Welcome to The Science Behind Success-- a new blog series that explores the best ways to help our brains perform better at work. With psychological research and interviews with leaders in the field, we're showing you how psychology can help you overcome workplace obstacles and excel in your career. Because a little mindset change could go a long way.
Oftentimes, it's easy to recognize the importance of personality on job performance.
For instance, let's say you work with an incredibly diligent, conscientious ad copywriter. She never arrives late to a meeting, rarely misses a typo, and is capable of performing extremely well independently.
Alternatively, your team manager is extraverted, passionate, and direct. She motivates your team during meetings, inspires you in one-on-one sessions, and finds job satisfaction through cultivating meaningful relationships with others.
Undoubtedly, these two people would likely perform less well if they switched roles, for personality factors alone.
At most workplaces, people's personalities are not left at the door -- instead, they are a key factor in whether someone succeeds in a role.
When you consider this, then, it makes sense why there's a rising field of study regarding personality as a predictor of job satisfaction and success.
To examine the concept of personality assessments as a recruitment and on-boarding tool, I spoke with Dr. Greg Barnett, who has a PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, has consulted almost half of the Fortune 50 companies in the personality assessment domain, and is now the Head of Science at The Predictive Index.
Here, let's examine his take on the benefits of using personality as an indicator of job performance -- and how you might implement it in your own recruitment process, today.
