Last week, I blogged about using personality test data to avoid a hiring disaster – the most costly kind of mistake, in terms of money and time, that an entrepreneur can make.
At LexION Capital, I use personality test data to help make successful hiring decisions. They provide additional, objective data, unlike other steps in the hiring process, like interviewing, when personal biases can come into play.
However, the hiring process is not the only time personality data is useful for entrepreneurs. This data is a valuable management tool. Here’s what you stand to gain as an entrepreneur from using personality tests:
- A way to help new employees hit the ground running.
Personality data gives you information right off the bat of how to help them integrate with your team and your company culture. At my independent wealth management firm LexION Capital, our mission-driven and values-based approach defines everything we do. Personality data helps us understand how to help new hires fit right in.
- Insight into a person’s natural profile of strengths and skills.
It’s one thing to ask a potential hire to describe their strengths and weaknesses in an interview. Of course, people are putting their best foot forward! But having objective data about someone’s natural strengths provides more information about how they can work best as a part of your team. As an entrepreneur, you should manage to people’s strengths.
- A tool for clearer, more effective communication.
Some of us have a natural tendency to process the world in an analytical way, while others are more intuitive or emotional. When you know a person’s inherent style, you can better communicate key information in a way that ensures all the details and important feedback are clear. Avoid things getting lost (or added!) in translation simply because someone has a very different communication style than you do.
Check out my regular column on Inc.com for more insight on entrepreneurship!
