Buy-in is crucial
I spoke with a SME owner, Martha (not her real name), recently after two of her employees resigned within a short space of time.
She was surprised at their resignation, reports they had had good working relationships and was worried how the loss of two colleagues would influence company morale.
Martha wanted to do her NBI Brain profile and NBI Leadership Profile, hoping to grow as a leader and perhaps gain some insight as to what was going on within her team.
Martha’s Leadership Profile Report (circle diagram shared with permission) shows she prefers Left brain thinking (and doing). She felt the report provided a fair representation of how she prefers to run her business.
L1/L2’s strengths are (amongst others) their clarity and speed in making decisions, their keen eye for when something’s not quite right, their excellent focus and them being generally very money-savvy. Ironically, this focus and speed of thinking, doing and communicating are often the areas of growth for L1/L2’s, since not all quadrants are comfortable with the very direct, to-the-point and sometimes even a little bit abrupt manner. A strong L1 leader may not think twice to make a decision on his/her own and can leave key staff members feeling alienated by not being included in discussions and decisions-making. R2’s specifically may feel overwhelmed and dispensable when confronted with the full force of a L1 leader. |
After some deliberation, Martha and I came to the conclusion that it may very well be that the two employees who had resigned, had a strong R2 quadrant in their profile composition and had struggled to connect with the company culture as it had previously been.
We also discussed a few action points for the months to come.
Action plan:
- NBI Adult and Negativity profiles for all staff
- Thorough discussion of profile results, perhaps structured within a team building session
- Regular check-in meetings with each staff member individually
- Regular team meetings with focus on allowing staff members to brainstorm together, to have the opportunity to ask questions, and for staff to be brought up to date with any new developments in the company
- Short courses on Leadership development
