A Predictive Index Operator Shares How She Operates

by Kayla Ezinga

Hi everyone! I am Kayla Ezinga, the Human Resource & Recruiting Intern here at W Talent Solutions. Throughout my entire life, I have always been interested in personality tests because I have always found them useful to not only understand myself better but to understand those around me as well. My friends and family have all heard me say “Hey, you should take this personality test!”

When I started my internship here at W Talent Solutions, I was introduced to the Predictive Index. Although I had never heard of It before, I was immediately intrigued. The fact that it is science-based and could give me advice on how to operate best in the workplace was something that I thought I could not get from other personality tests, such as the enneagram. 

And that’s exactly what it told me! According to the Predictive Index results, I am an Operator. 

An Operator is a patient, conscientious, relaxed, and cooperative team member. While being moderately agreeable, patient, and stable, an Operator needs some long-term affiliation, the ability to work at a steady pace, and familiar surroundings. When socially interacting with an Operator, you should remember that they tend to be introspective, matter-of-fact, and analytical, and giving an Operator like me time to reflect, room for introspection, and freedom from office politics will be beneficial in many ways. The best way to work with an Operator is to give them encouragement, reassurance and harmony and the Operator will be cooperative, accommodating, and accepting of company policies. Although Operators can be serious, they are more on the informal side than not. They are able to be tolerant of uncertainty, but if risks are involved, they would prefer to have some shared stake. Although they are reserved and flexible, understanding the rules and regulations while having some freedom from rigid structure with specific knowledge of the job and freedom of expression will be what really makes an Operator successful in the workplace. When making decisions, Operators like to have time to think them all the way through. When looking over my results, nothing about them surprised me. 

As an Operator, I am known for working best in a steady and patient environment. My mom has always told me that even if I take a little longer to complete some tasks, they will always be done to the very best of my abilities because I am being thorough. 

When considering the level of social interaction for me to be successful, through my years of schooling I have learned that if I am going to study with other people, it is best for me to be 1-on-1 rather than a large group for me to be most effective. Even though I work best in that situation, I still have a team mindset and want to have a successful group, rather than just me succeeding. 

One specific thing that is important to me to be successful is feeling like I am in a supportive environment so that I can feel comfortable asking for help if I need it. I also enjoy having clearly set goals and explicit communication about what is expected of me, which is why I love when projects or assignments I have in my classes have well-laid out rubrics. A little bit of encouragement can go a long way for me! As an Operator, when I hear that I am doing a good job, it makes me feel very reassured and ready to keep on working. 

Any time that I have needed to make an important decision, I almost always need to sleep on it. I like being able to think through all the possible outcomes of a decision and how going a certain way will not only affect me, but other people as well. This also falls in line with the Operator personality type. 

Although I am still new to PI, I have already found myself using it in many ways to be successful at work and at school, and even with my personal relationships. Having all of the charts and tools that PI offers has been very cool to look at and see how I can best work with and interact with my coworkers. 

Learn more about the Predictive Index and how W Talent Solutions can introduce your organization to Talent Optimization.