Personalities are front, right, and center at work. Come to think of it, it’s the reason your enterprise is unique and distinctively different from the competition. Understanding their value, therefore, can be a key instrument in cornering the best talent in town to move your business forward. On the flip side, getting the wrong personality for the job at hand can spell untold disaster for you.
There’s more to personality than meets the eye. It’s like the tip of the iceberg. Understanding a job seeker’s personality type can give you a clue on an applicant’s fit for the job. More importantly, it also gives you the framework to understand how the person should be handled to be most productive.
Know Thyself
In the times of Alexander the Great, it was the Oracle of Delphi who gave the young conqueror the final sign to conquer Persia, his father’s long unfulfilled dream. As life-changing as it was, the meetup had a rather surprising narrative. The priestess Pythia who initially refused entry to Alexander had to be dragged by her hair to the oracle. You could say that she was forced to give the young king the final blessing. But her words, “You are invincible, my son,” went straight up to Alexander’s head, enough to confirm his divinity. And with it, it also confirmed his right to bag his greatest conquest ever.
And the rest is history. From that moment forward, Alexander conquered more nations than anyone could dream of in a lifetime. ; But the biggest contribution that the Oracle of Delphi gave the world can be summed up in two words: know thyself.
Indeed, a keen understanding of yourself can be your greatest asset. And though the seer of old might not have an inkling of knowledge about personality types, she could have prophesied about it.
Knowing your personality allows you to have a greater understanding of the way you react or respond to a particular situation. In the process, you can improve from there.
As you are well aware by now, the focus on productivity in the workplace can be a great source of stress. Alexander the Great’s case is perhaps extreme. But it shows that when you are confident of who you are, your actions can be more decisive.
Understanding Personalities: Key to Recruitment
The key to moving your organization forward is to have a greater understanding of your people’s personalities. To note, the Big Five personalities are based on OCEAN that stands for openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. When leaders know how the needs of each distinct personality differ, they can up their leadership effectiveness a notch faster. In the process, such a deeper understanding boosts a particular worker’s productivity.
On the same token, knowing an applicant’s personality can be essential in hiring him. For instance, if you’re looking for a manager, then you should hire someone who scores high in conscientiousness. As detailed by the 14th edition of the book, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, such a personality typically has the bearing of a strong leader.
Those with high neuroticism could be a bad fit for jobs that entail extreme stress. People who score high on this tend to be easily burnout. You would definitely do your organization a favor by staying away from these types.
Greater emotional stability means greater job satisfaction, not to mention a greater ability to handle stress. Moreover, this means getting a better handle on workplace demands even when those demands go up.
Extroversion is also another personality trait to look at. People who score high on that scale typically have stronger leadership capacity. You wouldn’t want to get an applicant who is low on this scale if you expect him to be always in front leading people.
People who score high on being agreeable are good followers. They follow the rules and tend to be liked more. Those who score low are the problematic ones. They are highly likely to act to undermine work results. Over time, their career paths are not as successful.
Now, it may take more than just an interview to bring all these traits out. Though seasoned HR veterans are able to spot OCEAN traits better, there’s a good chance that a lot could slip up. And you can’t just bet on these things, especially now that the COVID-19 pandemic is still raging.
For best results, relying on well-crafted personality tests prior to employment is spot-on. Not only do they take a big chip off your shoulders, but you also end up saving big time on your recruitment process.
In times like this, you really can’t afford to botch your recruitment. To land the talent that you need most, you will have to learn to understand a jobseeker’s personality. Not looking into that can be disastrous. It can mean that you could be employing someone who doesn’t have the capacity to get the job done—not emotionally and not intellectually.
Of course, all the understanding of personalities should start with understanding yourself. When you know your personality well enough, you will be able to lead yourself better. While you may not be an Alexander the Great fixed on conquering the world, you can widen your horizons. Then you will be able to expand your influence better when you know yourself most despite the pandemic.
