August 2013

Leading a Cluster of Equals 4: Other Powerful Uses of Personality Types

Posted on Aug 31st, 2013 by Norm Howe

You can use your newfound expertise in personality types to better understand how to deal with other aspects of employee behavior.  Need to get a decision out of that quiet lady by the copiers?  If you’ve done your homework on personality types, you will recognize that that her reluctance does not come from obstructionism. 

Rather, she is an analyzer.  She has to absorb and analyze every piece of information before she makes a decision.  She needs time and a lot of information before she comes to a conclusion.  If she requests more data right when you think that the cluster should have reached a decision, it’s not because she’s trying to thwart your plan. 

Leading a Cluster of Equals 3: Recognition

Posted on Aug 25th, 2013 by Norm Howe

medalsHand in hand with Achievement goes Recognition for that achievement.  There’s a right way and a wrong way to recognize good performance.  The problem is that it’s different for every individual.  This is another situation for you to use your analytical skills to learn how to do it right.

There are many systems on the market that can help you to understand how your fellow workers think, True Colors, Myers-Briggs, DiSC, to name a few.  They each have different strengths and I don’t want to recommend one over the other.  The critical similarity among all of them is that they all measure differences in personalities.

Leading a Cluster of Equals 2: Understanding Motivation

Posted on Aug 18th, 2013 by Norm Howe

Continued from Part 1.

Before we get into the specifics of how to motivate your team members, let’s talk about the subject of motivation itself.  Here is an opportunity for you to use your analytical skills to apply general research to your specific situation.

Frederick Herzberg was a professor in the School of Business at the University of Utah who developed the Dual Structure theory of motivation.  Herzberg defined motivation in a special way.  His research demonstrated that a true motivator is a factor that comes from an internal motor within the employee.  That motor runs under its own power.  The proverbial Kick-In-The-Pants (KITP) can influence employee behavior but it is not a motivator because it requires an external influence and its effect is short term.