“To manage others you have to understand yourselves first."
I heard this statement from the CEO of the largest bank in Bulgaria Tsvetanka Mintcheva. “In your careers you need to keep a clear understanding of how you see yourselves and how others perceive you. The biggest problems occur when there is a misalignment between the two. Learn and develop yourselves constantly, communicate with your team and keep an open mind . This will make you better leaders.”, she further elaborate in front of a group of young interns from some of the most prestigious companies in the country.
One can find many reasons not to dig deeper and get to know themselves better through personality tests. The excuses could sound like: "I am 30-40-50-60... years old, I know myself well enough.", "This is BS, all these personality tests have flaws.", "I am already so successful, what new could I find out?"...
Science says you can, and you should. People grow, develop and change. Self-awareness is beneficial to you and your team at any point of your personal and professional journey. Here are some suggestions for personality tests
The Big Five Aspect Scale is a test of 100 questions, promoted by the infamous and intriguing clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson, the author of the bestseller "12 rules of life". The test takes about 15-20 minutes to complete and costs 10 dollars to get the results. This is a professional test, developed by Prof. Peterson and a team of other renowned scientists. In the test "you will be presented with a series of phrases, such as “carry out my plans,” “respect authority,” and “like to solve complex problems,” and asked to indicate your agreement or disagreement with those phrases as they apply to you, typically and personally." In the end you receive a report in which you are compared with thousands of others who took the text. As stated in the site "you will receive information about your position along each of the Big Five dimensions of Extraversion (associated with positive emotion), Neuroticism (negative emotion), Agreeableness (the primary dimension of care for others), Conscientiousness (associated with duty, precision and responsibility) and Openness (interest in ideas and aesthetics), including customised descriptive paragraphs for your specific percentile positions."
The results might surprise you, especially those of you, who like me find it super exciting to speak in front of a large crowd, but are equally happy to spend countless hours completely alone with a learning or analytical task. We all have a hunch about our type, but are there only two types? Find out with this 10 minutes test. It is completely free of charge. According to the web site of TED conferences, in which Adam Grant was a speaker,"knowing your traits will help you figure out how you can best fit and function in the workplace and the world."
In his 1995 bestseller"Emotional Intelligence" the psychologist with a superstar status Daniel Goleman states that EI matters more than your IQ. Since none of us could lead a company, or even ourselves, alone on a path to greatness, it is essential to know where we stand on our EI performance. This test shows yours. Can you learn to be more emotionally intelligent? Unlike your inborn IQ, our EI could be enhanced. Read here how if interested.
In Bulgarian this test is available here. Both are free of charge.
This is probably the most famous personality test in the world. The results put you in the group of one of 16 personalities. The test was developed in the 1940s by the mother-daughter duo Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers. Important to note neither of them were psychologists. Still, the test and variations of it is still widely used and gets a lot of attention. The promise is that in 10 minutes (but it may also take you 20) you "get a “freakishly accurate” description of who you are and why you do things the way you do". Research shows that results may change in time.
"Stop wondering what you’re good at. Our assessments identify your natural talents, so you can perform better in your job, build stronger relationships and achieve personal growth." This is the promise of Gallup assessments - who claim they are easy to take, and your results are instantly available. Mind it, they are also paid - starting from about 10 dollars and moving up for a more complex assessments. The colleague, who recommended this test to me, Stefan Petkov, credits this test for at least part of his successful career development so far.
There are many other tests you can do. You can learn more even through colours. As always, when it comes to knowledge, and what we at Victory Corners say: "IT'S NOT ONLY WHAT YOU KNOW. IT IS WHAT GOOD YOU DO WITH WHAT YOU KNOW THAT MATTERS."
Victory Corners, 2022, by Viktoriya V. Blazheva