UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF IS THE FIRST STEP TO UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOU CAN DO IN THE WORLD

As a consultant, coach and mentor I am often invited in varying roles to support people with their Personal Goals, Professional Development, or Business.

For Personal Goals this may be: 1) Self Aspect, 2) Behavioral Aspect, 3) Social Aspect, 4) Physical Aspect, 5) Emotional Aspect, 6) Mental Aspect and 7) SpiritualAspect. 

For Professional Development this may be; 1) Career Progress; 2) Earnings/Financial Reward ; 3) Recognition/Support; 4) Relationships at Work ; 5) Purpose and Passion ; 6) Work/Life Balance ; 7) Work Content and Process 

For Business this may be; Processes, People, Engagement or Performance in the context of Projects, Programmes, Strategy or Change. 

In all these instances knowing something about yourself is really important. This is partly about talent, experience and expertise but it is also about what you value and what motivates you. There are some flaws and a number of challenges around the efficacy of psychometric testing but there does seem value in the use of DISC, MBTI, OCEAN (each discussed below) as a tool for reflection or possibly discussion. I also find Ikigai: The japanese secret to a long and happy life might just help you live a more fulfilling life. 

SOME TOOLS

There is so much already written about these tools, and so many self assessments available on-line, that I will not duplicate them here, but simply introduce each tool, why I feel it is important and relevant as a consultant, coach and mentor and offer links to read more, and possibly try a self assessments. What you choose to do beyond that is up-to-you.

I had a coaching client who was struggling around "motivation" and outside of the coaching session I suggested they might find the MBTI assessment interesting. A couple of days later they emailed me to say that they had a breakthrough and had solved the problem. Not all coaching success happens in the session, and real coaching success is when the client solves their own problem.

DISC 

DiSC® is a personal assessment tool used by more than one million people every year to help improve teamwork, communication, and productivity in the workplace. 



DiSC is an acronym that stands for the four main personality profiles described in the DiSC model: (D)ominance, (i)nfluence, (S)teadiness and (C)onscientiousness.

• People with D personalities tend to be confident and place an emphasis on accomplishing bottom-line results.
• People with i personalities tend to be more open and place an emphasis on relationships and influencing or persuading others.
• People with S personalities tend to be dependable and place the emphasis on cooperation and sincerity.
• People with C personalities tend to place the emphasis on quality, accuracy, expertise, and competency.

Read more here
https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc
https://www.indabaglobal.com/disc-assessments-improve-customer-service/

Take a self-assessment
https://discpersonalitytesting.com/free-disc-test/

MBTI

The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an introspective self-report questionnaire indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. The test attempts to assign four categories: introversion or extraversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, judging or perceiving.



The purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) personality inventory is to make the theory of psychological types described by C. G. Jung understandable and useful in people's lives. The essence of the theory is that much seemingly random variation in the behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent, being due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment. This is ostensibly a more sophisticated version of DISC (although some purists would disagree)


Read more here
https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/

Take a self-assessment
https://www.16personalities.com/

OCEAN

Many contemporary personality psychologists believe that there are five basic dimensions of personality, often referred to as the "Big 5" personality traits. The five broad personality traits described by the theory are extraversion (also often spelled extroversion), agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. 

The Big Five Model, also known as the Five-Factor Model, is the most widely accepted personality theory held by psychologists today. The theory states that personality can be boiled down to five core factors, known by the acronym CANOE or OCEAN:

• Conscientiousness =  impulsive, disorganized vs. disciplined, careful
• Agreeableness =  suspicious, uncooperative vs. trusting, helpful
• Neuroticism = calm, confident vs. anxious, pessimistic
• Openness to Experience = prefers routine, practical vs. imaginative, spontaneous
• Extraversion = reserved, thoughtful vs. sociable, fun-loving

Read more here
https://www.verywellmind.com/the-big-five-personality-dimensions-2795422

Take a self-assessment 
https://www.truity.com/test/big-five-personality-test

IKIGAI

ikigai is seen as the convergence of four primary elements:



What you love (your passion)
What the world needs (your mission)
What you are good at (your vocation)
What you can get paid for (your profession)

Discovering your own ikigai is said to bring fulfilment, happiness and make you live longer.

Read more here
https://medium.com/thrive-global/ikigai-the-japanese-secret-to-a-long-and-happy-life-might-just-help-you-live-a-more-fulfilling-9871d01992b7

CONCLUSION
 
There are some great tools for understanding, defining, documenting and communicating mission, vision, strategy and processes. As a consultant, coach and mentor I find great value in understanding people as the first step. And there is nobody more significant in your life than YOU. So perhaps some of the  self-assessments above may be useful to you, your plans and your career or business. 
  

Tim HJ Rogers MBA CITP 
PROJECTS, PROGRAMMES and CHANGE /  CONSULTANT MENTOR COACH
Adapt Consulting Company 
Consult CoCreate Deliver
Mob +447797762051 Tim@AdaptConsultingCompany.com

Tim Rogers is an experienced Project and Change Leader and an ICF Trained Coach as well as mentor for the IoD. He is a past curator for TEDx. Roles have included Programme Manager for the incorporation of Ports and Jersey, and Jersey Post, as well as Operations Change and Sales Support for RBSI/NatWest. He is also Commonwealth Triathlete and World Championships Rower. He has a passion for learning and has been a Tutor/Mentor for the Chartered Management Institute. He is a former Chartered Member of the British Computer Society, has an MBA (Management Consultancy) and is both a PRINCE2 and Change Management Practitioner.