What Your Work Personality Test Is Measuring & What It Is Not

A work personality test can offer insights into how someone thinks, behaves or approaches situations at work, depending on what the assessment is designed to measure. However, tools such as DISC focus specifically on behavioural and communication preferences rather than personality. Each assessment has a specific focus, such as behavioural preferences or motivators, and its results should only be used to inform decisions relevant to that area. 

Before a manager applies the results of a workplace behaviour assessment or other test at work, they need to know precisely where that boundary sits. A description of a colleague’s preferred behaviour may improve a conversation about communication, but it won’t necessarily say anything about their technical ability, judgement or motivation.

So, what does a work personality test genuinely measure?

The name of the test does not tell you what it measures

The phrase “work personality test” is used for a wide range of commercial tools. Some explore broad personality traits, while others assess behaviours, motivation, emotional intelligence or reasoning ability. As they ask different questions and support different conclusions, two polished reports may have very little in common beneath the presentation.

To be applicable in the workplace, a psychometric assessment should have evidence showing how well it measures its intended characteristics. In other words, you need to understand how much confidence you can place in its results. This is a combination of reliability, which asks whether the tool produces sufficiently consistent results, and validity, which asks whether it measures what it claims to measure and supports the use you intend. Ask any provider for its reliability and validity evidence. TTI Success Insights publishes a technical manual for its DISC assessment. 

What a DISC assessment actually measures

Where do DISC assessments fit in this conversation? At Penguin Learning, we use the TTI Success Insights DISC assessment to explore how somebody prefers to behave and communicate. DISC stands for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance. Together, these four factors help explore how people approach challenges, interact with others, respond to pace and change, and work within rules or established procedures. Everyone has a different combination of these behavioural preferences.

A DISC assessment does not observe somebody leading a meeting, preparing a report or responding to a difficult customer. Instead, participants complete a questionnaire that asks them to rank responses according to how closely they reflect their own behaviour. The results help identify their behavioural and communication preferences, which can then be explored during a facilitated debrief. During the debrief, the employee can compare those descriptions with situations from their working life and decide where the findings reflect their experience.

For example, a manager may expect every project update to include the relevant risks and the evidence supporting a recommendation. One employee may tend to begin with the intended outcome and the next action because they prefer to communicate quickly and directly. Their DISC profiles can help them recognise what each person expects from the exchange. They might then agree to open each update with the outcome and proposed action before setting out the evidence, risks and unresolved questions.

Using DISC alongside other workplace evidence

As a work-related behaviour test, DISC gives you a structured way to explore how somebody tends to communicate and approach their work. It can indicate, for example, whether they are likely to prioritise rapid progress, contact with other people, a consistent pace or close attention to established requirements. TTI describes DISC as an assessment of behavioural style, giving the results a clear and useful focus.

However, other parts of working life call for different forms of evidence. Technical competence may be demonstrated through qualifications, work samples and experience, while performance is assessed against the responsibilities and objectives of the role. When you want to explore what motivates somebody, TTI Success Insights Driving Forces provides a separate assessment of the personal drivers that influence their decisions and engagement.

What next?

We can help you define what you need to understand before recommending an assessment. Download an example DISC report to get an idea of what to expect, or speak with one of our specialists about the workplace question you want answered.