Potential’s Promise or Pitfall

I very much enjoy humor, always have. Perhaps because its use, throughout my life’s journey, has gotten me through some really tough times, physically, intellectually, and emotionally. If you look for it, humor is pretty much all around us. I found it one day while taking yet another psychological profile test (herein after known as PPT). I’ve taken more of those PPTs than one should have to take with varying results depending on my thoughts and feelings the day I took them, and honestly there are so many to choose from, ranging from scripts in a box to colors in a box. You would think one test would be sufficient, but I digress.

The humor comes while watching a leader’s reaction to their profile type. They look like kids opening birthday gifts to discover their most wanted gift for the first time. Now, they have the scientific answer to who they are, and how and why they do things the way they do. They quickly buy into it hook, line, and sinker having no idea that they are fast on their way to the leadership frying pan, if they are not careful. Interestingly, I watched these leaders sharing their results with each other and actually moving toward those people with whom they are more compatible, and away from those they are not. Talk about creating the conditions for division and demise, these PPTs can be dangerous if not utilized properly. Worse yet, there is an inherent risk for a leader to assume a “take me as I am or leave me be” type of thinking. It leaves no room for personal or professional growth and development, while declaring, “That’s me, that’s who I am and how I do things!” 

What makes me laugh and yet intrigues me, as well, is the irony of a leader always encouraging people to “think outside the box,” yet every PPT is about putting people in a box. PPTs seem more about labeling and tend to make everything self-oriented, putting people in their respective place. Pigeonholing if you will. Statements like, “That’s just who I am,” is for a leader, “in the box” thinking and most dangerous to personal growth and development, building teams, and reaching organizational success.

Simply put, these PPTs more often serve self rather than success. When used improperly, a leader runs the risk of creating an environment captured in these words, “This is the boss’s way; get used to it, and do it,” or “remember, it is my way or the highway.” Ultimately, people end up serving a leader’s psychological profile rather than their team’s potential for success.

Authentic leaders will never allow PPTs to define them or anyone else for that matter. These leaders use the various PPTs for understanding one’s station at that moment of testing, and to determine ways to help themselves or their people grow and develop, personally and professionally, “outside their respective PPT box.” Potential depends on understanding, and a PPT provides a baseline framework from which to start this building process by providing insight regarding what makes a leader and their people tick, or what gets them ticked. 

Proper use of PPTs can assist and advance this building process, but they must always be filtered through an “Us” mentality and a way of thinking leading to thoughts that say, “That’s Us, that’s who we are and how we do things.” This type of thinking is one of the success criteria utilized by authentic leaders daily.