Personality Testing can help an employer who is looking for an easy way to determine future leaders among those who have applied for a job and have made the next round in the application process. to find future leaders? There is not much of a challenge for companies that only promote from within because the company can recognize its potential leaders through familiarity. However, the organization may see a deficit in available leaders and may want to recruit possible leaders among graduating college seniors or recent college graduates. One of the best tools to determine future leaders is a talent assessment.

An organization may be in the process of upgrading or revamping an existing company-sponsored leadership training program. If so, the leadership training personnel can develop its own assessment to determine the qualities needed in their future leaders, or adapt an existing evaluation to their needs. A leadership assessment could be added to a psychometric assessment that consists of aptitude testing and personality assessment.

Those twelve traits are:

1. Carefulness. A good leader plans and thinks carefully before he speaks or acts.

2. Cooperation. A leader is likeable and congenial in all of his interpersonal relationships.

3. Creativity. A leader is willing and able to "think outside the box".

4. Discipline. A leader leads the way in responsibility and dependability. He has follow-through skills to complete his work.

5. Goodwill - the ability to think well of other's intentions and forgive

6. Influence - the natural tendency to impress others

7. Optimism. A leader believes in successful outcomes.

8. Order. Organization and neatness comes naturally to a leader.

9. Savvy. A leader is skilled at reading people and can detect hidden needs and intentions.

10. Sociability. A leader enjoys people whether he is at work, at home, or in social events.

11. Stability - ability to remain calm and rational during stressful situations.

12. Striving - ability to keep pushing and working hard to obtain goals.

There are more than enough assessments in the marketplace to choose from. Employers may also wish to develop their own assessment the is customized to their particular organization. The best advice would be to compare several assessments to get a feel of the questions asked and what report one can expect to get before finalizing a decision. The talent assessment can help an organization save time by looking for leadership abilities at the same time it is hiring. When a company knows it is in need of potential leaders to replace leaders who will be retiring in a few years, using assessments can help identify those potential leaders.