Assumptions and Misunderstandings about Personality Tests
Time: 2:13 minutes
Assumptions and Misunderstandings about Personality Tests
TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO:
Often times when I’m talking to somebody about personality assessments – whether it’s about communication styles or an assessment that’s looking to identify your talents, the first thing that comes up is really talking through some misunderstandings and assumptions that people make about these assessments.
It seems like people have these assumptions about what the test should do and what the results should give you. It’s as if they’re looking for an algorithm to give you the answers… to make decisions for you – whether it’s about which career to pursue, what job to take, what relationship to be in, where to live.
And when you do something like this, essentially what you’re doing is you’re disempowering yourself. If you’re expecting a test or an algorithm to give you the answers, what you’re doing is you’re taking choice away from you.
In fact, the first thing to do is really try to understand: What was the design behind the assessment? What was the intention? Were they just focusing on communication styles? Were they focusing on patterns of thinking or feeling or being? …just trying to give you extra insight into how you work – so that you can look at yourself differently, give yourself a different perspective, so that therefore you can explore:
- What are the things that maybe you want to try more of?
- What do you want to take a risk in?
- What should you do less of?
More of self-exploration rather than getting defined answers. Personality tests aren’t in any way meant to limit you or define you for who you are and what you can do.
My name is Elvira Marie Chang. And I’m a Trainer, and a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach. I offer one-to-one coaching, as well as workshops, an online, live, interactive series, as well as online courses. If you have any questions regarding CliftonStrengths, or maybe just your talents in general, or just want to talk to somebody about what it’s like to work with a coach, feel free to connect with me. Reach out to me with any questions. And I look forward to talking with you.
