Know Thyself

When I was “in search” a few years back, I was first introduced to the concept of self-assessment as an important part of career planning. (“In search” became a gentle euphemism for some of the less attractive situational descriptors, e.g., out of a job, unemployed, on the streets, and the like.) I learned then that self-assessment is a key component of both career and business planning.

• Are you “in search “now, or will you be soon?
• Are you evaluating whether to advance your current career or select another route?

I suggest that, in either case, self-assessment is THE first step that will help you find your path. Self-knowledge breeds self-confidence, and that is important, no matter which path is right for you. It may have been a while since you sharpened up your #2 pencil and completed your first Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Instrument, Strength Finder, or DISC profile. Today there are many free or low-cost assessment tools available to you online, including interest inventories and skill surveys.

The granddaddy of them all, of course, is the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator, first published in 1943 and based on the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. Myers-Briggs remains to this day the world’s most popular personality assessment instrument. You can complete it for a fee of about $50 from the Myers-Briggs Foundation, and it comes with a pretty complete set of exploratory tools.

Strength Finder 2.0 is another assessment I recommend. In fact, many companies today ask you what your strength assessment type is and once you complete it, it gives you a 1-page printout with all the information about your type. It provides an additional printout that explains your talents and how you can apply this newly discovered information about yourself in your future. To take the assessment, you simply need to buy the Strength Finder 2.0 book and the online code will be hidden inside the book for a one-time access to the online assessment.

DISC is a behavior assessment tool based on the theories of psychologist William Moulton Marston. It was developed in the 1920s but is still valid and useful today. Marston did not create a measurement instrument based on his theories, but others have, and several versions are available today, some of them free online. DISC evaluates four behavioral traits: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness.

EQ-i 2.0 is a great assessment of your Emotional Intelligence capabilities. It provides detailed feedback and action plan on the 5 components and 15 subcomponents of your EQ profile. The great news is that these are all very important business-related skills, and once you know where you are, you can create a roadmap for advancing certain EQ skills that can make you really successful in your career or business, as well as relationships.

The web is rich with content about assessments and other, more recent tools have been developed, too. A good starting point would be information portals like iSeek and The Riley Guide. These and other “roll-up” sites present overview information that can help you define your direction. Try to conduct a search on the phrases such as “career assessment tools,” “strength assessment,” or “personality assessment.”

So take stock now. Use the tools that are available to you to acquire a deeper self-understanding. It really is the best place to start. In fact, when someone approaches FranNet to learn about franchising, we insist that they invest sufficient time and energy in self-assessment. It grounds their whole process and helps us help them find their path. Sometimes that path is franchising, and sometimes it is not.

At FranNet, we use our own highly sophisticated assessment tool that combines a psychometric assessment with our 25+ years of business knowledge to provide a business-related measure of your compatibility to particular franchises. This assessment was developed exclusively for the franchising industry to more clearly define your abilities and how they potentially match with franchise concepts. And in some cases, the results tell us that franchising may not be a good fit for you. Either way, if you are in taking-stock mode, this is a great place to start.

If you’d like to learn more, just contact me for an introduction to our assessment tool.

 

 

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