What's Behind The Mask?

You are walking down the hallway and see someone you know. You say hello and ask them how they are doing. They respond, "fine". You sense that may not be the entire truth but you let it go. Why do we do that? Why do we say things are fine when they are not? Probably because we want to be seen as in control, focused, ready, willing, able. Maybe we are...but probably not always.

Getting behind the mask

Why is it important to see deeper into someone else? The more we understand them and their current reality, the better we can decide what to do. How can we best help them? Is this someone we would like to hire for our team? Is this someone you want to build a friendship with?

The graphic below speaks to every one of us. The Arena is what we know about ourselves and others know about us. Blind-spots are what others may see but we do not. The Facade is what we know about ourselves but hide from others. Untapped Potential is blocked by Blind-spots and the Facade we present to others.

The assessment solution

Whether we are looking at personal development, professional development, or hiring; it is critical to reduce the Blind-spots and the Facade as much as possible. This applies if we are doing self assessment or assessing others. But how do we do that?

Think of assessments for your own development as a mirror to look into. A normal mirror will not tell us about what's inside us, just what we see on the surface. Assessments are a mirror for what is inside. The types of assessment you use will determine what the mirror will show you. This is why using highly validated assessments are important. Would you buy the cheapest product available to protect your health? Of course not. So using multiple well validated assessments are an investment in your growth and health from a personal and professional development perspective. These are the tools that will help you identify your Blind-spots and the Facade you are presenting to others. Getting to your Untapped Potential and putting it to use is the goal.

If you are hiring, think of assessments as a magnifying glass. Would you make your decision based only on resumes? Probably not. How about resumes and an interview? Maybe. But how will you see the Blind-spots, Facade, and Untapped Potential of the candidate. Even the best interviewers will be limited in their insight into these areas. Checkster, a reference checking company, stated that candidates misrepresented themselves 78% of the time during the hiring process. ResumeLab, a career advice company, found that 56% of candidates lied in interviews. A majority of candidates represented themselves as having a mastery level of a skill when in fact, it was only a basic level. How do you find this out from a resume or an interview? Which candidates are telling you the truth and which are not?

Enter assessments. In the future, I will go deeper into the different types of assessments out there and their strengths and limitations. For now, let's focus on how assessments can help you, whatever your desired goals are.

Value of assessments

Assessments, and I am talking about psychological assessments provided by a certified assessment professional who is certified in many different types of assessments, can help you gain information and insight that you could not get any other way. Why multiple assessments by a certified assessment professional? Let me ask you this, would you buy a house by just looking around the outside of the house? No, that would be silly. You assess many things, the lot/land, the plumbing, the wiring, the interior, the layout of the house, the foundation, the roof, and many other areas. Using a single assessment is just like looking at one aspect of the house and then trying to make a decision based on that limited data.

Think of a certified assessment professional as a guide. They guide you through territory you are unfamiliar with. They help you avoid the pitfalls. They point you in the right direction. They provide insights and correlation of the data in ways that allows you to make the best decisions. Here are advantages you can get through assessments done right:

• Measures to set goals and developmental KPIs
• Insights into potential success
• Alignment with values and goals
• Identifying developmental opportunities
• Cultural alignment
• Opportunities for skill development
• Capacity and bandwidth insights
• Coaching enhancement

Everyone of these advantages brings a measure of ROI.

360 insights

Yes, there are 360 assessments where other people provide input to an individual, but that is not the 360 I am focused on. The more insights we can gain about ourselves or others through the assessment process, the better decisions we can make and the faster we can reach our desired goals. A well designed group of assessments can provide greater visibility and richer insights.

Seeing beyond the mask

It is to everyone's advantage to bring more visibility to what is important. Clarity is rare in our world, and the more of it we can attain, the greater our potential success. Whether we are seeking a good mirror to see beyond our own mask, or a magnifying glass to see beyond the mask of others, using validated assessments is the answer. Explore what assessments can do for you...you may be very pleasantly surprised at what is possible.

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 Copyright © 2023 EQFIT® - Author: Steven Goodner. All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: [email protected].