Taking Nothing for Granted

If the CEO of your company announced that everyone in the organization needed to develop the perspective of “taking nothing for granted,” how would you interpret the instruction?  

We’ll come back to the question in a moment.

For decades I’ve been working with individuals to look at the link between their personality and how they are in the world.—how their behavior impacts the world around them.  The manager who is incessantly critical because “that is what I’m paid to do” seems oblivious to the impact of that behavior on others.  Sure, people want to do a good job and people approach their work differently from others in the same role due to their personal history and their personality.  The learning agile manager begins to understand that being incessantly critical works only a small portion of the time.  Being expressively supportive, open to new ideas, and demonstrating positive regard for others usually leads to better performance and long term commitment to the work.

To know what to change, you have to know where you are and what is possible (which is why self assessments can be so valuable).  You have to be willing to learn about yourself and the impact of your mindset (and this is greater than Carol Dweck’s mindset framework) on the way you see things and how you react to things.  Increasingly, I’m coming to the awareness that some of the most important work those of us in the leadership development space do, is to help individuals get a handle on their mind set.

The CEO who gave the instruction above “to take nothing for granted” was talking about creating a greater spirit of innovation within the company.  The hope was that by giving such instructions as “take nothing for granted” that individuals and collectively the company would begin to shift out of a rut when it comes to seeing new possibilities.

Soon after groups of employees began talking about the instruction, a profound difference begin to emerge over the meaning of the phrase.  A very large group of employees interpreted the instruction as a directive to protect the tried and true, to conserve the lessons of the past, and build on what is already successful.  From their view, they are to take nothing for granted—honor it all and use it.

Another group of employees were astonished with this interpretation as they heard the instruction to mean that they were to challenge everything, that all assumptions were up for grabs, and that your job was to question it all.  In other words, take nothing—assumptions and past experience—for granted in your future analysis.

I facilitated a discussion between the now waring groups, each equally convinced they were right.  Because this organization had invested in assessments on personality type, I asked the different groups about their type preferences.  Of those with the perspective that the phrase meant respecting and protecting the past had a Sensing preference; of those with a perspective that the phrase meant questioning everything had an Intuiting preference.  

The discussion was most engaging at a couple of levels.  The difference in interpretation was a source of humor and insight.  Of equal interest was how their personality differences affected their interpretation of the CEO’s statement.  Of course, I worked to get them to see the value in both perspectives—which is one of the most important facilitation we can do when we point out differences and how powerful these can be.

It seems to me that if we are truly going to understand and help others understand the principle that “the meaning of any message is in the receiver of the message” we need to start with a lens on personal intelligence—that is, the differences in perception and judgment about those perceptions.  These very differences influence all aspects of our leadership, teaming, working with others, and our own sense of alignment of meaningful effort.  The most practical and elegant system I know to get a handle on these elements is Jung’s lens on psychological patterns related to perceiving (Si,Ni,Se, and Ne)*** and judging (Ti,Te,Fi,Fe)***.  As such, the more we get these differences, the greater our chance at truly gaining the direction, alignment, and commitment so essential to individual and organizational effectiveness.

***A short hand way of seeing the benefits and costs of these proposed psychological functions.

Perceiving

Se focuses on the here and now, ignoring what was and what is potential.

Ne generates possibilities, ignoring concrete reality and constraints.

Si drives for reliable ad verified details, ignoring patterns and possible connections.

Ni sees scenarios and imagine’s what can be, ignoring what is immediate and present.

Judging

Te argues for fixing the gaps in analysis, ignoring consequences on others.

Fe empathizes, ignoring likely and probable options which could be uncomfortable.

Ti analyzes the pros and cons, ignoring personal meaning and ideals in a situation

Fi pushes for framing situations through values and ideals, ignoring the logic of a situation.

For your personal exploration, see: http://info.mhs.com/Pearman

For a complete look at how personality type impacts teams and relationships, explore: www.matrixinsights.com