Workbook

How do I read my Facet5 Report?

What is Facet5?

Facet5 is an online personality questionnaire. It is used in more than 30 countries and is available in
25 languages. For the sake of convenience we define personality as the personal attributes that
affect how you behave in work situations. In other words, your personality is a combination of
attributes that is unique to you. It is what makes you different from others.

A great deal of research has been done on the factors that determine how people behave at work.
The latest understanding is that there are five dimensions of the personality that affect how people
behave in work situations. These are known as the Big Five.

Facet5 is based on the Big Five personality factors. The five factors measured by the questionnaire
are:
> Will
> Energy
> Affection
> Control
> Emotionality

These five factors are subdivided into so-called sub-factors. The thirteen sub-factors are described
in the table on page 2 of your Facet5 Report. The factors and sub-factors are listed below.

The report describes your preferences in terms of these five factors. The first part of the report
describes each of the five factors in isolation (as if you were made up of five separate parts). The second
part of the report describes the five factors in relation to one another.

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The General Profile

Your personal profile is shown on the page that shows the ‘General Profile’. Your profile consists of two
parts: the first four factors are plotted in a circle, the fifth factor (Emotionality) is shown
separately. This is because the Emotionality score affects how the other four factors are perceived by
others. In other words, Emotionality acts like a magnifying glass: high Emotionality can make your
behavior more visible to others.

You will see a score of 1 to 10 for each factor. A score of 1 means that there is little orientation
towards the factor in question. A score of 10 means that there is a pronounced orientation towards
the factor in question. It is important to note that this has nothing to do with right or wrong! A
score of 1 has advantages and disadvantages. The same goes for a score of 10!

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Take a look at your personal profile. Where do you gain low scores (a score of less than 4), where
do you gain high scores (a score of more than 7), and where do you gain an average score?
Now look at the description of the different scores for each of the factors in the table op page 2.
Are your scores more or less what you would have expected?

The content of the Facet5 Report

A Facet5 Report presents a detailed picture of your personal preferences when it comes to your
work.
The report usually consists of the following sections:
> A general profile
> A description of the factors and sub-factors
> A ‘family portrait’: a description of the reference family with which you are most closely aligned
> Focus on competencies: a description of the competencies of your family type
> Focus on management: a ‘user manual’ for your manager
> An overview of your work preferences: a summary of the drives associated with each factor, and
aspects of your work that motivate or discourage you

Below we explain the different sections of the report and how you can use the information to your
advantage.

The descriptions of the different factors

The first factor described is Will.

The report describes the characteristics associated with high and low scores for the factor of Will.
As you will see in the description, high and low scores both have their advantages. The factor Will is
subdivided into three sub-factors: determination, confrontation and independence.

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Beneath the description of the factor there is a description of each of the sub-factors, for example:

If you have a score of 7 or more, you need to read the text on the right. Start by reading ‘Strengths
include’ and see if there is anything you recognize. List the strengths you associate with your score
for the sub-factor below:

1.

2.

3.

4.
5.

If you have a score of 4 or less, you need to read the text on the left. Start by reading ‘Strengths
include’ and see if there is anything you recognize. List the strengths you associate with your score
for the sub-factor below:
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

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Interpreting your scores for the sub-factors with the aid of the Core Quadrant
model

Core qualities and core quadrants

The Core Quadrant model is a clear, accessible and commonly used method that can help you identify
the strengths and weaknesses associated with your core qualities. You can also use it to analyze your
conflicts with others.

What are core qualities?

According to Daniel Ofman, the management consultant who devised the method, core qualities
are the specific strengths that characterize an individual. Your core qualities make you what you
are. They are also the positive qualities that others will immediately mention when asked about you.
For example, they might say that you are highly creative, exceptionally patient or very decisive.
Everyone has several core qualities.

Any core quality can become a pitfall if it is taken to extremes. It then becomes too much of a good
thing. A pitfall is a distortion of a core quality - the other side of the coin. What was originally a
strength then becomes a weakness. For example, if you are very decisive, you may fall into the
pitfall of becoming insistent. Or, if you are excessively self-confident, you may become arrogant.

Other people's pitfalls ç your allergies

Just as everyone has core qualities, everyone also has pitfalls. If someone else takes a certain core
quality to extremes, you might find that it irritates you. Your adverse reaction to another person’s
pitfall is known as an allergy. Your ‘allergies’ are usually related to your own core qualities. If you
are very modest for example, you might find that you are extremely irritated by people who are
constantly blowing their own trumpet.

The thing you find irritating about the other person is a core quality that has been taken to
extremes. Yet the nice thing is that behind every allergy there is a challenge and challenges can be key
areas for personal development. If you are frequently irritated by someone else’s passivity, see if you
can identify the underlying core quality. Is the person naturally cautious or patient, for example, and
simply taking to extremes? Their core quality is highly likely to be a challenge for you, because you
can sometimes be overly insistent. In other words, you can learn a great deal from the people who
irritate you the most!

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Analyzing your core qualities and pitfalls with the aid of the Core Quadrant
model

Now look at your scores for the sub-factors.

If you have a score of 7 or more, your core quality will be described top right, the corresponding
pitfall will be described bottom right, your challenge will be described top left and your allergy will be
described bottom left.

If you have a score of 4 or less, your core quality will be described top left, the corresponding pitfall
will be described bottom left, your challenge will be described top right and your allergy will be
described bottom right.

Draw up a list of your most obvious core qualities. What do you notice? List your core qualities
below:

1.

2.

3.

4.
5.

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Also look at your pitfalls. You might not recognize some of them. Or you might feel that you are
no doing so badly. However, all core qualities have corresponding pitfalls, and sooner or later
circumstances will push you into your pitfall. This will usually be when things are not going well,
projects are running into difficulties, customers are dissatisfied, people are being irritating, and so on.

In other words, you are not so much concerned with whether you occasionally fall into your pitfall,
as with the kinds of situations in which this happens.

Draw up a list of your most obvious pitfalls. What do you notice? List your pitfalls below.
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Challenges - key areas for personal development

Your challenges are key areas for personal development: the things you need to do more of to avoid
falling into your pitfall. For example, someone who has a high score for the sub-factor of
‘determination’ is probably very good at telling others what to do and is happy to assume responsibility.
Their main challenges are listed on the left: they need to be more receptive to other people’s opinions,
they need to listen more and be prepared to change their opinion, and they need to gather all of the
information before making a decision.

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Take another look at your scores for the sub-factors. What are your main challenges? List them
below:

1.

2.

3.
4.
5.

It is not always easy to work on your challenges. If you have a very strong preference for doing things
a certain way, you will be inclined to adopt your preferred approach. This tendency will simply intensify
when things don’t go your way, if, for example, you are working in a team that is not making any
decisions despite the fact that the project is behind schedule, or if you are working with someone who
refuses to follow the established rules and procedures.

When you are working on your challenges it can be helpful to ask yourself the following questions:

> Do I know someone who is the opposite of me and what might I be able to learn from them?
> Are there certain tasks or projects that would allow me to work on my main challenges?
> Are there people I can ask for feedback who can warn me if I am about to fall into my pitfall?

Family portrait
In the second part of the Facet5 Report you will see a so-called family portrait. This is a depiction
of the first four factors (‘the kite’) in relation to one another. The interesting thing is, a family
often has typical preferences that say more about a person than the individual factors. There are
17 of these families in total and the system will automatically select the family with which you are
most closely aligned.

Take a look at your family portrait then answer these questions:

> What do I recognize?
> What do I not recognize?
> What am I proud of?

It is important to note that the description describes the family with which you are most closely
aligned. It is not a description of your scores. You may differ from the most similar family type in
some respects and you may not recognize some of the points that are mentioned.

Focus on competencies

This section of the report presents another overview of your family, this time in terms of
competencies. There are six generic competencies. For each of these competencies the report tells
you what you will usually do (‘what you can expect’) and where your pitfall lies (‘what you need to
be alert to’).

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Focus on management

In this section of the report you will see a kind of ‘user manual’. This is provided for your
manager. The basic idea is that there are two different forms of management: transactional
management (I pay your salary and you supply productivity) and transformational management (‘I
will do my best to enable you to develop your skills’).

This is translated into the six activities of a manager:

> Develop a vision
> Stimulate the people in your environment
> Treat people as individuals
> Set goals
> Assess performance
> Give feedback

These six activities are described for your family type. In other words, this section of the report
describes the best way to manage a person with this family type. It might be helpful to discuss this
with your manager.

An overview of your work preferences

On the last page of the report you will find an overview of your work preferences. In this section
the first four factors of Facet5 are translated into drives:

> Will is associated with the drive to gain Power

> Energy is associated with the drive to Participate
> Affection is associated with the drive to Contribute
> Control is associated with the drive to perfect the Method

Your score for each factor is shown at the top of the page. On this page you will also find a
description of the kinds of roles that are most compatible with your preferences, and aspects of
certain roles that you are likely to enjoy or dislike.

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