There are a number of psychometric tools available today that can be used in the workplace for everything from recruitment, talent management to team building. They provide an objective framework for management, trainers or HR practitioners to use in partnership with their teams and while psychometric tools are not a solution to be implemented in isolation, they can have significant impact as part of a wider ongoing process. In the hands of an experienced HR practitioner, they can help managers recruit the best employees and build better teams, as well as helping increase trust, improve decision making, aid communication and exploit conflict as a positive driver of team performance.

Making sure you have the right people within the team in the first place is a major factor in fostering successful teams. To do so requires insight into both the personality and skills of the prospective team member – from how they deal with pressure, to their strategic vision for the future. 

When it comes to ensuring each team member is well placed within the team in terms of the role they play for that team, having insight into personality is extremely powerful and can ensure teams are set up for success. As Ed Milliband puts together the Shadow Cabinet team and decides which of his team should fill which roles, like any other manager he needs to be cognisant of how personality will shape the team. The MBTI tool offers invaluable insight into the personality of individuals by establishing their psychological 'type'. This equips a manager with better understanding of an individual's information evaluation skills, their decision-making processes, and their approach to life – are they planned and organised, or do they prefer spontaneity and flexibility? Understanding factors like this about every team member can ensure they are well placed within the team. For example, with a project that requires an instant adaptability and an element of the unknown, asking someone who loathes last minute change to lead the team may mean that individual has a discomfort with this and it could be more challenging for them. Awareness of this from a manager means that individuals can be supported or coached if need be.  

Using psychological insight via tools like MBTI or FIRO-B is a valuable starting point for open and honest conversations. When a team gets together, how can they begin to build trust, work openly with each other towards common goals and ensure quality communication between them? An objective and proven way to start this process is through using psychometrics to help the team lay the foundation stones for how the team operates. Imagine the new Shadow Cabinet: from being decided on 7 October, the team had to start performing immediately with Parliament returning on 11 October.

Clearly, there is no single right or wrong way for a team to work, as each team is different based on its component individuals. However, using tools that assess personality helps managers and teams identify points of strength and weakness, enabling them not only to work more efficiently but also with clearer communication and a common purpose.

It is important for managers to establish management techniques that will garner performance from their team. A bespoke approach from managers to individual team members will make the most out of every employee's strengths, aid motivation and help manage conflict. This kind of tailored approach to management is important at any time, but in today's climate, with organisations making changes and cuts that many employees find unsettling, it is crucial for success. Responses to change are very likely to be different among individuals across a team – by increased awareness of personality and how this influences reactions to change, a manager can actively manage change. This helps minimise disruption and focuses teams on getting through change positively with minimal impact on business performance. For example, whilst one individual may need to understand the vision of the change, another may need the nitty-gritty detail; only when a manager realises this can they position the change and purposefully manage change. For an organisation, this means improved engagement, increased productivity, and greater loyalty and retention.

 

Just as a manager can use deeper understanding to manage individuals in an individual way, so too can deeper understanding be harnessed by team members themselves. Often, following conversations stemming from work with teams using psychometric tools, team members will gain fresh appreciation for the contributions that other team members make. Phrases like "now I understand why you view it like that" are essential building blocks for greater trust between individual team members – and those individuals will be self-sufficient in having those conversations with their peers due to the common and objective language that psychometrics bring.

Ineffective team-working can have a real and significant impact on the success of an organisation, and even its bottom line – so with most British workers operating in teams as part of their job, finding a way to maximise a team performance can only improve business performance.

It is up to managers to take every opportunity to understand every individual in their team, today and into the future. This way, they can help teams stay on-task, work effectively with colleagues and, ultimately, succeed in delivering for their organisation.