Pitfalls of Assessment Tests

This is exactly why I do not use standardized assessment tools on my executive coaching clients:

…one of the main hindrances to coaching was understanding people as collections of fixed properties with desire attached.

 

…by using assessment models this way we are reinforcing our understanding of people as things, and this way of understanding makes any effective coaching impossible or nearly so.

 

…it assumes that the person is a thing which can be found out about, figured out, and predicted.

–James Flaherty of New Ventures West
Chapter Six of Coaching: Evoking Excellence in Others (Third Edition)