There is no such thing as a perfect personality, although I guess you could say that there are certain personalities that are decidedly imperfect!

Of course personality tests only give an indication of how the person responds to this type of test - and tests vary in terms of validity (particularly predictive validity is often not well proven - always best to check the manual).

But what can be helpful when feeding back is to not only stress that these tests are an indication not the final word on an individual's personality, but also to use the results to ask questions and see how much the person agrees with them. You should always also consider the strengths and weaknesses of different personality aspects based on context. What may be a problem for some jobs may be absolutely wonderful for another. Some feedback reports seem to imply that, for example, being an introvert or having a high regard for fine detail is a bad thing. Yet for certain types of work this is a positive. Similarly being very sociable can be a disadvantage, particularly if coupled with being an extrovert, as these types can find it very difficult to give staff bad news - probably either need support when managing staff in these circumstances or not be given a team to lead - but it all depends.

Remember also the norm group is vital. If you are comparing someone with the general population an 'average' level of extroversion will be very different than when comparing them with a norm group of sales people, for example.


So anyone wish to comment about how to give what may appear to be bad news about someone's personality?

Stephanie

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Dr Stephanie Morgan
Crosslight Management
www.crosslight.co.uk

Dear Leslie,

I agree this is something that takes a lot of thought and practice. It can be worth putting ideas up here for how you feel certain aspects should be fed-back - how you tell someone they have reported themselves as far more neurotic than the average in their norm group can have a big impact on their response. A lot of the things should be used to discuss with the client - ask them how they feel and what sort of actions they should take (if any) e.g. more training, a mentor, or just putting themselves into certain situations to learn how to handle them - and so on.

I agree that because the terms used in most of these tests are value-laden you have to explain what they mean and offer the positive aspects of each - in most cases it is a question of person-job fit rather than having a 'bad' profile.

I have just found out that Hogrefe have published a manual on interpreting the NEO for just this reason. I am going to buy it and will let you know if it is of value.

Do ask questions about what terms we should use for different profiles, be happy to discuss.

Anyone out their who has been given a profile they don't understand or feel should have been fed back in a more sensitive manner?


kind regards

Stephanie

__________________
Dr Stephanie Morgan
Crosslight Management
www.crosslight.co.uk