Top Tools for Helping Develop Future Leaders: Part 2

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In part one of this series, we shared insights on popular leadership assessment tools that evaluate core leadership behaviors. In this article, we explore tools that focus on personality.

Assessing Personality

Leadership assessment tools that examine personality focus on identifying inherent traits and tendencies that influence how an individual leads. These tools often highlight both strengths and potential obstacles, providing insights into a leader’s natural style and how they might react under stress. While assessments of core leadership behaviors often focus on practical skills, personality-focused assessments claim to offer a deeper understanding of a leader’s intrinsic qualities.

1. Myers–Briggs Type Indicator

The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an assessment designed to help people understand their psychological preferences, how they see the world, and how they make decisions. It groups people into 16 personality types based on four pairs of traits:

• Introversion-Extraversion
• Sensing-Intuition
• Thinking-Feeling
• Judging-Perceiving

Created by educator and writer Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers during World War II, the MBTI was inspired by Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types. It was originally intended to help women entering the workforce understand their preferences and strengths, but it eventually gained widespread use in corporate environments across all demographics.

UNC Executive Development Program Director Tony Laffoley has 15 years of experience with the MBTI. He recounts a powerful moment when he witnessed an executive education participant use this assessment to gain a profound insight: “[Through the MBTI], the emerging leader came to the realization that she had never slowed down and actually asked herself, ‘Is [being a corporate leader] what I really want?’ Through the learning experiences in the program, the assessments that she completed, and the executive coaching support that UNC Executive Development provided, it was incredibly moving to see her brought to tears as she gave herself permission to think about what she really wanted to do.

“This sticks with me,” Tony continues, “because I care about helping the leaders we work with make the right choices for themselves in life, and it is the right thing to do for our clients who sponsor these programs. Organizations want leaders who choose to opt in with their eyes wide open.”

Additional Considerations

• The MBTI promotes self-reflection; the goal is to improve communication and teamwork by helping people understand themselves and others.
• This assessment is easy to understand and administer, making it popular in organizational team building and self-awareness initiatives.
• Some critics claim that the MBTI lacks scientific validity. According to organizational psychologist Adam Grant, “The characteristics measured by the test have almost no predictive power on…how you’ll perform at your job.”
• This tool assumes that personality is fixed; it does not account for growth, situational flexibility, or changes over time.

Final Thoughts

Learning and development professionals should be aware that while the MBTI is useful for understanding preferences and building self-awareness, it may not be the best tool for identifying high-potential leaders, as it does not measure specific leadership traits.

2. Hogan Leadership Forecast Series

The Hogan Leadership Forecast is a set of assessments designed to pinpoint an individual’s natural leadership strengths, potential challenges that could hinder them, and the core values that shape their decisions.

Developed by industrial-organizational psychologist Dr. Robert Hogan, this tool offers a distinctive perspective on workplace personality: Dr. Hogan’s emphasis on the “dark side” of personality. These are traits that might undermine leaders, such as excessive risk aversion, poor listening skills, or irritability when things do not go their way.

UNC Executive Development Program Director for the Government & Defense Sector Amy Parker is Hogan-certified and has four years delivering this assessment to coaching clients. “I love the Hogan,” she says. “I think it has the richest dataset, and I’ve experienced with my coaching clients how it deepens not just their understanding of themselves, but why they do what they do and how they can maximize their strengths. It also helps my clients recognize how stress and other factors impact how they interact with others, and how they can grow.”

Additional Considerations

• Many organizations find that this tool reliably predicts who will succeed in leadership roles.
• The assessment’s focus on “derailers” or “dark side tendencies” is unique and can be helpful in identifying potential burnout early on.
• Author Robert B. Kaiser points out that this tool’s focus on dark side tendencies can be counterproductive. “Everyone has these tendencies,” he writes. “Executives tend to have more pronounced derailers” and “highly talented individuals have elevated dark-side profiles…Think about the young Steve Jobs.”

Final Thoughts

Hogan offers a comprehensive approach to evaluating emerging leaders’ strengths, as well as areas where they might improve. Consider, however, that Hogan’s focus on stable personality traits might not fit every role, especially those that need quick adaptability.

Personality Insights in Leadership

If your organization has determined that a leadership assessment focused on personality can help support your talent strategy, then choosing the correct one is crucial. The MBTI and Hogan Leadership Forecast Series offer unique insights into personality traits

The third and final article in our series will explore leadership assessments focused on emotional intelligence. These tools can be especially valuable for roles requiring interpersonal sensitivity and adaptability, which are qualities that are increasingly essential for today’s leaders.