IPA Core Personality Analysis

Scandinavias leading personality analysis

Available to 82% of the world’s
population in their native language

IPA Core Method factors

METHOD FACTORS

PA Core Performance Factors

RESULT FACTORS

IPA Core Relationship Factors

RELATIONSHIP FACTORS

IPA Core Personlige vækstfaktorer

PERSONAL GROWTHS FACTORS

Introduction til IPA Core Personality

‘By measuring behaviour, we gain insight into the candidate’s natural preferences, collaboration style and decision-making patterns, making it possible to match the person with both job requirements and company culture.’

IPA Core is a personality analysis and is a conversation starter where the outcome and quality is created in the dialog between two people.

The 12 personality traits of the IPA Core Analysis are divided into four main factors, each illustrated in a different color. Each core factor should be seen as a mental platform on which we build a range of personal experiences and skills throughout our lives, which we apply in the workplace. The four main factors are connected and integrated in such a way that the quality and content of what we learn and develop on one platform is dependent on what we have learned and developed on the other platforms.

Thus, we fundamentally perceive the personality as a whole, where everything is interconnected. We always interpret the individual factors based on this personality whole.

Usage

For selecting and developing people in the world of work

A basis for conversation about how a person and a job fit together – with a focus on personal development, behaviour and leadership. IPA Core Personality provides insight into both preferences and potential, making it a valuable tool in both recruitment and development.

The goal is:

  • To find the right people for open positions based on strengths and natural preferences
  • Promote job satisfaction, motivation and engagement across the organisation
  • Build a team that complements each other with different strengths and personalities
  • Develop people to a greater understanding of their own behaviour, preferences, motives and values

Understand the individual traits of
IPA Core Personality

Read more

Understand leadership potential
IPA Core Leadership

Read More

Examples of reports

Full
Report

Candidate
Handout

Handout report

Descriptive
Trait report

Simple
Trait  report

Executive
SWOT

Why choose IPA Core Personality?

Used internationally

As an author, Flemming has been behind the certification of a personality analysis that achieved the best rating among Nordic analysis providers.

Multi language

The IPA Core Personality covers more than 80% of the world’s population.

Different norms for different countries provide an opportunity to understand cultural differences.

State of the art technology

With IPA PeopleSuite, it provides a unique 360° insight into a person’s
– Behaviour
– Preferences and Motives
– Managerial focus
– Cognitive Abilities

Cand. Phil. Flemming Anders Olsen has been developing analyses for people in working life for more than 30 years. In his many years in the field, he has approached people’s perception of themselves in working life from several angles. He has worked with the classical trait theory’s description of people as a structure of personality traits. He has worked with Belbin’s and Adize’s theories and models on the concept of roles and leadership style. And he has worked with a unique concept of the individual’s personal values based on Ken Wilber’s and Robert Kegan’s developmental psychological thoughts on the individual’s maturity journey through life. Over the years, Flemming Olsen has also conducted the research that forms the basis for IPA Nordic ApS’s analyses, and he has extensive experience in the field, which ensures the quality of the analyses offered by IPA Nordic. In a previous collaboration with a Nordic consultancy, he was the author behind the certification of a personality analysis that achieved the best rating among Nordic providers of analyses. The assessment was carried out by STP, Stiftelsen för tillämpad Psykologi, and the submitted analysis was evaluated in a formal certification process by researchers from several universities in Sweden. Flemming Olsen has subsequently carried out several research projects for companies in Scandinavia in collaboration with a Nordic consultancy. The research that forms the basis of IPA Nordic ApS’ analysis tools is based on Flemming Anders Olsen’s outstanding work and experience, and recognised as a leader in Denmark by IPA Nordic’s customers.

IPA Core Personality is not a test!

We should NEVER call a personality analyser a personality test. You can fail a test. You can’t do that with your personality.

IPA Nordic believes that we evolve throughout our lives. This means that goals and means change. That’s why the research behind the IPA Core Personality is recognised as the best of its kind.

IPA Core Personality differs from traditional analyses by being a descriptive model that creates a holistic understanding of a person’s behaviour – rather than placing people in fixed categories or giving a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ score. The IPA Core Personality is a model for understanding – not a type indicator.

  • Many personality assessments, such as MBTI or DISC, place a person in a fixed type and often assume that people are static – but IPA CORE looks at how a person’s behaviour changes depending on context, experience and development
  • IPA Core Personality works with scales and spectrums, meaning that a person’s behaviour always has nuances and potential for development
  • IPA Core Personality captures the integral and dynamic, as personality and behaviour evolve over time
  • IPA Core Personality combines multiple layers of analysis and integrates behavioural motivators (IPA Meta), leadership style (Team Role). This allows the model to not only provide a snapshot but also explain why a person acts the way they do.

IPA Core Personality is based on a broader psychological understanding of personality, including the Big Five and motivation theories. It focuses on describing a candidate’s behaviour in different work situations and provides a nuanced picture of both strengths and development potential.

IPA Core Personality provides a deeper and more nuanced picture of a candidate compared to DISC, which focuses primarily on superficial behaviours.

The DISC model was originally developed by American psychologist William Moulton Marston in 1928 in his book Emotions of Normal People. 30 years later, Walter Clarke was the first to operationalise it, including as a type model for finding commanders for the US Army.

Today, there are many different versions of DISC.

The biggest criticism of DISC

Although DISC is a popular tool, there are several major criticisms that both researchers and practitioners have raised. The main criticisms include:

1. Lack of scientific foundation

  • DISC is based on William Marston’s theories from 1928, which was not developed as a psychological test.
  • Most versions of DISC lack solid empirical validation and do not have strong support in modern personality psychology.
  • DISC measures behaviour in a narrow context but says nothing about the basic structure of personality like the Big Five (five-factor model), which has a much stronger scientific basis.

2. Too simple and static model

  • DISC categorises people too broadly and doesn’t take into account that behaviour is dynamic and influenced by environment, experience and context.
  • People often have behavioural patterns that vary depending on the situation, but DISC locks them into one primary style.
  • IPA Core Personality, on the other hand, captures the integral and developmental aspect of behaviour and motivation.

3. Lack of depth in personality analysis

  • DISC only measures behavioural preferences and does not take into account motivation, values, emotional intelligence or cognitive abilities.
  • This means DISC can be misleading if used to predict job performance, as cognition and motivation are often stronger predictors of success in complex roles.
  • More advanced models such as IPA Core Personality + IPA Meta-factors provide a broader picture of a candidate because they look at behaviour, motivation and values.

4. not suitable for recruitment

  1. DISC is often used in recruitment, but the model is not designed to predict job performance.
  2. The Big Five, cognitive tests and motivation tests have far better predictive validity in recruitment.
  3. DISC does not measure critical factors such as work style, learning ability or cognitive ability, which can lead to recruitment errors if used alone.

5. Can lead to oversimplification and stereotyping

  • Many DISC users perceive the four behavioural styles as fixed types, even though people are more complex.
  • This can lead to preconceived assumptions about employees or candidates, believing that a ‘D profile’ is always dominant or that an ‘S profile’ always seeks stability.
  • The IPA approach avoids this by working with scales and dynamic development models, rather than static categories.

6. Commercial exploitation and unregulated market

  • DISC is not protected by official certification or research-based control, which means that anyone can develop and sell their own version.
  • This has created a market with countless variations of DISC, with some versions being more serious than others.
  • Unlike, for example, Big Five-based tests, which have strict requirements for reliability and validity, the quality of DISC tests is highly variable.

Conclusion

DISC can be a useful tool for team development and communication, but it has clear limitations, especially when it comes to recruitment and predictive validity. The model is too simple, lacks scientific grounding and overlooks important aspects of personality and motivation.

For a more dynamic and developmental approach, tools such as IPA Core Personality + IPA Meta-factors are a better alternative as they not only describe behaviour, but also look at how and why a person develops in their working life.

Understand the research background

Researcher Flemming Olsen talks about IPA Core Personality

Researcher Flemming Olsen is the author of top-rated personality analysis

The certification mentioned in the video relates to a previous collaboration with a Nordic consultancy where Flemming Olsen, as author, was responsible for the certification of a personality analysis that achieved the best rating among Nordic analysis providers.

Researcher Flemming Olsen talks about the integral idea

Researcher Flemming Olsen talks about the colours in the IPA analysis

PeopleSuite – One single view of all analyses

The PeopleSuite Cockpit is the central platform where all analyses come together to provide a holistic and data-driven overview of a person or team. It integrates IPA Core Personality, IPA Meta-factors and Team Role into one cockpit, making it easy to understand the connections between behaviour, motivation and leadership style.

PeopleSuite Cockpit – Visual insights and customised feedback

To ensure a clear and nuanced understanding, PeopleSuite generates written feedback on several levels:

  • Main factor – Overall description of a person’s behavioural profile and common traits.
  • Single factors – Specific analyses of the individual aspects of the behaviour, such as preference for structure, flexibility or relationship building.
  • Paired traits – When two behavioural traits reinforce each other or are opposites of each other.

Build the right team with PeopleSuite Cockpit

PeopleSuite Cockpit makes it easy and intuitive to build teams that balance skills, behaviour and motivation. By combining IPA Core Personality, IPA Meta-factors and Team Role, the platform provides a holistic insight into team dynamics so you can ensure the optimal match between people and tasks.

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