How One Personality Test Changed the Way I Work
My first week at SurveyMonkey, most of our lunchtime conversations revolved around colors. Four colors, to be exact: blue, green, gold, and orange.
It turns out this wasn’t a quirky part of working with a creative team. I work on the Web Marketing team, as a Product Manager who focuses on building and optimizing our web content. Our Brand Experience department, dedicated to the SurveyMonkey brand, had taken the True Colors personality test just before I joined. The gist of the personality test is this: Each color corresponds to certain traits. We each have all of these traits, but your primary color is the one you identify with the most. Combined with your three supporting colors, you get a unique color spectrum that gives insight into your personality.
Expectations vs. reality
When I took the color test a few months later, I was certain my primary color would be blue. Based on every personality test I’d taken in the past — from the Enneagram to my Hogwarts house — I’m someone who’s drawn to those blue traits of harmony, close relationships, and creativity. I was also sure about something else: “There’s no way my primary color is orange.” The adventurous, spontaneous personality of an orange didn’t seem like me at all.
My result? I was an orange.
(Followed by blue, green, and gold.)
At first, I was shocked by the results. The year before, I’d taken the Enneagram for work and found I was a 9, the Peacemaker, who’s known for diplomacy, harmony, and structure. The other primary orange personalities I worked with, on the other hand, were vocal, confident, and steadfast when it came to pushing projects forward. I wasn’t sure I related to them, but then I realized we did share an “orange” quality — the need to act instead of waiting for things to fall into place. I’d always seen this trait as a flaw, that I was impatient, but it’s actually my approach to problem solving. Looked at another way, this need for action is even a strength, just like my colleagues’ tenacity and willingness to work through problems to keep their projects moving.
Using the color test at work
After taking the color test, I started paying more attention to the other colors people identified with. I work closely with our Brand Design team to create our online marketing content, and it gave me insight into each person’s strengths and styles of working.
Working with primary greens (analytical, intuitive, visionary personalities)
Last year, I worked with a primary green colleague to transform our multi-page print guides into online guides. In addition to creating the guides, we needed to do a lot of work to get buy-in. Our green and orange personalities were a great balance. Their green approach helped us slow down to ensure we covered all our bases, while my orange side advocated for brainstorming solutions whenever and wherever so we always moved forward. I found writing down our ideas and giving them time to understand the bigger picture was important to their work process. This ended up helping me again on a later project when working with another green colleague. When I’d ask questions the day of, their answers tended to be brief and didn’t give me enough context. But when I emailed specific questions beforehand, it was a better way to help them understand what I needed, and helped me keep the conversation focused.
Working with primary blues (empathetic, compassionate, cooperative personalities)
This year, two of my blue colleagues and I revamped our web pages, a large, cross-functional effort between designers, engineers, content strategists, and more. We encountered challenges and roadblocks along the way, but staying calm, standing firm on our needs, and sharing our perspectives made the experience productive. When working with a blue, maintaining a friendly relationship and acknowledging where they’re coming from is an important part of the collaboration process.
Working with primary golds (punctual, organized, precise personalities)
At a company of our size, it’s not unusual for projects to require approval, or at least a review, from 3+ people. While our team doesn’t have many primary golds, their presence helps bring clarity about what procedures we need to follow when approving projects. It also encouraged me to come prepared to explain decisions or give background information, when needed.
Working with primary oranges (energetic, spontaneous, charming personalities)
A primary orange and I collaborated closely with our engineers on a set of new designs. At first, I wasn’t certain of the best way to work together, until — in true orange fashion — I decided to book some meetings and see what happened. During the process, I sometimes fell back on my blue, green, or gold sides to avoid tricky conflicts, explore all sides of an idea, or keep us organized. When working with an orange, be open to jumping in and trying things! Just be sure to keep a purpose in mind before they get too excited about other ideas.
Using personality tests effectively
Of course, personality tests are never a perfect measure, and opinions on them differ. Two articles published by the Harvard Business Review in the same year (“Personality Tests Can Balance a Team” and “Employees Can’t Be Summed Up by a Personality Test”) show just how polarizing they can be in the workplace.
If you’re interested in using personality tests to learn more about the people you work with, here are a few tips for using them effectively.
Do:
- Share with others which parts of your test results you agreed or disagreed with. It helps people understand your values and how you want to show up at work.
- Keep an open mind about your results. They may change, depending on the situation or what’s happening in your life.
- Remember that personality tests help bridge the gap between you and another person. If you’ve never worked with someone before or don’t know how to work with them yet, any extra insight can help. At the end of the day, though, personality tests are just one step towards building a more genuine relationship with your teammates.
Don’t:
- Tie them to performance metrics or hiring decisions.
- Use them to categorize people as “just like me” or “not at all like me.” Even if you work well with a certain person or personality type, the same approach may not work for everyone.
- Get angry with the results or dismiss the test. Instead, use them as a tool for introspection. You might be able to challenge your beliefs about yourself or others you work with.
Personality tests to try today
Ready to get started? Try the True Colors test mentioned above, or one of these exercises with your team or a small group.
StandOut assessment
The StandOut assessment is great if you like shorter personality tests, and don’t want to agonize over your answer choices. You’re given less than a minute to think about and choose a response to different work and personal scenarios. Based on your responses, you’ll find your two stand out roles (like a Connector or Advisor), and how you can combine the strengths of both in your work.
Enneagram
If acronym-laden personality types aren’t your thing, the Enneagram test gives you a single number from 1 to 9. It also goes into more detail on your “wing,” the secondary number you identify with, and what happens if you’re under stress or are firing on all cylinders. To find your type, you can analyze the descriptions to find one that fits, or take a paid test for a personalized assessment.
Core values
Compile a list of values, such as “continuous learning” or “relationships,” and share them with your team. Have everyone choose one (or more!) values that are most important to them, and share how they show their values at work and outside of it.
Love/appreciation languages at work
If you’d rather talk about anything but love languages at work, the creators have adapted them into “appreciation languages” for the workplace: words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, gifts, and celebrations (which are physical acts, like high-fives). Using the list, see which of the five languages you use to make others feel valued at work. On the other side, share which language makes you feel most valued.
If you’ve taken a personality test for work, how did you use the results? Were any of them surprising? If you haven’t taken a personality test for work, which of these would you try?
