Personality tests are a dime a dozen these days. Don’t get me wrong…they’re a lot of fun and some are even quite insightful.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator tracks how psychological traits influence someone’s actions. The Enneagram displays the varying core beliefs and emotional responses people have to their environment. These indicators tell an individual a lot about themselves, but they only have a tangential relationship to the workplace.
As a financial institution, you need an assessment that’s more useful to the workplace (and something still as much fun as personality tests). Patrick Lencioni’s community bank or credit union Working Genius Model provides what you need.
Let’s dive deeper.
Assess How You Work (and Don’t Work)
Many personality tests tell you who you are. A community bank or credit union Working Genius Assessment tells you how you work.
Working Genius clarifies your workflow, matching each stage to the primary ways an employee works. Is an employee great at coming up with new ideas? You can see where they fit in the workflow (a process ranging from initial analysis to project completion).
Discovering an employee’s strengths helps your credit union or community bank determine where to place team members. It also shows you which types of work are life-giving for a particular staff member.
On the other hand, a community bank or credit union Working Genius Assessment tells you how you don’t work. In other words, it reveals which stages of the workflow drain an employee’s energy. These insights may help you fix productivity problems as you implement projects. A slowdown may be more a question of the wrong seat rather than the wrong person.
Put Results into Practice
Personality test results are interesting to know but often hard to practically use. A community bank or credit union Working Genius Assessment is different. Knowing what gives your employees energy empowers you to make smarter staffing decisions.
Here are some ways to put Working Genius results into practice:
- Clearly define your workflow and identify what stages align with team member roles.
- Shift employees to different positions where strengths are better utilized.
- Identify skill gaps and plan on hiring for those positions.
If these steps sound daunting before you fully grasp your workflow, don’t worry! Community bank and credit union Working Genius facilitators help you understand the model so you can implement it effectively.
Connect with Your Team
So far, you’ve seen a couple ways Working Genius differs from personality tests. Well, here’s one way it’s similar to personality tests…and it’s a good one!
Like personality tests, a community bank or credit union Working Genius Assessment is a fun way for you to truly understand your team. It gives you those “aha moments” where you finally know why someone loves (or hates) doing certain tasks.
Best of all, Working Genius improves connections between teammates by reducing guilt and judgment. An employee doesn’t need to feel bad about performing poorly at certain tasks – it’s only natural to have some weaknesses. And coworkers can understand why their team members struggle in certain areas.
Rather than assuming laziness, everyone can use their individual strengths to pitch in and help each other conquer weaknesses.
So, ditch the personality tests. Take a community bank or credit union Working Genius Assessment instead and understand the results with the help of an On The Mark Strategies Working Genius facilitator.
