Team Building and Workplace Communication For SUCCESS

How Does Living Artfully Contribute to Your Professional Resilience?

Over the years of talking and working with artists, only a handful I’ve known rise to the level of making a living by doing the creative work they love. The level of success in the arts isn’t necessarily directly related to skill, talent, or effort. There isn’t one easily discernable path that people can take, and artists habitually struggle because the time required to make a living interferes with the time they get to spend practicing their craft. The stereotype of the “starving artist” is alive and well, and while I would never recommend the life of an artist to people concerned with ensuring resilience in their lives, there is something to be learned from looking at processes that artists use that foster resilience. Moreover, living artfully creates a rich and robust foundation that promotes resilient responses to a variety of interesting and challenging life conditions. In this article I will explore what living artfully is all about and why it’s worth investigating.

Masterpieces from every age and continent have inspired generations with their beauty and truth. These paintings show the full expression of the genius and spirit of the individual, and they not only inspire us in times of upheaval, but also motivate us to reach deeper or go further to step fully into our potential. What survives from any culture are artifacts and mark-making that afford us a window onto the people who lived in a particular place and time and a view of their reality. Accessing the quotient of the unknown is what makes us fully human and is one place where living artfully plays a role in our resilience. Why is that important? As human beings, we have a depth and range of possibility that goes beyond what is immediately apparent. That is not to say that all things are possible to all people. Rather, the question to ask is, “To what extent am I in tune with my gifts, talents, strengths, and passions and living life fully and with ease as a result of this attunement?”

FOUR LEVELS OF COMPETENCE
To demonstrate different levels of attunement, here is a simple model adapted from the work of Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach and Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks of the Hendricks Institute.

4- Artful living

3- Excellence

2- Competence

1- Incompetence

1. Incompetence
• Things that almost anyone can do better than you.
• Lack of skills, aptitudes, and interest in this area.

2. Competence
• Things that you can do fairly well but others can do just as well.
• Some learned skills but not in alignment with your preferences, desires, or key motivations.

3. Excellence
• Things that you can do better than most people.
• You get feedback that other people admire this ability in you.
• You get jobs given to you or requested of you because you do them so well, BUT they drain you.
• While you may have developed skills and agility in this area, it is not connected to your purpose.

4. Artful Living
• Fully utilizing your preferences, gifts, talents, and unique abilities.
• Doing what lines up with your intrinsic motivation, desires, interests, and passion.
• This is the zone where you forget about time. You are fully absorbed in a way that is effortless. You’re in the “flow state.”
• This is the skill or quality that nobody else brings to the table. If it were missing the organization and the people in your network would miss it.

Author, researcher, and international trainer L. Michael Hall refers to this as our “genius state”: “This . . . state is at the same time so very special and yet so common. We were born for it and naturally experienced it as children when we would get so lost in experiences. This . . . captures our attention and fits with our highest values and intentions.”  Living artfully involves the kind of total absorption that blocks fear. It is a place where we trust ourselves and the Universe. We are open and receptive and naturally adopt a “learner’s mind”. There is an integration of one’s full being that has benefit for ourselves and those we come into contact with. Imagine the ease and flow if we designed our lives to spend most of our time and resources living artfully. Rather than investing our energy in trying to fix ourselves in areas where we are incompetent or even competent, we ought to be rigorous in saying NO, delegating those functions for which we are inept to others or finding automated systems for them.

The larger challenge may occur in areas of excellence. People give special recognition for a job well done, not realizing that it may be an energy drain. Mary Stacey, for example, is artful at helping organizations realize their strategic aspirations; however, she can work as well in the trenches to align teams by facilitating learning.  She is so excellent at facilitating groups that she is in high demand, but energetically drained. When she stays focused at this third level of excellence, she is not working “in the zone” that is true to her intuitive, analytic abilities of being a thinking partner with senior leadership. As Mary so aptly puts it, “My excellence was killing me.” Mary decided to collaborate with a gifted facilitator, and this symbiotic relationship has allowed them both to grow and flourish.

THE PATH TO ARTFUL LIVING

How can we distill what artful living means to us? Self-knowledge is key to the choices we make, the things we know to say YES to and those things we say a clear NO to. There are various ways that we gain self-knowledge, some of which are out of our control. Disruptions of various kinds can teach us things about ourselves, and we generally love stories of the heroic journey where people learn how to overcome obstacles such as illness, natural disasters, accidents, and other external misfortunes. Learning does not have to involve suffering, however. It can be intentional and self-directed. Five ways that we can begin to gain self-knowledge include: assessment tools, self-observation, self-directed investigation, requesting feedback, and of course, coaching.

Some particularly useful assessment tools are the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, which looks at our conscious preferences; the Reiss Desire Profile, a trait-based assessment that looks at our intrinsic motivation and can be used to predict behavior; and the Enneagram, a model of nine intrinsic motivational styles and resulting worldviews. There are many good assessment tools, but the key factor of value to me is the time and focus I invested to learn how to work with what I discovered about myself. This is where self-observation plays a valuable role. For instance, from the Reiss Desire Profile my results show a low score on Power. This has huge implications for someone running their own business, a prime example being the internal barriers to asking for business from potential clients or customers. Over time, as I noticed my reluctance to actively go out and ask for business, I also noticed my ease and natural ability in creating relationships and supporting others. This is part of who I am at my artful best, and so I incorporated this ability into the design for building my business by focusing on creating mutually beneficial cooperative endeavors with other professionals.

Actively seeking feedback is a hallmark of people who excel in their field. Associates or more experienced colleagues are generally willing to provide high-quality feedback if they are asked for their professional opinion. When you ask for feedback, take the time to find out what’s below the surface. You may find some nuggets of insight that can anchor you in your work. One coaching client commented that I ask the questions that they are afraid to ask themselves. That kind of response gives me the courage to continue to ask the next hard question.

Finally, to identify the elements that contribute to artful living for you, investigate your path and explore how you got to where you are. What are the messages from your family of origin, your cultural heritage, your circle of friends, and your spouse? How are they impacting your decisions today? A prime example of these subtle messages occurs around our educational decisions. Do we feel pressure to get credentials, such as another degree? Is that a piece of the equation that will make the difference to our work?

Another interesting question to ask is, “What metaphors am I living by, and are they supporting my gifts and talents?” For example, some people “do battle,” “make a killing,” “launch a campaign,” or use other war imagery in how they talk about their business. This has a different impact from the language of “flow,” which inspires ease.

Questions that take us beyond our rehearsed scripts expand our self-knowledge. We thrive or stagnate according to the quality of questions we ask ourselves. We don’t learn from our experiences, but from our reflections about our experiences. The better the quality of the questions we ask, the more resilient we become.

In times of increased complexity and uncertainty we cannot rely on the “business as usual” to get us through. Trying to shore up areas that we find de-motivating, energy draining and where we lack competence is misdirecting our time and resources.  Working harder may just dig a deeper hole. Working in alignment with our gifts talents and resources can unleash the creativity required to come up with the innovative, integrated far reaching thinking that we need to move into the future. 

This article is an excerpt from Upping the Downside: 64 Strategies for Creating Professional Resilience By Design (Resilience By Design, Volume 2) by Mike R. Jay, Sandy McMullen et al You can learn more at http://www.upthedownside.com

2 http://www.self-actualizing.org/articles/maslow_on_genius_state.pdf.

3 I know Mary Stacey through Context Management Consulting Inc.where I am an associate.

People Skills – Are They Born or Made?

Managers usually are promoted for their technical skills.  Having technical skills does not mean one has people skills, however.  Organizational turnover, poor morale, absenteeism, organizational conflicts, worker sabotage, and worker indifference are all symptoms of managers who lack people skills.  This raises an interesting question!  Specifically, are people skills born or made?  The truth is that both views are correct.  Some individuals are naturally better at working with people.  They excel at getting the best out of people.  It is also true, however, that we can improve our people skills with time and effort.  Lacking people skills does not mean we cannot develop them.

Six Steps for Improving People-Skills

1. Acknowledge Areas of Improvement

A manager’s ability to improve his people skills begins with his acceptance that he has weaknesses that he needs to improve if he is to be an effective leader.  Without this acknowledgement, he cannot become better in his interactions with people. This is the first and hardest step for improving one’s people skills.  

2. Commit to Improving People Skills

Once a manager admits her deficiencies in a certain area, she has to want to change her performance.  Some managers do not want to make the emotional and time investments that bring about change, however.  Change is not easy.  Once the manager makes the commitment, the process becomes easier.  

3. Attend Quality Management Training Seminars

Quality training can provide managers with critical knowledge they need to develop their people skills.  Effective training will offer opportunities within the seminar to practice key skills.  (This is important for adult learning as we need chances to apply what we are learning.)  Taking the training outside the workplace allows confidentiality as well. The manager seeking to improve his skills can experiment and be more open about his deficiencies without fear of it being held against him in the workplace.  

Internal management training is also an option providing it is well designed. If your organization offers assessment center training, this can be highly effective method for improving your people skills.  With this training, a manager has to demonstrate and role-play managerial duties while interacting with others.  Their performance is then evaluated by seasoned practitioners who can provide feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of your management and leadership skills.  

4.  Take a Behavioral Assessment

Behavioral assessments such as Myers-Briggs®, Firo-B®, Interaction Styles®, Temperament Theory®, and the TKI Conflict Mode Instrument® are great tools for improving people skills.  These assessments can provide insights in areas such as communications, conflict-resolution, motivation, team building, interpersonal effectiveness, values, supervision, and other critical areas.  The key is to use individuals who are professionally certified to administer these instruments.  There are many business professionals who have not been assessed properly and this only adds to their confusion on how best to work with others. With the advances of the Internet, many of these assessments can be taken confidentially online and a follow-up coaching session can be done over the telephone.  So, it is no longer important where you live.  This information is available to everyone.  Visit the Business Consulting Solutions LLC Store to view a sample of any of these reports.

5.  Find and Adopt a Business Mentor

Finding a management mentor who exemplifies “people-skill management” is highly effective for a manager’s self-improvement efforts. The additional benefit of this approach is that it lets the manager get feedback from someone with proven abilities in this area. Often, finding a mentor is as simple as asking a leader you respect to be your mentor.  Go to work with them and observe them in action if you can.  Many years ago, I asked a Vice President to be my mentor and he readily accepted.  Being able to talk to him as a young manager was invaluable to improving my people skills.

6.  Be Receptive to all Feedback—Especially Negative Feedback

Managers need to listen to the organization for feedback on their performance. This feedback is always present if a manager is willing to listen to it. It can come through formal sources such as organizational climate surveys, 360 degree performance appraisal feedback, the use of external or internal consultants, and other methods. Even better, managers can create an environment of continual feedback by making it acceptable for others to disagree with her and present alternate views or to bring her bad news. If she keeps hearing the same feedback from very different people, she should seriously evaluate what others are telling her.  There is likely some truth to their perceptions.

There is Hope!

We do not have to despair if we were not born with “tons of natural charisma.” People skills can be developed.  We can always improve if we acknowledge the areas where we are lacking and commit to an action plan to perform better.  Gain the information you need to take your people skills to the next level by taking an online behavioral assessment at the Business Consulting Solutions LLC Store.

Business Consulting Solutions LLC
Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.

4-6 minute excerpt/sample from Type Practitioner Blueprint Online Seminar Series 1 DVD TypeLabs presents… Driving Team Performance from the Inside Out Building effective real and virtual team dynamics is a vital factor in 21st century organizational success. This program will show how the theories of temperament and psychological type can be applied to raising team productivity. Participants will learn how to create and diagnose a team profile of temperaments, functions and attitudes, and type. This profile will be used to comprehend team performance (strengths and potential challenges). From this point they will learn how to design a customized strategy for team intervention to improve overall team results.
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How Personality Affects How You Handle Sticky Situations and Say It Just Right

To better understand the Say It Just Right (SIJR) Model, you must know more about the people you are “saying it” to before you apply it to sticky situations.  If we faced cardboard people everyday, who always acted the same way, we could apply the SIJR Model right away.  Unfortunately (some may say fortunately) people are different.  These differences require that we not only understand what to say and how to say it, but also to whom we are saying it.

Personality Overlay

The Three C’s (Change, Curiosity and Compassion) comprise the foundation of the SIJR Model, and the Decision Points (Costs, Limits, and Power Sources) hammer in the framework.  The Personality Overlay colors in the background behind the picture.  Imagine a photo of the forum in ancient Rome as we see it today with the rocks, columns, pieces of statuary and gravel foot paths.  Visualize an overlay that depicts the way ancient Rome looked centuries ago with intact buildings, temples, magnificent statues and elaborate houses.  That overlay shows us the full picture.  Without that overlay we cannot envision the way things were.  Similarly, when dealing with sticky situations, we encounter people who overlay reactions to the events around them.  We must consider these people and their unique personality styles before we embark on a SIJR conversation.

BEST Personality Styles

To simplify our analysis of personality, I selected the styles created by James Brewer, et al., in Power Management: A Three Step Approach for Successful Leadership.

Brewer created a simple but effective survey to determine personality style.  Unlike some of the more popular assessments, such as Myers-Briggs, whose styles baffle us and often disappear from our memories (ENFJ, ISTP), Brewer’s style types are easy to identify: Bold, Expressive, Sympathetic and Technical (BEST).  Furthermore, if you cannot administer the My BEST Profile, you can quickly observe behaviors and deduce one of the styles.  To order My BEST profile, go to http://www.hrdq.com.  Bear in mind, however, that behavior drives personality.  The better you are at watching people, observing their verbal and nonverbal cues, the better adept you will get at predicting their personality preferences.

Bold Personality.  Action drives Bolds.  They make quick decisions, focus on results, compete with everyone, show determination to the point of stubbornness, and love to multitask.  They communicate in short sentences without elaboration or clarification.  They look at their watches frequently and come to meetings on time or early.  They demand fast results from subordinates.  They prefer not to work on teams because (in their view) teamwork wastes time. The Bold person loves challenges and adventure.  A group of Bolds often jumps to a quick decision within minutes of getting a task and then spends the rest of the time looking for new tasks.

Expressive Personality.  People stimulate Expressives.  They engage others with enthusiasm and a positive attitude.  They enjoy going to meetings but often arrive late.  When they enter a room, everyone notices them.  A buzz of energy seems to follow them.  Expressives dress in bold colors–reds, yellows, and oranges.  They initiate greetings by quickly saying hello and shaking hands.  Although engaging, they lose interest when you talk about your family or other personal issues.  They prefer to tell you all about themselves and their projects.  A group of Expressives struggles when asked to complete a task because each must talk.  Instead of listening to one another, however, they vie for center-stage.  At the end of the work time, the group reports that they enjoyed themselves, but they did not reach a firm decision.

Sympathetic Personality.  Sympathetics are loyal and unselfish.  They do not hesitate to help others so long as they show respect and trust.  Most people find Sympathetics easy to be around because of their generosity and concern for others.  The Sympathetics’ compassion shows in their ability to listen whenever people share problems, home or work related.  A group of Sympathetics accomplishes whatever task you might give them.  They like to please.  Rather than take risks or think outside the box, they tow the line in order to win the praise of their leaders.

Sympathetics thrive on appreciation.  They do what they believe you want.  Perhaps you can’t imagine a sticky situation with a Sympathetic.  One of the most difficult things you may encounter in your career is to give a good, loyal, obedient Sympathetic low performance measures or to inform a Sympathetic that his job is no longer available.

Technical Personality.  Technicals are logical, organized, cautious, and systematic.  They operate by the rules.  They search for organization and logic.  Often you can identify Technical personalities by the state of their offices.  Technicals carefully label files and line up pens in perfect order.  They prefer to work alone rather than in teams.  When they must work in teams, they tend to hold back rather than become fully interdependent team members.  If you put a group of Technicals together on a project, it bogs down because no one steps up to make a decision, and each holds back, preferring not to share his or her true views.

When applying the SIJR Model of communication, we make adjustments according to the personality overlay.  This is how it might work.

Bold considerations:

Bolds will try to re-define your problem in their terms. Bolds tend to jump to the resolution before they join feelings with facts. Bolds do not share a lot of information when you invite them to talk. Beware of too easy solutions.  Bolds jump to the quickest, easiest solution.

Expressive considerations:

Expressives will have no trouble talking and you probably will not have to “invite” them to talk. Expressives want to give solutions they feel you want to hear.  They want you to like them. Expressives tend to turn the problem to their own advantage and persuade you to think as they do. Beware of the Expressives’ ability to misinterpret the problem because they have trouble listening.

Sympathetic Considerations

Sympathetics prefer not to talk about problems.  They will not share a lot when you invite them to talk. Because Sympathetics despise conflict, you’ll need to help them identify the issues. Sympathetics have no trouble sharing feelings and will easily join feeling with fact. Beware of coming to a quick resolution because you don’t want to hurt the Sympathetics’ feelings.

Technical Considerations

Technicals have a lot of trouble joining feeling with fact because, in their view, feelings are not logical. Technicals will quickly grasp the problem but will not share very much information when you invite them to talk.  They are too cautious to share until they feel safe. Technicals want to feel a sense of “evenness.”  Be sure when you negotiate the resolution, you include a balance of things you will do along with what they agree to do.

Personality Preferences ? a Tool Kit for Development

Ever wondered why the best-laid plans for your team (or church, or department, or school…) are still hard to put into practice?

The answer may be that the people in your team are just not aware of how different they are from one another. The result can be a failure to communicate properly, or to understand each other’s agendas. A good plan can run off the rails just because the people involved don’t understand one another, or themselves.

One way of addressing this is to use a trusted psychometric instrument like the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). MBTI shows up the sometimes hidden preferences we have at the root of our personalities. It helps us understand how we prefer to make decisions, how we take in information, the kinds of situations we find energising or draining, and the way we like to organise our lives.

Clients using the MBTI typically reflect that it is a very creative process – they recognise themselves more clearly in the type descriptions used, and are able to understand how others may differ from them. It begins to unlock relationships in teams and groups that work together. And it does so without judging or threatening – it really is just as good to be one type as another.

MBTI uses a simple questionnaire that takes about 30 minutes to complete. The best way of experiencing MBTI is through one-to-one feedback on this questionnaire with a trained practitioner, but it is also possible for large groups to receive feedback together. The Myers Briggs Personality Indicator can be used to help with the development of workplace teams but it is also of great benefit in assessing career options, in leadership development, in refining communications skills, and in coaching for success in many areas of life.

A short video about Shaine’s experiences becoming certified to administer and interpret the Myers-Briggs assessment. More info on the program is also available at www.cpp.com
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A Reintroduction to a Great Assessment Tool

In the past, as an employee or company leader, you may have had the opportunity to take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the leading personality inventory assessment tool.

For almost 40 years, business leaders have used the MBTI to assist them with managing employees, developing leadership skills, coaching leaders, building teams, training management and staff, resolving conflicts, enhancing communications, motivating employees, and enhancing diversity training.

What is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator results in a personality inventory designed to make C. G. Jung’s theory of psychological types more understandable and useful in people’s lives. Jung’s theory states that random variations in behavior are actually quite orderly and consistent over a long period of time. However, it is the basic differences in the ways individuals use both their perception and judgment that cause observable behaviors.

Perception describes the ways people become aware of things, people, events, experiences, or ideas. Judgment, on the other hand, describes the many ways people arrive at conclusions about what they have perceived. Due to systematic differences in perception and judgment, people will differ in their interests, reactions, emotions, values, motivations, and skills.

The MBTI results are organized into four pairs of psychological preferences:

(E) extroversion and (I) introversion: How do you get your personal energy – from the world outside of you or from your internal world?
(S) sensing and (N) intuition: How do you collect information – from pure data and facts or do you like to interpret and add information to existing information?
(T) thinking and (F) feeling: How do you make decisions – logically using your own data or by evaluating the effect your decision will have on others?
(J) judging and (P) perceiving: How do you like to operate in the outside world – with structure and a schedule or with flexibility to make changes?

To learn more about personality types, choose the MBTI instrument for both yourself and your employees. Note: the MBTI does not compare your results to other people’s results, nor does it compare you to any normal or pathological standard.  Using the MBTI will help everyone understand their own personality strengths and challenges and how each person can contribute to a situation, a task, or the solution to a problem.

In fact, since its existence, hundreds of studies have proven the MBTI tool to be both valid and reliable. These studies show that the MBTI measures what it says it does and the same results are produced when the tool is given more than once to the same person.

If you and your organization have begun a leadership development, succession planning, or team building process, contact Beth Miller at beth.miller@executive-velocity.com or 678-579-9191 to learn how the MBTI preference survey can further benefit you and your organization’s initiative.

www.organisedconferences.com.au How to get effective team building with results from your staff using leadership communication experiential activities that are fun and get results. Located Gold Coast & Brisbane with outdoor & indoor speakers, activity physical and mental for all age & fitness levels.

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How To Improve Communication Between Big Picture Thinkers And Detail Focusers

I am often asked by clients to assist with a working relationship which has stalled or worse one which has broken down completely.

Occasionally this stalling is as a result of different personalities simply not understanding each other.
A frequent cause is the Big Picture Thinker clashing with a Specific Detail Thinker. Each is a valuable contributor to an organisation and if either is stuck and inflexible in their thinking each becomes incapable of understanding or communicating with the other.

For example; Lisa is a highly competent PA to Geoff, a middle manager in a large organisation. Geoff thinks in pictures, theories and global concepts. He operates his office this way too.  There are lots of coloured sticky notes on his whiteboard, beside the mind maps and coloured diagrams. Geoff is “across the big picture” and does not concern himself with the detail. He has competent technical staff that he trusts to do their jobs. He sees his role as being the supplier of vision and direction – he is good at this.

Recently he became so frustrated with Lisa that he asked the HR department to find him a new PA. Lisa was moved sideways without a lot of explanation and her workplace engagement dropped off.

The HR advisor asked me to intervene with Lisa.

After hearing her history I asked Lisa to do a Myers Briggs Personality Test for me, before we looked at moving forward and re-engaging her in her work.
Lisa’s pride in her work was obvious as was her frustration with Geoff and the situation she found herself in. Her complete conviction that she had done nothing wrong came across quite clearly.

Lisa is proud of her attention to detail and weaves a narrative of the number of times she has had to correct errors of fact by Geoff – including a number of times he made mistakes – in front of his team. She notes that without her guidance and constant correction of his mistakes he would heave made serious errors of judgement as a leader.  Geoff was lucky to have her as his PA!

Her spreadsheet analysis and printouts of key departmental data were usually ignored by Geoff despite the fact that she put numerous hours of her own time into creating them for his benefit.  Lisa is a classic Sensate. All her information is fact and sense based. If she can see it, hear it, touch it, smell it or taste it then it is real and has value.
Concepts and vision are not part of Lisa’s language and are foreign to her; Geoff on the other hand is a global Big Picture iNtuitive Thinker and relies on graphics theories and concepts. The details bore him.

They quite literally speak different languages.

Geoff needed to see the executive summary and graphs of departmental performance – he did not want to be inundated with spreadsheets of data. He also needed to be supported by his PA, not corrected in public.

As Lisa and I talked through her preferred data processing and thinking style; and her choice of language she began to understand how she had given Geoff the exact opposite of what he needed.

Whilst it is too late for Lisa to get her old job back she can take what she has learnt and start to notice the language used by her new boss.

Does he have detailed specific language?
Does he as for precise facts? or
Does he use vague conceptual language?
Does he ask for summaries and “one-pagers” from his people?
Does he surround himself with people he can trust to handle the detail so that he can concentrate on the big picture?
Is he an intuitive thinker who needs her to adapt her style to meet his?

When we can identify the language and preferences of the person we want to communicate or build a relationship with then we have the opportunity to make it easier for them to understand what we are saying by speaking their language.

Sensates (detailed thinkers) can easily provide graphs and summaries backed up with spreadsheets if needed.
iNtuitives can adopt the language of dates; times, how’s and where’s with specifics accompanied by summaries if needed.

With the desire to build a relationship we can change the way we communicate. Usually the other person will recognise our efforts and meet us part way.
If you are still unsure about your preferences, then doing a simple Myers Briggs Test can assist you.

Interpersonal effectiveness training

University Study Proves Best Interpersonal Effectiveness Training

Every organization is looking to get ahead and maximize every dollar spent. Where should you focus to create the most ROI? While research shows that corporate training executives overwhelmingly believe in the value of interpersonal effectiveness training (IET), many are not sure of the best way to build these skills. Colorado State University conducted a comparison of the three leading IET models and found that SOCIAL STYLES is easier to learn and apply than both the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and DiSC.
MBTI, DISC, SOCIAL STYLES

Dr. Kurt Kraiger, director of the Center of Organizational Excellence at CSU explained the findings. “We felt it was important to conduct a thorough evaluation of the three models and see if there were measurable differences in their impact. This study in fact shows that SOCIAL STYLES does outperform DiSC and Myers-Briggs in terms of workplace training.” Do one thing for your business and your employees this year. Implement SOCIAL STYLES.
Every organization is looking to get ahead and maximize every dollar spent. Where should you focus to create the most ROI? While research shows that corporate training executives overwhelmingly believe in the value of interpersonal effectiveness training (IET), many are not sure of the best way to build these skills. Colorado State University conducted a comparison of the three leading IET models and found that SOCIAL STYLE is easier to learn and apply than both the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and DiSC.

MBTI, DISC, SOCIAL STYLES

Dr. Kurt Kraiger, director of the Center of Organizational Excellence at CSU explained the findings. “We felt it was important to conduct a thorough evaluation of the three models and see if there were measurable differences in their impact. This study in fact shows that SOCIAL STYLES does outperform DiSC and Myers-Briggs in terms of workplace training.” Do one thing for your business and your employees this year. Implement SOCIAL STYLES.

Download the full report on Social Styles vs Myers Briggs vs DiSC at University Study Proves Best Interpersonal Effectiveness Training

Every organization is looking to get ahead and maximize every dollar spent. Where should you focus to create the most ROI? While research shows that corporate training executives overwhelmingly believe in the value of interpersonal effectiveness training (IET), many are not sure of the best way to build these skills. Colorado State University conducted a comparison of the three leading IET models and found that SOCIAL STYLES is easier to learn and apply than both the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and DiSC.
MBTI, DISC, SOCIAL STYLES

Dr. Kurt Kraiger, director of the Center of Organizational Excellence at CSU explained the findings. “We felt it was important to conduct a thorough evaluation of the three models and see if there were measurable differences in their impact. This study in fact shows that SOCIAL STYLES does outperform DiSC and Myers-Briggs in terms of workplace training.” Do one thing for your business and your employees this year. Implement SOCIAL STYLES.
Every organization is looking to get ahead and maximize every dollar spent. Where should you focus to create the most ROI? While research shows that corporate training executives overwhelmingly believe in the value of interpersonal effectiveness training (IET), many are not sure of the best way to build these skills. Colorado State University conducted a comparison of the three leading IET models and found that SOCIAL STYLE is easier to learn and apply than both the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and DiSC.

MBTI, DISC, SOCIAL STYLES

Dr. Kurt Kraiger, director of the Center of Organizational Excellence at CSU explained the findings. “We felt it was important to conduct a thorough evaluation of the three models and see if there were measurable differences in their impact. This study in fact shows that SOCIAL STYLES does outperform DiSC and Myers-Briggs in terms of workplace training.” Do one thing for your business and your employees this year. Implement SOCIAL STYLES.

Download the full report on Social Styles vs Myers Briggs vs DiSC at http://www.socialstyles.com/interpersonal-effectiveness-training/

Excerpt From The Art Of Managing: Methodology To Form Effective Teams

The advantages of forming teams are better work processes and outcomes, better decisions, and the awareness of the most important issues so that you can reach consensus. The key elements in forming effective teams or groups include understanding yourself, understanding others, communicating effectively, and building relationships.

One of the elements includes understanding yourself and others. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality preference instrument is one of the most widely used tools in businesses around the world, has been in existence for more than sixty years and is based on Jungian theory.

We all have natural, inborn preferences for doing certain things. The MBTI preferences fall into four categories: Extraversion/Introversion (where we get our energy), Sensing/Intuition (how we gather information), Thinking/Feeling (how we make decisions and solve problems), and Judging/Perceiving (what our orientation is).

Extraverts tend to focus on the outer world of people and external events and get their energy from others. Introverts tend to focus on their own inner world of ideas and experiences and get their energy from within.

Here’s a story about an Extravert (Mary Ellen) and an Introvert (Tom). They were driving home one evening and the trip took about two hours. It was a nice leisurely pace. Tom dropped Mary Ellen off at her house and said, “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Mary Ellen turned to Tom and said, “Aren’t we going to spend any time together?” Tom said, “Well, we just did.” To Tom, the quiet time together was quality time together; Mary Ellen was looking for more activity and interaction (external). She assumed that he did not want to be with her. In reality, he needed time alone to reenergize.

Sensing people prefer to take in information through their eyes, ears, and other senses. Intuitive people prefer to take information in by seeing the big picture, focusing on the relationship and connections between facts.

A quick and clear way to think about Sensing and Intuitive people is to ask a question, “Where is the restroom”? When an Intuitive gives directions to a Sensing, he/she cannot imagine how the directions could have been more clearly defined, but the person gets lost. The Intuitive gives more imaginative or creative direction. A Sensing person would give specific detail, street by street and turn by turn, including landmarks.

Thinking people tend to make decisions by looking at the logical sequences of a choice or action. They try to mentally remove themselves from a situation to examine it objectively and analyze the cause and effect. Feeling people tend to consider what is important to them and to other people. They mentally place themselves in a situation and identify with the people involved so that they can make decisions based on person-centered values.

How does this translate to the workplace? Let’s say Jeff, the boss, wants some project update information from Steve. Jeff is a Sensing type and he wants detailed information. If Steve just gives him the big picture, it will drive Jeff crazy. He will demand more information before he makes a decision. The opposite is true as well. If Mary is an Intuitive type, she would only want the “big picture.” Too many details would put an Intuitive into tilt mode.

Here is an exercise that you can use in determining Sensing or Intuitive types. In a room, place two groups of chairs in a circle. At the center of each group of chairs and approximately three feet from the chairs, place a plain coffee mug. Ask the folks who think they are Sensing to sit in one group and the people who think they are Intuitive to sit in the other group. Their task is to describe what they see in the center. The Sensing people will want to touch it and feel it. They will describe in detail that it is blue with a handle and hold six ounces of coffee. The Intuitives will see the mug, but they will describe someone sitting on a patio sipping coffee in the morning sun.

You can see where you have a challenge in communication when one person has a preference for detail and how it was done in the past whereas another person wants to look at all the possibilities of how it could be done differently. When managing organizations and problem solving, the Intuitive misses out on the details while the Sensing misses out on other possibilities. It’s extremely important to have both types on a team, working together and listening to bring balance to the outcome of the project.

Judging people process in the outer world and tend to live in a planned, orderly way, wanting to regulate and control life. They make decisions, come to closure, and move on. Perceiving people process in the outer world and tend to live in a flexible, spontaneous way, seeking to experience and understand life, rather than control it. Plans and decisions feel confining to them; they prefer to stay open to experience any last-minute options.

If you have a preference for Judging, you want things planned and structured and have a need for closure. You make lists and live by them. Judging people are like a rudder on a ship. Set the direction, and you can count on these people to keep heading in that direction. The beauty is that you can count on them to get you there. The downside is…remember the Titanic? With new information, Judging types ignore and continue on the same path or direction. Perceiving types, however, are at the bow of the ship saying, “Let’s go this way; let’s go that way. I wonder what’s over there.” Perceiving types are more spontaneous and want to keep options open. Judging types prefer to stick to their schedule and commitments and use lists. Perceiving types lose lists because they want to be spontaneous.

How does the difference between Judging and Perceiving play out in the work world? When schedules change, it’s an issue for Judging. Judging gets things organized and moves in direction toward results. Perceiving plays the devil’s advocate and asks or sees the possibilities.

The MBTI provides a straightforward and affirmative path to self-understanding as well as understanding of others. It offers a logical model of consistent human behavior, including emphasizing the value of diversity and uniqueness, especially when forming teams and groups.

Tips For Managing Project Teams

Project management techniques and methodologies are important to ensure clarity and focus to establishing your project, but the how well the people at the centre of the project work together can dramatically impact on the success of the project. Here are ten tips that will help you improve the effectiveness of the project team you are responsible for establishing and managing:

Establish a balanced team: by identifying project team members with both the right technical expertise as well as a broad spectrum of communication and thinking styles. This balance can be identified through past questionnaires that potential project team members may have taken, e.g. Belbin’s Team Roles or M.B.T.I. Myers Briggs Type Indicator or your own observations.
Ensure clarity and “buy in” to the project objectives.  Regardless of the seniority or experience level of the project team members, each person needs to be totally clear and committed to achieving the project objectives.  Providing the team with an opportunity to raise concerns or issues early on in the project either publicly or in private with you should avoid any negative effects associated with lack of commitment.  Any “vibes” or negative behaviours should be explored immediately to ensure the issue can be resolved. Getting your team involved at the early stages of the project planning will assist greatly.
Ensure line management support.  When selecting project team members from different departments it is critical to gain their line managers support and commitment to the project and the time the project member will need to allocate to project meetings, research and agreed actions. Identify with the line manager any potential areas or times of conflict with the team member’s job or personal commitment.
Establish a team code. At the first project team meeting draw on the group to identify the behaviours that will help the project team. This can be done simply by capturing ‘expectations of the project leader’ and ‘expectations of each team member’ onto flipchart paper. These can then be typed up and circulated to the team and used as a reminder at the start of each meeting. Any variances of these behaviours can then be constructively challenged referring back to the team code.
Recognise the stages of team development. Research shows that all teams go through different stages of development to reach peak performance, and however skilled and experienced each team member is, the group dynamics will vary for each new team.  You will need to adapt your leadership style (from a directive to consultative approach) to each of these stages to ensure you get the team quickly and effectively through the first three stages (forming, storming and norming) to ensure they are at maximum performance in the quickest possible time. 
Use a facilitator for critical meetings.A neutral facilitator to help the project team get under way or progress at a critical stage such as idea generation or decision-making can help the project team immensely.  Alternatively, develop your own skills at facilitating groups, to ensure you are getting the best from the project team.
Use all internal and external networks.  With the project team, establish early on in the project who else could help you with your project objectives e.g. to conduct research, view best practice, seek opinions and learn from past experiences.  Look across the whole of the organisation before looking outside, as there may be others who have faced similar issues or want to join forces, as they would like to address the project objective. Suddenly your resources may have increased! 
Communicate with key stakeholders. At the same time as you identify who can help you, consider who are your key influencers for this project i.e. project sponsor, project owner, key stakeholders, and plan your communication strategy to ensure you have their full commitment and support throughout the project.
Plan how to celebrate the project team success. Helping the team visualise success at the offset of the project whilst the objectives are still being defined, clarified or conveyed, will increase your success rate and make the project team members feel valued from the beginning and therefore more likely to respond well to future challenges that may lay ahead. Consider how you will celebrate the project success at the the end of the project involving all key contributors as well as ensuring the project sponsor is present to thank the team personally.
Review the team learning on a regular basis. Timely, regular reviews scheduled into your project plan will ensure that the project team work in the most effective manner and will help develop the team spirit and ultimately their commitment to the project.  Selecting some of the simple questions below as part of the learning review could help you and the project team: What success have we achieved so far? How well have we worked together so far? How could we work more effectively during the rest of the project? How could we improve our team working during the rest of the project? What further support is needed to ensure this project is successful? What contributions have particularly helped/hindered the project move forward successfully?

Tips for Building Teams – You Are What You Play

Golfing great, Arnold Palmer, is known to have remarked, ”I can find out everything about a person by watching him play eighteen holes of golf.”

Were we to accept this premise, then the sports field would substitute for psychometric personality evaluation instruments. The Myers-Briggs and Meredith Belbin tests popularly used in the corporate world could become a thing of the past.

The obvious difficulty would be in getting corporate executives to play a sport – any sport – as a large percentage prefers to live sedentary lives. And, if one could surmount this initial hurdle and manage to get them outside their cubicles, another dimension to test their personality would lie in their choice of sport.

Consider the following scenarios. David Beckham conquers Wimbledon, Roger Federer betters Michael Jordan’s basketball records, Tiger Woods beats Usain Bolt’s 100-metre timings and Michael Schumacher conquers the Golf Majors.

While conjuring up such images we can but speculate “what if these great champions had decided to take up some other sport.” Would they still be the best in the world? Indeed, why did they select their particular sport in the first place?

This then brings us to the moot question. Aside from the obvious fact they are all superb athletes, what do a Beckham, a Federer, a Jordan or a Woods have in common? The answers clearly lie in factors beyond their physical prowess. Are these champions so different in their mental make-up that made them select different sports and go on to excel in those?

To attempt to understand this conundrum, we should start with understanding the nature of sport. Sports are of various types, which for the sole purpose of simplicity, we can broadly categorize in three groups.

Firstly, we have the team games (like soccer, hockey, basketball, volleyball, baseball and cricket) where a team functions like a well-geared machine and churns out a winning performance. There are many cogs and gears within this machine. Some cogs may be bigger and better than the others but overall they generate a powerful synergy. CEOs of companies would clearly like their teams to operate in this manner.

Next, we have individual sports (like tennis, badminton, certain athletics and swimming events, boxing, wrestling and motorcar/motorbike racing). In these disciplines, individuals compete aggressively with each other and pit their wits against their opponents in real time. While in team sports, your opponent’s performance often decides the outcome; in individual events you are solely responsible for failure and success. Is it possible to suggest that a CEO’s personality would ideally suit such sports?

And the third broad grouping is that of a set of individual sports (like golf, archery, shooting, diving and certain other athletic events) where the participants do not actively engage with their opponents. Their real “enemies” are within themselves and with the hostile environment (the weather, the terrain and other playing conditions) making the degree of difficulty more acute. As it is not uncommon to find CEOs with a passion for golf perhaps we need to expand the head-honcho’s personality to include this group.

So, we now have three sets of sport, each demanding a different combination of physical and mental skills and mirroring these skills a set of personality traits that help predict who would play them best. So, can we predict that a largely introverted person would be best suited for archery or golf and an extrovert should be sent to play soccer or basketball? Do players adapt to their sport irrespective of their basic nature or do they select a sport that best suits their aptitude?

The words of the 17th century English philosopher, John Locke, encapsulated this theory when he wrote, “I have always thought that the actions of men are the best interpreters for their thoughts.”

We know that sports persons “chase their dreams” and play for fame and fortune. But, so do business professionals from the corporate world. They are as much motivated by career (fame) and increments (fortune).

It might not always be possible for business leaders/CEOs to get Arnold Palmer to map the personality of their team members. However, watching them play their favorite sports is doubtless a useful exercise to avoid the pitfalls of fitting “square pegs in round holes” and getting to know what makes them tick!