By Dana Borowka, MA, CEO of
Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC
“Watch
your words: they become your thoughts.
Watch your thoughts: they become your actions.
Watch your actions: they become your habits.
Watch your habits: they become your destiny.”
- Frank Outlaw
Personality tests not only help
when hiring, they just might be a manager’s best tool to
connect with employees.
You
can manage the hard way or the easy way, the choice is up to
you.
The hard way is to be the “my way or the highway”
type of
boss. You know the kind, always forcing workers to do things
in a
way that isn’t natural for them. Wouldn’t it be
better to
use your understanding of personality traits to tap into the natural
flow so you can get the best out of your people? Of course, knowing
your employees, understanding their concerns, and developing connected
relationships with them should be the normal procedure for all managers.
What
is the payoff to a manager for developing connected relationships with
employees using personality assessments? Here are three good benefits.
First, it enables the manager to better anticipate what roadblocks
might occur with a worker, and what to try to reduce this resistance.
Second, understanding where employees are coming from will help you
plan out how much participation you need from them, and will give some
clues as to how change should be communicated to them. Third, building
connected relationships builds commitment and loyalty.
Take
the Connected Leader Test
How
connected are you as a manager? To find out, we asked our
colleague, Dr. Bruce Heller, an industrial psychologist with 20 years
experience, to help us design a quick connected leader self
test.
For each of the 10 questions, choose the response that best matches
your situation. Then give yourself the corresponding point
value
for each question. Total up your score and look to the end of the test
for how to interpret your score.
Questions |
Scoring
instructions:
Don’t
know = 1 point
Never
= 2 points
Seldom
= 3 points
Often
= 4 points
Always
= 5 points
|
| 1. Do
you get personally involved with co-workers, colleagues, peers, and
others? |
|
| 2. Do
you believe that your role as a leader is to serve your direct reports? |
|
| 3. Do
you feel your employees are motivated to help you achieve your goals? |
|
| 4. How
often do you acknowledge a special occasion of a direct report? |
|
| 5. Do
you reflect upon the potential impact you make on direct reports? |
|
| 6. Do
you spend time thinking about meeting the needs of others |
|
| 7. Do
you consider yourself a sensitive leader? |
|
| 8. In
your family, did your parents spend time listening and reflecting on an
emotional level? |
|
| 9. Do
you think your peers and direct reports consider you a sensitive leader? |
|
| 10. Do
you keep a journal of your interactions and conversations? |
|
| TOTAL |
|
|
Scoring
This self-test helps you identify what level of connected leader you
are. Research has shown that leaders who are able to attend and connect
with their employees are more successful. This is because connection
creates a depth of relationship that translates into improved
productivity, less turnover, and a more engaged work force.
Here
are the breakdowns for your scoring. If you scored:
0-14
You are disconnected from the people who make up
your organization. To become more connected you may need to hire an
executive coach.
15-26
Your connections are frail and therefore you
could benefit from taking more time to think about others and find ways
to connect with them. Sharing something about yourself will be
effective. Also, begin to keep a journal of your interactions. Think
about ways you can become more connected to people in your organization.
27-36
You are a connected leader. This means that you
connect with your team and work towards building relationships.
However, you could benefit from being even more connected by spending
time walking around and speaking to people and especially begin to
share with people something about you personally. This can mean a hobby
or an interest.
36-50
You are deeply connected as a leader. You have
an ability to think about ways to communicate and be sensitive to the
needs of the people in your organization. Therefore, people want to
work for you and you have a loyal following.
How
to Get Connected
It’s
been said there is a significant difference between hearing someone
speak to you and really listening to what they say. Most managers
consider themselves to be good listeners. But is that really the case?
Being
a connected manager requires that you suspend judgment of your
subordinates’ actions or reactions while you try to
understand
them. Personality assessments provide a great deal of clues. Sometimes,
you will need to read between the lines of what they say. Next comes
gentle questioning and probing, to clarify what is going on. The goal
is to understand and not to judge.
For
most managers, this does not come naturally. These tips will help you
become a better listener and a more connected leader.
- Practice active listening.
An active listener is ready and willing to really hear what the other
person has to say. When you actively listen, you pay close attention to
the speaker and don’t just wait until they get done
talking. Or worse yet, interrupt them.
Enter the listening zone.
When a subordinate approaches you to discuss something, go into
listening mode. Do what it takes to minimize distractions, look the
speaker in the eye, and make a decision in your head to really listen.
If you know their personality type, then think what their style of
communication is.- Seek to understand first.
Pay close attention to what the subordinate is really saying, both the
words and the feeling behind them. Watch the speaker's body language.
Instead of interrupting if you have a question or comment, write it
down so you can remember it for later.
- Show empathy.
Empathy, the ability to know and feel what others experience
— is
the foundation of being a connected leader. Managers in industries
ranging from health care to high tech are realizing benefits to their
team’s productivity when they show empathy. The old adage
applies: “They don’t care how much you know until
they know
how much you care.”
- Hold your reactions.
Have you ever seen someone react negatively to what you say without
saying a word? Even if you disagree with the subordinate, do
not
react negatively by shaking your head or putting on a big frown.
Instead give positive cues like smiling, maintaining eye contact,
leaning toward the speaker, taking notes and even those little positive
“right” and “go on”
statements. When they
are finished, take a breath and then weigh in with your feedback.
To
sum up, we all want to be understood. Employee buy-in comes when a
manager is able to listen attentively, understand them as people and to
lead naturally.
Permission
is needed from Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC to reproduce any
portion provided in this article. ©
2008
This information contained in this article is not meant to be a
substitute for professional counseling.
Dana
Borowka, MA, CEO of Lighthouse Consulting Services, LLC has over 25
years experience in the area of business consulting and helping
organizations both nationally and internationally in raising the hiring
bar in “bringing effective insight” to
organizations
through using work style and in-depth personality
assessments.
Dana is a nationally recognized speaker on this topic and has built a
well recognized organization that provides expert interpretation of
in-depth personality assessments during the hiring process, providing
stress management workshops and in assisting those with communication
challenges. He is the co-author of the soon to be released book,
“Cracking the Personality Code”.
If
you would like additional information on this topic or others, please
contact your Human Resources department or Lighthouse Consulting
Services LLC, 3130 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 550, Santa Monica,
CA
90403, (310) 453-6556, dana@lighthouseconsulting.com
& our website: www.lighthouseconsulting.com
Lighthouse
Consulting Services, LLC provides a variety of services, including
in-depth personality assessments for new hires & staff
development,
team building, interpersonal & communication training, conflict
management, workshops, and executive & employee
coaching. Be
on the lookout for the soon to be released book, “Cracking
the
Personality Code” To order the book, please email reception@lighthouseconsulting.com
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