The Best Personality Assessments for Coaching
The popularity of personality tests in the workplace continues to rise as organizations see the immense value in using these tools to improve communication and team efficiency. And as organizations work to adapt to the post-pandemic workplace, they are investing more heavily in their people and culture.
Large companies like Google, Zappos, and Shopify are now hiring Executive Coaches to work with their employees in an effort to boost employee retention, engagement, and productivity. Individuals are also choosing to work with coaches to strengthen their personal and professional development.
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Benefits of Using Personality Assessments in Coaching
Personality assessments are a vital tool to have in your back pocket as a coach. Not only do they help coaches understand their clients better — but they can also help those clients increase self-awareness and improve their communication and relationships.
Career coach Sarina Virk Torrendell uses personality tests in her work with Millennial and Gen Z leaders. “Using Truity’s tests has offered insight into how my clients think, operate, what motivates them, and also what their potential blind spots might be, making me a much more effective coach,” she said.
As a coach myself, I use personality assessments to better understand my clients through their map of the world. I am able to offer each client what they need based on their strengths and blind spots. The greater self-awareness each client gains, the more effective the coaching relationship will be, and the more likely the client will be to reach their desired goals.
Leslie McDaniel is a Personality Type Consultant and Personal Growth Coach who uses tools like the 16-type model and the Enneagram with her clients. She adds, “Identifying a client’s personality type provides a framework for understanding between the coach and client. This understanding can nurture the client’s self-acceptance and provide tools to assist them in moving past their blocks.”
Best Personality Assessments for Coaching
The best personality assessment for coaching will depend on the coaching client’s specific needs, interests, level of self-awareness and goals. Below are some of the most popular personality assessments and their key benefits when used within a coaching environment.
1. Myers-Briggs (16-type model)
The most widely used personality assessment, the Myers & Briggs (MBTI®), identifies personality traits based on four categories: Extraversion vs. Introversion, Intuition vs. Sensing, Thinking vs. Feeling and Judging vs. Perceiving. Based on how an individual answers the questions on the test, their result will be one of the 16 personality types.
The key benefit of the Myers-Briggs test for coaching is that it helps cultivate stronger self-awareness in a person. Primarily, it helps them understand how they see the world and make decisions, as well as how their preferences differ from that of others. Discover more with Truity’s TypeFinder® for the Workplace assessment, based on the 16-type theory.
2. Big Five Personality Model
Due to a large amount of supporting evidence, The Big Five Personality Model is the most widely accepted personality assessment by the scientific community. The Big Five test measures personality traits along five dimensions: Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Neuroticism. Rather than assign specific types, like the Myers & Briggs model, it describes a person’s traits on a spectrum.
This assessment helps predict how a person will react to a variety of real-life situations. For example, people who score high in Conscientiousness tend to also be higher performers at work, and people who score high in Agreeableness tend to be more well-liked among their colleagues. Coaches can use the Big Five Personality Model to help clients increase self-awareness and better manage conflict and communication.
3. DISC
The DISC personality assessment focuses on how a person manages their emotions and behaves within their interpersonal relationships. DISC sorts test-takers into one of four personality types: Drive, Influence, Support and Clarity.
This assessment is popular in the workplace since it describes some of the most fundamental differences in how people act and communicate at work. It can help people tailor their communication to get along better with others and understand sources of conflict and miscommunication among colleagues. Since there are only four types, the DISC is a simple-to-learn system that can easily be applied in coaching. Truity’s DISC Personality Assessment is designed to help people improve their communication, conflict management and productivity at work.
4. Enneagram
While the ancient roots of the Enneagram system date back to more than 4,500 years ago, the 9-type assessment has only been actively applied in the workplace in the last decade or so. The Enneagram test identifies personality traits and behaviors based on a person’s core motivations and fears. Essentially, it looks not just at how a person behaves, but why. Because of this, the system is a bit more complex than others on the list, but still extremely useful for self-awareness and personal development.
This assessment is useful in coaching clients who wish to dive deeper into their underlying motivations and beliefs for greater self-growth. Truity’s Enneagram for the Workplace assessment helps people understand how their Enneagram type drives their work style, teamwork and leadership style.
Conclusion
Ultimately, deeper insight and understanding of the self is key to personal and professional development. Personality tests help coaches and their clients gain this insight, leading to stronger relationships and improved job performance and satisfaction.
Ready to start incorporating personality tests into your coaching practice? Truity offers easy-to-use, personalized personality tests for coaches.
