Have you ever stumbled across a personality test and realized it’s been 30 minutes and 3 tests later? I think it’s safe to say we’ve all been there.
Personality tests are roughly a $2 billion industry, according to Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, a psychology professor and author. People are curious beings who love learning about themselves. They almost can’t help but click the link to discover
“What kind of sleeper are you?”
While individuals can take tests to discover more about themselves, business owners can use these tests to discover more about…
- Hiring employees and contractors
- Our audiences
- Building leadership skills
When we dive deeper into our understanding of ourselves, our audiences, and our team, we leverage a superpower. It allows us to gain an alternate perspective, so we can create more effective business strategies and build stronger connections.
Use personality tests to hire
When you’re hiring people on your team, you can get a good sense of people through various personality tests (we’ll suggest a few, hang tight!).
Whether it’s how they best communicate, how they prefer to receive feedback, their strengths and weaknesses are all helpful factors to know for your current team or when you decide to build one. While it doesn’t need to be the end all be all for building your team, it does give you an idea of how to best interact with your employees or contractors.
For example, let’s say you have a team member who’s very analytical and organized, you may not want to task this team member with a vague creative concept like you would a team member whose strength is taking an idea and conceptualizing it into something great.
Does it mean the first team member isn’t skilled? Absolutely not, it just helps you grasp the kinds of tasks each of your team members will thrive in. Especially when it comes to being a small business owner…
There tends to be quite an overlap of tasks in a small team and people may have things on their plate that would be better and more efficiently executed by someone else.
Use personality tests with your audience
Like I mentioned before… People love to learn more about themselves, and you know what else they like to do?
Talk about it.
Asking your audience about their personality type is a sure-fire way to start deeper conversations with your community. It’s the perfect segway into questions like…
- Why do you think that is?
- What do you think would be helpful for you?
- Would you ever consider [X]?
When you survey your audience by asking the simple question of “What’s your personality type?”
You open up the door to segment your audience in a new and creative way. You may even find you have one or two specific personality types in your audience which could drastically change the way you’re marketing and selling to them.
Use personality tests to build leadership skills
Being a CEO and leader isn’t something you wake up knowing how to do. It certainly takes time to step into being the kind of leader and person your business and brand need to thrive. That’s where personality tests come in handy. When you know your strengths and weaknesses, you can begin to leverage the good and strengthen where you see fit.
This will help you better communicate with your team, your audience, and it may even unveil holes in your business you didn’t know existed.
Look at it this way: If you know you tend to be a people pleaser who doesn’t have the best boundaries, what would you need to do to ensure you begin to create and enforce boundaries, so you’re not energetically depleting yourself every day?
What kind of personality tests could you use?
While there are hundreds of personality tests you can use, let’s look at 2.
- The Enneagram
- The Brand Archetype
The Enneagram
The Enneagram is a model of the human psyche and has 9 primary personalities. When you know your own Enneagram type, you’ll learn how you best interact with others and how others in turn interact with you.
This test has garnered popularity over the last few years in the business space as people are eager to grow themselves and their businesses. You may be surprised at how many people already know their Enneagram, and if they don’t, I’ll bet their curiosity will lead them to find out.
Brand Archetype
Carl Jung created the 12 Jungian brand archetypes to identify different brands easily.
Each archetype is associated with different characteristics that may help you determine what you most resonate with. If you’d like to learn more, check out this blog.
My brand archetype is The Explorer. The Explorer brand archetype craves adventure and is curious about the world around them. They stay current with trends and encourage others to grow into the best versions of themselves. Because of this, I’ve noticed my audience is filled with brands who are on their own journey of freedom and discovery.
Not only does knowing my brand archetype help me lean into my strengths and what makes me unique, but it allows me to better serve my audience.
*CHALLENGE* Next time you post on social media or write an email to your audience, ask them what their Enneagram or Brand Archetype is.
When you use personality tests to grow your team, your audience, and yourself, you’re ensuring you’re showing up your best, putting the right people together, and attracting the kind of people who absolutely need what you offer.
About The Author
Rachel Gogos is a multi-passionate entrepreneur with a strong desire to help people by creating strong personal brands and businesses. She’s personally launched dozens of books, e-products, and services; and hundreds of products and services with her clients. She started her career at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, where she helped create the look and feel for the organization’s first website.
Today, in her current role running brandiD, Rachel channels over 15 years of marketing and communications experience into each and every website for brandiD’s clients.
And check out her book, Build Your Brand: The Distinctive Guide to Soul-Based Marketing. It will help you uncover your personal brand.