Is Your Personality Getting in the Way?

Our personalities have a significant influence on how we behave, think, and lead others. This shows up clearly in the differences between an outgoing person and an introvert. An outgoing person can command attention through their charismatic approach, while more reserved personalities tend to empower others as effective coaches. Regardless of your tendencies, is your personality getting in the way of your leadership effectiveness?

While any personality can be effective in the right application, the strongest leaders understand their personalities and how they affect their leadership style and decision-making approach.

There are tests that can be taken to determine someone’s specific personality profile. Let’s explore this further.

Personality Tests

There are many online personality tests that can help us determine our personality profile. This will shed light on how we naturally lead and whether any adjustments are needed to be more effective.

These include my favorites: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness). Another popular option is the Enneagram test. These all ask different questions but basically measure the same thing: our behavior.  

MBTI categorizes people into 16 distinct traits. It’s an easy test to understand and apply.

DISC measures the four basic behavioral traits seen in the name. It’s also simple and effective.

Enneagram is another type-based system similar to MBTI. It identifies a personality type from type 1 to type 9.

The tests identify our natural tendencies, such as being outspoken, a natural planner, or being more relational. You can see how these qualities can drive your approach to leading. The natural planner, for example, will be more process-driven, while the relational personality may be more focused on other people’s feelings.

Why is This important?

Identifying our personality traits brings clarity to our leadership style. This enables us to be better decision-makers and identify blind spots or biases that negatively impact our effectiveness. Said another way, if we know how we are wired, we can tailor our approach to be more effective.

We are at our best when we can be our authentic selves. However, our strengths bring inherent weaknesses. For example, if you are an outgoing person, you are likely to be more engaging and able to quickly energize others in adopting a vision. However, you may easily miss or dismiss the soft-spoken team member’s input because of your passion and drive.

A leader who is a thinker and on the quieter side, on the one hand, may be a great strategist. On the other hand, because that leader tends to despise being the center of attention, they would be less likely to command attention. As a result, that leader’s approach may come across as weak.

Knowing the potential or perceived weaknesses with each style will help us take action to address them and be intentional in our approach to increase our effectiveness.

Finally, another important value these tests can deliver is building team effectiveness.

Personality assessments can help a team understand its interrelationship dynamics and increase collaboration. It can also help with the assignment of roles and projects to individuals based on their strengths.

I took the DiSC test with a team. We shared our test results. And wow! Was that a culture-transforming exercise!

We were amazed to learn how better we understood each other based on our results. It made sense why each individual behaved the way they did. Following that team activity, we saw the health of our team’s culture ratcheted up.

This supported the principle, “The solution to improved collaboration is to get a better understanding of each other.”

What do These Tests Measure?

As you know, we fall into a very broad range of uniqueness. These tests help us better understand the unique strengths we bring to the table.

One of my first leadership personality assessments was MBTI. It categorizes leadership traits into the following opposing groups:

• Extrovert and Introvert (E, I)

• Sensing and Intuition (S, N)

• Thinking and Feeling (T, F)

• Judging and Perceiving (J, P)

In this test, our personality type consists of an element in each of the four groups. As an example, my personality test result was INTJ (Introvert, Intuition, Thinking, Judging). It’s a trait that’s well-suited for strategizing. The result of another person’s test could be ENFP (Extrovert, Intuition, Feeling, Perceiving). Leaders with this result tend to be naturally charismatic and dominant.

DISC measures our behavior along the bold/cautious and questioning/accepting axes. It has four distinct groups:

• Dominance

• Influence

• Steadiness

• Conscientiousness

Someone with the D Personality tends to fall in the bold/questioning quadrant. They are characterized by an assertive, confident approach. That means they are direct, ambitious, and strong-willed. However, they can be overly aggressive and intimidating.

Someone with the S Personality values stability, peace, and collaboration. They tend to be cautious and even-tempered. However, they can be overly worried about other people’s feelings rather than their own and can get burnt out from giving themselves excessively into social interactions.

Leaders learn their strengths, weaknesses, and how to be more effective through these personality tests. A wise leader will pay attention to the results and take action to improve their communication and decision-making.

Which Personality Type is Best?

There is no one personality type or trait that is better than others. They are all equally relevant and effective. However, certain leadership styles are best suited for certain roles, whether it’s calling for a strategic thinker, or for someone to drive cultural change that requires softer skills such as sensing, being in touch, and being a relator.

The best personality type you can have is your own. However, regardless of your personality, it’s important to be aware of both your associated strengths and inherent weaknesses.  

By gaining self-awareness, leaders will better understand their style, know how to leverage it, and adapt their approach to overcome their weaknesses and blind spots. In so doing, they will avoid their personalities getting in the way of their success. Similarly, these tests can also strengthen team dynamics and improve organizational culture.

If you have never done a personality test, you can start with one of the many free online tests.

Empowered Leader Reflection

How would you describe your personality? What are the inherent leadership gaps with that style, and how do you adjust for those shortcomings?

Would you share your thoughts with us below?

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