A Practical Guide to Psychometrics: What They Show You (and What They Don’t)
Organisations love a good assessment. There’s something strangely reassuring about a colourful graph that claims to explain why your operations director goes quiet in meetings. But not all tests are created equal, and even the best are useless if you don’t do anything with the results.
If you’re thinking about using psychometric or personality tools in your business, it helps to understand what they actually measure, when they’re useful, and when they’re just another corporate distraction.
Psychometrics 101: The Big Picture
Psychometrics simply means measuring the mind. It covers any kind of standardised tool that assesses how people think, behave or are motivated.
Broadly speaking, there are three types:
Aptitude and ability tests – what someone can do
Personality and behavioural tools – how someone shows up
Motivation, values and emotional intelligence tools – why someone does what they do
1. Aptitude and Ability: The ‘Can Do’ Tests
These focus on how quickly and accurately people process information or solve problems. They’re about capability, not character.
Examples include:
Watson–Glaser (critical thinking)
SHL Verify (numerical, verbal and logical reasoning)
Raven’s Matrices (abstract reasoning)
When they’re useful:
Recruitment and promotion decisions
Identifying potential for complex or analytical roles
Matching capability to role requirements
When they’re not:
Team development or coaching conversations. They tell you what someone can do, not how they do it.
2. Personality and Behavioural: The ‘How They Show Up’ Tools
These look at preferences, style and patterns of behaviour. They help you understand how people make decisions, communicate and respond to stress.
Examples include:
Hogan Assessments – business-focused and data-driven
MBTI (Myers–Briggs Type Indicator) – explores psychological preferences
CliftonStrengths – focuses on natural talent themes
DISC and Insights Discovery – simple frameworks for everyday behaviour
Big Five / NEO-PI-R – academically validated trait model
When they’re useful:
Coaching and leadership development
Building stronger team communication and trust
Creating awareness of differences and blind spots
When they’re not:
Used to judge competence or potential
Used to label people or limit opportunity
3. Motivation, Values and Emotional Intelligence: The ‘Why They Do It’ Tools
These explore what drives people, what they value and how they relate emotionally to others.
Examples include:
Motivational Maps – core personal and team drivers
VIA Character Strengths – values-based strengths
EQ-i 2.0 or MSCEIT – emotional intelligence
When they’re useful:
Leadership development and coaching
Understanding team culture and engagement
Navigating stress, change or purpose
When they’re not:
Used in isolation for recruitment or selection. Motivation and EQ are contextual and can evolve over time.
The Common Mistake: Measuring Then Ignoring
Too many organisations run assessments, print glossy reports, hold one team workshop and then move on. The insights are never revisited or embedded, and within a few months, the learning has vanished.
The real power of psychometrics isn’t in the test itself. It’s in what happens afterwards. The conversation, reflection and application are what change behaviour. Without that, it’s just expensive admin.
At Meraki People, we don’t just run assessments - we turn insight into action. Every session is about practical change you can see and feel in how you lead, decide, and connect.
Where the 5 Voices Fits
At Meraki People, our work starts with the 5 Voices. It sits in the personality and behavioural category, but it does more than map communication style. It helps people understand both nature and nurture - who they truly are at their core, and who they’ve learned to be through experience, environment or expectation.
The 5 Voices gives individuals and teams a shared language for understanding themselves and each other. It highlights natural strengths, common blind spots and how stress can distort behaviour. Most importantly, it shows how every voice adds value when used in balance.
We use the 5 Voices as our foundation because it moves insight into action. It helps teams collaborate more effectively, communicate with clarity and build cultures of genuine trust.
Going Deeper: Why We Use Myers–Briggs
When we want to take that understanding further one-to-one, we use Jungian typology, the same framework that underpins Myers–Briggs. (The one with the 4 letters!) It helps individuals explore personality at a deeper level, uncovering how they process information, make decisions and recharge energy.
Used well, it’s a tool for awareness, not a label. It supports personal growth, leadership development and better relationships both inside and outside work.
The Point of All This
Psychometrics aren’t about putting people in boxes. They’re about building bridges - between people, perspectives and patterns of behaviour.
Used well, they help leaders see what’s really driving performance and give teams language for conversations they’ve never quite known how to have. Used badly, they gather dust in a drawer.
The assessment itself doesn’t change anything. What you do with it does.
If you’re ready to put insight into action, explore our programmes for teams or take our free 5 Voices Assessment to find your own leadership voice