Over the years, it’s quite possible you may have taken a psychometric test that collects information about you and assigns you to a neat box. These tests are usually conducted in order to evaluate an individual’s maximum performance and more aligned to aptitude – such as skills, knowledge, abilities and job/academic potential. However, other psychometric tests aim to measure typical performance by looking at personality, beliefs, drivers, learning styles and interests.
While many are insightful and help the individual to understand elements of their behaviour, there is a tendency to accept the box unequivocally and allow for the ‘label’ or type to dictate or influence future behaviour patterns. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test has been resoundingly at the forefront of this debate with its detractors struggling to find data in support of this personality test and its champions evangelical that the findings are absolutely accurate. So where is – or is there – a middle ground? Perhaps one point of view may be down to the test’s questions, which asks what you believe about yourself. In most cases, the results will usually summarise your beliefs and present them back to you as findings…a case of how can anyone dispute their own data!
Rarely can we measure behaviour by asking people their opinion about their behaviour: some may be honest in some contexts while in other contexts, perhaps not so much. Research has shown that the best way to gauge behaviour is to observe it, and in many different contexts, which gives a more rounded picture of an individual.
In my coaching experience, psychometric tests can be useful as a framework to identify and make sense of a client’s behavioural patterns – if we know what we’re looking for, it’s easier to find. As with all coaching conversations it is the intent that is the starting point: why do you want to undertake a test, what are the key skills and behaviours identified rather than a ‘type’, how did you answer the question and in what context, what insights into the mindset at that specific time resonates. From my experience, the impact of 360 reviews from a sample audience such as peers, colleagues or managers can be useful also as it adds the external dimension of how others see you … and what you want to do with that information.
If interested in the MBTI debate, have a look at Adam Grant’s research in Psychology Today, “Goodbye to MBTI, the Fad That Won’t Die.” and Merve Emre’s The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing.
