Bring Out the Best in Your People

More and more organizations are recognizing that individuals and leaders who are self-aware tend to be better at managing their emotions, influencing others, and building strong, collaborative relationships.

To help employees develop self-awareness, companies often use one of the various psychometric assessments available on the market.  Unfortunately, many of these tools were developed decades ago and are still using old thinking with regard to individuals and personalities. They focus on categorizing people into specific “types,” without acknowledging the vast complexity of the human personality.

This approach has been widely criticized, especially in the academic world, as being too limiting. In fact, according to a recent Fortune magazine article, personality “typing” has been subject to sustained criticism by professional psychologists for more than 30 years.

One of the key criticisms is that “typing” mistakenly assumes that personality falls into mutually exclusive categories. For example, you are either an introvert OR an extravert. You are either logical OR emotional. Typing assigns an individual all of the characteristics of a trait without any of the characteristics of the opposite of that trait. The danger in this, of course, is that when organizations use these typing tools their culture can become biased toward one type or another. For example, they may associate a particular type with leadership more strongly than other types and may even eliminate one or more types from leadership consideration. The result is that employees who are not this type but want to become leaders will either try to change who they are, or become disengaged, or leave. This is not bringing out the best in people and helping them feel like valued contributors. 

Evaluative bias threatens personal satisfaction and contributes to an organizational culture of disengagement.  The first damages employee happiness and well-being, while the second damages the bottom line.  According to recent Gallup studies, disengaged employees can cost US organizations up to $605 billion each year in lost productivity.

Humans are far too complex to be categorized as either/or, or to be segmented into particular types.  They may display more characteristics of a trait (or its opposite) based on a particular situation. 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.

Fortunately, there are emerging, state-of-the-art psychometric assessments that help to eliminate evaluative bias.  These are tools that do not type people, instead they scientifically measure behaviors exhibited or qualities a person utilizes.  Even better are the ones that embrace “and” thinking as opposed to “either/or” thinking. These are the ‘open-system’ tools where you measure each factor individually.  Therefore, a person’s unique gifts and talents are highlighted. 

National Geographic’s publication Your Personality Explained, called the Big5 the cutting edge approach to measuring personality because it doesn’t categorize people as “types,” but rather empirically and scientifically measures each of their 5 personality factors for a more unique and comprehensive picture. Assessments based on the Big5 principle are one step in the right direction.

No matter what you choose to use in your organization to help raise employees’ self-awareness, be mindful of the effects that creating an atmosphere that rewards or limits certain ‘types’ of people can have on employee morale.  Instead, help your employees look for hidden gems and talents in each other; help them see the uniqueness each person has to offer.  Help them feel valued, and watch them contribute.  Bring out the best in your people and they will bring out the best in your organization. 

Cheers to Deeper Diversity,

Rebecca Bales

Global Partner Lumina Learning

Contact us at info-us@luminalearning.com to learn about upcoming Lumina events. 

The Master Teacher, Failure Is: “We Are What They Grow Beyond”

In the latest Star Wars movie – The Last Jedi – Luke Skywalker, burdened with failure and reluctant to mentor the ambitious Rey, tells Yoda (his mentor): “I can’t be what she needs me to be.” And Yoda responds:

“Heeded my words not, did you? Pass on what you have learned. Strength, mastery. But weakness, folly, failure also. Yes, failure most of all. The greatest teacher, failure is. Luke, we are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters.”

Most leaders are quite happy to share what they’ve learned over the years – the knowledge they’ve gained, the skills they’ve developed, the successes they’ve achieved. And yet, when it comes to sharing failures, which are often the catalyst for knowledge gained, skills developed, and successes ultimately achieved, they’re not quite so forthcoming.

As Yoda might say, “omission the error is.”

Those you lead, coach, mentor can learn a great deal when you open up about past failures and walk them through how you responded, how you recovered, and what you learned.  And you did learn. If not, you wouldn’t be where you are today. Why not share that experience? Yes, it requires you to be vulnerable. Yes, you have to admit that you’re not perfect. And by so doing you give your employee/mentee the greatest lesson of all – it’s OK to fail. Creating an environment where employees can be comfortable with failure increases risk taking and the free flow of ideas, ultimately leading to innovation, which is key to organizations remaining relevant and competitive.

As you share your failures, don’t neglect to include how the failure impacted you emotionally. Often as leaders we feel that we need to show up as a tower of strength even while allowing ourselves to be vulnerable. Admitting the emotions you felt in failure – anger, remorse, grief, fear, whatever they were – shows that you’re human, and gives your employee/mentee permission to embrace rather than suppress their emotions in the face of failure.

According to an article in the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, “Emotions Know Best: The Advantage of Emotional vs. Cognitive Responses to Failure,” focusing on our emotional response to failure actually helps prevent us from making the same mistake again. The authors found that focusing more on justifying the failure does not “have the commonly believed reflective, self-improving qualities.” A focus on emotions, on the other hand, “can allow for learning and, therefore, increased effort.”

Allowing ourselves to learn from our failures and to share that experience with those we lead, will help us and others have the courage and strength to lead, to fail, to learn, to grow beyond, and to thrive beyond.

As we wrap up this first month of 2018, I encourage you to make this a year of personal reflection, learning and grace. 2018 is a year of GROWTH, so be ready to make the bold request and be turned down, for there is much to learn in that process.  Be ready to learn about yourself from the inside out – be ready to take the step you are hesitant to take because what is the worse that will happen?  You will learn, and you will grow, and through this growth and learning, you will be one step closer to your ideal  result.  Be present with yourself and your loved ones. Be joyous because you are blessed with the “now.” Be humble because you are not perfect. Continue to grow, to learn and to evolve into your most perfectly imperfect self. Don’t be afraid of the master teacher.

Lead on,

Rebecca

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Building Resilient Leaders by Embracing Failure

Winston Churchill once said, “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” In other words, be resilient.

In today’s ever-changing, highly competitive and sometimes brutal world of business, leaders are called upon to “keep going” even in the face of monumental failure. And although it may seem like hell, experiencing failure and developing the skills and strength to forge through it, builds resilience, and ultimately leads to success.

What is a resilient leader?

A resilient leader is someone who sees failure as a learning opportunity. They are able to manage ambiguity, and readily adapt to changing circumstances and requirements. Resilient leaders tend to have a growth mindset, meaning that they realize they are still learning, embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, and see efforts as a pathway to mastery. The opposite of this is a fixed mindset. Someone with a fixed mindset is not open to learning – they believe they already know it all. They are all about “looking smart,” and they avoid challenges and obstacles that might prove otherwise. They avoid negative feedback, even when it might be useful. 

Resilient leaders:

Look for the positive. Resilient leaders focus on the positive in people and in situations. They don’t overlook or ignore potential downsides or issues, but spend their energy on workarounds and solutions rather than worrying about what might go wrong.

See failure as an opportunity. Resilient leaders learn from their mistakes. They reframe failure as another opportunity to get it right, or as a sign they need to take an alternative approach.

Are coachable. Resilient leaders seek and act upon feedback. They admit their mistakes and model an attitude of learning from those mistakes. This, in turn, helps individuals on their team be more willing to risk trying something new.

Manage adversity. Resilient leaders are able to push through adversity and resistance. They figure out a way to overcome problems, and they get back up when they fall. Every time. The difference between those who succeed and those who don’t often comes down to a moment in time – when they want to give up, but instead kick through the wall of resistance and find what they are looking for right on the other side.

Get outside their comfort zone. Resilient leaders recognize that to overcome adversity and break through any barriers that may be preventing them from moving forward, they need to push themselves beyond their comfort level.  

Champion change. Resilient leaders embrace change and are able to provide the leadership and motivation for others to join them in adapting to the change. They provide a clear vision, and through their confidence they inspire others to work toward that vision.

How to build resilient leaders in your organization
In addition to helping your leaders develop the above characteristics, provide them with this framework to help build their resilience. 

When a project or deadline fails, explore these three options each time.  If you are in the business of growing leaders, review this with them in your next coaching or review meeting with them:

1. What went wrong?
2. What would you change next time?
3. What early signs would be your markers next time for adjustments? 

 “The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fail.” – Nelson Mandela