There is a large range of affective assessments, like Myers Briggs Type Indicator ®, Clifton StrengthsFinder, Predictive Index ®, and DiSC®. Many are based in traditional psychology while others are just for fun, like those that determine your personality type based on your favorite color. Some personality tests are used in professional environments to help people be more engaged and sensitive to each other because they identify emotional strengths. The results can help both managers and co-workers motivate one another and improve interpersonal communication.
Affective tests identify emotions, personality “style” or type, and preferences. They are often based on the “Big Five” personality traits. It is important to apply the information gained from personality tests carefully since they don’t answer questions about knowledge and proficiency or about someone’s natural talents and strengths. Their purpose is to identify the style, feelings and attitudes of people at a particular time in their life. A person’s preferences, values, and feelings can change over time which would change their personality “type.”
The Kolbe A Index, a conative assessment, takes less than 20 minutes and provides a result called your MO (method of operation). It identifies people’s instinctive talents or strengths, explains them, analyzes how they align with tasks and other people and offers practical solutions for putting them into practice — from doing better in your work, reducing stress, or improving personal interactions. It measures a person’s instinctive contributions and needs in four categories (or Action Modes®):
One of the many things that differentiate the Kolbe Index from other assessments like the affective ones mentioned above is its validity and reliability. Research has been done with studies spanning decades, and the results show that it is more than 90% reliable over a span of 20 years. The results are stable, and behavior is predictable. Remember, cognitive and affective traits change over time, so cognitive and affective assessments will also yield different results most of the time when taken a few years apart.
