I recently had the pleasure of working with a college student who had taken Foresight Styles Assessment and wanted to discuss her results. She was curious what the answers would reveal about her. She thought that it was hard to choose which response was most descriptive of how she felt about each question. This is not unusual as many times those who take FSA are not used to thinking of themselves in terms of foresight. We are rarely called upon to define our own behaviors in terms of how we respond to change.
She had her highest points on Futurist and Activist. This happens very often that Futurist and Activist styles are linked. "But", responded the assessment taker, "I don't see myself as much of an activist, I don't go out and demonstrate or plan actions against anything".
"Do you try to convince others to accept your view of things?" I countered. Well, it turned out that she did, all the time in fact! Activism is about convincing others to think and behave differently. Some of us try to change the minds of many at once and others of us try to change one mind at a time. They are just different activist strategies.
Another person I worked with, this time a man with a lot of business success behind him, said that he thought he was more of a Futurist than his scores showed. He was disappointed because he thought of himself as being ahead of his peers. He had a great score in opportunism which shortened the time frame in which he worked. He was, however, always ahead of his contemporaries even if it was just one or two jumps ahead. The fact is that many people would have loved his profile and would have liked to be less of a Futurist and more of an Opportunist in order to be a little more successful in the monetary sense. A Futurist with very high scores is often so far into the future than they are not able to be productive in everyday activities. They are interrupted by the big picture, linkages of one activity to another and possible consequences.
One of the interesting parts of working with individuals are the "aha" experiences they get. A well known futurist/consultant, with many years of experience and education in the field had the same experience. She felt that her Futurist style was lower than she had wished or expected. She realized that working with the business world as much as she had, her futurist inclinations had taken a back seat to the shorter term outlooks most companies have today. She had unconsciously prioritized one part of herself over another. That was her “aha” experience.
When starting out with Foresight Styles Assessments you might be unsure about how to help your clients with their understanding of the material. The good thing is that help is not far away. For ideas and inspiration contact Natalie Dian at the numbers and address listed in contact information at http://www.foresightstyles.com/. I will be happy to work with you.
Showing posts with label consultant's questions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label consultant's questions. Show all posts
Monday, May 19, 2008
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
After the lay-offs - a consultant inquires
I got a call from a customer today, a business consultant and she asked some very important questions about Foresight Styles.
She began with a little background: I have been contacted by a production company that has just laid off a number of workers and the rest will be doing their work plus that of those who have been laid off. How can Foresight Styles help me in this task?
My response: A change has already occurred. Clearly the CEO is hoping that the remaining employees jump in and get to work. What expectations does he have for your possible intervention?
Consultant: He wants to know that I offer something that will positively effect his bottom line. That productivity will increase and that earnings will rise. It could be that he wants me to give the workers bad news or press them to work harder. It could also be that he has a desire to assure that the employees who are left are given the best chance to succeed with their work and show new profit highs.
My response: Does the CEO know what kind of responses to expect from his employees? Does he think the workers fall into place and work to raise productivity and income? Foresight Styles Assessment could give him an idea of the type of company the employees feel they are working in:
a Cutting Edge Company that sees new solutions to old problems, A state-of-the-art firm which is first out with new ideas that challenge other production companies.
a New Thinking company that changes the way business is done. They focus upon that which dramatically threatens their survival, articulate the danger for their employees and become a will articulated force for change.
a Quality Lift organization uses best practices and implements new innovations successfully tried by others. It uses benchmarked or best-practices obtained from successful companies in the same field.
a High Profit company looking for lucrative opportunities. Their goal is to assure a constant income flow.
a Corrective company seeks to maintain balance. They maintain that which is traditionally successful while adding new products or equipment which corrects for changes occurring in the external environment.
a Structural company is a pillar in their community with well-known trademarks. It is however fading, living upon its reputation and can only survive as long as their reserves hold out.
If the CEO and leadership group identify their company profile, the leadership version and the employee version could be compared. FSA could give clients insight into the way employees see the company by creating a group profile from their responses to FSA. Differences would mean some work is necessary, if it is about the same then the business is on the correct track. If the management view and the employee view do not match, it means that they are working in different directions. The straightest way to a healthy bottom line is when all members are working for the same goal.
Consultant: What if the CEO or employees are hesitant about responding to a questionnaire? They have taken them before and gotten their hopes up and nothing has happened.
My response: FSA begins with a response on an individual level. It is a tool for personal growth. Respondents need to know before taking it that their specific responses go only to them, not their boss, HR or anyone else. In a group profile, which higher management does see, individual profiles will not show, only an indication of the kinds of competence for change they have within the organization. Whether or not the company uses this information as the basis for an organizational intervention does not eliminate the personal growth potential for individuals. The FSA Manual gives a few suggestions about how one can grow from FSA. Employees have to see what is in it for them personally.
She began with a little background: I have been contacted by a production company that has just laid off a number of workers and the rest will be doing their work plus that of those who have been laid off. How can Foresight Styles help me in this task?
My response: A change has already occurred. Clearly the CEO is hoping that the remaining employees jump in and get to work. What expectations does he have for your possible intervention?
Consultant: He wants to know that I offer something that will positively effect his bottom line. That productivity will increase and that earnings will rise. It could be that he wants me to give the workers bad news or press them to work harder. It could also be that he has a desire to assure that the employees who are left are given the best chance to succeed with their work and show new profit highs.
My response: Does the CEO know what kind of responses to expect from his employees? Does he think the workers fall into place and work to raise productivity and income? Foresight Styles Assessment could give him an idea of the type of company the employees feel they are working in:
a Cutting Edge Company that sees new solutions to old problems, A state-of-the-art firm which is first out with new ideas that challenge other production companies.
a New Thinking company that changes the way business is done. They focus upon that which dramatically threatens their survival, articulate the danger for their employees and become a will articulated force for change.
a Quality Lift organization uses best practices and implements new innovations successfully tried by others. It uses benchmarked or best-practices obtained from successful companies in the same field.
a High Profit company looking for lucrative opportunities. Their goal is to assure a constant income flow.
a Corrective company seeks to maintain balance. They maintain that which is traditionally successful while adding new products or equipment which corrects for changes occurring in the external environment.
a Structural company is a pillar in their community with well-known trademarks. It is however fading, living upon its reputation and can only survive as long as their reserves hold out.
If the CEO and leadership group identify their company profile, the leadership version and the employee version could be compared. FSA could give clients insight into the way employees see the company by creating a group profile from their responses to FSA. Differences would mean some work is necessary, if it is about the same then the business is on the correct track. If the management view and the employee view do not match, it means that they are working in different directions. The straightest way to a healthy bottom line is when all members are working for the same goal.
Consultant: What if the CEO or employees are hesitant about responding to a questionnaire? They have taken them before and gotten their hopes up and nothing has happened.
My response: FSA begins with a response on an individual level. It is a tool for personal growth. Respondents need to know before taking it that their specific responses go only to them, not their boss, HR or anyone else. In a group profile, which higher management does see, individual profiles will not show, only an indication of the kinds of competence for change they have within the organization. Whether or not the company uses this information as the basis for an organizational intervention does not eliminate the personal growth potential for individuals. The FSA Manual gives a few suggestions about how one can grow from FSA. Employees have to see what is in it for them personally.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
