What drives you?
Did you know that how you perform in your job is not likely reflected in any way on your resume? The truth is, the majority of your behaviors are based on your own, personal needs, most of which you’re likely not even aware of.
For the past six months, I’ve been working with a tool that allows me to understand, with predictable accuracy, what my clients will do under stress. It’s been a game-changer for everyone that I’ve assessed as each person has come away with keen insights on why perform as they do.
As I often remind you, we believe we are all the same, but nothing could be further from the truth. Your personality consists of innate drivers. What drives one person is different from the next. What motivates you may not motivate another. Therefore, how you make decisions isn’t the same as someone else.
In order to reach our greatest potential as members of teams and communities, it’s critical that we understand our differences and honor them. Only when we acknowledge that our way isn’t the only or the best way can we actually dissolve judgment and end prejudices.
I’ll be taking some time with these posts to share the patterns with you all in hopes that this information might shed some light on your own ways of being in your world.
What drives you to do your best?
If you had to pick one camp over the other, would you say you are more driven to get things done, to produce results or are you more prone to want to establish connections with others, to create collaboration? Understanding your orientation in this way helps you recognize the patterns in others.
In the first group, those who are what we call “task oriented” tend to be critical thinkers who solve problems primarily on their own. They don’t always engage others in their decisions and are less likely to delegate authority. They may sometimes appear more reserved or even terse and cold in nature because their focus is on outcomes.
The second category of people reach decisions by talking things out with others. They genuinely appreciate group thinking and prefer a consensus and can feel quite persuasive in their approach to problem-solving.
Everyone you meet will fall in one category over the other, which provides a benchmark of understanding for how they will perform ‘when the heat is turned up’ and action is required. Neither camp is wrong; each has their own, personal needs.
The first group, those who are task-oriented, have a need for independence, control over their activities, to feel challenged, and autonomy in their problem-solving.
The second group, those who are socially-oriented, conversely need social acceptance, connection with others, opportunities to influence and to interact.
Imagine that a target needs to be reached. Can you see how the two contrasting types would approach the goal in dissimilar ways? And imagine how then their results would also vary greatly.
As an executive coach of organizational teams and leaders, I make it my job to deeply understand what drives you to perform at your best. This example is but one of many components to why you think and act as you do. Could having more insights improve your outcomes? My clients would all say without hesitation, “Absolutely!”
I’ll leave you with this to ponder - if you don’t know what’s keeping you from having the results you desire, perhaps it’s because you haven’t yet cracked the code on your own, personal drivers. There are several more factors at play that I’ll tackle in future posts. What could change for you if you understood yourself more clearly?
Reach out HERE to learn more and/or schedule a complimentary session with me.