Welcome to our ongoing conversation on MindSPACE. Part I of this series explored Shared Vision and the creative process of building expansive working partnerships. A link to Part I can be found HERE, The next component of MindSPACE to investigate is Personality.
But first, a quick review! We developed an acronym for the word SPACE:
- Shared Vision
- Personality
- Accessibility
- Connection
- Emotion
Choose a specific focus which could be a current work dynamic, a challenge, goal, or a hoped-for change. Assess the way things are right now using the colors green, yellow, and red to describe it in a way that could easily be shared with the team or others:
Green – Stands for Go: All is working well.
Yellow – Stands for Caution: Meaning, this area deserves renewed attention.
Red – Stands for Stop: There is a significant issue that needs to be resolved.
More specific instructions, a helpful checklist, and a printable MindSPACE performance profile can be found HERE to help you through this process.
Now on to Part II: Personality
When I was young, I was a Boy Scout and as I think about ‘personality’ now, I can instantly recall the Scout Law I knew then: A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. We followed this code, and it helped to guide our values. No doubt these values helped build character among us, and I find it intriguing to imagine the part that values and character play in personality – and therefore, the way the world sees each of us. Keep this in mind as you work through the MindSPACE tool.
To begin, it is helpful to differentiate between person and personality.
Merriam-Webster describes person as an “individual” which is the common reality of all human beings. And (again, thanks to Merriam-Webster): Personality is what makes us unique.
As the American Psychological Association defines personality: Humans possess “individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving.”
This is what makes working with groups both challenging and intriguing. Working to understand how the individual parts come together as a whole, the truly apt leader knows that effectively matching personality strengths to areas of work focus will yield rewarding results.
When you move beyond the role a person plays on a team or in an organization and into the fullness of their individual attributes and strengths, the possibilities and the potential exponentially grow for each person to find their niche of excellence and succeed.
This naturally allows for greater diversity of ideas and solutions and collaborative excellence.
All aspects of teamwork are affected. Including:
- Greater degrees of interaction in group meetings
- More thoughtful feedback
- Elevated enthusiasm for assessments & trainings
- More meaningful discussions, support, and coaching sessions
Ask Yourself: What additional elements could be added to the list to maximize the unique talents of your people?
Fascinated by the impact of personality and behavioral patterns, we continue to research and better understand how humanity combines the appreciation of each members’ differences to help teams move toward higher levels of success.
Do your current recruiting and onboarding processes look at the culture, filling the role needs, AND the new opportunities that may exist in learning what this new hire can bring to the work at hand?
While finding and retaining top talent can be a challenge, the rewards speak for themselves. You’ll see!
We recognize that visionary leaders can do more to enhance the environment and engage their current teams. And when they do it helps attract more dedicated and engaged candidates.
The weaving of the individual personality characteristics into the fabric of a team creates a more dynamic design. The outcome is greater in whole than its parts. A diverse and inclusive group or organization creates a more productive work environment that not only is more likely to come up with better solutions, but it also enables the growth and development for all employees.
Fear of judgment and discrimination is diminished the more employees and team members know they are being seen and valued.
Ask yourself: How are you nurturing, building, and protecting your people?
Taking time to understand and appreciate the personalities of the people you work with and focus on how you can use this information to enhance each employee’s career path, will transform team conflict into a desire to share best practices for solving group problems.
When you take care of your people, they, likewise, take care of your clients! This generates both employee and customer loyalty, and ultimately enhances both organizational productivity and profitability.
Assess where you are with P: Personality on the MindSPACE paradigm as it relates to your focus area.
Ask yourself:
- Who is on our team (including staff, clients, vendors, other departments, community members, and all)?
- Am I using my strengths and the strengths of these team members best?
- Do we embrace diverse experiences, cultures, ideas, and people?
- Is there a match between the PERSONALITY of each individual and the role the person is paid to perform?
Refer back to your initial assessment using the colors red, yellow, and green: What’s working, what’s not, and what may be missing for you and your team as it relates to personality?
What possibilities exist? (They are endless!) Who might be able to help you? What haven’t you thought of yet?
Following the acronym of SPACE, our next article will move to A: Access. This will help assess the Access your people have to the tools most useful in helping them to succeed.
Remember to stay open, flexible, and willing! And be on the lookout for Part III of our MindSPACE series.
Until then!
