Personality assessments have become increasingly valuable tools in the workplace, especially when it comes to enhancing teamwork and facilitating inter-business collaborations.
By understanding the unique traits, strengths, and working styles of individuals, organizations can build more cohesive, productive teams and build better communication across business partnerships.
Among the many assessments available, four stand out for their distinct approaches and practical applications:
- The Big Five,
- Gallup’s CliftonStrengths,
- Ray Dalio’s PRINCIPLESYOU, and
- Patrick Lencioni’s The 6 Types of Working Genius.
Each of these assessments offers unique insights into personality and behaviour, providing advantages and disadvantages that can significantly impact team dynamics and collaborative efforts. This guide explores each assessment, comparing their features to help determine which might be the most beneficial for your specific teamwork and collaboration needs.
The Big Five
Overview: The Big Five (personality traits) is one of the most widely recognized frameworks in psychology for understanding personality. It breaks personality down into five broad traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (OCEAN).
Advantages for Teamwork & Inter-Business Collaborations:
- Comprehensive: Provides a well-rounded view of an individual’s personality, helping teams understand diverse work styles.
- Evidence-Based: Backed by decades of research, making it reliable for predicting behavior in collaborative environments.
- Adaptable: Can be used to form balanced teams with complementary traits.
Disadvantages:
- Too General: Requires coaching expertise to provide specific insights for job roles or specific tasks.
- Lack of Actionable Insights: Does not give direct advice on how to leverage or improve traits.
Gallup’s CliftonStrengths
Overview: CliftonStrengths, formerly known as StrengthsFinder, is an assessment that identifies an individual’s top talents or strengths from 34 themes. It focuses on what people naturally do best.
Advantages for Teamwork & Inter-Business Collaborations:
- Strengths-Based: Encourages individuals to focus on their natural talents, which can lead to higher engagement and productivity.
- Team Dynamics: Helps identify complementary strengths within a team, improving collaboration and performance.
- Positive Focus: Promotes a positive work environment by emphasizing what individuals do best.
Disadvantages:
- Narrow Focus: Concentrates on strengths, potentially overlooking areas for development or weaknesses that could hinder team performance.
- Limited Research: Compared to other assessments, it has less academic backing and may not be as universally applicable.
Dalio’s PRINCIPLESYOU
Overview: PrinciplesYou is a personality assessment based on Ray Dalio’s principles. It provides insights into how individuals think, work, and interact based on various personality archetypes.
Advantages for Teamwork & Inter-Business Collaborations:
- Deep Insights: Offers a detailed understanding of how people work, which can be valuable for improving team dynamics.
- Actionable: Provides practical advice on how to work with different personality types, which is useful for business collaborations.
- Customizable: Allows for personalized strategies to enhance team cohesion and productivity.
Disadvantages:
- Complexity: The depth and breadth of the assessment may be overwhelming for some, requiring significant time to fully understand and apply.
- Limited Popularity: Less widely recognized than other assessments, which may limit its acceptance in some teams or organizations.
Lencioni’s The 6 Types of Working Genius
Overview: This assessment identifies six different types of “working genius,” or areas where individuals naturally excel in a team setting. The types are Wonder, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, Tenacity, and Invention.
Advantages for Teamwork & Inter-Business Collaborations:
- Team-Focused: Specifically designed to improve team dynamics by helping members understand their natural roles.
- Practical: Offers clear, actionable insights that can be immediately applied to improve collaboration and productivity.
- Balance: Helps teams identify gaps in their “working genius” to ensure all necessary roles are covered.
Disadvantages:
- Niche Application: Primarily focused on teamwork, so it may not provide as much value in individual self-assessment or in non-team-based roles.
- Newer Assessment: As a relatively new tool, it may lack the extensive research backing of more established assessments.
Comparison
- Scope and Focus: The Big Five is broad and research-based, suitable for general personality understanding. CliftonStrengths and PrinciplesYou are more focused on identifying strengths and work styles, while the 6 Types of Working Genius is specifically designed to optimize team dynamics.
- Actionability: Lencioni’s 6 Types of Working Genius and PrinciplesYou offer more direct, actionable insights for improving team dynamics, while the Big Five is more descriptive and less prescriptive.
- Popularity and Acceptance: The Big Five is the most widely recognized and researched, making it easier to integrate into various settings. CliftonStrengths also has a strong following, particularly in corporate environments. PrinciplesYou and the 6 Types of Working Genius are newer and may require more effort to implement effectively.
- Complexity vs. Usability: The Big Five and CliftonStrengths are relatively straightforward to understand and use, while PrinciplesYou offers deep insights that might require more time to fully leverage. The 6 Types of Working Genius strikes a balance by being both specific and easy to apply in teamwork contexts.
In summary, the choice of assessment depends on the specific needs of the team or business collaboration. For general personality insights, the Big 5 is ideal. For strengths-based development, CliftonStrengths is effective. For deep, customized insights, PrinciplesYou.
Recommendation
Contact my cell at 519-498-4535 or send an email to me at [email protected] and I will explain how these four personality assessments can be used to help you and your colleague perform with increase individual and team confidence.
