Wednesday, February 10th Team Meeting
Announcements:
Welcome to new team member Dan Maloney, who's joining us after eight years in news broadcasting to help Aaron Beaver with the video work the Lab has been doing (and is also Nathan's future brother in law)
Book Club will meet virtually tomorrow at 5pm to discuss the Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Introducing the "Culture Index":
The Culture Index is a system of analyzing your personal work and communication style and assessing how you are implementing your natural tendencies in your job performance. Today's guest was Eileen Stephens, who has appeared on the Coffee Break podcast twice to discuss this system and Chad's personal results:
The system uses seven work related traits: autonomy, social ability, pace (patience), conformity, mental stamina, logic, and ingenuity. Be aware that these traits are certainly not a reflection of your entire personality; they are just intended to help you understand how your brain is wired when it comes to work-related behavior in particular.
To read your survey results, imagine that the red arrow in each graph represents the average. Any shift to the left means lower than average, and a shift to the right mean higher than average. The further you are from the arrow, the more pronounced this trait will be for you and the more mental stamina it will drain when you try to behave outside of your natural character.
The first set of results represent your personal, innate tendencies in these seven categories. The characteristics summarized by the survey traits are hardwired at an early age, and are unlikely to change over the course of your life.
The second set of results represent your job behaviors, which, unlike your traits, can change every few weeks or months. You can use this data to meet with the people you work with and see where differences between you may lead to conflicts in communication. Don't take anything you see when interpreting your results personally! Communication style clashes are a matter of the dots not interacting well together, not a personal failing.
Don't forget: this presentation is only a high-level overview. If you would like to further discuss your results, you can reach out to Chad, Nathan, or Andrew who took the two-day course on this system.
Understanding the Seven Traits
Autonomy (A):
Low (left of the arrow): you tend to be an agreeable team player, supportive, humble
High (right of the arrow): you might be independent, confident, a self-starter, and assertive - someone who thinks in concepts rather than details
Social Ability (B):
Low (left of the arrow): technical, naturally skeptical, prefers to operate with facts & data. You are probably quiet and reserved, with a brain like a spreadsheet. You are someone who is more able to play devil's advocate, and prefers to hear the bottom line. You prefer to receive an email or text with the bottom line. You think before you speak, and can sound reluctant, harsh, or critical to "High Bs" when they're just looking for information.
High (right of the arrow): you are more likely to be empathetic, enthusiastic, persuasive, and to focus on relationships. You think out loud, process information through conversation, and prefer to communicate in person (video chat).
Pace/Patience (C):
Low (left of the arrow): you provide intensity and velocity, work fast, and need pressure to perform. You are probably someone who creates artificial deadlines and loves working toward defined goals. When you want something you want it right now. You are polyphasic, or able to work with lots of things in the air.
High (right of the arrow): you may be regarded as the calm in the storm. You are likely patient and methodical in your work, someone who is able to focus for an extended period of time. You enjoy routine and a single focus, don't like interruptions, and need time to process.
Conformity (D):
Low (left of the arrow): you are probably someone who is able to provide out-of-the-box thinking, and pay attention specifically to important details. You prefer to be provided bullet points with the most important things first and then to fill in the rest yourself.
High (right of the arrow): you are likely thorough, accurate, and precise, with a focus on details, rules, accuracy, and quality of work. You may have trouble working in pairs with other High Ds. You were always the person in group projects who was willing to finish for everyone to make sure it was done right, but watch out that your devotion to precision doesn't leave your teammates feeling like you don't trust them. You work best when there is clarity of expectation.
Mental Stamina (#):
also called "Energy Units"
how many batteries do I have in my brain?
these "energy units" will drain specifically when you are put in a position that makes you act out of character, and are recharged by taking breaks; when you're in your own wheelhouse driven by excitement and focus, they don't need to be used
if you are having trouble focusing, you may need to "recharge" your mental stamina
High (70+): you likely need less sleep and less time away from your current work
if your personal Mental Stamina score is higher than the one listed on your Job Behavior assessment, you may need more projects, or you may be recovering from burnout
Logic:
a measure of emotional control on a scale of 0 to 10
a High score doesn't mean that you don't care, but that in a crisis you can separate your emotions from what needs to be done. Be warned that this can make people on the other end read you as cold and detached from the issue.
a Low score means you read emotions quickly, but you can also absorb them.
a Middling score is someone who is perhaps initially frustrated by a problem at first, but then able to solve it once their logic kicks in
Ingenuity:
inventiveness, originality of thinking
High (7+): you lots of ideas in your head all the time, but you might move too quickly or be too abstract when communicating with others.
Lower: you still have plenty of ideas, but they're more practical in nature and generally
Summarizing Personal Results
Chad's results indicate that he is a "Trailblazer"
his traits are very far from the median arrows, which means they're going to be very pronounced.
his A is extremely high, so be prepared for him to be charismatic but vague on details
his C is extremely low, meaning he may just be the most impatient person on the planet. He might be a little fidgety when you're talking to him, but it's not that he's not paying attention -- it's that he thinks better when he's moving
his extremely high ingenuity means he has lots of ideas that are probably five years ahead of the trend, so they may sound extreme or confusing to others
Zach's results indicate that he is an "Influencer"
his B is high, indicating that he influences and understands people, but it could also indicate a tendency to give away margin to make the customer happy
his A and D (autonomy and conformity, or "gas and brakes") are equal, which means he sees the macro and the micro at the same time. This can lead to "I think I should, but what if-?" thinking. To combat this, he has to remind himself to take his foot off the brake when moving toward an idea or goal, and to give himself the freedom to move forward
his low ingenuity means he has the same amount of ideas as Chad, but they're more practical
Sam's results indicate that he is a "Craftsman"
a Craftsman is introspective, stable, straightforward, and deliberate
his particular brand of ingenuity makes him a MacGyver-y innovator
has to make sure he isn't taking too much on
Josh's results indicate that he is a "Socializer"
this personality type is often the glue in the organization
everyone tends to like you because you're a great listener, and relationship-driven
all his traits are close to the red arrow, so behavior outside of the norm is easier for him, allowing him to be situationally flexible as needed without draining much Mental Stamina
Implementing the Culture Index at Loc-Doc:
Chad is setting up meetings to go through these results with teams starting with Account Management later today, and planning to make up placards for each person that they can use to display their results. This will make it easier to keep your teammates' needs and strengths in mind when communicating with them.
If you haven't taken the survey, check your email!
Please be clear: the reason we're doing this is to better understand the best way to communicate amongst ourselves, not as any sort of critique of your results. This is an investment into each team member as an individual, and into creating a working environment that suits them and helps them succeed and thrive!