Awareness
Let’s talk about awareness.
I am often in my own comfort zone, working away, happily creating, designing programs, coaching high performers, and soaking in the latest HBR articles and human behavior studies.
It’s lovely in my own comfort zone. So comfortable that sometimes, I forget that other people I work with live in their own version of extreme comfort. As you can guess, there are times our climates don’t mesh, and working together can open up different perspectives.
This week I am facilitating an Everything DiSC program and whenever I do this I am reminded (like the ice bucket challenge) of a few things.
One of the most important reminders is awareness. Other people don’t necessarily work the way I do! I need to stop expecting others to adapt to my “climate” of working and meet them at the border, or sometimes in their strange (to me) and wondrous land.
Let me draw this out for you; I love creativity, growth, and education, coaching, and leading. You can imagine how well sharing new ideas and thoughts goes over with my assistant, who is much more comfortable working with details, the full picture, data, and strategy.
My style is iD (Influence and Dominance). Her style is iS with a dost of C (Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness). Our styles create a balance and create a healthy dynamic of alignment and challenge.
This is one of the reasons why I appreciate the DiSC program so much. Because being aware of others, and understanding the perspective of others can do so much for our ways of working and the progress towards our shared goals.
In today’s session, I have the opportunity to work with folks to help them figure out how to visit each other’s worlds, while not disrupting or disrespecting differences, but instead valuing and sharing talents to make a cohesive team.
I love my job, and I always love these reminders. I leave you today with the hope that you can leave your comfortable environment and wade into a new one. We are so much better together, and understanding the differences is the first step in order to appreciate them!
For more about my experience with the different behavioral styles, check out these posts:
Understanding Your Own Behavioral Style and Why It’s Important