6 Ways Behavioral Assessments Can Benefit Your Team

· by Brady Hammond

Brady Hammond is a certified Predictive Index Practitioner and CliftonStrengths Coach. She specializes in leading teams through assessments, team building, and leadership training.
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Most of us love a good personality assessment. Predictive Index, Enneagram, CliftonStrengths, Myers-Briggs, DISC… there are so many to choose from! And they all tell us a little something different about ourselves. But, how does this translate to the workplace, and more importantly, how can it benefit your team? The Organizational Development field is adopting more and more of these behavioral reports to help coach, develop, and nurture employees. The benefits for the individual are undeniable. But let’s focus on the way the team as a whole can improve from the use of these dynamic tools.

Here are the 6 ways investing in behavioral assessments can benefit your team:

  1. Increase awareness
    Everyone has strengths, everyone has weaknesses. The first step of any behavioral assessment is self-awareness. The second step is team-awareness. Just knowing what each person brings to the table automatically breaks down barriers caused by assumption. Rather than guessing what motivates your employees or why they’re behaving a certain way… find out for sure! This is the first step in understanding your team and leading them accordingly.
  2. Understand team dynamics
    Why does Sally work well with Mary? Why does Bill not get along with Ted? Why are Kathy and Rick never on the same page? Every individual is contributing their own unique talents and skills to the team. This also means they have their own unique perspective on every situation. Understanding the way an individual interprets the world helps managers understand where conflict and misunderstanding will arise, and how to avoid it.
  3. Fit talent with position
    Erica is an excellent worker. She’s diligent, precise, and contributes more than her share of the workload. But lately, she seems dissatisfied. Just because an employee is skilled at what they do doesn’t mean it’s what they should be doing. Understanding Erica’s talents, motivations, and blind spots can help identify if she’s in the right role for her or not. A behavioral assessment can help you make sure your team is structured to do what they do best.
  4. More effective communication
    Most conflict in the workplace is bred from miscommunication. Difficult conversations are unpopular in most professional settings… of course they are! They’re uncomfortable and often unproductive. A big part of personal and team development is understanding how to communicate effectively and productively. An assessment can tell your team members where their blind spots are, how they communicate under stress, and how their co-workers like to be communicated to. This increases the overall efficiency of your team’s ability to give feedback and communicate clearly.
  5. Appreciate diversity
    We are all so different and unique. We each bring a diverse background, lens, and skillset to the workplace. That diversity should be celebrated and capitalized on! Innovation isn’t born out of similarity, it is bred from our differences. Encourage your employees to bring their uniqueness to the workplace and promote an environment of dynamic thinking and problem-solving. Behavioral assessments allow managers to gauge those differences in a tangible and actionable way.
  6. Boost morale
    The final benefit is boosting morale! When you invest in your people, they invest in you. Show your employees you care enough about them as individuals and human beings to get to know them better. That you want to mold your leadership around who they are as people, rather than what you need from them as employees. This has a huge effect on how your employees feel about your company and leadership team.

Everyone appreciates feeling valued and seen. Behavioral assessments are a great first step to showing, rather than telling, your employees that they matter.

Brady Hammond is a certified Predictive Index Practitioner and CliftonStrengths Coach. She specializes in leading teams through assessments, team building, and leadership training. To learn more about how your team can benefit from behavioral assessments, drop her a note or view HTI’s full catalog of training programs.