- "How do you always see the glass as half full?"
- "Thank you for being there to follow up with me, you are always on top of things!"
- "You always seem so comfortable in front of a group, I don't know how you do it."
- "This idea is great!"
- "How do you always come up with ideas that are out of the ordinary?
Have you ever been complimented for something that seems quite natural to you? Often, we may notice these actions or attitudes as natural reflexes, without being conscious of them. Whereas for our colleagues, these behaviors do not seem innate.
That is the beauty of personality styles! It is our natural tendencies, our ways of reacting in various situations, that differentiate us from others and make us unique.
How can we put personality and our natural tendencies to work for our organizations?
To answer this big question, let's look at three aspects of managing your human resources.
1. Personality for Recruitment and Selection
Personality has several uses in the recruitment and selection of your new employees. Personality can be used as a predictive measure of job performance with the use of personality tests during selection.
You can also use personality traits to relate to the culture and vision of your organization. Let me give you an example:
Your organization is looking to develop new products. Perhaps you need more creative and innovative employees.
By identifying the needs of your organization or work team, the personality can be used to ensure a fit between the new employee and the work environment.
When building a job description, you take the time to identify the issues and challenges associated with the position. With the help of personality, you can more easily identify people for whom these types of challenges would be energizing and would shine:
Let's think of a position within the sales department where the main challenge would be to expand an organization's customer network. Recruiters could place particular emphasis on candidates who are more driven and outgoing.
Aside from finding new candidates, personality can be useful in the integration of these new employees.
Aligning the onboarding of your new employees with their personalities could have a huge impact on retention.
Take the time to survey them to find out their perfect recipe for successful onboarding, and for them to see themselves growing with you for a long time.
Knowing the personality at the time of hiring allows you to:
- Ensure a fit with the organization and the work team
- Establish a fit with the position
- Align the integration to your employee
2. Personality for Managing your Teams
The use of personality styles does not stop at employee selection. It can be used at many other levels. What about its use in day-to-day management practices?
Just as in identifying the right person for the job, it is relevant to take into consideration the natural tendencies of your employees when assigning them new mandates. In this way, you can ensure that the responsibilities are stimulating and motivating for your employees.
Truly understanding our colleagues greatly facilitates harmony and a productive working environment in your teams.
Personality styles can be of great help in team-building activities. What better way for team members to understand the strengths and motivations of their colleagues.
In the event of a conflict, this common language of personality can be an initial anchor for agreement between the parties:
Take the example of an employee who often hands in deliverables late. This habit is annoying to his colleague who is used to being disciplined and rigorous.
Personality styles are becoming the common language of HR and managers.
By reminding the colleague that their personality style is dominantly rigorous, it is easier for the colleague to then understand why this habit of being late aggravates his teammate and thus doing, encourages dialogue between them.
Realizing that you have opposing personality traits and that these styles represent different strengths and talents can already reduce the impact of a conflict.
Using personality to manage your teams allows you to:
- Strengthen team cohesion
- Create a common language for conflict management
- Facilitate the separation of roles and responsibilities
3. Personality for Competency Development
Personality styles are a versatile tool that facilitates both the matching of an employee to the needs of your organization and the day-to-day management of your staff, but also promotes their development.
In this period of talent scouting, one of the ways to encourage retention is to ensure that you provide development opportunities for your employees. Why not use personality to align the development of your employees' skills?
Personality allows you to identify your employees' natural tendencies and better understand what energizes them.
You can identify their strengths and the type of tasks that interest them. You can then use this insight to help them build a development plan aligned with their needs and aspirations.
Understanding personalities for competencies development allows you to:
- Identify your employees' natural strengths and tendencies
- Build a development plan aligned with your employees' potential
Now that we have seen the positive impacts of knowing the personalities around you, discover personality styles for your recruitment, management, and development strategies, and tips for leveraging them in your organization.