Profiling often has a negative connotation associated with it; but when it comes to personality profiling, many people, corporations, and sports teams, put a lot of emphasis on this testing methodology.
Picking the right people, and the right combination of people – talent – personalities, is a key ingredient to building successful teams.
The powers that be are judging you, or any potential candidate, to see how well you will fit in and help them and the team to be successful. In other words to win.
Though not a personality test, the NFL has had the Wonderlic tests for years. The Wonderlic does not help with judging personality or physical capability. It is geared towards comprehension and problem solving.
So teams have in the past relied on certain psychologists to evaluate players, or at least come up with a list of questions to find out how players will handle stress, fame, fortune and life as it exists in the NFL.
The question – “Would you rather be a dog or a cat?” is one such question. Dr. Robert Troutwine has tested and interviewed hundreds if not thousands of potential draftees and says this question has a lot of symbolism.
A dog is man’s best friend. A cat is more independent. Players who go for dogs tend to like structure and being part of a team is more important to them. Cats are guys who are more comfortable being a more solo contributor. You have to let him feel like he’s making the decisions.
Troutwine assessed Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning for the Indianapolis Colts. His assessment stated that Leaf would have more problems coping with early failures than Manning and would have problems with mounting pressure. He also consulted the Colts general manager Bill Polian that Edgerrin James was a better match for his team than Ricky Williams because James’ personality was more adaptable to having a bigger star – Manning – on the team.
But personality tests, just like any test, do not give a complete picture of the player. What a personality test does do, is provide yet another data point to consider when evaluating a candidate. It helps those who make the decisions, and those who are responsible for drafting good talent that will succeed, identify likely trends or responses to certain situations someone may face while playing in the NFL. Such as: will they cope well with failure or be adaptable to a team with bigger names who attracting more attention?
I myself recently took such a test (it was a combination personality profile and Wonderlic type test) as part of a candidate screening and interview process. The personality test was filled with questions that asked what you thought about certain personality types or personal behavior and whether or not you valued feelings and those who do or not. The company and the testing organization made a big deal to make sure you understood there were no right or wrong answers. They also advised not to try and answer how you thought they, the company, wanted you to answer. Just like with the cat and dog question, different personalities are better suited for different roles.
So it is with great curiosity that I hear certain recently “troubled” NFL players “passed” their personality profile tests. Namely Aaron Hernandez.
Now I do not know what questions were part of this test, but I am sure most did not concentrate on guns and behavioral tendencies to commit, correction be accused of committing, felony offenses.
These tests again, are geared towards finding players who will “fit” well into a particular team or organization. They are not necessarily geared toward identifying someone who might become violent.
Can the NFL do more to identify those who will cope with stress and failure well and fit into a particular mold? Yes.
In fact just this past year the NFL has introduced a new testing criteria to compliment the Wonderlic test. These new questions measure a wide range of competencies, including learning styles, motivation, decision-making skills, responding to pressure or unexpected stimuli, and core intellect. Every NFL team will now receive a one-page profile for each player who completes the new exam. The profile will assess a player’s learning type and personality and suggest ideal coaching styles to instruct the athlete.
When someone says that a particular person “passed” his or her personality profile test, it only means that chances are the candidate will fit in with the organization and perform well in the roll they are considering hiring them for.
So when Hernandez (a potential top 1 or 2 round pick) fell to the fourth round in the NFL draft because of questions regarding drug use and failed drug tests, Belichick took a chance because Hernandez has immense talent and “passed” their tests to see how well he would fit into the Patriots organization and offensive scheme.
Could the NFL do more testing to spot even more dangerous behavioral tendencies? Again, yes. It is possible to do more and even better testing. But I believe that no amount of testing will eliminate all the possibilities. Plus, sometimes, test results can be wrong. One would not want to falsely accuse and potentially hinder another career because of one question on a test.
Tests will always provide more information. This information will always be incomplete and subjective – open to interpretation and up to others to decide if it is relevant or not. In the end the decision-making will ultimately come down to a judgment call by the coach and or the GM.
Fumbled Returns 