this end, it’s useful to view your people as inventory, and then ask yourself:

• How do they function?
• What projects, events, or other people trigger their reactions?
• What stressors show up in other personality types, either positively or negatively?
• How do you tailor your approach to get optimal results?

We may have a team member, for instance, who is under immense stress. Smart managers will approach this person differently than they would have last week when he/she was feeling more optimistic. What’s the best way to know how to do that effectively?

Using employment assessment tests like DiSC is a start. The DiSC personality assessment tool is designed to help individuals understand their personalities and, by extension, for leaders to understand their teams. Doing so provides greater insight into motivations.

The assessment is based on the premise that we are motivated by four drives:

• Dominance
• Influence
• Steadiness
• Conscientiousness

We all have a bit of each, but one typically asserts itself and drives our behavior.

Leverage the Power of Understanding

When you understand your team’s individual personalities, you will be able to tune your listening and your approach to each one. When a leader understands and responds to the varying personalities in their organization, the team becomes more productive and your workforce is more content. Teams function better when managers adjust their approach.

It’s not about making everyone happy all the time; it’s about ensuring that their needs are met and that they have the conditions necessary to contribute, which is called “management leverage.”

Learn About Personality Styles

Providing recognition at different levels is just one example of when leaders need to recognize different personality styles. Some folks (e.g., High-D-oriented people) are not likely to give accolades to others. Their approach may simply be, “That is what they get paid to do.” As team members, then, High-Ds probably need less overt recognition. They’re not going to respond to plaques, a cake, or a punch on the shoulder.

However, as leaders, High-Ds need to recognize that High-Is or High-Cs need acknowledgment. Providing those team members with a little punch to celebrate a win, or a kind word repeated often, improves output. Yes, it is their job, but reinforcing their efforts and recognizing their contributions are valid and vital to the success of a team.

It takes a lot of care and thought to understand your team’s personalities. You show up as an extraordinary leader when you tune your approach to their personalities. These actions are often challenging, but it can move your organization towards success. Given a 46% failure rate of new hires within 18 months, investing time in your people from the beginning, starting with employment assessment tests such as DiSC is an investment worth making!