Ever since profiling came into the business domain, it has been obscured in smoke and mirrors. It has been the classic case of “take the watch off the client and tell them what time it says”. Don’t get me wrong - there is a role for consultants and training, but it should be in more useful areas than smoke and mirrors.

PeopleMaps upset the psychometric community when it launched reports written in plain English that anyone could read and understand, from 16 year old school girls to senior executives. What were all the consultants going to do now? Who will pay for all these psychometric training courses? Who cares?

With reports in plain English, personality profiling has been opened up to the masses. What the consultants and trainers should be focusing on is “what to do with the information”. Understanding personality is the beginning of a process and it should be used to underpin all training, development and recruitment programmes. it should be the foundation of team building.