Anthony Tjan, CEO of a venture capital firm, claims that most organizations have about 10 percent of their workforce populated by high achievers, 10 percent of their workforce populated by low achievers, and then most of their workforce populated by more average employees that often get lost in the middle (read more on the Harvard Business Review blog).

This disparity in achievement described by Tjan can be problematic in terms of anything from talent retention to strategic planning. Businesses take many different approaches to managing this range of talent within an organization. Some focus on the high achievers, others on the low achievers, and some businesses try to create a plan to reach everyone in the middle. Tjan discourages this kind of single management strategy and instead advocates the approach of trying to raise the achievement of each individual by conducting regular performance reviews tailored to each employee and finding the role in the company that best suits their talents.

In order to treat employees as individuals and work on managing and emphasizing employee strengths, you may find that an online personality test is the most effective tool. This type of behavioral assessment tool can highlight the strengths and weaknesses of individual employees and help the management team best decide how to encourage each person to develop stronger personal effectiveness in service of the division’s or organization’s goals. Instead of simply looking for a one-size-fits-all management strategy, investing in a tool such as an online personality test can vastly improve your organization’s employee development.

10 Ways to Increase the Personal Effectiveness of Employees

1. Use an online personality test periodically to keep tabs on each employee’s strengths and weaknesses over time.

2. Maintain an ongoing, open conversation with each employee about his or her own personal effectiveness.

3. Make time to get to know each of your employees as an individual.

4. Learn more about what motivates and inspires each employee to do his or her job well.

5. Assign and tailor assignments according to the strengths of each member of your staff.

6. Determine what roadblocks are likely to cause each employee to stumble.

7. Encourage each employee to develop strategies to overcome these weaknesses.

8. Set reasonable, achievable goals, and discuss them regularly with each employee.

9. Recognize and celebrate the individual achievement of each employee.

10. Encourage your employees to have a life outside of work, which will in turn increase personal effectiveness in the office.