Personality type quiz for teams, plus 7 personality tests compared

The 4 work styles in this personality type quiz

Everyone uses all four. The quiz only shows which one you reach for first. A team with all four styles covers more ground, and a team heavy in one style tends to share its blind spot.

1. The Spark

   You bring the ideas and the energy that get new things started.

   Strengths

   • Sees possibilities other people walk past.
   • Gets a stuck group moving again with a fresh angle.
   • Makes change feel exciting instead of scary.

   What they need from teammates

   • Room to think out loud before an idea gets judged.
   • A teammate who turns the idea into a plan.
   • An early, honest heads-up when an idea won't fit the time or budget.

   Ask the team: Where do we need more new ideas right now, and where do we already have too many?

2. The Mover

   You turn plans into action and keep the work moving.

   Strengths

   • Makes a call when the group is going in circles.
   • Keeps everyone pointed at the outcome.
   • Clears blockers fast instead of waiting for them to clear.

   What they need from teammates

   • A clear goal and the room to act on it.
   • Updates with the bottom line first.
   • Pushback before the decision, not after it.

   Ask the team: Where do we decide too slowly, and where do we rush?

3. The Glue

   You keep people connected and make sure everyone is heard.

   Strengths

   • Notices when someone is left out or having a hard week.
   • Builds the trust that lets a team disagree well.
   • Turns a tense moment into a real conversation.

   What they need from teammates

   • A chance to check in with people before a big change lands.
   • Thanks said out loud, not assumed.
   • Problems raised directly, not talked about around them.

   Ask the team: How do we make sure every voice is heard before we decide?

4. The Anchor

   You bring care, accuracy and a plan the team can count on.

   Strengths

   • Catches the mistake before it reaches a customer.
   • Builds the checklists and processes that make work repeatable.
   • Keeps promises on quality and timing.

   What they need from teammates

   • Enough notice to do the work properly.
   • The details, and the reason behind a change.
   • A shared definition of what done looks like.

   Ask the team: Where does our work need more checking, and where are we checking too much?

7 personality tests for work, compared

These are the models teams ask about most: the basics first, then what each one is good for and where it falls short. Times and the free or paid status are as each official site states them.

1. 1. Myers-Briggs (MBTI)

   16 types from 4 preference pairs · About 20 to 45 minutes · Paid

   What it measures: Four preferences: where you direct your energy, how you take in information, how you make decisions and how you deal with the outside world.

   Teams use it for: A shared vocabulary for communication and decision styles, usually in a workshop with a certified practitioner.

   One caution: Researchers generally fault its reliability, and its publisher says it should never be used for recruitment or selection because it doesn't measure skills or abilities.

2. 2. DISC (Everything DiSC)

   4 styles: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness · 15 to 30 minutes · Paid

   What it measures: How you tend to behave and communicate at work, from your answers to statements about behavior, mapped to four styles and blends of them.

   Teams use it for: Team building workshops on communication: how each style likes to get feedback, run a meeting and work through conflict.

   One caution: DISC is a general model that many publishers sell versions of, so results don't always match between them. Wiley says not to use Everything DiSC for hiring, promotion or other selection decisions.

3. 3. The Big Five

   5 trait scales, scored low to high · 5 to 7 minutes (BFI-2) · Free versions exist

   What it measures: Five broad traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and emotional stability (or its opposite, negative emotionality).

   Teams use it for: A well-researched picture of differences, such as why some people want more structure or more social time than others.

   One caution: Scores instead of types make it less catchy in a workshop, and a low score can feel like a judgment, so let people keep their results private.

4. 4. The Enneagram (RHETI)

   9 types, from the Reformer to the Peacemaker · About 40 minutes · Paid

   What it measures: The motivations, core beliefs and unconscious patterns behind how people behave.

   Teams use it for: Deeper conversations about what drives people and how they react under pressure, often in leadership teams.

   One caution: It gets personal quickly, so it needs a skilled facilitator and a team that already trusts each other. Free online versions vary a lot from the Enneagram Institute's own test.

5. 5. CliftonStrengths

   34 talent themes in 4 domains · About 30 minutes · Paid

   What it measures: Natural talents, ranked across 34 themes such as Achiever, Empathy and Strategic.

   Teams use it for: Strengths-based conversations: who to pair on a project, how to divide work and how a manager coaches each person.

   One caution: It focuses on talents, not weaknesses or skills, and Gallup calls it a development tool, not a selection tool, and doesn't recommend it for employment decisions.

6. 6. 16Personalities

   16 types, each Assertive or Turbulent · About 10 minutes · Free test, paid extras

   What it measures: Five two-sided scales. The site says its model reworks Big Five traits and borrows the four-letter format from Myers-Briggs.

   Teams use it for: A free, quick test people can take on their own before a team conversation.

   One caution: It is not the official MBTI, even though the letters look alike, and its terms say it is for personal use, not for business, employment or recruitment assessments. Let people take it privately and share only if they want to.

7. 7. Working Genius

   6 types: Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, Tenacity · 10 to 15 minutes · Paid, per person

   What it measures: Which of six kinds of work give you energy and which drain you, from asking the big question to pushing a task over the finish line.

   Teams use it for: Spotting gaps on a team and splitting project work so people spend more time on what energizes them.

   One caution: Its publisher also promotes it for hiring. Like every test here, it describes preferences, so keep it to team conversations.

Myers-Briggs, MBTI, Everything DiSC, CliftonStrengths, 16Personalities, Working Genius and the Enneagram Institute are trademarks of their owners. KraftyLab is not affiliated with any of them.

What the research says, in plain words

• The Big Five has the strongest research base. Researchers generally treat its five traits as the best-supported description of personality, measured on scales rather than boxes.
• The MBTI is popular and widely criticized. Researchers generally fault its reliability: in studies, many people get a different type when they retake it only weeks later, partly because most scores sit near the middle of each scale, where a small shift flips the letter.
• Types are a simplification. Real people sit on a range for every trait. A type is a useful shorthand for a conversation, not a fact about someone.
• They are not hiring tools. The publishers of the MBTI, Everything DiSC and CliftonStrengths all say their tests should not be used to hire or select people. Use them to talk about how people like to work, never to decide who gets hired, promoted or given a project.

Which personality test fits your team?

Personality tests for team building work best when you start from what you want the session to change, not from the most famous name.

• A fun icebreaker in one meeting: the free quiz on this page, or 16Personalities taken privately beforehand.
• Better day-to-day communication: DISC, usually as a facilitated workshop.
• Dividing up work on projects: CliftonStrengths or Working Genius.
• What really drives people: the Enneagram, with a skilled facilitator and a team that trusts each other.
• The strongest research base: a Big Five measure, with results kept private.
• A name everyone has heard of: the MBTI with a certified practitioner, keeping its limits in mind.

Whatever you pick, check how the team works together first. Our free team cohesion check shows whether trust or shared goals are the real gap, and the stages of team development explain why a new team argues more than an established one, whatever their types.

How to run a personality session with your team (60 minutes)

This plan works with the free quiz above or with any test people take ahead of time. In person, use the corners of a room; on a video call, use one breakout room per style.

Ground rules to read out first

• Opt in, always. Anyone can skip the quiz or keep their result to themselves.
• Styles are preferences, not abilities. Everyone can do all four; the quiz shows which one you reach for first.
• No labels. Nobody gets called "the Anchor" in a meeting, and nobody uses a style as an excuse.
• Never for hiring or promotion. Results stay out of interviews, reviews, promotions and decisions about who gets a project.
• Results belong to the person. Ask before you share anyone's result outside the room.

5 personality test games for a team meeting

Fun personality quizzes get people talking; these games turn the results into something the team does together. Each runs in 10 to 15 minutes, in a room or on a call.

1. Four corners. Name each corner of the room after a style. Read a scenario, like "The client just moved the deadline up a week", and everyone walks to the corner that matches their first reaction. Ask one person per corner why.
2. The line-up. Ask people to stand on an imaginary line from "big picture first" to "details first". Then try "decide fast" to "decide slowly". On a call, use a shared slide with a line people drag their name onto.
3. How to work with me. Everyone writes five short lines: best time to reach me, how I like feedback, what I need before a meeting, what drains me, what I'm great at. Post them in one shared doc.
4. Mixed-style challenge. Groups of four, one of each style if you can, get ten minutes to plan a pretend team day out. Afterward, each group says who took which role without being asked.
5. Opposite interview. Pair people whose results differ most. Each asks the other: what's easy for you that's hard for me, and what would help us work together?

Games like these work because they make differences visible without making anyone the odd one out. For more on reading and managing the feelings that come up, see our guide to emotional intelligence in the workplace, and for the habits that keep a mixed team close, our guide to workplace relationships.

Run it with a host

Want someone else to run the session? These hosted sessions run live on Zoom by default (Teams, Google Meet or Webex on request). Book about 2 weeks ahead, and teams split across time zones can run a game as two sessions.

• Team Discovery Challenge. A hosted scavenger hunt combined with show and tell: teams race to find meaningful items, and the stories show sides of people a quiz can't. About 60 minutes.
• Fostering Emotional Intelligence. A 60-minute talk by psychiatrist Dr. Ellen Vora on self-awareness, empathy and resilience at work. Good for the why behind the styles.
• Supercharge Your Squad. A workshop on lining up your team's needs and values with your company culture, and spotting and using the team's strengths and weaknesses in a simple, practical way.
• Improv. Virtual improv exercises built on "Yes, And", storytelling and responding to unexpected scenarios. About 60 minutes, and every style gets to play.

Building a culture people want to stay in takes more than one session. Our guide to organizational culture has a quiz of its own for the team as a whole.