Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Evolving Beyond Labels with Lumina Spark


New Spark App coming soon – Individuals, teams and organizations using Lumina Spark
will have access to a brilliant new hi-tech app.

As a learning and development professional, I’m always thrilled when I share new information with someone and see the virtual light bulb go on.  That “aha” moment when knowledge and clarity intersect is where the door opens to personal, internal transformation.

This happened recently when I reviewed the results of BruceKasanoff’s Lumina Spark assessment with him. Like many people, he was a veteran of other behavioral assessments, and a doubter of sorts, since the labels those assessments provided didn’t quite fit.

At Lumina Learning we don’t believe in labels. Humans are far too complex to be categorized as EITHER/OR, or abridged into one of 16 personality types.  Reducing the complexity of the human personality into such a narrow scope can limit an individual in their own eyes, and in the eyes of others. It is both limited and limiting.

Lumina Spark is a more innovative, comprehensive and realistic approach that focuses on traits, not types.  It recognizes the complex contradictions that make each one of us unique. For example, an individual may have both introvert AND extravert qualities; they can be tactical AND strategic; they can focus on results, AND also care about the people.

Based on the latest academic research in the “Big 5” personality traits, as well as certain elements of Jungian theory, the Lumina framework embraces the fact that each individual possesses opposing personality traits. It’s “AND” thinking versus “EITHER/OR” thinking. Lumina embraces the paradox. 

Everyone possesses all five of the “Big 5” personality traits – extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience – but we each possess them to varying degrees. We are unique individuals, not types.

Lumina Spark achieves this more comprehensive view by looking at 8 aspects and 24 qualities, and measuring these along a continuum to create a unique portrait for each individual. And it goes deeper.  Each quality is measured for three personas

1.       Your Underlying persona – who you are most naturally
2.       Your Everyday persona – how you “show up” based on what’s required of you at work
3.       Your Overextended persona – how you behave under stress

Attaining self-awareness by understanding your strengths and development areas in each of these personas is powerful.  For example, if your job current role doesn’t give you the opportunity to use one of your underlying strengths, that may be the root of your desire to move on.  Spark may help you discover “hidden gems” – underlying qualities that you can consider in career decisions or leverage to add more value in your current role. Also, when you understand the triggers that shape your behaviors and interactions when you are overextended, you are better able to control them.

Teams also benefit from the knowledge and understanding provided through Lumina Spark.

I recently worked with a newly-formed team made up of development professionals from different parts of the company. Their charter was to create and implement a leadership development initiative to be rolled out across the organization. The problem was, that while they collectively generated a lot of big ideas, the action and structure needed to put those ideas into play wasn’t happening. 

As I charted their individual Spark results into a team profile, it was clear that their collective Everyday personas leaned heavily toward conceptual, imaginative, big picture thinking, and other qualities you’d expect to be present in a development team.  This was especially true for the team leader. When I looked at the underlying qualities, however, I discovered in the Underlying personas that there were two individuals who had a strong natural inclination toward structure, reliability and other discipline-driven qualities that contribute to defining processes and procedures. Once the team recognized and leveraged these “hidden gems” they were able to get the job done. And the team members whose natural abilities had been dormant and were now being used were thrilled!

If you’d like to learn more about Lumina Spark, please contact me at info-us@luminalearning.com or 888.827.8855.

Leading from within,

Rebecca



No comments:

Post a Comment