MoxVib

Everyone is familiar with the stock interview advice for answering “What’s your greatest weakness?” Take your weakness and turn it into a positive. But what about the opposite? Can stereotypically positive professional traits actually be a detriment in the workplace? It turns out the answer is yes.

What psychometric tests measure

You may be asked to take a psychometric test at work—one of those “choose the word you most identify with from this group”-type of things. These tests are designed to scientifically evaluate an individual’s personality and cognitive abilities. Common tests include the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Predictive Index.

One psychometric instrument, the Hogan Development Survey, measures the so-called “dark side” of personality, gauging what happens when 11 specific qualities are demonstrated in the extreme, as often happens when a person is overstressed. The 11 traits measured are boldness, caution, colorfulness, diligence, dutifulness, excitability, imagination, leisure (think cooperation and agreeability), mischievousness, reserve, and skepticism.

Another framework is the Big Five Personality Model, which puts personality traits into five buckets: openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, which can be remembered with the acronym OCEAN.

Everything in moderation

The following personality traits may seem like professional boons at first, but when not displayed in moderation, they can prove challenging for supervisors and colleagues.

1. Creativity

“I’m not creative” is something you hear when people lack confidence in their artistic skills. But really, creativity is about generating new ideas in any field, not just being able to draw or paint. Creativity can also go too far. Perhaps an employee is too imaginative and won’t heed parameters of time or budget. There comes a point in any project when you must pick a direction and stick to it. Or they may be such a novelty-seeker that they're bored by the routine (but necessary) work that makes up most of our jobs.

2. Prudence

A prudent person exercises caution and relies on reason to make sensible decisions. Exercising prudence can mitigate risk—but as the stories of great entrepreneurs demonstrate, to win big, you have to take some chances. It’s important to make wise decisions, but sometimes overthinking a situation will cause you to miss windows of opportunity. Much like creativity, you eventually have to make a decision and follow it, no matter your fear of the possible consequences.

3. Agreeability

“She’s such a team player.” “He gets along with everybody.” These are admirable statements, but even being agreeable can be taken too far. At its most extreme, agreeableness can translate into a lack of boundaries or even be construed as not having opinions of one’s own. It’s better to be viewed as someone who is respectful of others but will bring opinions to the table.

4. Friendliness

Being the life of the party is a ticket to popularity, but it’s not always the secret to workplace success. (It’s important to note that introversion and extroversion are properly defined as the degree to which one derives energy from interactions with others, not a measure of being shy or outgoing.) At its worst, being overly friendly with coworkers may be perceived as a distraction or an inability to set proper boundaries between work and home. Keeping relationships at the proper level of familiarity is essential for any employee, but especially those in supervisory positions.

5. Dutifulness

Dutiful employees feel a sense of responsibility to do a good job. When displayed in a healthy fashion, dutifulness translates into reliability and loyalty. But this trait can go too far. Dutiful employees may be more prone to burnout if they can’t establish proper work-life boundaries. They can also start feeling secretly resentful, especially if colleagues develop an overreliance on their contributions. In either of these cases, a stalwart employee may crack out of the blue, with the result being an unhealthy mental state for the employee and big shoes for the company to fill.

As you build workplace teams, it’s important to make sure you’re including a diverse mix of personality types. Conscientious workers can put some checks and balances on creative employees, and creative employees can encourage their conscientious coworkers to take some risks. Workplace success takes all types.

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