7 Ways that Psychometric and Personality Assessments Enhance Skills Development
As businesses weave artificial intelligence (AI) into daily work, Learning & Development (L&D) departments are taking the lead in accelerating reskilling and upskilling initiatives to empower employees to adapt. To enhance this important work, psychometric and personality assessments can play a valuable supporting role.
Mercer’s 2024 Global Talent Trends Report pointed to the importance of using psychometric testing to drive future productivity by harnessing the information gained in workforce development. The assessments can include a wide range of evaluations, which may reveal personality traits, thinking styles, behavioral tendencies, reasoning and cognitive abilities, motivations and more.
Let’s explore 7 reasons why personality tests, especially those that uncover employees’ thinking and behavioral preferences, enhance reskilling and upskilling efforts.
7 Reasons to Use Personality Assessments in Professional Development
#1 – Align with In-demand Capabilities
While technical talents are understandably prioritized as businesses utilize AI solutions, soft skills are equally vital to the success of enterprises. Korn Ferry identified five capabilities that every employee will require in the future of work, including adaptability, collaboration, communication, critical thinking and empathy. These abilities have been echoed in the research of other organizations like the World Economic Forum and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Psychometric assessments, such as the Emergenetics® Profile, provide insights into the different ways personnel prefer to approach their work and their worlds. By introducing the concept and influence of individual thinking and behavioral tendencies, L&D leaders can train staff to communicate, collaborate and empathize with one another more effectively. The cognitive diversity of employees can also be used to improve critical thinking by empowering staff to approach work with consideration for a multitude of perspectives, not just their own.
#2 – Offer a Blueprint for Change Management
As Korn Ferry reported, adaptability will be vital in the evolution of work. Employees will need to learn, unlearn and relearn consistently and be prepared to shift into new functions. It’s even estimated that individuals entering the workforce today will have to change their skill sets at least five times throughout the course of their careers (compared to once or twice for prior generations). All this transformation can be depleting, especially if staff are not bought in.
Personality assessments influence change management by equipping L&D professionals with an understanding of how individuals process information and what matters most to them. With this knowledge, they can better explain why the evolutions are important and offer a way forward that respects the distinct ways individuals like to approach change so they feel supported along the way.
#3 – Promote Career Mobility
While we often hear a lot of “doom and gloom” headlines associated with AI, it also brings significant possibilities. With job responsibilities changing inside organizations, employees have a chance to explore new paths and engage in different types of work. McKinsey even estimates that 20 – 30 million new jobs could be created by 2030 because of AI.
Personality assessments help uncover the innate interests of personnel. By revealing where staff get energy and the type of work that may engage them, the tests offer a starting point for career conversations. Talent development and management teams can work with employees to review their results and discuss proficiencies they may wish to build that align with their interests. These conversations may also uncover new job responsibilities that would be appealing.
#4 – Understand Personal Motivators
Employers are finding it increasingly difficult to hire their way through skills gaps, so executives are recognizing that they need their current workers to embrace reskilling and upskilling initiatives to drive the business forward. If not, companies will struggle to close talent gaps and find themselves falling behind the times (and potentially their competitors).
Psychometric assessments can indicate factors that drive employee engagement and motivation. By understanding what will galvanize individuals, L&D can personalize learning journeys so that staff remain committed and have fun along the way! By offering multiple ways to learn, L&D teams will better motivate personnel as they continue to grow and develop.
#5 – Improve Coaching Conversations
As staff are asked to build new capabilities, coaching is a beneficial way to get continual feedback and improve outcomes. Over 70% of individuals who receive coaching benefit from better work performance and stronger relationships, and 96% of organizations that used an executive coach said they would repeat the experience.
L&D departments can dial up coaching effectiveness by incorporating psychometrics. The information from the assessments may unveil an individual’s inherent strengths and potential blind spots. Using these data points, coaches, managers or mentors can customize feedback to individual needs. That way, constructive input is optimally given and received, leading to more productive outcomes.
#6 – Enhance Team Building
Many organizations that adopt a skills-based approach are doing so in partnership with a talent marketplace, where staff are matched with projects based on the capabilities they have and what is needed for the initiative. The marketplaces create opportunities for internal mobility and improved skills utilization to support business objectives.
Pairing the systems with psychometric insights further optimizes cross-functional collaboration. One way to do so is by creating cognitively diverse teams, which have been shown to improve performance. Psychometrics that reveal how people prefer to think and behave can be used to create groups with a diverse range of perspectives. Additionally, talent developers can support team building by training participants on how to communicate and collaborate given their distinct styles.
Read a case study of what this process looks like in action!
#7 – Influence Leadership
Through the AI transformation, a lot will be asked of leaders. They will need to create an inspiring vision for the future. They will need to persist in the face of constant change and uncertainty. And, they will be asked to do so with emotional intelligence to inspire the workforces of today and tomorrow.
With psychometric tools, individuals gain enhanced self-awareness. Equipped with a stronger sense of self – and ideally, insights about the working population – leaders can discover new strategies and tactics to engage their staff and execute their responsibilities in a way that honors the cognitive diversity of their workforce.
Personality tests are a powerful addition to any reskilling and upskilling toolkit. By embracing the data delivered through these evaluations, talent development teams will more effectively position employees, leaders and managers to succeed in the future of work.
Learn more about how our scientifically valid proprietary assessment, the Emergenetics Profile, can maximize your learning initiatives. Explore our website or fill out the form below to speak with one of our team members today!
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