Understanding the unique strengths and personalities of your hires isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential to building a thriving company. As a CEO, I’ve learned to never rely solely on resumes when making hiring decisions. Resumes alone don’t tell the full story (not to mention people can say whatever they want on a resume), and while experience and skillsets change, personality traits tend to remain consistent.
Research supports the validity of using personality tests in the workplace: this 2018 study from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) found that personality assessments are a reliable tool in predicting job performance. Personality testing companies have accumulated data from hundreds of thousands of people throughout the years, allowing them to become effective tools for improving hiring decisions, team dynamics, and overall employee performance.
Personality assessments such as Culture Index, Predictive Index, CliftonStrengths, TTI Success Insights, Kolbe and Enneagram are powerful tools that can unlock the full potential of your team. While taking these personality assessments can be a fun exercise, they can also be used to optimize your hiring process and workplace dynamics. When used effectively, personality tests transform your company’s culture, enhance communication, and align your team’s strengths with business goals.
Finding the perfect fit for an open role these days is like finding a unicorn because you must find the right combination of personality, experience, and attitude. It’s not just about finding the right skills; it’s about finding the right fit. Here’s how to effectively integrate personality assessments into your hiring strategy.
Culture Index
Using tools like Culture Index in hiring decisions is a game-changer for understanding candidates beyond their resume. This assessment helps gauge traits such as autonomy, social skills, stress tolerance, and follow-through—essential insights for knowing how well someone will integrate into your company’s culture. It also reveals their level of ingenuity, energy, logical thinking, and how much drama they might bring to the workplace. In essence, it can be a valuable tool for identifying candidates with the right personality for any given role.
CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder)
CliftonStrengths, formerly known as Strengths Finder, by Gallup is a fantastic tool for better understanding where there might be gaps in your existing team. Hiring a coach to facilitate this process can help maximize actionable insights. CliftonStrengths identifies 34 themes based on “talents” including executing, influencing, strategic thinking and relationship building. It then provides the test-taker with a report on their top 5 strengths.
By identifying each individual’s strengths and weaknesses, you can better assess the balance of skills within the broader team. Understanding strengths is also valuable for making strategic future hires, ensuring that new team members complement existing deficiencies. Hiring too many people with the same strengths creates an imbalance—diversity in skills is key to a well-rounded, high-performing team.
TTI Success Insights
TTI Success Insights is another great exercise for your existing team. TTI’s comprehensive DiSC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness Conscientiousness) assessment goes beyond the basics, providing 13 pages of insights into communication triggers and how to interact with different personality types. It’s particularly effective for improving coworker relationships, especially in teams that are struggling to get along. TTI’s “Wheel of Strengths and Weaknesses” helps identify where individuals excel and struggle, making it easier to coach your team and enhance collaboration. By better understanding these dynamics, you can foster a more cohesive and productive workplace environment, ensuring that employees connect and work together more effectively.
Kolbe
Kolbe is a fantastic assessment when making key leadership hires. It reveals your “quick start” level, meaning how quickly someone initiates tasks, their fact-finding abilities, and their problem-solving approach. The Kolbe assessment is also a valuable tool for entrepreneurs looking to identify their own natural strengths and how they instinctively take action. In some ways, Kolbe overlaps with other tools like Culture Index by helping determine how a person organizes projects or gathers information.
Enneagram
The Enneagram’s nine personality types provide insight into core motivations, making it a useful tool for relationship-building within teams. It’s great for developing self-awareness and a better understanding of how to “click” with different personalities, fostering stronger connections among employees. I enjoy comparing enneagrams with friends, and it can also be a fun team-building exercise. By being aware of each other’s Enneagram types, you can better navigate relationships in the work environments, creating stronger, more harmonious connections. If you feel Enneagram is too personal for the workplace, I’d recommend the PRINT survey to better understand your employees’ motivations.
When using personality assessments, it’s crucial to remember that they’re just one component of a comprehensive hiring process. While candidates may sometimes provide the answers they think you want to hear, these surveys still offer valuable insights when used correctly. Personality assessments can reveal deeper motivations, strengths and behaviors, helping you make more informed decisions about new hires and existing team dynamics alike. I believe they are a worthy investment for any CEO looking to build a high-performing team.
