What Makes Us Different
For the past three decades organisations have relied on a range of personality profiles and psychometric testings to give them information on potential and current employees for recruitment, development or promotion.
The majority of today’s organisations are still using limited profiling technologies such as DISC and Myers Briggs that have their origins in 1960 workstyle thinking and have a propensity to give a myopic view of an individual, thwarting their opportunities and denying the organisation a true understanding of that person’s unique potential.
Because these technologies force the participant to choose between one option or another, eg. Extrovert or Introvert, the majority of people undergoing these assessments feel the options are limited and not a true reflection of their inherent style or abilities.
For example, an extremely successful sales representative for a large corporation was categorised as an Introvert/Thinking type and subsequently told she would have limited opportunities for a management position. When she completed a holistic profiling, she learnt she had a very balanced capacity and is both extroverted and introverted, possessing amazing people capacities, demonstrated collaboration and empathy as well being outcome focused and discipline driven. This demonstrated a range of qualities which in fact made her an excellent candidate for managing both people and the business.
Many candidates, employees and managers become – boxed in – particularly when recruiters or superiors look at them through the lens of what a written report says about them.
Judgment calls are made on hiring, developing or promoting people, based on a profile assessment that has limited granularity.
Some managers feel safe by being able to define a person according to their type – it’s a way of packaging them into a known quantity however, that is 20th century management mentality. Typically most Big 5 models still only measure one end of a polarity. For example, Extraversion may be measured directly and an absence of Extraversion is often assumed to be Introversion. Similarly, Agreeableness is measured and an absence of this is assumed to be ‘not Agreeable’ (or critical).
Increasingly, organisations are questioning the reliability of such profiling methods, thinking, there must be a better way. There is!
Where Lumina Spark is different is that it measures both ends of a polarity. When working in organisations to help people develop, there is much research to show that a person can claim qualities at both ends of a polarity and an organisation can then leverage this understanding for greater business benefit. For example, you can be both outcome focused in tandem to being people focused – balancing a colloborative approach to teamwork while being competitive and disciplined in attaining goals.
This new technology allows leaders to remove their blinkers and see with peripheral vision. It enables them to shift their perceptions – of themselves and others – to open their minds and look at things differently.
When you look at things differently, you act differently. When you know better, you do better.
By changing assumptions and perceptions you open the space around an individual allowing them to expand and grow. Gifted leaders are more comfortable with the fluidity that comes with understanding and working with a person’s totality and paradoxes.
Working with Luminique, once you have attained this new level of awareness you have clear insight into how individuals can work more effectively with others and the key to creating a range of business benefits.
Lumina Spark technology is revelational in that it explores the distinction between:
- Your natural psychological preferences. (Underlying)
- How you adjust to meet the needs of key relationships and tasks. (Everyday)
- How you react under pressure. (Overextended)
We call these your Underlying Persona, your Everyday Persona and your Overextended Persona. Together they create your unique Portrait.
Shining the light of awareness on these three personas develops greater knowledge about oneself and one’s colleagues. As with all client interventions the Lumina Spark ‘language of colour and influence’ can become an integral part of your organisation’s strategy and culture.
