Exploring Predictive Index with A Leadership Beyond

Speaker A: This is leadership beyond your community of conversation. Welcome a leadership beyond community. Tom and I are here again for another episode and today we are going to show you the platform predictive index. This is the tool that we are using for our people strategy power hours. And what we want to do today is show you a bit of a snapshot snapshot of a leader and then take a look at that leader with, with her team and look at the composite view and then layer some work on. So we're going to walk you through what this tool looks like to give you a little bit of a better idea of what you could experience in a people strategy power hour.

Speaker B: And the shortcut to remember is we start with individual self awareness of a leader and then we move from self plus others meaning they don't operate in a vacuum. And then we position the work self plus others plus work. And in this short video you'll get a snapshot of what how this looks and then we hope to listen with you and look at your world.

Speaker A: Yeah. So why don't we jump in. I believe we are looking at Terry Hill. We've got our screen sharing, is that correct?

Speaker B: Yep, that is correct. And Terry Hill, we want to point out that we begin with what's called a reference profile. And you see that microphone icon Terry Hill identified as a persuader and she's a risk taking, socially poised and motivating team builder. So the question that comes to mind is what do you did we measure to come up with that uh, reference profile? And thank you for pointing to where we are. We measured four drives. A is called dominance, the drive to exert influence on people or events. B is extroversion, the drive for social interaction with people. C is patience and we like to call it pace, the drive for consistency and stability. And D is formality, the drive to conform to rules and structures. And you'll notice that it's laid out in on a ruler and the reason for that is it measures the strength of the profile and so the, of the drive, excuse me, in the profile. So the midpoint is very adaptable and it would be situational and we call it predictive index for a reason. The stronger the drive, the, the more likely that the behaviors and needs are evident on the surface. So let's go one at a time. But before we go one at a time, let's just uh, mention. Uh, you'll notice that this is laid out in a ruler. And the reason for that is the stronger the drive, the more predictable or observable that those needs and drives will show up on the surface. 1 Sigma to the right is moderately high. 2 Sigmas to the right would be very high. 3 Sigmas to the right would be extremely high. Let's go the other direction. 1 Sigma to the left where the D sits would be moderately low. Two sigmas to the left where the C sits would be very low. And then three sigmas would, would be extremely low. Next, let's take a look at what this might indicate about Terry. And to keep it conversational, Adrian is going to give some examples from her world. She has a similar, not identical pattern, but it'll be helpful rather than role playing because we don't know Terri. She's a real person, uh, but we, we don't know her and Adrian knows from her experience. So let's talk about what a moderately high A might look like and what it means in terms of how to work with Terry. So the first thing to notice is that there's some strengths that she wants to put her stamp on things she wants impact, a natural leader, very motivated. But what are some things to be careful about? Well, her high energy and her desire to get her ideas heard might make her appear to be dismissive of other people. And Adrian and I both have examples, and we'll draw from Adrian of where her desire and her drive might conflict and she needs to self manage. Can you give an example of that, Adrian?

Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So I, my, my dominance factor is just, just about the same place as Terry's, um, here in this first sigma A. And um, so this is a drive for influencing people and events. But you all know me, know that I'm very people focused, right? It's the, the premise of our work together in a leadership beyond. It's the premise of my business, Positive Delta, to be people focused. And so what that means is while I, while I have a drive to influence people at events, I also appreciate and acknowledge the need to collaborate and hear the voices of everyone involved. So I have to remember to pause and make space for others to raise their opinions and their voices, make sure that that is a safe zone for them to do so. So I have to be careful. When I get very passionate about something, I can get very opinionated. I can get on platforms about things and I have to make sure to step aside from that platform to hear from others.

Speaker B: And that's where self awareness comes in. And what we would call that is an overdone strength. It's still a strength, it's not a weakness. And she needs to have caution that she doesn't Become a fire hose. And, uh, very well said. The next drive has a similar energy, particularly when combined with the A. And that is, uh, often misunderstood, which is extroversion. And it's this drive for interaction with other people. And Terry plotted, uh, just beyond moderate to very, on the low end of very. And so that's part of what drives her being a persuader. She's motivating and she cares about people. She's people oriented. And it can be great energy. I've used the word energy here because anytime you are saying, good morning, my name is Tom, you are extroverting. And so introverts are good at extroverting. It's just that they're not driven to do it. And so when it's moderately high like this, we have a very similar thing when we take, uh, if you put the pointer to somebody who's moderately low, and then I ask you, Adrian, what might happen when you take your A and your B and you're dealing with somebody that's moderately or very low B, what might be a caution?

Speaker A: Um, I do not give an opportunity for that person to think. Um, if they're right, they're being more reserved. They need more time to think. Maybe giving them information ahead of time rather than stopping by their desk and saying, here, here's a new report. Exactly what do you think? Right now you've got to give them, um, some time to think it out.

Speaker B: Yeah. So creating space for them to process is very important. Whereas Adrian would be more likely to keep talking till she gets it right. And that would be comfortable. Somebody, uh, that's low, they say, no, I need time to think about it. So you notice she talked about, uh, giving them space and time to think about it. Let's take a look at the C, in which case Terry is very low. C almost to extremely low. And that means a fast pace and, uh, results oriented. And time pressure juices her up to a point.

Speaker A: And.

Speaker B: And what comes up here is a lot of ideas, a lot of variety. When we combine it with a. We say she likes to have, uh, she doesn't want the same old thing every day. Lots of variety. She's juggling priorities. And I'll put in in the interest of time. An example here is it can create frustration at the pace of the team and, uh, may appear a little intense. And that intensity. So what all three or four of these that we've. Three of these that we've talked about have really to do with the perceived intensity. We love that Adrian has lots of ideas can we take a look at one of them, please?

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: Adrian, on the other hand, we talked about this last week, and we're not moving here.

Speaker A: So what I see with Terri is this is almost her widest of two factors. When we look at these in combination, which is something that we do when we go into more detailed profiles. But these, the. The wide spread of A and C means exactly what you said. She's got this high drive to influence, and also, she moves faster than the average. So this could really be like a steamroll situation.

Speaker B: Yeah. So the very power that makes it, uh, a strength could be a bull in a china shop.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And we need to use Adrian's power of the pause, and we need to be intentional about what's going to work best over time. And each of us needs to do two things. It's not either or Adrian does it, and I don't. We need to ask for what we need, and we need to flex to the needs of others. And what can happen is we're asking for what we need totally unaware of others, or we're flexing, and then we don't have our strength.

Speaker A: Uh-huh.

Speaker B: And so the idea to make it strong is to see which strength is needed when, and to really collaborate to bring forward the strength that matters most in the moment. Uh, which brings us to the D. Uh, and we're close to the midpoint there, a slightly low D. And that's to remind you it's about rules, structures, and process. And what she wants is some flexibility. And, uh, we mentioned variety, so that comes up again, variety and flexibility. Not a slave to structure and process. Not highly driven by it, but usually someone plotting there works very well with structure. And the one point I would make here is if you were trying to influence. And Adrian mentioned her D is much lower. And I would like to use Adrian's example because I've worked with her quite a bit rather than Terry's. But just make this point about Terry is that she works well with structure, but she's not driven by it. And so somebody might want to nudge her to say that this structure is not working for us now because it's not her first thought. She wants just enough structure to get it done, so she's not going to wing it. Uh, but she needs a little more structure than she would prefer, and she needs collaboration with others who are more driven by it.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: So give an example of your D. Show us about where it lives.

Speaker A: Oh, my. D is, like, down here, it's almost off the chart. So I like a lot of flexibility, um, autonomy. I've got a high A and a low D. I think that's almost my biggest spread. And, um. Yeah. And so what that means is that I like to be spontaneous. So while I appreciate rules and my training and a project manager, I've had to create a lot of structure in the work that I do, and I know I need that. I do not like being the one to create it, and I like to break it when it makes sense to break it.

Speaker B: So very well said.

Speaker A: Very comfortable breaking the rules while I know that they are needed.

Speaker B: So if you were a higher D, go ahead and point somewhere moderate or very out the other direction over here.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And you were trying to influence Adrian ethically for more structure, you would appeal to A, not D, because D does not juice her more D. But if you said, gosh, if we keep with this structure, we're going to show up and we're going to let our client down. And that's appealing to her A and her B. She cares about the people. And we know from her experience she's very good at creating structures, but it doesn't juice her. Somebody up where she's pointing now looks at this as chaos. And the first thing they say is, we need a process. That's not Adrian's default, but she will do process to avoid not doing it well. And so ethical influence is about appealing to her strengths. If you're going to ask her to flex, and she's more likely to flex, not to just say, oh, well, let's just create a new structure. Some people would do a happy dance. I love to create a new spreadsheet or new structure. Uh, Adrian would rather have a root canal than do that, but if it's needed, she will. And then I caution the people that are the D, where higher D, where she's pointing now is give her room to. Once we're using the structure to improvise, because that's her genius.

Speaker A: Uh-huh.

Speaker B: But we can't improvise now because we have a deadline. We need a structure. And, uh, when she works with it, she'll find ways to be flexible. So this is just how you can have these kind of conversations and work better together with others.

Speaker A: And the power of this is as we're talking and as we're specifically talking about the. This fact, the formality factor with needing structure and rules, with my D being so low, where I just. I do not have a drive for that. While, you know, you need to run in the world, you need structure you need to run a business, you need structure, right? And so because I'm aware of that, I bring in team members who are higher on this factor, right? Because then we balance each other out. And that is the beauty of, of the awareness of yourself and then the awareness of your team members so that you can, you can leverage your strengths to work together, get that high performing team.

Speaker B: And the question we ask is not just can Adrian do it, but should Adrian do it? And sometimes time doesn't allow in lots of things. And I can tell you from working with Adrian one of her strengths, and that comes from the B and the A. Again, uh, those high drives is. First thing she asks is who can I talk to about this? Uh, and allow them to come from their strength. And so this short example, and we're going to look at Terry on a team in two seconds. But this short example tells us that we need to first understand their strengths, their drives, their needs. And secondly is ask how can we work better together? And that's what we're going to move toward. Now I just want to make one more point with the D, which is closer to the midpoint, is there's a chance if I only worked with Terry for 30 days or even two weeks, I might think she's very high D or I might think she's extremely low D. And the answer is, I don't know based on because she's adaptable and Adrian's a good example because I've seen some of her good structure. She's been at it a while. I might think, oh yeah, she's a structured person, but it isn't juicing her. And if most of her work was creating structures, she would be very unfulfilled. But sometimes in a pinch, we got to send her in to do it anyway. Thank you for, for that. Let's take a look at Terry doesn't. Oh, well, one last point. The E is not connected to, uh, by a line because it's not one of the four factors. And it just asks when it's time to make a decision. Do you. Is your default objective, like Mr. Spock would be way out to the right, just the facts and more data, or is it to the left? I go with my gut. And because she plots in the middle, it's largely situational. And so we need to understand what kind of decision is it and where is she going to look at how does it impact both how quickly it's going to get done or what's the impact it's going to have on the Big picture. And we don't know unless we ask and listen.

Speaker A: Mm hm. Mm. Mhm. Very cool. There's a lot packed into the six minute assessment as we can see. Right. There's, there's even more that you can go into, but we won't do that.

Speaker B: We won't go into it now, but we would love to have your name up there and uh, and your situation rather than ours. So Terry doesn't work in a vacuum, which is a good thing for a persuader. She wouldn't be happy. Let's take a look at who's on her team and what it might indicate.

Speaker A: All right, so we moved into the design component of predictive index. And what this is, uh, this demonstrates is a team map, or we call it the world of work. And what this is is a composite view of all the team members. And each individual profile is plotted as a teardrop here. And so Terry Hill is over here in this upper right quadrant with a couple of teammates. Looks like they've got similar profiles. And um, looking at this together gives us a profile much like we look at an individual profile, but in the composite as a whole team. To understand where does this team together have strengths and where do they have some blind spots or caution areas that may get them hung up. So let's, so let's look first at each of these quadrants that make up the world of work. I like to call the quadrants lands because we kind of are living in this land if we're plotted here. So working clockwise from innovation and agility, this land is typically associated with folks who like to pursue new innovations. They're risk takers, they like to experiment and they tend to move pretty quickly, make decisions quickly, throw things at the wall. These are your big picture thinkers. They're the innovators. Moving to the. I'll go counterclockwise actually, because I like to work with top hemisphere first. The teamwork and employee experience land is for folks who are driven for collaboration. They are your relationship builders. They are the ones making sure that the voices in the room in the building are heard, that everyone gets to weigh in. And they're making sure that your employees and your customers are feeling supported and they're having a great experience. The bottom left quadrant is process and precision. These folks are typically associated with the analytical decision making. So they're focused on how are we going to get things done most efficiently, what's the best way for us to tackle this goal. They're looking at things that are, uh, how to create some predictability and some operational efficiencies. And then the folks in the bottom right quadrant, Results and Discipline. This is the land of winning. How are you achieving your goals? Not. Not how you're achieving your goals, because process and precision, folks are worried about how folks in results and discipline, they're just worried about getting there. So they tend to be more competitive. They're focusing on execution. They're concise in the way that they communicate. They tend to be more independent, and they, uh, are just get it done. How are we going to get it done? Are we going to get it done okay on those quadrants? So anything to add, Tom, on just the brief explanation of the team act?

Speaker B: No, I think that's pretty clear, and there's a lot we could say, but we need to be disciplined. But, uh, just the point is just the visualization will prompt new conversations.

Speaker A: Absolutely. So often when we do this with a leader, it's very clear here that the first thing you see, without even knowing what these quadrants are about, you say, what are you observing? Well, I don't see anybody down here in Results and Discipline. When we start explaining what these quadrants are and how you need all four to be successful. We've. We have nobody naturally driven to get it done. Right. So they're going to have to lean into that, and it won't be as natural for them as it would be if somebody was. Was living in that land.

Speaker B: And I want to point out something Adrian said. You may or may not have caught it. She said, I like to start with the top hemisphere. And so that is true to type. Tell me why that might be, Adrienne,

Speaker A: because I'm right up here with Terry. Actually, I think I'm a little bit closer.

Speaker B: Uh, you could certainly start with the bottom hemisphere and do it just as

Speaker A: well, but that doesn't choose me. Yeah.

Speaker B: And I just. I picked up on that and thought

Speaker A: I'd point it out. That's funny. Yep. Get it done. And how we're going to get it done, I'm not too worried about, but making sure I've got the people there and making sure that we're innovating and coming up with great ideas and how to serve those people. That's my jam. So, yes, it's more natural. It's more natural for me to hang out up here. I bring in team members who like to hang out down here so that we actually get to achieve the things that we set out to achieve.

Speaker B: Perfect.

Speaker A: Okay, so let's keep going. So what we will get from plotting our Team members is a team type. So this particular team is uh, an exploring team and we get some introductory information about that team. There are nine team types within predictive index. Based on all the research that they have done, this team is an exploring team mostly because it's heaviest in the innovation and agility discipline. So what does this say about this team that Terry's on an exploring team is outgoing, cooperative, they're eager to work together. These are, they're, this is very, again, this upper hemisphere. Most of the people on the team are thinking about people, they're thinking about the big ideas, they're doing the dreaming, getting everybody involved, not necessarily concerned with how they're going to do it or if they'll ultimately get it completed. Right. Poor of down here. Her name is Olivia Franks and she is the one who is going to be tasked with all of the points of raising her hand and saying these are all great ideas and I'm glad everybody's gotten to voice their opinion, but how are we going to actually achieve this? Right, so what the tool gives us is a summary of the strengths of the team and then these potential caution areas. Anything to elaborate specifically on these before we move?

Speaker B: Nothing to elaborate, just something to underline and you're going to see in a moment, but I'm going to give you a precursor. Uh, one of the powers of this platform is just as an individual has a profile, so does a team have a profile. And then when you get to work, your strategy has an identity and this is the link between self awareness, awareness of self plus others, awareness of self plus others plus work. Very powerful to look at the dynamic individually, team and work.

Speaker A: Yes, yes, that, that's the, that's the beauty here. So as we move along within this tool, step three is an action planner. These are recommendations that come from predictive index based on the team type, based on the profiles that are on the team. To give you some indicators of how do you strengthen your team to make it even more high performing and how do you address any of the caution areas that you may have as a team.

Speaker B: And uh, you tailor it to your reality.

Speaker A: You tailor it to your reality. You're able, if you know that you've got some other, some work to be done that you've already identified. You can add in here, you can add in specific components in here. Actually what I like is you can select these different topic areas. So if you, if you recognize that something that is, is a, uh, hang up for you is conflict on the team. We don't do a Good job at managing conflict. You can select those and that they will give you some action items specific to addressing that particular improvement. So very nice, very tailorable. Okay, the final leg of this tool is adding in the work to be done. And here's where your people strategy meets your business strategy. Layering all these on to look at them in this one composite. So notice that. Oh uh, notice that you've got some of these bars, these purple bars here. Well, where that's coming from is from the strategic objectives that we have selected based on this list of objectives. I believe there's, there's like 20 of them here in the list. We pre selected them for this demonstration, but we would have a conversation with you to identify what work do you have coming up. What are your goals and initiatives in the next three months or six months? Let's layer those in and see if your team is well equipped for that or if there are some caution areas that you'll need to take a look at and address. So what we've done here is each one of the purple outlines around the team map are the display of the objective we've selected. So I deselected drive employees, reselect it. Now it's showing up here in the teamwork and employee experience quadrant. What that means is driving employees to achieve results with vision and passion. That is best suited for someone who lives in the land of teamwork and employee experience. They're naturally wired to already be thinking that way. So they're a great person to leave lead that kind of initiative or be involved in that initiative as we move on. I'll point out the two that are in the bottom right. Invest in our sales team and marketing team to help grow revenue and drive growth through increased sale and increased customer retention. So we're looking to grow, we're looking to build and develop. Nobody's naturally wired to lean in to those initiatives. So what do we do? Well, we can look in the building. Who else within the company on a different team could we maybe borrow that is equipped that is naturally wired to focus on these sorts of activities? Or perhaps we need to bring in some outside help to make sure that that initiative is successful. Mhm. Anything to add, Tom?

Speaker B: I just want to point out if you imagine we make a promise that if you do the people strategy hour, you'll get actionable insight, the visualization of your people against your goals and objectives immediately. Mhm Suggests new possibilities.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker B: And. And we don't step back and take the time to look at it. And the visual just Makes it easier to do that.

Speaker A: Right. So, you know, we really do, uh, find meaningful conversation about strategy. So the, the, the title and um, the title of our Offer People Strategy Power Hour is very intentional because we are spending a good amount of time learning about your people and we're spending a good amount of time talking about your strategy. And we're putting those two things together. Your people and your business strategy. And what does that look like? So that you're walking out of this set up, uh, to take some action. You've now got insights of. We are about to do these, these initiatives and we need to think about who are the best people aligned to that work. Right.

Speaker B: So let's name our strategy.

Speaker A: Oh, right. Okay. I've selected those producing strategies. So that's what you said. You, you gave the teaser for that. That we've got individual profile reference profiles. We have team types and we have strategy types. So this gives you a summary of the kind of work you are setting out to achieve.

Speaker B: And Adrian mentioned you ask, is it in the build? Is this person in the building? And uh, are they on the street? You know, could we maybe hire someone? And now let's just give one example. And there's not a possibility of bringing someone else in yet. And there's not a possibility to hire someone. Let's look at how you flex to a short area using the existing people. And to do this, we see everybody up on the, uh. And Adrian even kidded a little bit. Poor, poor Olivia is down there all by herself. But let's take our new friend Terry and say that they've been tasked, Terry and Olivia to cover one of the goals. Then we can look at the individual profiles and say, what are some things that will happen if we're not careful? And so to keep it very brief so we can move on is to say that Terry is really eager to say, oh, I'm glad I'm going to be working with Olivia. And she's got all these ideas and it could be a fire hose, as Adrian said before. And, uh, we realize Olivia would experience this. Like, when are we going to get to the point? So, uh, what can happen if we're not careful is they don't really know how to work together. And so we'll let you. Because you're closer process. I mean, you're closer in those patterns to say as you took a breath and got ready to show your excitement to Olivia, what are a couple of things you'd be mindful to do?

Speaker A: Yeah, if I was the, if I was Terry And I was working with Olivia on one of these initiatives, knowing that it's heavy, focused on achieving our, uh, results and having the discipline to drive that initiative forward, knowing that that's not something natural for either one of us. I would look to set up our responsibilities in a way that played to our strengths. So Terry is not going to be the one who is interested in how we're getting it done. Olivia will be all over that. Olivia would not necessarily be comfortable with the big thinking, dreaming about what could the possibilities be of this initiative. Let's just brainstorm for now for Terry's good. Terry wants to brainstorm Olivia. Olivia will sit quietly and take notes of Terry's brainstorming. Right. And then say, which one of those are we going to do so we can keep going. Right. And so then Terry would recognize, we've got enough ideas. Let's agree to one or two. And Olivia, now how about you take that back and come and draft a plan for how we'll execute that. Olivia, give her space. Good. To process it, come up with a plan, and then let's meet again and talk about it again. Right. And so that is how those two specifically would play to the strengths of achieving their, uh, their objective. Even though they are not lined up necessarily into the execution piece.

Speaker B: And together they can cover that piece as long as they do it intentionally. And they continue to ask what, how can we work together in a strength based way?

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: And both ask for what you need and flex to what the other person needs. Not either or good.

Speaker A: So I think that's, you know, that's the beauty of the team map here is, is seeing it all in one visual, is seeing where the strengths are, where people naturally resonate with the kind of work, their natural environment, the work activities that they like to do, and then seeing where the kind of work lines up to that. Such a great visual to identify very quickly. Ooh, we've got some things we have to pay attention to or we want to make sure that when it comes time to bringing in a broader team and rallying the troops, we're going to ask AM to do that because, uh, AM is focused on teamwork and employee experience naturally. Right. That sounds like something that AM would probably really appreciate doing. Doing that, galvanizing and getting more people involved, communication piece, broadcasting it. Right. So this is where we could bring, bring in AM Quick, um, recognition of all of these just in this quick visual on the map. So I think we should wrap. We've given them a lot of information to look at this is still just a taste of what you get. When you've plotted yourself and your team onto this and you've layered your work objectives into this, that's what you walk away with with a people strategy Power hour.

Speaker B: And we invite you, if you're not sure, to go ahead and sign up, do the do the assessment and do the 30 minute debrief because you'll get a much better picture how this fits in your world if it's real to you and not role played. So for a 36 minute investment, fewer than six minutes to complete the assessment and 30 minutes, you'll get a good idea of the value this can add to your world.

Speaker A: Yep. Yep, that's a great point. Start with yourself. Just like we do all our work, starting with with Self before deciding to bring in the team, you choose to bring in the team. Then we get all of this beautiful team map view and we get to

Speaker B: know you a little bit and you get to know us a little bit and then we'll see where to go from there.

Speaker A: That's it. Wonderful. Thanks for watching and we hope to hear from you soon.

Speaker B: Thank you.

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