Myths about using multiple assessments in leadership training and team-building sessions.
MYTHS:
1) Multiple assessments will confuse participants.
Actually, most participants in team building workshops don’t get confused, they grasp the information quickly. That’s because participants tend to focus on broad patterns and concepts rather than details. They search for practical information about ways to apply the concepts to their team. Modern learners are actually BORED more often than we like to think. Get these employees engaged with some challenging thinking! When most team-building workshops are finished, participants tend to forget the specific terminology. What they remember are the concepts that they can directly apply to improve team engagement. When assessments complement each other and provide additional information, this actually allows participants to focus on their team dynamics rather than memorizing assessment categories, codes, colors, types, etc. Using multiple assessments, particularly complementary ones, frees them from memorization. They take what is helpful and drop the rest.
2) There isn’t enough time.
Often it is more important to spend LESS time covering a specific assessment and use the time you just saved to broaden the concepts of identifying strengths and accepting differences. Instead of spending three hours on the in-depth details of Assessment X, try spending one hour on Assessment X, one on test Y, and then reserve the third hour for processing how the team can combine the information to work better together. Participants vary in what they get more out different assessments. Using multiple tests help them identify specific things to their team dynamics. You can always schedule a follow-up session if teams want to know more about one of the assessments.
3) We’ve already picked the ideal test.
There is probably no such thing as the ideal or perfect test. Some assessments measure behavioral tendencies, others identify personality traits, still others clarify values or driving themes. Try to select assessments that complement each other (measure different things). You’ll find that teams will gravitate to the information that identifies issues that may be causing problems on the team. Even the test you may believe is “ideal” can miss the issues that a team may struggling with at the moment. Remember, just-in-time and just-what-is-needed is always better than the “one shoe fits all strategy.”
Some powerful combinations include:
INSIGHT Inventory and StrengthsFinder2.0 (CliftonStrengths)
These two combine behavioral traits (INSIGHT Inventory) with personality themes (StrengthsFinder2.0) Both are strengths based and there is very little overlap so participants get different information from each one. A quick overview might be: INSIGHT Inventory reveals how someone walks and talks coming down the hallway, and StrengthsFinder tells you why they are coming.
MBTI and INSIGHT Inventory
The MBTI reflects Jung’s model of judging and thinking. The INSIGHT Inventory is based on factor analysis of behavioral differences and why people change from one setting to another. The overlap on one scale, extroversion and introversion, and that provides a nice check on this important trait. Otherwise they complement each other nicely and help team members explore how they can utilize the strengths of several different scales.
What are your favorite assessment combinations for team building?
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