Could personality analytics revolutionise the way you work with others? By Max Eskell

Posted by Max on April 20, 2016 in Blog, efficiency | Leave a comment

Human interaction is incredibly complex.  People can be very, very different and it takes time to get to know people.  As a result, when we work with someone for the first time we often fail to pick up on their individual nuances of language and body language.  By not being attuned to new people you increase the chance of miss-communication and conflict.

Some academics have sought to categorise personality types, in the hope of improving inter-personal dynamics.  One of the most renown, but now much maligned, examples is the Myer Brigs framework (below).

One of the major criticisms of categorising personality types is that these frameworks are very blunt instruments.  For example, the Myers Brigs framework argues that people can be divided into sixteen ‘types’, only four more than Astrology…

What if there was a better way?  What if we could use data analytics to get a customised view of how people behave, and more importantly how we should adjust to working with them?    A new start-up called Crystal  seeks to achieve exactly that.  Crystal uses data analytics to determine people’s likely personality (see Crystal’s profile on David Cameron below), and more importantly how that individual prefers to work and how best you can communicate and work with them.

I use Crystal to research potential colleagues and managers to get an idea of their working style and if we would be compatible.  Once I am working with someone, I use Crystal to make sure that I tailor my approach and communication to have the biggest impact.

I think when used judiciously and checked against common sense, Crystal is an excellent tool for maximising your ability to work with people.