The Temple of Apollo, Delphi Greece

"Know Theyself"

This popular maxim is said to have come from the Delphi Oracle, inscribed in the pronos (or front porch) of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, Greece
(Wikipedia).

Most people spend a lifetime, and some spend a lot of money, trying to increase their knowledge of themselves.  Seeking a better understanding of how their actions and beliefs impact the successes and failures they've experienced, and what they might do differently to be more successful and have fewer failures.

According to Marketdata research, the self-improvement market (i.e. books, coaching, live and virtual seminars, workshops, motivational speeches, etc.) is estimated to be worth $11.3 billion in 2021, and will grow to $14.0 billion by 2025.

For small business owners, the success of their business is more importantly centered on "knowing others too".  In fact, the better you are at this, the more success, freedom, and happiness you will enjoy.

The good news is, "knowing others" is not as difficult as you might imagine.  You just need a good process for gathering data, then knowing what to do with the data you've collected.

Let me show you how!

A Data Based Process!

In my "Dream Team" Builder course, we teach small business owners how to collect and use data from two "quizzes" to reveal who the people are in their organization and also those who they are considering bringing into the organization.

You may be familiar with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® personality test.  Many people have taken it for one reason or another, typically in connection with their job.

Originally created in the 1920's by mother and daughter team, Katherine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, the Myers-Briggs personality test is no longer "state of the art", which is to be expected with the constant advancement of the social sciences over time.

A modern version of Myers-Briggs, incorporating the latest in social science research, is "16Personalities", also known as NERIS Type Explorer ®.

To learn more about the theory behind 16Personalities, and what makes it "state of the art", visit the 16Personalities website:   www.16personalities.com

The second quiz we incorporate into our hiring process was developed by Les McKeown, a business management consultant and serial entrepreneur.

Based on the knowledge he gained launching over 40 businesses and non-profits in the span of 15 years, Les teaches entrepreneurs how to create "Predictable Success" for their business.

As part of the Predictable Success model, Les has identified four leadership styles that are essential to the success of every organization, especially when kept in balance:  Visionary, Operator, Processor, and Synergist.

To learn more about Predictable Success, visit the website:  www.predictablesuccess.com

As you will notice from visiting both websites, the 16Personalities and Predictable Success quizzes are completely free, so there is no financial impediment to using both to collect valuable data on the current and future members of your team.

Stop Guessing!

Armed with the information collected from the 16Personalities and Predictable Success quizzes, first from the members of your team, and eventually from prospective employees, it's no longer necessary to guess who the people are, or will be, on your team.

We collect the responses to the quizzes and compile on a spreadsheet so that all the data can be easily analyzed.

The foundation of the data set are the results from people you already know, including members of your team, family and friends.  The more results you have from the people you know, the more powerful the analysis you can do.

Let's consider an example to punctuate this point.

Samantha has worked with you for the past 6 years doing scheduling for your service repair business.  Her personality type is Protagonist ENFJ-A (Diplomat, People Mastery) and Predictable Success leadership style is Processor.

You're in the process of hiring a new administrative assistant for the operations department and one of the applicants, Jennifer, returned quiz results showing she is also a Protagonist ENFJ-A (Diplomat, People Mastery) with a Predictable Success leadership style of Operator.

In addition to the 16Personalities summary description of a Protagonist, because you already know Samantha who is a Protagonist, and likely others in your data set who are the same personality type, you have a very good idea who Jennifer is and how she will act, giving you more data on which to base your hiring decision than you otherwise would have.

For Predictable Success leadership styles, the data helps you to find the right person for the right position, and also to create good balance in your team.

Generally speaking, certain positions are more suited to a particular leadership style. 

For example, when I was hiring an accounting person, almost all the applicant's Predictable Success results indicated they were a "Processor", which makes complete sense.

I had a few applicants who were not Processors, which made me think twice about whether or not they were best suited to fill my accounting position.

According to Les McKeown, organizations will make higher quality decisions when a "balance" of the four leadership styles are included in the decision making process.

For this reason, your Leadership Team, i.e. those who the owner includes or consults with when making key decisions for the organization, needs to be a balance of the four leadership styles.

Les recommends that the average of the collective scores in each leadership style for the members of your Leadership Team should be as close to 240 as possible.

When considering who to add to your Leadership Team, either a new hire or promoting someone from within, Predictable Success scores will help you to make a better choice as you seek to create a balanced team. 
 

TIP:  In my hiring process, no applicant is invited for an interview unless they've taken and returned the quiz results.  No exceptions!  Stick to this policy and you won't go wrong.

Knowing People Better Than They Know Themselves

Because many people don't really "know theyself", having personality and leadership style results from every job applicant means you will occasionally know the person you're interviewing better than they know themself.

This was definitely the case with one person I interviewed, named David.  His example also demonstrated the accuracy of the results. 

At the start of every first interview, to break the ice, we always ask the applicant if they've ever taken quizzes like we've asked them to take, and also if they felt the results were an accurate reflection of themself.

David said his 16Personality results didn't seem to reflect his personality.  Yet, 10 minutes into the interview, he responded to a question with wording that was essentially a quote directly from the summary for his personality type. 

This was no coincidence, and along with other discrepancies we found, ultimately gave us confidence that the "real David" was reflected in the quiz results rather than the show he was putting on for us in the interview.

As this example illustrates, when using our hiring process, we're definitely not guessing, and neither should you! 

Not when you can arm yourself with both data and a process that turns employee recruitment from a guessing game into confident decisions about the people you choose to join your team.

We hope you'll include these or similar quizzes as part of your own hiring process so you're not guessing in your hiring decisions, and hoping for the best.

Click here to to learn more about our "Dream Team" Builder course, which fully outlines our hiring process, and includes an in-depth explanation of both 16Personalies and Predictable Success quizzes as well as how to use the results to make higher quality, data based personnel decisions.

Take care and don't forget to....

Stay focused on your freedom!

Listen to the podcast episode: #010 Know Thyself...and Others Too!

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