In this article, we list why C-me focuses on behaviour preferences over personality profiling and the benefits it can offer to your organisation.
Personality assessments and personality tests are one of the most commonly used psychometric testing tools for many HR professionals. However, behavioural assessments are a more useful and applicable tool for organisations looking to train and develop managers and leaders, build high performing teams, better engage their employees, improve communication and team dynamics, recruit and onboard new employees, and gain better insight into their organisation as a whole…and that is just the start!
The American Psychological Association has a very good simple definition to what is a complex subject:
Fundamentally, personality is relatively stable over our lifetime. There are exceptions but for most of the population, a person’s personality does not change a lot across their lifetime. Many years of psychological research have been invested to understand what personality is and how to measure it.
Perhaps one of the most significant figures in the history of psychology is Carl Jung a Swiss Psychologist and Psychoanalyst working in the early part of the 20th Century. Jung is famous for developing a theory of personality involving axes between:
Various psychometric tests exist today for a plethora of purposes and personality profiling is one of the most commonly known. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the most researched and used in the world. The test categorises individuals into one of sixteen personality types based on their responses to a series of questions.
Understanding ourselves through personality profiling tools can be an important component of personal growth. These tools allow us to gain insights into our personality traits - our innate tendencies and how we experience the world around us, especially at work. There are significant limitations for their application though, which we will address in a moment. First, let’s define ‘behaviour’.
To read more about the history of psychometric testing and its modern development read our short blog "What you didn't know about the history of psychometric testing". Or for a more detailed history and a discussion about the pros and cons of psychometric testing see our comprehensive blog "Accurate personality assessments: discover yourself".
Behaviour can be simply understood as how we express our personality – our actions, conduct, or mannerisms. We observe a person’s behaviour, for example, in the way they respond to various situations, challenges, and tasks they are presented with in their personal and professional lives. We are essentially ‘behaving’ all the time, reacting to every situation, adapting how we want to respond.
Crucially, behaviour can be observed and therefore measured and coached to achieve specific goals or objectives. Behavioural tendencies can be developed over time. Most of us who have been working for some time can obverse in ourselves how our behaviours have adapted to achieve success in the roles that we now have, compared to when we started our working life.
This simple diagram explains where behaviour sits, as the secondary ring to ‘personality’. Our behaviours are what impact everyone else. They emerge from our personality - both in our conscious and unconscious behaviour. Addressing a person's behaviour is less personal and a much more appropriate subject to address in the workplace, than calling in to question someone's personality, which is so much harder to change.
While personality profiling has been used for decades to help individuals understand their tendencies and preferences, as well as for companies to better understand their employees, it has some significant limitations for application:
Below are three observations about the importance of behaviours and why you should be prioritising behaviour over personality.
Ultimately, it is the way people behave in response to their colleagues and team members, and to challenges that their organisations throws at them, that really affects how well both they and the organisation develop and perform.
Individuals find it easier to relate to the idea of altering their behaviour rather than their personality because behaviours can be modified and to greater affect.
Behavioural preference profiling offers a more actionable approach to development and training for the individual because behaviours are something that a person can choose to change, unlike their personality, which leads to more significant improvements in performance.
It is a simple but profound process to help an individual understand their psychological preferences and how these preferences drive aspects of their behaviour; then how to use this knowledge to recognise these same elements in others, and from that enable them to adapt their behaviour to improve their relationships.
The big idea is that behavioural profiling shows teams how behaviours impact their team dynamics, providing a greater understanding of how to appreciate and celebrate their differences, resolve conflicts faster and collaborate better to achieve their goals.
Behavioural preference profiling is not limited to categorising individuals into a particular personality type. Instead, it focuses on identifying specific behaviours that are necessary for success in a particular role or team, creating a fairer route into a position by allowing room for growth for anyone with any preference combination.
Profiling the behavioural preferences of all members of an organisation provides a unique perspective on collective operating strengths and areas of risk, which are all opportunities for growth.
There are many applications within an organisation. Here are just a few examples:
We use tried and tested Jungian psychological foundations, but we apply them to better affect by assessing behaviour preferences rather than personality.
If you would like to talk more about how C-me could use help you and your organisation or clients book a demo with one of our team: