I grew up on a farm, and my family had a vegetable garden. I sometimes helped my parents till, plant, tend and harvest a large variety of vegetables. Thirty years later, my husband and I put in a vegetable garden. I took the gardening knowledge I had, read gardening articles and books, and then I started digging.
This is part four of a four-part series on Predictive Index (PI) drives.
Let’s keep this short. Rules are meant to be broken. If the previous sentence makes you smile, I expect we may have a thing or two in common. If that statement gets your goat, and you naturally accept and adopt rules with ease, you likely have a greater than average drive to conform to rules and structure. In Predictive Index, this drive is known as Formality.
To individuals with a high Formality drive, rules are important and it’s important to those individuals to follow the rules. Even if the rules deteriorate performance, choke results, and limit success, following the rules is more important than performance. Following the rules is also more important than the fact that the rule was established for a reason, such as to keep individuals safe. Safety, for the person with a high Formality drive, is not necessarily the most important outcome; following the rule is. In other words, rules hold the value rather than the positive or negative effects that result from following the rules.
This is part three of a four-part series on Predictive Index (PI) drives.
Leaders possess competencies that include both skills and behaviors that result in superior performance. For many organizations there is a suite of leadership competencies that, when deployed effectively, delivers the desired results. In recent months, organizations have been required to pivot quickly and to navigate numerous shifting regimes. Leadership teams must do this now:
My kids and I were driving home from a weekend getaway, when Scotty McCreery’s song “In Between” came on the radio. My older daughter asked me what the song meant. I explained that the song was about knowing who you are, and that the artist was describing himself as “in between/Friday night wild/And quiet Sunday morning.” In other words, he is highly adaptable to diverse circumstances.
Knowing yourself, or more specifically self-awareness, is critical in life and especially in the workplace. And although McCreery was describing himself to a woman who was sizing him up from across the room, it’s possible that if he were to take a Predictive Index Behavioral Assessment, he might fall into the reference profile known as an Adapter,
My family owns a lake house in a gated golf community. For the first 20 years the resort existed, it thrived. Most of the owners had primary residences elsewhere and used their lake homes or condominiums at the resort for weekend golf outings or boating on the lake. The resort had golf and tennis professionals, who organized tournaments and gave lessons. The restaurant had fine dining and a pub, and they catered weddings and events.
The resort’s next 20 years were tumultuous. It underwent several management changes and the community’s population shifted to working class homeowners and renters.
I’ll bet no one has ever told you that effective leading is like making a good carbonara? You don’t believe me? Let’s step into the kitchen to learn more about leadership and managing people.
To create a silky carbonara sauce, you combine egg whites and pasta water in the correct proportion to egg yolks, pork fat and cheese. The egg yolks act as an emulsifier to bond the pork fat and cheese into the pasta water and egg white sauce. When done with the right timing, the proper heat, and quick whisking, you produce a creamy, flavorful sauce that perfectly coats the pasta and pancetta. If, however, you misstep on any one of these factors, you get pasta with scrambled eggs. Yuck.
In good times and in bad, leaders define a clear set of values and they live by them. They inspire a shared vision, and they enlist others in a common pursuit. Leaders are self-aware and they encourage others to challenge the status quo. They recruit new perspectives, value different processes and welcome experimentation and risk-taking.
Leaders foster collaboration and healthy debate to strengthen individuals and the team. Thus, talent development is a never-ending cycle where leaders celebrate the accomplishments of their staff by recognizing and rewarding those who embody the organization’s shared values and victories.
SHIFT launched this blog to bring you the best in leadership theory and practice, including pertinent content on the development of your team. We hope it ignites a thoughtful debate, empowers you to try something new, or shows you a new perspective on an old challenge.
Val Yaw, SHIFT CEO