How to use personality tests in team building

Let me guess: you’re an ENFP-A, Hufflepuff, and if you were a sandwich, you’d be a Croque Madame. Either this statement agrees with you deeply, or it got you all worked up: “Hufflepuff?! I’m obviously a proud Slytherin! My father will hear about this”.

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In any case, you’re hooked. We’ve had you at “ENFP”. 

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That’s the power of personality tests. They keep us awake at night because they come with a sense of community our high-school reunions and corporate get-togethers fail to deliver. And that’s precisely what makes personality tests perfect for team building.

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Personality tests make a perfect online team building activity! Need some more ideas? Check out these awesome resources:

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• The ultimate list of free virtual team building activities
• The best apps for team building
• Veertly - the virtual conference platform designed with team building in mind

How personality tests help shape better teams

There are many personality tests that are equally silly as they are fun. Yet, it’s not the goofiness of the experience that made personality games for team building one of HR’s favorite tools. 

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Instead, they help us look at each other (and ourselves) from a different angle and learn some valuable take-aways:

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• Managers will be able to assign project roles more effectively if they know everybody’s individual strengths;
• Recruiters will make better matches when selecting an ideal candidate for the role;
• The team will be able to improve their day-to-day communications if they understand what kind of personality types they deal with;
• You will be able to predict if the group is most likely to succeed or fail if the entire team takes the test like that together. 

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You cannot overestimate the importance of a good personality assessment for team building. Especially, when it comes to leadership and problem-solving. Instead, you should fully leverage its potential. 

How to organize a successful personality-test team building activity

If you’re planning to send out personality tests via Slack on Monday and praise yourself for a job well-done, let us stop you right there: assessing the team’s personality should not be treated lightly. Instead, it requires a lot of dedication and analytics at all stages. 

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1. Start by choosing the framework you’ll be using for your personality test team building activity

You can turn any of the Buzzfeed-style questions like “What kind of vegetable are you today?” into one of the most fun personality games for team building. The better question is: should you? 

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And our suggestion is to stick to the verified professional and well-researched assessments.  Some of the most popular personality tests among corporations are: 

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• TypeCoach Team Program — participants discover their 4-letter personality type using the interactive, online TypeCoach Verifier;‍
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator — focused on the people’s unique personality traits;‍
• DiSC — dedicated to emotions and behavior;‍
• The Enneagram — showing dominant behaviors and fears of the participants;‍
• The Caliper Profile — matching the person to their position requirements;

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Once you know the framework you’ll use, start thinking about how you’ll use it.

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2. Make sure the results of your personality test assessment are legit and find some qualified tools for analyzing them

It is tempting to rely on the 16 Personalities auto-generated results and move on. Yet, if you’re after the most accurate results, we suggest relying on the more credible tests. Or even try using some dedicated solutions designed for corporate personality test assessments. 

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Our favorite ones are WealthDynamics and Business Chemistry ®. 

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3. Analyze the results of your personality-test team building activity and discuss it with the team

This is where the “team building” part of it all kicks in. It’s not enough to take the test. It’s what happens after the results are in that really makes a difference. 

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Of course, not everyone will be willing to openly talk about the discoveries of their personal assessment. Instead, encourage the team to share as much as possible and make sure the team leads react accordingly.

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Here are some of the ideas you could try to achieve the best results: 

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• Try to break the ice with some of the 15-minute team building games - this way, the participants will be more open to sharing their experience;
• Observe team members with the opposite results during different team building activities for work you run - do their differences harm or benefit the team? 
• Verify the test results and check whether all the roles in your team are assigned to the right people - perhaps, extraverted Mike would make an amazing PR specialist instead of a marketing analyst;
• Establish whether it is personal communication or performance goals that are most affected by the different personalities in your team - and work in that direction! 

Are personality games for team building any good?

It’s in the name - personality tests are meant to be personal. They help us learn new things about ourselves and might provide valuable insight into the team dynamics for the leaders. Yet, they are most definitely meant to remain private. 

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We’ll take a wild guess and assume that a quiet, grumpy lot behind an oversized table in a conference room is not your idea of a fun team building event. And asking the participants to share their results may lead to just that. 

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Instead, personality assessment tests make an amazing ground for future team building events. They reveal areas that will require the most work, signal team leaders about the possible threats to the overall environment in the team, and highlight the possible directions for improvement. And that’s what makes them invaluable.

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