Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Diane Down on May 5, 2012 at 10:53am

Kirk, I don't have answers for you, but am interested in this discussion. I had one of my volunteers take StandOut and when we went over her results together, she found a similar outcome. Could not relate at all to her results. Did not see herself that way, and frankly neither did I. I had no idea how to respond to her. We explored a little bit how emotional health might affect results...

Any ideas on what might have happened here?

Diane

Permalink Reply by Kirk Kowalkowski on May 5, 2012 at 12:05pm

Thanks Diane.

I had my wife read the Influencer chapter of the book today and asked her what she thought.  She said she saw a lot more of the Influencer traits in me than I saw in myself, and suggested that it has a lot to do with self-esteem/self confidence issues.  We also agreed that I'm not currently in a position (career-wise) where any Influencer/Creator could really spread his or her wings.  It got me thinking back to situations where I had more freedom to assert myself, and recognized the Influencer traits in myself a lot more during those times.  Does that make any sense?

Permalink Reply by Kenneth Flamer - Moderator on May 9, 2012 at 2:16pm

Kirk,

You say you don't see the Influencer role in yourself, yet here are Diane and I, moved to act because of you.  I believe that what you wrote above is true: "it is a latent part of my personality that I have not had the opportunity to develop."  Know how I know, because your wife said so.

Living a strong life, at work and home, is a journey, not a destination.  Let your roles sink in.  Over time you will begin to identify and seek out opportunities to hone them.  Take those opportunities and trust that you will excel.

Kenny      

Permalink Reply by Patrick Honnor on June 20, 2012 at 7:14am

Hi Kirk,

I have experimented quite a bit with StandOut and as it turns out it is not at all  uncommon that people do not see the results in themselves initially, people often require a little time to digest/reflect and also a little insight from someone close to them can be very powerful. As M.B says “the results may not be how you see yourself, but they will be how others see you”. He talks about your immediate impact when you walk into a meeting room, what presence do other people see and interpret. Knowing yourself is inherently difficult because it’s like breathing in that,  most of the time, you are not necessarily consciously aware of what you are doing.

 

There are also other interesting patterns emerging from this new filtered best practice approach; for one, when utilizing the latest StandOut M tool for managers, where leadership best practices that fit your roles are streamed to you bi-weekly, it turns out that influencers “ditch” the most tips, and “bank” the least. I speculate that there is in fact a theme whereby influencers find it harder to see value for this kind of advice than do certain other roles. My partner is an influencer, unquestionably so, and it has taken a great deal of effort and several months on my part for her to see that much of her report is both accurate in its description and of value to her in her life and career. Despite my efforts I suspect she will never pick up the report ever again.  I suspect something subconscious is going on, in the minds of these roles, perhaps something to do with being profiled, or perhaps being labeled an influencer is disagreeable generally to these people who just don’t associate  the description or behavior with who they are and what they do, maybe it’s too aggressive a title for their perspective of themselves, but most likely it is just who they are and a trait of what they do. Whatever it is I am confident that, as TMBC collects more and more data, they will get to the bottom of it.

 

All of this being said, I have also seen other themes struggle with their role results. Often I think it is because of the word association, for example pioneer sounds more “exciting and cool” than provider, but usually with time people come around. It is also worth mentioning the stats behind the validation of the test. If I remember correctly the test to re-test sample that is generally required to establish the credibility of such a product was undertaken on a statistically significant sample of people whom were asked to take the test twice within a six month period. The result (I think) was that 90% of people taking the re-test had their leading role in their top 3 roles from test 1 to test 2 and that 47% of the sample had two matches among their top 3 from test 1 to test 2.

 

I took the test twice and it revealed my same top two roles in the same order on both occasions. My advice to you would be to go back to your report regularly over the forthcoming weeks and exercise your mind back over past work experience and life generally, and really dig out your satisfactions and your drained & bored memories, have your wife take an hour and write some notes on your report giving examples of when she has seen any of the practices in action, and in a few months time, take the test again if you feel you want to. Don’t forget that StandOut is a smart new approach to connecting people with advice and practical approaches that have helped others win at work, it is a massive step forward from conventional  anecdotal practices, but it is a test which is limited by the uniqueness of people who interpret questions differently.  If you remain unsure I would focus on the creator part where you are confident that there is valuable new information for you to digest and experiment with, this part alone should represent a valuable new discovery.