Breaking Barriers. Understanding Your Blind Spot for Personal Growth

To grow yourself, you must know yourself. Those are the words of John C. Maxwell in his bestselling book, 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. In this book, the second chapter talks about the second law of growth. The Law of Awareness. The chapter quotes the words of James Russel Lowell which state that ‘no one can produce great things who is not thoroughly sincere in dealing with himself”.

Anne Ombura is a John Maxwell Certified Coach. During the Women Lifting Women series, she enlightened the participants on how to identify the various personality traits. By so doing, leaders are able to be in better touch with themselves. This in turns enables them to have better influence. This is important because the capacity to have influence is one of the core skill required in every role.

Do You Know What Your Personality Is?

To demonstrate how one goes about finding their blind spot, Anne referred to The Maxwell DISC Personality method.  This method helps one identify how they are wired. This is done by built upon the four primary emotions.  These are, Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness – DISC

• People who posses dominance and influence are outgoing
• Those who influence and are steady are people oriented
• The dominant and compliant ones are task oriented
• Those that are compliant and steady are reserved.

An Insight Into The Four Personality Traits

The Dominant

The personality traits constitutes 3% of the population

Those who are dominants often seek to take control of a situation. They are decisive in their execution of task. Dominants are result oriented. They embrace change with easily. When respondent to direct confrontation, they are

Dominants treasures loyalty. On the flip side they may come across as:

• Argumentative
• Inconsiderate
• Opinionated Cold
• Not Complimentary
• Possessive domineering
• Unforgiving

Dominants greatest fear is to be taken advantage of.

The Influencer

 11% of the population are Influencers.

Persons with this personality trait tend to be friendly, spontaneous and persuasive.

Influences do not shy away from they lime light. They are ever active and are relationship oriented. They are the kind of people who encourage others . While they are great storytellers, they share great experiences with others. Influences also tend to be emotional and animated in personality.

While influencers are generous and charismatic, on the flip side, they tend to be,

• Undisciplined
• Undependable
• Disorganized
• Impulsive
• Distracted
• Not Good Listeners

Influencers greatest fear is rejection or loss of approval

The Seeker

Seekers compose of 69% of the population hence the largest population. This means that most of us fall into this category.

Seekers are loyal and team oriented. They are the kind of people who follow through with commitments. Seekers are great listeners, have compassion and treasure peaceful relationships. They are easy going and agreeable. They are faithful and hardworking.

This sentimental personality however has a flip side which includes:

• Possessiveness
• Indecision
• Inability to speak up
• Difficulty in saying no.
• Skepticism
• Shutting down upon confrontation
• Sometimes indirect in their communication

Greatest fears are loss of security and confrontation.

The Compliant

The complaints form 17% of the population. These the the analytical planners who cherish accuracy and perfection. They do not leave things to chance and seek to get all their facts right. The pay attention to every detail. The Complaints always produce orderly and high quality work, They are self sacrificing persistent thinkers.

Complaints tend to be perfectionists creating discomfort for the rest of the people. They tend to be moody with a rigid persona. Many a time, Complaints do not see the bigger picture as they tend to over analyse. They are hard to please and often avoid any kind.

Their Greatest Fears is Criticism

At this point of the presentation, Anne engaged participants. She urged all present to acknowledged the fact that we are all wired differently. We are not the same. For that reason, conversations must not be made uniformly. They must be designed with the personality of the recipient in mind. People need to be spoken to as individuals. By so doing, there is better flow of communication and lasting connections are made. 

 How to Connect with the Various Personalities

Connecting to a DOMINANT

• Be brief and direct to the point, then leave.
• Ask WHAT and not HOW questions.
• Focus on the results.
• Make them feel important.
• Let them see the benefits.
• Don’t ramble.
• Discuss a problem and its effects on outcomes.
• Then buy quickly will negotiate.

Connecting to an INFLUENCER

• Don’t do all the talking.
• Don’t ignore their ideas.
• Allow time for socializing e.g a coffee date.
• Follow up with the details in writing.
• Be creative when talking.
• Be friendly.

 Connecting to the SEEKER

 Create a friendly tone for discussion.

• Show interest in them as a person and family.
• Don’t be overly aggressive. Slow down.
• Minimize the potential for confrontation.
• Trust is important to them.
• Give them time to adjust to any changes.

 Connecting to the COMPLIANT

• Provide all the details . Will look at all documents
• Use validated facts
• Be specific
• Be patient, answer all questions and follow with additional data they requested.

 Ultimately, people are different and its okay. It is important to establish your personality style and adjust to meet the needs of others. These may be your peers, clients, or even family. One of the best way to do this is to take the DISC personality test and encourage others in your circle to take one. It is possible to learn and grow towards adopting the more positive traits.

In parting, Anne shared two rules.

1. The golden rule is that to treat others as you want to be treated.
2. Platinum rule is that you ought to treat others as they want to be treated by you.

Let us all be accepting and accommodation of each other. Ultimately, we are all Gods creation.