
If we were all beavers, yes, we’d be organized, but we’d be so focused on all the nitty-gritty details we’d never get anything done in the broad spectrum of life. After all, if everyone was a golden retriever, we’d stay in our safe environments just caring about one another all day, never getting pushed to be better or bolder or think beyond this horizon. And this sometimes makes them come across as short and uncaring to people who don’t recognize them for their amazing strengths.Īnd we need lions in our lives. And I’ve learned this from experience–when you are talking to a lion, you better get to the point in the first two minutes or they’ve checked out! They don’t have time to be wasted on endless ramblings of details that are superfluous to the facts. They know what they want and they can evaluate situations very quickly. Lions often get a ‘bad rap’ because they are intense.

The ones who don’t hesitate and can make a decision with boldness. The ones you can rely on to have a calm assertiveness in an emergency. The ones who roar and conquer in adversity. The ones who strut about and protect those they love. Did I ever mention I am crazy about temperament tests?Īnd even if you have never heard about these tests, I’d venture to say that you know the lions in your life. In fact, for some time I thought I was part lion, until I took the test again- the animal personality temperament test, by Gary Smalley and the more in-depth test, Leading with Your Strengths. “When I think of a beaver, I think consistently hardworking at mundane tasks,” he said.Roar. In fact, a lion would take charge of building the dam a beaver would identify if fewer sticks were needed to build a dam the day before and adjust the process. When I jokingly ask if he has ever considered a literal approach to the interview - say, providing sticks and seeing if the candidate would build a dam to prove they’re a beaver - Meszaros corrected me. With the help of a coach, Meszaros now develops a clear understanding of what each of the roles are in his organization (including the new one for a new employee), then pursues the right type of person to fit that role. “Two golden retrievers would have no problem working well together, but it’s not normally the case with two lions,” he said. Yet, as Meszaros said, someone whose dominant characteristic is an outgoing personality (perhaps an otter or a lion) may not be the right person to cross-check numbers in Excel. This does not mean that he automatically, for example, matches someone who tests as a beaver to a job working on spreadsheets. While he identifies himself as a lion and manages three people in his office, he has benefited from this assessment process, as it has improved the way he searches for a new hire. Of course, most people have characteristics of each animal, and Meszaros has chosen to only use this at the beginning of the interview process to help him with his questions. Golden retriever (easygoing, loyal, good at making friends).Otter (very social, loves people and having fun).Lion (good at making decisions and very goal-oriented).

Based on which words the person highlights, the output from the scorecard provides a preliminary indication of one of four primary personality types:

Lion otter beaver golden retriever test series#
There are many different options for advisors who want to know more: Myers-Briggs, TrueColors, DISC or Kolbe.ĭavid Meszaros, CFP, a 12-year MDRT member from High River, Alberta, Canada, however, has seen a lot of success in using a personality test that gives candidates a series of words to choose from that they feel best describe themselves. How do you identify a person’s personality type during a job interview? How do you understand how well they will fit with the team?Ĭhances are, you won’t know without some kind of evaluation, testing or scorecard.
