Welcome back to the Mission First People Always Podcast! Did you know? According to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), about 60% of employees are asked to take an assessment of some sort, with 22% of employers using assessments to screen job applicants. It’s no surprise then to learn that the growing assessment market is now estimated to represent $500 million in annual sales with strong–as much as 10% per year–growth in recent years. In short, it’s big business. There is no lack of options either. Estimates suggest that there are more than 2,500 psychometric tests of various sorts on the market. Some are very clearly rooted in science, with strong reliability and validity, while others are little more than clickbait on the Internet. With so many options available, how does the HR professional or frontline leader choose? Which assessments are most valuable, and which ones should be overlooked because they provide little value? You’re going to want to hit play for this! In today’s episode, we take on the challenge of sifting through the data to present you with valuable insight into which assessments work best for what situations. We begin by laying the foundation with some basics about personality, psychometrics, reliability, and validity. Most importantly, we’ll keep it practical for leaders in the trenches–the folks who are looking for tools to help them lead better, build better teams, and generally get more done. Listen in as I talk with returning guest Ray Linder! Ray is a master facilitator, consultant, and coach who has worked with a wide variety of organizations in both the public and private spaces–and I consider him an elite expert on at least two of the assessments we’ll talk about today. There’s more to Ray than that though, he brings a broad base of knowledge due to his background, work, and experience. He is based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, and he’s always on the road leading training for someone. Join us as we discuss the best ways to cut through all the noise and get to the tools and resources you need to take your team to the next level. To find out more or to connect with us, check out the links below! In today’s episode, you will learn: Solid working definitions of two terms we throw around a lot in the workplace: personality and psychometrics. Identify some of the common misunderstandings about psychometric assessments The ABCDE Model of Personality (originally put forward by William Revelle, Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University): Affect (what we feel) Behavior (what we do) Cognition (what we think) Desire (what we want) Environment (where we are) Hear what reliability and validity mean when it comes to assessments and why they matter Understand the Barnum Effect And Much More! Connect with Ray: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ray-linder-3b28241 Twitter: @personalityguru Website: raylinder.net Connect with Dr. Mike: Website: https://www.drmikepatterson.com/ Book: https://www.missionfirstpeoplealwaysbook.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmichaellpatterson/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealdrmikepatterson/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/drmikepatterson Buy The Book!: Mission First People Always Minute By Minute: 0:02 What to expect on today’s show 2:20 Welcome back Ray! (Guest from episode 13) 7:19 Personality is not a physical trait 11:14 How personalities start to develop 13:14 The definition of psychometrics 25:36 Define the outcome before you start 30:00 The ABCDEs of measuring personalities 36:33 Understanding face validity 43:29 Our go-to assessment test for any team