After taking the tests, you will be able to see yourself from different angles: how developed are your leadership qualities, what is your motivation, what are your strengths. Gallup Strengthsfinder and DISC tests have a high rating in international companies. In 2023, they cost $59.99 and from $81, respectively.
Testing will show you which skills need to be developed and which are well developed. After testing, you will receive brief recommendations on how to proceed and which competencies need to be improved.
The DISC test was created by psychologist William Marston. To test skills, he proposed a coordinate system containing four motivational factors: dominance, stability, influence, and adaptability.
Thus, the test results student database schematically look like this: D – dominance, I – influence, S – stability, C – compliance, adaptability, compliance with requirements.
Working with a career guidance specialist
Such a specialist usually helps to decide on a profession or change it. In our situation, a career counselor is needed to decipher the results of Gallup Strengthsfinder and DISC testing and formulate conclusions regarding the competencies of the head of a department or enterprise, which are difficult to come to independently.
Let's look at an example: a man opened a furniture assembly business. A year later, he realized that he was not developing as a manager and did not know how to solve this issue. As a result, interest in the business dropped. In this case, he needs to turn to a career guidance specialist so that he could analyze his strengths and weaknesses and advise how to develop and apply skills.
Working with a career guidance specialist
Source: shutterstock.com
You don't have to take the tests yourself, but rather use the services of a specialist who is certified in these tests, then you won't have to decipher the test results yourself. Usually, the cost of testing is already included in the cost of the career guidance specialist.
Contact a career consultant
He can assess the core competencies of a manager by analyzing disturbing situations (cases) that occur regularly and do not change in any way.
Typically, career counselors use a 360-degree approach, asking questions about a list of skills. This is done to discover hidden problems in a person’s habits and behavior and find ways to solve them.
Contact a career consultant
Source: shutterstock.com
Let's return to the example: after working with a career guidance specialist, the man realized that he needed to work on a key managerial competency - the ability to interact with a team. The career consultant, using the "360 degrees" method, helped him find the real problem.
He asked leading questions: "In what situation were you unable to determine that the subordinate understood what idea you wanted to convey to him? What did you do? Who was there? What qualities did you use? Did you like it? Remember where else you needed these qualities?" etc.
As a result, it turned out that the man could not identify the emotions of his subordinate, which is why communication did not work out. This happened if other employees were present during the conversation. The manager tried to look authoritative in front of the team and forbade himself to show sensitivity and understanding.
The “360 degrees” method helps to identify weaknesses and understand what hinders the development of a manager’s management competencies.
A personal report on the results of work can be presented in the form of a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 means competence is not demonstrated at all, and 5 means competence is demonstrated in any work situation.