Individual Development, EQ, Jung, Pearman Personality Integrator

Please note at the outset that I am assuming individuals who hold the various views and perspectives that are outlined below have positive intent (as I do). My experience is that most individuals who are passionate about a point of view are sincere and believe that their insights will benefit everyone, if they could only see the value of their insights. Not so long ago I was invited to talk at a forum at a large public university on the “evidence” for various personality models and how these models inform perspectives on development. One of my companies at the time was certifying professionals in several personality assessments, which were based on different models of personality. As the forum unfolded, my co-panelists unloaded all critical cannons on the MBTI® assessment as an unfounded, unscientific, bad psychological model, and I was asked to defend it. Every single criticism of the MBTI®, using the 1984 Manual, lobbied at me was reasonable and analytically sou...

Imagine a highly experienced senior executive team in a manufacturing organization reaching an impasse on an issue of strategic importance.  The tension is so thick you feel the pressure in your chest.  The decision facing them involves a billion dollar bet. There are multiple, deeply felt and argued for perspectives that are completely at odds.  All arguments are equally robust; the depth of feeling about the perspective to take on the choices at hand are equally compelling.  They are facing a complex challenge, not simply a complicated one.  With complicated issues you can bring forth enough expertise and analysis to find the best path forward; with complex issues there are so many dynamic, paradoxical, ambiguous, and multi-factor elements that all the expertise and experience does not reveal a best path.  The path can only emerge by acknowledging and honoring the perspectives and discontent in the room among fully committed and hard working colleagu...

I did not plan to annoy the CEO when I reminded him, “You can’t talk yourself out of what you behaved yourself into.”  The problem he was facing related to a large group of employees who had sent anonymous letters to key customers and the Board of Directors complaining that he was a “flaming racist and sexist.”  He had been hired six months before to fix the operation which he believed came with the demand, “fix it no matter what it takes.”  He had instructed his executive team to actively seek out the under performers and get them to move on, and to get all teams engaged in a turn around discussion.  During a company wide meeting to explain the need for all hands on deck, he explained that there would be an elevation of performance standards that some would find uncomfortable and he used a couple of examples which highlighted people of color and women. “I simply was being truthful about our financial challenges.  Maybe I used a bad example,” the CEO said ...

The unit of measure in coaching individuals or teams is behavior.  Sometimes a behavior needs to increase—demonstrate more affirmation; sometimes a behavior needs to decrease—stop being 10 minutes late to your own meetings.  The question of what behaviors made the difference between those teams at Google who were successful and those who were not drove Julia Rozovsky, a manager at Google, to intensely study the issue.  She looked at just about every variable you could name and her effort, labeled Project Aristotle, produce the finding that five behaviors made the difference: providing structure and clarity in goals and project plans so each team member understood clarifying how the work makes a difference for the organization and its customers holding each other accountable to do what was promised identifying how the team and the work of the team is personally important providing a risk free environment by having rules that maintain psychological safety Those of...

Reflecting on all of the various posts from recent events in Washington prompted me to think about the power of empathy.  In the People Skills Handbook on EQ competencies and perspectives created by several colleagues and myself, we explored the topic as Active Empathy, one of 54 competencies we can lear to enhance.  We wrote: ACTIVE EMPATHY Understanding how and why others feel the way they do and conveying it effectively Walk a mile in my moccasins and you will know my journey. — Saying from the Cherokee Nation  Talented Expression of Active Empathy o Demonstrates deep sensitivity to others’ feelings, needs and goals through generous listening o Makes fine distinctions in the verbal and nonverbal communication of others (tone of voice, eye contact, word choice) o Asks open-ended questions designed to better understand others and their feelings o Sits comfortably with someone in silence when appropriate o Identifies emotions in others an...