Exploring one's self or finding the perfect match for a job role can be significantly aided by personality assessments. The most common ones include the DiSC, the Enneagram, and the Myers-Briggs assessments. These tools offer insights into an individual's personality characteristics, their strengths, weaknesses, and how they behave amongst others.
Understanding their functionality is key to determining the suitable one for personal use or organizational needs. Each one serves different objectives and can generate distinct results.
A Closer Look at the DiSC Assessment
The DiSC Assessment focuses on four key personality styles, determining individuals' dominant personalities through their emotional behavioral expressions. These include:
- Dominance – characterized by competitiveness, strength of will, and result-oriented.
- Influence – distinguished by sociability, optimism, and inspiration.
- Steadiness – marked by patience, reliability, and warm-heartedness.
- Conscientious – characterized by logical thinking, independence, and problem-solving abilities.
Although there are four main styles, everyone's personality is a blend of these, with one usually being more dominant. The DiSC Assessment is primarily used in organizations to predict how individuals will react in various situations. It provides insights into a person's inherent characteristics and their adaptive behaviors based on their environment. It aids in understanding an individual's motivation, personal growth, and conflict resolution approach, fostering better workplace relationships.
The Enneagram Assessment
The Enneagram's focus is more on the underlying motivations and fears that shape individuals' worldview and foundational beliefs, using three core values:
- Head (Intellectual) – associated with rational thinking and ideas.
- Heart (Emotional) – connected to empathy and emotional responses.
- Mind (Instinctual) – linked to gut feelings and societal belonging.
The Enneagram theory posits that these three core values, in various combinations, form the nine Enneagram personality types:
- Reformer – principled, perfectionist, and purposeful.
- Helper – generous and genuine.
- Achiever – hardworking and success-driven.
- Individualist – creative, temperamental with a strong sense of identity.
- Investigator – logical, intelligent, and perceptive.
- Loyalist – devoted and responsible.
- Enthusiast – playful, optimistic, and easily distracted.
- Challenger – self-confident, dominating, and bold.
- Peacemaker – easy-going and agreeable.
The Enneagram defines the dominant personality type with two additional ‘wing' personality types. For instance, you might be predominantly an Achiever, but your ‘wings' might reveal Helper and Loyalist traits.
The Myers-Briggs (MBTI) Assessment
The Myers-Briggs (MBTI) is more nature-oriented, suggesting that your inherent traits influence your world perception and interactions with others. It uses four main personality categories:
- Introversion (I) or Extraversion (E)
- Sensing (S) or Intuition (N)
- Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
- Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)
You lean towards one type or the other in each dichotomy, indicating your preferences. The MBTI has defined 16 combinations of these traits that guide your actions and thoughts, rather than defining your character or capabilities.
The Myers-Briggs is used to identify individual strengths and weaknesses, preferences, and compatibility with others. It can guide career choices and help you find a profession that aligns with your personality and fulfills your aspirations.
In Conclusion
The DiSC, the Enneagram, and the Myers-Briggs assessments each offer different approaches to personality assessment and yield different results. The Enneagram focuses on nurture, MBTI on nature, and DiSC combines both. Despite their differences, all three aim to better understand individuals and their interactions, leading to stronger teams and a more effective workplace culture.
