7 Ways to Help Employees Make the Most Out of Their Psych Assessments

When you have a team of high-performing employees, it can make all the difference for your business. High performers are often more productive, collaborative and creative than their peers.

To help your team thrive, consider giving them pre-employment personality tests during the hiring process to find people who are a fit for your culture and align with your values, as a last resort you might need to have leadership development with Maximus International Melbourne.

Once you’ve hired them, use personality assessments to help employees understand their strengths and weaknesses so they can develop professionally.

The assessment industry has been gaining traction in the past few years, with leading assessment companies such as Hogan, Thomas International and Gallup having a combined revenue of over USD 400 million. There is a reason for that – assessments are a great way for organizations to understand their employees better and improve the bottom line.

Recent research by the Aberdeen Group affirms this claim.

Organizations that assess candidates and employees can expect to see increased organizational effectiveness of 22 percent versus those that don’t.

But a lot of companies have been using psychometric assessments as a one-time activity. They do it while hiring or when they look at leadership development. This is not enough.

Personality and psychometric assessments can be powerful tools for helping people understand themselves and how to work best with others. But in order for that to happen, we need to make sure that the person taking the assessment is as prepared as possible so they get the most out of it.

Here are five ways you can help your employees prepare for a psychometric assessment:

•   Make an appointment

In my experience, most people tend to set aside some time on their calendar and then take the assessment at some random point during that time frame. This will virtually guarantee that you’re not going to get full value from the process because you won’t be focused or engaged.

Instead, schedule a specific time when you know you’ll be able to give it your full attention (ideally without any distractions). Then stick with it. Treat it like any other important meeting on your calendar – don’t skip it or reschedule unless absolutely necessary. (If this is happening frequently, consider whether someone else should take the survey in their place.

•   Don’t let them test the limits

When taking psych assessments, some employees may try to outsmart them by responding in ways that don’t reflect who they really are. That’s why it’s important for managers and HR professionals to communicate as clearly as possible what these tests are for and what is expected from employees. Tell your team that honest answers are essential because the information will be used for their own benefit. If any doubts remain, explain that these tools have been tested extensively and that there is no right or wrong answer – only a true or false one!

•   Teach them about how psychometric testing works

One way to do this is by showing them how the tests were designed. For example, if your company decides to implement the Predictive Index (PI) behavioral assessment, you should explain where the questions come from and why they’re important. Also, talk about the different types of questions — Likert scale, multiple choice, true-false — and why those types were chosen.

•   Explain what they need to know before taking an assessment

This will help them feel more comfortable when they sit down to take a test. For example, if they’re going to take an assessment like PI Job Assessment™ (JAT), tell them beforehand that they will be asked questions about their personality traits and work preferences. Providing this kind of information ahead of time helps prevent people from becoming anxious when sitting down for an exam.

•   Discuss nomenclature and terminology with your employees

Employees often have a lot of questions when they are taking a psychological assessment. It’s important that they understand how to answer the questions as well as what the questions mean. The more informed they are, the better prepared they will be to tackle the assessment.

•   Explain how to answer tough questions

Most employees get tripped up on some of the harder questions. You should help them understand how to correctly answer these questions so they don’t mess up their results. For example, you might want to explain that some words can have multiple meanings and that they should choose the meaning that fits them the best.

•   Provide a quiet environment for your employees

Sometimes it’s difficult for employees to take a psych assessment at work because there is a lot of noise or distractions around them. You should provide a quiet environment for them because this will allow them to focus on the assessment and do their best work. If possible, you might even want to let them leave early or come in late so they can complete it at home.