Primary colors. Andy Warhol made it a pop art trademark. Her Norma Jean is captivating. “Marilyn paints her mouth. She thinks of John. Only John…” – as Vanessa Paradis sang. The genius and abstruse Soulages may have mixed them in his haunting black monochrome. As for the others, they draw, doodle and paint their inner world with a favorite shade. It reveals a lot (too much) about what they are. In 1928, psychologist William Moulton Marston theorized that our behaviors stem from four types of energy: Dominance (D), Influence (I), Stability (S), and Consciousness (C). Twenty-eight years later, another psychologist, Walter Vernon Clarke, constructed a personality test based on the Disc and colored it: the red profile corresponds to the dominant; the yellow to the influential; green for stable and blue for conscientious. Awesome marketing on two axes, horizontal and vertical. What colors for Marilyn, John, Andy and Pierre? And “what do we do next?” asks Dalale Belhout, director of the Face Foundation (Foundation Acting against exclusion).
“The problem is the application of these tests”
“Disc, like other tests, is only useful if you apply the elements identified”, comments the former content manager at DigitalRecruiters. “Interesting for recruiting for positions of decision-makers or salespeople, not necessarily accountants.” Common sense: “Avoid putting together five dominants in the same group.” Even if the range goes from poppy red to cardinal red, it is on the angry red or even blood red palette that it could end. The Disc as a color chart of HR is a good basic tool “for an intelligent balance”. “The problem is the application of these tests”, deplores the co-author of Digital recruitment: 8 steps to master to recruit quickly and well (DigitalRecruiters). Too often, candidates don’t get feedback. Managers do not have more and discover a personality that will have to adapt while Disc should on the contrary allow them to adapt management according to the behavioral style detected.
Some leadership abilities are hereditary
But what is the use of the tests? “85% of people don’t really know themselves. Moreover, we see that human beings tend to overestimate themselves, and, at the very least, believe themselves to be above average in many areas. Personality questionnaires make it possible to cultivate a form of self-knowledge, and to objectify or structure decisions,” says Emeric Kubiak, science director at AssessFirst. “The Disc and other well-known typological personality questionnaires are not reliable indicators to take into account when recruiting. In particular the MBTI [NDLR : Myers Briggs Type Indicator], which has no scientific basis, and whose very construction is pseudoscience. It has been shown that, in 50% of cases, this test, taken a few weeks apart, will give different results.” For the occupational psychologist, recruiters should ask themselves how and with what tools to assess personality: “The he error of the Disc or the MBTI lies in the fact of considering personality as a qualitative variable, rather than a quantitative one: the typological tests, which give you a type of personality, tend to put people in boxes.” However, the psychological research shows that personality should be considered quantitatively and continuously, not typologically.”Each personality trait can be ‘scored’ along a continuum from 1 to 10. These are referred to as factor tests, where personality is considered through different personality traits.” A “scientifically and empirically supported” approach, favored at AssessFirst, with questionnaires to discover, on your own, your strengths. Then the improvements Work with a professional: solid action plan, deployment of the plan then evaluation to see the evolution. “Scientific studies show that part of the leadership abilities are hereditary and stable. We cannot transform a person. Only 20 to 30% progress in the best accompaniments is possible,” says the expert. A concern if the appointments result from cognitive biases away from the qualities of a leader. “Personality questionnaires are very important in this context: they make it possible to overcome biases, to refocus on the real potential of the person.” Memento Mori : even dressed in a red toga, we remain blue!