Work, personality tests, self improvement, self help books, etc

[Flowerhorn]

So my work is now run by people who are big believers in self improvement by the use of various self help books. We're recommended to read many different books and to self assess our areas for development in terms of our relationships with others or our resilience or how we deal with challenging situations. The suggestion is that there is always room for improvement and we should welcome criticism feedback and be grateful for it as it's the only way to get better.

We've been encouraged to take online personality tests to find out our strengths and weaknesses so we can work to improve. Along with reading the books we're expected to discuss our weaknesses with our line managers and explain how we're working to get improve. We then constantly revisit it to check we're doing everything we're supposed to do to improve.

This has produced some paperwork which is fairly time-consuming and not what I'm actually employed to do. In reality the vast majority of employees forget the paperwork and then there is a mad rush near the deadline to write up some waffle about how you have improved.

I also wonder if it's just made up crap. I mean anyone can write a self heIp book so how do you know it's going to actually help. In terms of the personality tests can we really reduce people down to 16 personality types?

Are there self help books that have a proper basis in terms of psychology or science?

All of this stuff is less about the content or method, and more about the self reflection it prompts. I find it all fascinating but it depends on the attitude you approach it with

The best one I read was titled "Breaking all the Rules"

And was counter intuitive to all the garbage projected by big corporations.

I have no faith in this type of thing. You can't take a 'one size fits all' approach to psychology and at best it will have no benefits, at worst it could be detrimental to mental health.

One-to-one counselling/coaching/therapy by a qualified person - 100% approve.
Team psychobabble by some money-making whizz-kids - no.

The whole point is that it's not One Size Fits All.

Different paradigms and analogies are more/less helpful to different people.

I have always subscribed to the (well-established) principle that you will develop best by identifying and building on your strengths. Of course you want to make sure you address a weak area that is dragging down your overall performance, but greatest potential lies in developing and leveraging your strengths.

Strengths finder (Gallup) looks at this.
Discovery Insights (the colour preferences) is good for helping to improve the way you interact with others and get the best out of relationships based on your natural preferences and theirs.

It’s a bit of a mixed bag. Some self-help is grounded in science/studies/psychology and some is just random stuff - interestingly though, the latter breed can be equally helpful if you hit on something that resonates as it’s often based on real-world experience.

Regarding the tests, the type used at work are generally grounded in Psychology. I have a psychometrics qualification (and separate certifications for administering certain tests) and I did my training at Cambridge by a well-respected psychology professor.

I don’t do anything psychometrics-related these days but when I did, I was surprised by how many of the most obstructive, cynical people thought it was brilliant (honestly, pretty much all of them - and I did hundreds of feedback sessions).

All that said, I have absolutely no time for organisations inflicting loads of this stuff on their people. It’s too time-consuming outside of an occasional leadership development programme or training session and if people aren’t engaged, it won’t get embedded.

Is it the myers brings test? There's a lot of controversy about that www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-echochambers-28315137

The Myers Briggs test has been used which did make me wonder about the science behind it @FavouriteDogMug . I do feel it's all about getting everyone on board. Questioning any of this stuff is seen as negative and I know you can then be seen as not a good fit for the organisation.

Inflicting seems about the right term @ShitPuffin because it's expected to be done but no time given over to it. I feel they're trying to train us up without giving us the time to do it properly. Staff are suggested to get audio versions of books so you can listen on the way to work. Maybe I just haven't found the book that resonates with me yet.

Do you mean "First Break All The Rules" by Marcus Buckingham @noego ? Completely changed my views on leadership and management (and seriously improved my career prospects!)

I'm also trained in psychometric testing ( waves to @ShitPuffin ) and agree that it's all a bit mixed and it really does need some expertise for it to be meaningful. I don't set a lot of store by something like Myers Briggs. There is a lot of shit stuff out there. Too many people think they've cracked it and write a book when actually; they are just privileged or very lucky. One of the key advantages of something like Insights (which I do rate) is it helps give a common language to understanding the preferred working and communication styles of others. So there's no point trying to "inspire" a blue with brilliant ideas and concepts - they want facts!

I did find self help books and audios to be very useful at a low point in my life. Best book I ever read was Susan Jeffers "Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway".

That's the one @Cazziebo