Aibu to say I don’t want to take a personality test at work

[PenelopeWhipStop]

My manager has told me he intends to have us all take a personality test as part of our 1-2-1 meetings. I queried whether this was an organisational thing or his own personal decision (it’s his idea). It’s to help determine if we’re introverts or extroverts, how we learn, possible career paths.

I already know I’m an introvert! Was I being unreasonable to tell him I’m not keen for n his idea?

Myers Briggs type testing is accurate and reliable on the test, retest scores. That just means if you answer the same questions the same way you get the same bloody results. It makes no comment on how accurate a reflection of the individual those results are!

You know the only reason they are licensed is so that someone can make money from them? That is what they are. Pseudo scientific questionnaires.

Why don't you just make up the answers? It's all bollocks anyway.

Honestly I wouldn’t worry about it being anywhere near specific enough to say you are suitable for your job. We did Myers Briggs in a previous role as an entire Executive Assistant team and had to go to different sides of the room based on certain results - I was always on the 3 people (versus the 30 people) side. Nobody fired me, I carried on doing my job, my strongest attributes were just different things.

I already knew the various things about myself but it was definitely useful for me to learn about other people’s needs and them to learn about mine.

it probably is psycho-babble, but it was fun and really not a big deal. I’d save my energy for something else.

Name one which has proper evidence backing behind it, including testing conditions where the tests are administered by unqualified managers and HR reps.

These tests are no more scientific or accurate that zodiac signs and have the same level of confirmation bias. HR departments adore them because they sound "scientific" and objective - its a brilliant scam pulled on large scale businesses by some marketeers for the industry.

I'm not into MBTI and all that, but we're getting management coaching at work (1 hour a month minimum - kinda like therapy, but work oriented), and I'm finding it very helpful - I think at some point they might get us to do the tests, as a 44 year old I'd be surprised to learn much about myself that I don't already know, but I'll probably do it, just out of interest

Just
Lie on the test. How will he know. It's pretty obvious which answers will lead you to which the results.

I also think meyers Briggs Is very accurate for my family at least.

Having done various of these in corporate environments for the last 20 years I do see the value in Myers Briggs and similar tools. My caveat is you need a good trainer or a manager very experienced in the frameworks.

Its interesting that you see it as a ‘test’ and your reaction. Reality is if your boss has a lot of experience with this, they’ll likely have a good idea which profile most closely fits you and your refusal is playing to type. You’ve already got a preconceived idea this will somehow highlight you as an ‘introvert’ (and why would that be bad?) but it’s way more than that. Are you open minded to experience it and consider you might learn something about yourself and other people? If you don’t, what have you lost?

I find it hard to get worked up about these things and at times it’s been hugely beneficial. It’s not just about you, the a group dynamic. There is no right/wrong profile, it’s learning style preferences which can be very useful to understand and recognise about yourself as well as others.

yes, do read that. It is illuminating. It states the obvious, adds some history very few re aware of and then goes on to state clearly that the Q suggests that some kinds of people are best suited for some kinds of job... its reliability is not in doubt, as I said, it gests the same results from the same individual repeatedly. Not surprising when you look at the questions. It's the validity that is in question.

The use it is put to is utter rubbish. The deductions, assumptions, straight jackets applied because of those deductions are ludicrous. Because people misunderstand what it is, what the 'results' mean etc

Any good manager would just talk to their staff.

Quite. Imagine being a manager so unprofessional and lacking, that you bully your team into taking a test you can’t (and shouldn’t) administer and assess properly, and hinder the careers of those that don’t join in your ‘fun, team building’ exercise. I imagine they’re the sort of manager that would single out and hinder careers based on the misunderstood ‘results’, anyway.

Not everyone’s cup of tea but the proper ones can be very insightful. I love doing them. But I don’t think anyone can force you (unless you’re applying for a specific type of job perhaps - I’ve had to do that once). And certainly not on a whim. So he’ll have to manage without your input. I’d also want to know who can access/where the answers would be recorded, will they get deleted, data privacy etc.

You could always ask your manager what training they have in the administration and interpretation of psychometric tests. What governance is in place? Completing such tests should be done on a voluntary basis only. Quite irresponsible IMO.
What industry do you work in? Why is knowing this important?

Just because you have to pay, doesn't mean there is no value

No, no. They’re absolute nonsense. Snake oil. It plays into society’s incorrigible obsession with self and love of ‘learning’ about themselves.

It plays into society’s incorrigible obsession with self and love of ‘learning’ about themselves.

I think this is a good point. I remember a manager I once had talking about each of us "doing the work on our inner selves" in a meeting. I thought to myself, I'm here to "do the work" I am paid to do. My inner self is none of your business.

I would say absolutely don't engage in 'personality tests' in the workplace.
For a start, these are highly unscientific and unreliable. The idea that people can be assessed and grouped like this is an old-fashioned concept linked to some very dodgy reasoning.
Some management types believe they can apply them to workplace settings and it opens up a whole area of risk that promotion, opportunities and prejudices are given a pseudoscientific justification instead of looking at performance or workplace training. If your employer chooses to base decisions of salary or redundancy on those, then you can be seriously and unfairly disadvantaged with no chance of negotiation.
The main reason I would say no is that they are blundering through areas that are too personal and intrusive. You wouldn't share medical or therapeutic details with a layperson employer who could use them against you or share them without your knowledge. This is private. They don't own you Body and Soul!

Are you suggesting that a persons MBTI profile has been used as grounds for redundancy? Never seen or heard that but honestly if a company wants you out they will find a way and won’t invest in MBTI profiling to do it so that’s a major stretch for me.

Who said anything that trite? Because I didn't.

Aren't they an inclusivity nightmare?

I'd be refusing on those grounds. What sane person in this day and age wants to use a psuedoscientific test which just risks entrenching existing biases?

Wow. Very glad you aren't my manager 😂

I work in a small team who collaborate brilliantly and we don't need pseudoscientific bullshit tests to do it. We just, you know, talk to each other.

I would absolutely object to being categorised or labelled as a 'personality type' based on some spurious questionnaire. It has zero impact on how I do my job and smacks of desperate management nonsense that wastes everyone's time.

If it's Myers Briggs, then I would ask your Manager their perspective on using a tool that was designed by someone who held - and published - views compatible with white supremacy?

Feck me - it's like 'back to the future - 80's style' - Just NO - stop it now!
I literally did all this shit back in the eighties - Just No!

When we’ve run them at work, it’s been the absolute opposite of this. The whole purpose is to understand each other better, to get better at working with people with different working styles to you, to appreciate that not everyone likes or dislikes the same thing.

And there’s never been any hint of “ah you’re type x, that means you should do job y”. It’s been much more “here are your possible strengths as a leader, here are your possible blind spots, here’s how you can best work with your opposite type”. A strong recognition that different people might do the same job in very different ways, and that that’s ok - we aren’t looking to replicate robots.

I can see how some of these tests might be used for “fitness for a role” and I would agree that’s bollocks. But “things to think about when leading or collaborating with others” and recognising we are all different and acknowledging that - it’s really powerful. But you do need a good facilitator.