Whether it’s that new manager with an aggressive tone, that colleague with a constant ‘attitude’ or a staff member always ready to ‘snap’ when you ask them a question; we have all dealt with positive, negative and difficult personalities both in a work environment and personally. No work place is perfect and although it would be nice, no one is going to be best friends with everyone in their office. Having a mixture of personalities in a work place can be at times challenging, but the secret is understanding people’s attitudes, understanding what drives them and knowing how to best use their skills to enable them to work effectively in order to create a cohesive and harmonious working environment.

Recently there has been a big shift in including psychometric/personality profiling in the recruitment processes. Throughout my time in recruitment, I have used, promoted and assessed many profiling tools, each with their own positives and negatives; and believe that personality profiling can enhance the process and assist with selecting the right person for the job, regardless of the level of the position.  I strongly recommend using personality profiles to my clients, particularly if they have had issues within the workplace, such as high turnover, or strong personalities. The next step is to select which assessment is going to be the most effective for your requirements.

Types of Profiling

My Profile

“This is a strength based assessment for careers, recruitment and training”. The assessment is able to provide a ‘job match’ for the candidate and the position, it also provides a behavioural profile of the candidate defines as; D-driver, P-Promoter, S-Supporter and A-Administrator

Facet 5

The assessment provides an “advanced measure of personalities” for individuals, teams and organisations. The assessment provides a profile of the candidate based on the areas of;

• Will (determination, confrontation, independence)
• Energy (vitality, sociability, adaptability)
• Affection (altruism, support, trust)
• Control (discipline, responsibility)
• Emotionality (tension, apprehension)

Disc Profile

This assessment provides an evaluation on the candidates “strengths and challenges of their behavioural style”. It evaluates the candidate based on a person’s four dimensions

• Dominance
• Influence
• Steadiness
• Conscientiousness

Results

Once assessments have been undertaken, evaluations can be made in terms of the suitability of the candidate for the role and the team. These assessments can be used as a great team building exercise and can greatly assist in the team dynamics within an organisation. For example, everyone employed at elle belle recruitment undertakes a personality assessment, prior to being successful for a position. This doesn’t necessarily determine a potential staff member’s success or failure for the role, but does assist in my ability to manage my staff, understand their behaviour/personality and their ability to work effectively with others in the office.

What can I do?

Personality profiles are a great assessment tool for employers to ensure that different personalities within an organisation are managed. There are however different steps that can be taken as an individual to dealing with different personalities within a work place.

• Firstly, approach your HR/Direct Manager – no one needs to feel uncomfortable in their workplace. If you don’t think this matter can be addressed directly with the colleague in question, I would suggest voicing your concern to HR or your direct manager.

• Be mindful that not everyone has the same personality as you, and not everyone is going to be your best friend. A workplace needs to be a somewhat harmonious environment, so if you can complete your tasks with minimal interaction with the other party, do you really need to like them/have them like you?

• “Two wrongs don’t make a right”. Such a ‘mum’ cliché, but it’s very true! If the other party has undertaken a ‘malicious’ or harmful act, try and be the ‘better person’ and don’t retaliate. Show that their actions don’t concern or upset you. Bullies tend to feed on upsetting others; if you show you are unaffected it may be enough to change their actions.

• If all else fails, life is too short not to be happy in your job, and it would be time to seek alternate employment. Although this may not be ideal, I am a strong believer in ensuring people are placed in roles they are ‘happy’ in. At the end of the day, you should be able to wake up in the morning excited and eager to go to work. If not, you need to do something about it.