Personality Inventory
The SSA’s eTest developmental profile ensures
you get the most out of your facility managers.
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By Douglas L. Griest, Ph.D.
Are top performers made or born? How can I get the most
out of my current employees? How do I best develop my
people? The answers to these questions hold the key to
every storage operator’s success. The more top performers
you have in your organization, the greater the success of
your business.
Personality characteristics enable a person to be successful
in a particular job. Performance on the job is dependent
upon a person’s personality. The better storage operators understand their employees’ traits, the more effectively they can help them to develop into more effective
employees. The SSA/eTest Developmental Profile can
accurately assess personality and provide you and your
employees a road map for training and development.
eTest was developed by me and my partners in the 1990s.
As a group of organizational psychologists, we needed
a better way to assess the personality characteristics of
business people. At that time, personality inventories were
based on people in general rather than business people
specifically.
So, we embarked on a journey to build a better mousetrap. Six years later and more than 10,000 business people
tested, we finally had eTest—an online personality inventory that takes 45 minutes to complete and measures 21
personality traits. It has become one of the cornerstones
to our work as organizational psychologists, and we have
tested more than 140,000 people.
As a result of an invitation to present a workshop at the
SSA Conference & Trade Show in Las Vegas about eight
years ago, I was introduced to SSA President & CEO Mike
Scanlon. Mike and his board were looking for a personality test they could offer to the Association members that
would help them select successful facility managers (FMs).
Once again, my partners and I took on a development
project, but this time not quite as time consuming since
the basic test already existed. In this case, we narrowed
our norm base from business people in general to FMs
specifically.
We spent approximately a year meeting with operators,
observing FMs on the job, reading and analyzing their
job descriptions, and testing successful FMs. The result
was a list of the most important job duties and the eight
personality traits most important to being successful in
the FM position.
Here are the job duties and example tasks:
1. Sell/Rent Space and Additional Merchandise:
Answer phones, respond to customer inquiries,
determine customer’s needs, show the space and
property, conduct new customer move-in procedures checklist, sell accessory merchandise such
as padlocks and packing materials, rent truck or
provide free move-in vehicle, prepare move-in
M AY 2 0 1 4 package of paperwork, accept initial payment, enter
customer’s gate code into computer, remove vacant
space lock from the space.
2. Collect Rent: Manage receivables, collect rent
and fees, prorate rent, waive fees, accept security deposits/administrative fees, make daily bank
deposits, control cash.
3. Collect Late Rent and Resolve Delinquent
Accounts: Notify customers of delinquency, charge
late fees, follow up with customers who left owing
money, collect past due rent, handle bankruptcy
of tenant, handle death of a tenant, handle abandoned goods, handle abandoned vehicles, conduct
auction, send remaining balance due (after auction)
to collection agency, perform normal vacate checklist, follow up with customers concerning remaining
items, handle lien sale, clean unit.
4. Manage Customer Relations: Send customer
appreciation cards, communicate on a regular
basis through newsletters, follow up with current
and potential customers, proactively anticipate
customers’ needs, conduct customer satisfaction
surveys when appropriate, resolve customer problems and complaints, process customer change of
address.
5. Manage Operations: Open and close facility,
conduct daily physical site inventory, update unit
status and changes, make or manage maintenance
and repairs, keep facility clean and professional,
ensure administrative processes and policies are
followed, maintain and back up computers, monitor
security systems and conduct several security
rounds each day, report accidents and incidents,
advise customers with regard to storage of illegal
material (such as hazardous waste), maintain a
natural disaster plan.
6. Analyze Market: Conduct market review, create
and execute marketing plan, stay current with
competitor data and information, determine potential customers’ needs.
7. Drive Marketing through Communications and
Public Relations: Oversee advertising (yellow
pages, brochures, direct mail campaigns, etc.), run
a referral program, generate and close sales leads,
network in community, maintain contact database,
promote a positive image of the facility, be active in
community organizations when possible, meet with
community leaders, patronize local businesses, get
involved in charity fundraiser events.
8. Manage and Train Employees and Self: Communicate directives to employees, hire assistant/
relief manager and other employees, contract with
SSA GLOBE
See eTest, page 20
PA G E ­1 9 eTest, from page 19
Taking the eTest
As you can see by the sample instructions below,
the test is easy to use. After the test is completed,
the results are emailed to the account holder
requesting the assessment.
New users can set up an account at
www.etest.net/signupSSA.asp
1. For current users of eTest, go to www.etest.net/
client-login.htm
Client Code (not case sensitive): SSA
Password (not case sensitive): Your password
2. Click Log On and then click the first option:
Begin a New eTest Assessment
3. Complete the fields on the next screen as
follows:
Hiring Manager: Enter your direct supervisor’s
name
vendors, train employees, participate in training
programs and seminars, supervise employees and
contractors, make up monthly work schedule for
employees, coordinate work schedules, conduct
performance evaluations.
9. Manage Records and Financial and Accounting
Performance: Perform monthly reports and
summaries, maintain balance sheet for facility,
manage costs and operating expenses, maintain
P&L statement, meet or exceed budget and profit
objectives and productivity goals, file paperwork.
As a result of our data collection, we found that the
eight following personality characteristics were the most
important to performing successfully in the FM role.
Operators could then use this test as part of their hiring
process. Note that the ideal profile is not to be high on
these traits, although a high score may be desirable on
some traits such as discipline.
Talkative: High scorers do not see themselves as quiet,
reserved, silent, soft-spoken, shy, subdued, mild, inhibited or restrained. Instead, they are communicative,
open, engaging and relationship builders.
Bold: People with high scores on this trait see themselves as adventurous, spontaneous, bold, driven, energetic, assertive and directive.
Phone Number: (Skip)
Fax: (Skip)
Candidate’s Name: Enter your name
Secure: People getting high scores here describe themselves as calm, steady, confident, self-satisfied, capable
and self-reliant.
Position applied for: Enter your current
position (required for data analysis)
Billing Code: (Skip)
Job Type: Choose “Facility Manager”
Assessment Type: Choose “Developmental”
Report Type: Choose “Development Guide”
Optional Leadership Report: Do not select it
Optional Sales Report: Do not select it
4.Click Begin.
5. Complete the Demographic Data page, and click
Begin Test
6. Read the instructions and respond to questions
in each of the following test sections: Personality
Questions (317 adjectives)
7. At the end of the test, a “thank you” screen
will appear indicating that the test is being
submitted. At that point, close your browser.
Disciplined: People with high scores on this characteristic choose terms such as timely, prompt, prioritizer,
follow-through, disciplined, organizer, advance planner,
steady and task-focused in describing themselves. They
plan rather than wait for things to happen.
Sympathetic: People scoring high on this trait describe
themselves as feeling-oriented, sentimental, affectionate, soft-hearted, sensitive, sympathetic, pleaser,
warm, gentle, etc. People who score low are toughminded, hard-nosed and highly objective/logical.
Big-Picture Oriented: This factor is related to openness to information, independence of thought, and the
ability to keep long-term objectives in mind. People
who are low on this factor focus on the task at hand
rather than the future.
High People Skill: Individuals with high scores here
have similar profiles to those of people who are seen
by their superiors as having good interpersonal skills.
They tend to describe themselves as rapport-building,
secure, contented, warm and affectionate. They build
relationships well. People enjoy being around them.
See eTest, page 22
PA G E ­2 0 SSA GLOBE
M AY 2 0 1 4
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eTest, from page 20
High Organizing Skill: People scoring high on this
dimension have similar patterns of responses to those
of people who are rated by their managers as having
good administrative, organizational and planning
skills. They describe themselves with such words as
conscientious, perfectionistic, focused, unwavering and
committed.
Although selection and hiring was the initial reason for
the test, operators have found it useful for developing
their current employees as a result of our “Developmental
Profile” assessment. This version of the SSA/eTest allows
both operators and their employees to use the profile for
the purpose of growth and development.
By comparing your current employees’ traits to the “ideal”
profile, you are able to set developmental targets, coach
to those targets, and send your employees to appropriate
training programs. As the old saying goes, “If you don’t
know where you want to go, any road will take you there.”
But if you know your strengths and developmental needs,
then the road map is clear.
For more information on the eTest, visit selfstorage.org.
New users of eTest can set up their account at www.etest.
net/signupSSA.asp. v
phone-smart.info
PA G E ­2 2 Dr. Griest is a founder of Management Psychology Group
in Atlanta and eTest.
SSA GLOBE
M AY 2 0 1 4