Every organization wants to maximize the potential of their leaders and employees in order to achieve superior results. In fact, significant investments are made in programs that aim to improve performance by changing the way leaders, employees or teams behave.

However, research shows that most development programs fail to deliver expected returns. Too often, there is more effort put into the design of the program, instead of what people need to experience in order to develop. If executives understood the mechanics of the mind and what it takes to create sustainable behavioral change, they would rethink their approaches to leadership and employee development. 

Reason #1: Lack of Self-Awareness of Participants

Personality assessments are often used in developmental programs in an effort to increase self-awareness. However, existing approaches focus on strengths/weaknesses or preferences, leaving out insight into unconscious patterns of behavior and emotions that typically get in the way of  development, despite everyone’s best intentions.

In order for leaders or employees to develop, they must understand how this happens for them by being aware of their nature, emotions, and how their brain is organized. This allows them to know how they process information and what gets in the way --- fear, embarrassment, etc. – of trying new behaviors and shifting from unproductive reactions to other people and work situations.   

Reason #2: Focus on Behavior, Not Drivers of Behavior

Most developmental approaches set out to define how people ‘should’ behave. It’s a logical, objective approach which appeals to leaders. However, it does not get at the root cause of dysfunction, non-performance or disengagement. People just don’t shift their behavior that way. If they did, employees would be doing everything their leaders think they should!

The fact is our behavior is driven by a set of powerful, innate needs that must be met in order for us to fully engage in our work. If these needs are not getting met, we are at the mercy of our unconscious impulses and habits of mind, regardless of how the training tells us we should be behaving!

Reason #3: No Roadmap for Remapping the Brain

Changing behavior is possible but it is not as easy as having an ‘a-ha’ moment or being skills training, as it will not change the reflexive emotional and instinctual parts of the brain. Our brains are capable of creating new patterns of behavior and new pathways, but just knowing doesn’t change our behavior or habits of mind. Unfortunately, how our brains function and what it takes to develop them is not incorporated in most organizational development approaches.

Leverage the Whole Brain

Our brain has four quadrants, each with its own unique talents and abilities as well as role in our personality. While each of us is born hard-wired to prefer one quadrant of the brain, versatility and success comes from learning to integrate all four quadrants, rather than just relying on one. Unfortunately, most leaders only use half of their brain, significantly limiting their impact and effectiveness.

For example, a leader who doesn’t demonstrate people-related competencies must know which quadrant to engage and more importantly, the step-by-step approach to developing it given their own brain’s organization. Otherwise, no matter how much coaching or training they get, existing patterns will prevail, particularly during stress. 

Emotional Energy Drives Change & Development in Humans

The focus on behavior used by personality assessments such as the MBTI®, as well as most skill based programs have limited usefulness in supporting human development. In fact, emphasis is typically placed in training to not discuss emotions. This leaves participants at the mercy of their instinctual survival reactions and habits of mind, especially when they are experiencing powerful emotions.

Leaders and employees alike need to train their rational brain to work in sync with their emotional brain if they are to shift from self-protective behaviors that get in the way of achieving their potential. As humans, it is only by understanding how to harness our emotions that sustainable development and behavior change occurs.

Expedite Development with the Striving Styles™ Personality System

A revolutionary framework for achieving potential, the Striving Styles provides a step-by-step roadmap for human development. It integrates Carl Jung’s Theory of Personality Type with Needs Theory, Emotional & Social Intelligence as well as the latest advances in neuroscience and brain development. Its needs-based approach to development lets leaders and employees understand why they behave the way they do and how to leverage their own brain’s organization in order to change their behavior and self-actualize in any context.

Maximize the Potential of Your Talent

By incorporating the Striving Styles into your organizational development programs, you will:

• Quickly move leaders from “knowing” to “doing”
• Eliminate dysfunction and power struggles in teams and across functions
• Shift organizational culture, including longstanding employee habits of mind
• Minimize resistance to change and increase rate of adoption
• Build high performance teams and organizational culture
• Foster high levels of employee engagement and career satisfaction
• Select, promote and retain the right talent for your business
• Maximize leader, team, employee and entrepreneurial potential

Contact us today for a complementary consultation: heather@strivingstyles.com or 416.406.3939