Strategic Serendipity

I will never forget presenting a team-building program using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) when the self-proclaimed "senior" member of the group said "maybe I'm just old but most of this I've learned through my fifty-plus years of working with others."  I had to smile.  Because here's the deal, if you spend fifty-plus years paying attention to how you react and how others react to you in various situations and analyze what works and what doesn't, you don't need these types of assessments.  However, if you want to shortcut that learning process and learn from others (yes, please!) there are tons of ways to do it.  I like to call this Relationship Shorthand. There are three main instruments I like to use and each one is based on research.  Is this an exhaustive list?  Not by any means.  These three instruments are the ones I find give my clients solid information they can act on to improve their understanding of what they bring to the ta...

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is based on the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung. Jung observed that people have inborn preferences for gathering information and making decisions and that these preferences guide an individual’s behavior. The mother/daughter team of Katherine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers expanded on Jung’s theories and created an assessment to make the combined work accessible to all individuals. Today, the assessment is used by most Fortune 100 companies and over two million people worldwide, annually. The assessment identifies an individual’s inborn preferences on four dichotomous scales: where you focus your energy, how you prefer to take in information, how you make decisions, and how you deal with the outer world. Type is best used to understand other people, improve communication, and develop individual skills. The first dichotomy is Extraversion (gets energy from other people) and Introversion (gets energy from reflection).  The second...

In so many of the development programs I work with, people come in with an attitude of what will you teach me?  Or worse yet, what is the minimum I have to do to get credit?  If there isn't a change after the program, the assumption is that the program failed the person. If you're trying to learn how to work a computer program, like Microsoft Excel, then yes, if you can't work Excel after the program, the program failed you. If you're trying to develop yourself as a leader, however, you have to commit to the homework and reflection.  If there isn't a change after the program, I suggest you failed the program. Keeping that in mind, here are my recommendations for anyone considering entering a professional development program (works for a coaching relationship, too). 1.  Be willing to commit to honest self-reflection. 2.  Know how you will define success after the end of the program or relationship. 3.  Do the homework!  (If you don't, the on...

"Purpose and passion are the internal drivers that determine employees' performance and their commitment to the organization, factors that ultimately have a very real impact on business results. ... Without [individual purpose, an employee's] journey meanders, their actions lack meaning, and their passion is left unexpressed in their work - a combination likely to leave them disengaged, dispirited, restless, ... or worse."  The Purpose Linked Organization:  How Passionate Leaders Inspire Winning Teams and Great Results by Alaina Love and Marc Cugnon. We all know people who don't seem to have their heart in their work.  And it shows.  Some may not actively try to let everyone know how unhappy they are, but it doesn't work.  No matter where you work, when you are passionate about what you do...it shows.  And if you aren't...that shows too.  How you got there doesn't matter, but it is how you are going to get out that is the key.  The most i...