How leaders can get a deep understanding of each team member's own personality.

Leading diverse personalities small business

One of the strengths of a team is diversity. Each person brings with them a unique set of skills, perspectives and strengths. And when a team works together well, it drives the business forward.

As leaders, it’s our job to understand and harness these individual strengths to create a winning team. However, this requires a deep understanding of each team member's personality so that you can learn why your team operates the way it does and how to work best together.

So how do you understand the personality of a person?

A personality type assessment is one way of bringing awareness to each persons strengths (and weaknesses), providing insight into how a person makes decisions, interacts with other people, and processes information.

The 16 Personalities (16personalities.com) test is a free and accessible tool that identifies 16 distinct personality types based on a combination of traits. For example, you might have an INTJ 'Architect' personality who excels in strategic planning and innovation, or an ESFP 'Entertainer', who brings energy and enthusiasm to the team. Recognising these traits can help you tailor your leadership approach to each individual.

The test only takes about 10 minutes to complete online and it gives you a “freakishly accurate” description of who you are and why you do things the way you do.

Benefits of using the 16 Personalities Test with your team

Here are 3 reasons why you should consider using a personalities test as part of your next team activity:

1. Get to know your team members better

Understanding each team member's personality helps you see their unique perspectives and motivations.

2. Improve communication across your team

Knowing personality types can enhance how you convey information, reducing misunderstandings.

3. Help team members develop their individual strengths

By recognising their inherent strengths, you can provide opportunities and incentives for growth that align with their natural abilities.

16 Personality types — Explore the 16 Personalities

This simple test can help you understand and leverage the diverse strengths within your team. But you might be thinking... How do I implement it?

From my own experience coaching a few business owners through this process, here are a few thoughts on implementation:

Introduce the idea to your team and provide a link to the 16 personalities website so they can explore it for themselves first.
Ask your team to complete the assessment in private.
Schedule a time and place to gather the team to discuss their results. This could be done within each team/department or together as one big team.
Be mindful of the time and setting. It may be best to do this over a business lunch or social activity first, so that team members feel relaxed and connected to each other.
Leaders: lead the way by sharing your own personality type first. Use the website to reference the traits and strengths.
Ask and invite, not force others to share their personality type. Ask team members questions that relate their personality type back to their work, such as 'what's your default/preferred method of communication?'
Reiterate the benefits of understanding each others personality type. It's to understand, not judge. Refer to the self-guided resources from the 16 personalities website.
After the team discussion, send out further resources to help each person understand their personality type better and they can read up on other team members personality types.
Take note of each team members personality type, as it will be a helpful guide for managing and leading them to grow their potential.

Action Steps:

Understand yourself — Take the 16 personalities test yourself.
Understand your team — Get your team members to take the test and arrange a time and place to discuss everyone's personality.
Turn insights into action — Use the tools and resources by 16 personalities to help your team work better together.

Written by Lachlan Nicolson.

Note: Leader Guide is NOT affiliated with 16 personalities in any way. We love this resource and have found it helpful in Coaching business owners to lead their teams effectively.

Further Reading:
Optimise Team Members’ Strengths

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