Since the 2000s, personality models have been used more and more in companies, whether for training or coaching. But on what basis should you choose a personality model, as a training manager or a trainer? This article offers a simple and original look at personality models to help you see things more clearly.
Psychometrics: the basis of personality models
The first thing to consider when talking about personality types is psychometrics. As everyone displays behaviours that correspond to at least one personality type, it’s easy to measure them using psychometrics, which is perfectly suited to measuring repetitive behaviours.
But what can psychometrics really do? In France, there is often confusion about what psychometrics covers. A common misconception is that it provides accurate personality profiles. In reality, psychometrics validates the theoretical basis of the personality model. It makes it possible to affirm that the personality types presented are measurable and therefore valid, but this does not guarantee that the personality profile provided to the trainee is always accurate.
Why not? Because personality questionnaires are based on self-perception. Individuals respond according to what they think of themselves, and this process is influenced by a phenomenon, well known in psychology, called social desirability, which distorts the identification of personality types.
Explanation: Each person has two main families of behaviours:
- Innate personality type: Present from the first years of life, independent of upbringing or environment. The same personality types are found across all nationalities and cultures.
- Conformity to upbringing and environment: External influences such as work, friends and the desire to belong to a social group.
When individuals answer a self-perception questionnaire, they often mix up learned and innate behaviours. For example, if you answer that you are a perfectionist in a questionnaire, are you a perfectionist because your upbringing or work environment has led you to be one, or are you a perfectionist because you are fundamentally like that in everything you do?
A personality questionnaire cannot distinguish between these two types of behaviour, and neither can individuals, as they should be aware of their own cognitive biases. Personality questionnaires therefore measure both facets at the same time.
In short: Psychometrics validates the theory of personality types, but does not guarantee the accuracy of the results of personality questionnaires.
Categories of personality models
Now that this point has been clarified, we can define three broad categories of personality models, focusing on those available on the French market.
1. Models without psychometric validity :
The only model identified as having no psychometric validity is Process Com. In 2015 and 2016, Kahler Communication France asked the University of Paris-Descartes to carry out a psychometric validation of Process Com, without success. No psychometric validation is mentioned for this model, which means that its 6 personality types and associated concepts are not valid. There are other models which do not display psychometrics because they assume that the theoretical bases they use have already been measured by others before them and therefore they do not need to do so. We frequently find 4-type models from DISC and 16-type models from MBTI. However, the questionnaires used in these models are not very reliable.
2. Models with global psychometrics :
Then there are models with global psychometrics. In this case, personality types are measured, but not their specific behaviours. These models include DISC, Belbin, Success Insights, Arc en Ciel and others.
Their approach is as follows: after completing a personality questionnaire, you are presented with an analysis of who you are. In other words, they assume that the result is accurate and that it accurately reflects the personality of the person who answered. However, they take absolutely no account of social desirability, a cognitive bias that no self-perception questionnaire can escape.
Why do these models ignore this crucial bias? The first reason is that it makes it possible to sell personality profiles without complication. It also makes it possible to offer very short training courses for trainers. There is no need to help trainees check whether their measured personality type really corresponds to who they really are. Often, a half-day or two days of trainer training is enough to learn how to explain the concepts and interpret the profiles provided.
The second reason is that the overall psychometric measurement is not precise enough to clearly identify the specific behaviours of each personality type. Trainers, lacking the resources to help trainees recognise their true personality type behind the profile measured, avoid this complex exercise which requires precision and in-depth skills.
3. Models with precise and specific psychometrics:
These models measure behaviours specific to personality types. Examples: MBTI, TMS (Team Management System), ComColors. After completing the questionnaires, the trainers who have been trained in these models compare the people’s answers with concrete examples from their daily lives. The aim is to check that there is a clear match between their everyday behaviour and the personality type measured by the questionnaire. If there is not, the profile is modified to reflect the new behaviours identified. This method requires longer training for trainers to help individuals understand their true personality types.
Choosing the right personality model
Now that you know how to distinguish between the three categories of personality model, what can you do with them?
All personality models have one thing in common: they help people to understand that we are all different, and that this diversity is often a source of tension in relationships. However, what distinguishes the different approaches is the point of view they offer.
For approaches that consider the profile to be accurate without taking social desirability into account, the solution is to learn to adapt your communication to the person you are talking to. If you can’t make yourself understood, it’s your own fault, because you’re not adapting sufficiently to the other person. So you need to practise adapting to other personality types. Although this approach is very attractive to companies, in reality it is almost inapplicable. Theoretically, adapting to others is perfectly possible, but it requires a real apprenticeship. It’s like learning to play tennis or the piano. It takes a lot of work to win matches or play a concerto. Adapting to other personality types requires just as much effort, even though the proposed training only lasts two or three days. That’s too short to achieve concrete results. So, although participants find training on personality types interesting, they often get nothing concrete out of it because the task is too complex to be applied effectively.
For approaches which consider that the profile is not always accurate, the objective is quite different. In the ComColors approach in particular, each of the six personality types is driven by a constant motivation that is just waiting to be activated. However, it is crucial to correctly identify your personality type in order to be able to draw on this inexhaustible motivation.
The value of approaches that compare the results of questionnaires with the day-to-day behaviour of individuals lies precisely in this approach. The aim is to reconnect people with what motivates them most. This also involves identifying the adaptive behaviours that are necessary for living in society but which provide no motivation. The underlying aim is to get people to allow themselves to be themselves, to exploit their natural strengths and to get things done with ease.
In the end, relationships improve on their own because they are no longer based on adapting to other personality types, but on accepting one’s own personality type and that of others. If I’m a good person in one personality type, then the other person is also a good person in another personality type.
This change in the way we look at ourselves and the other person comes about naturally, and profoundly transforms the way teams function and the interpersonal relationships that result.
Psychometrics will therefore be the cornerstone of your choice of personality model to find the one that best matches the approach you are looking for.
Dernière mise à jour le 6 September 2024
