Is Your Behavior Helping You Lead?
From the moment we recognize that there are others in the world, we learn to act and react in ways that produce desired results. Mistakes happen, but we learn to approach situations differently next time.
Interestingly, as we mature, we may cling to immature habits that once seemed helpful. It takes time to change these habits so that we can honor the person we aspire to become. This maturation aligns with the Four Stages of Fulfillment, a framework we developed at FS/A for understanding the motivations behind our daily actions. Stage I Fulfillment begins in infancy when we focus only on satisfying our immediate needs, and we evolve through our lifetime to Stage IV Fulfillment—leaving a legacy to create a better tomorrow.
As we strive to live a fulfilled life, we must recognize that our actions and reactions, especially when we are under pressure, directly influence our success. Our behavior does not reflect who we are but what has been effective for us in the past. Now, we may need to adjust our behavior to honor the person/leader we wish to become.
This month, we will share the four components of a behavioral assessment developed during the U.S. Army’s transition from propeller airplanes to jet aircraft. We were losing our top prop pilots and prototype jets in crashes. Did we need a different behavioral profile for jet pilots compared to prop pilots? The American Psychological Society (now known as the Association for Psychological Science) was tasked with creating an assessment to assist in identifying the best candidates to become jet pilots.
The success of that assessment has resulted in the development of numerous subsequent versions over the last 80 years that are utilized by the military, professional sports teams, and Fortune 1000 companies to build stronger teams.
The Benefits of Understanding Our Biased Behavior
Understanding that each of us is biased in our behavioral response helps us:
- Respect the natural behavior of others for effective collaboration.
- Understand our behavioral strengths to optimize our work effectiveness.
- Make career and job decisions that play to our behavioral strengths.
- Match behavioral strengths to job requirements.
- Play to the individual’s strengths when developing and coaching.
- Teach/understand people skills.
As for most behavior assessments, the four behaviors are:
- Assertiveness
- Sociability
- Calmness
- Perfectionism
The Four Behavioral Vectors
The four vectors range from very low to very high, and each of us has a biased spot on each vector.
There is no right or wrong behavior unless it obstructs the creation of a shared outcome. When our natural behavior aligns with our job, it feels right. It becomes draining when the job requires us to consciously adjust our behavior to be effective.
The best prop pilots were highly assertive and sociable while being low in calmness and perfectionism; however, the best jet pilots were just the opposite.
Maturity/Conscious Restraint Vector
A bonus in the assessment we developed at FS/A is that these behaviors serve a purpose ranging from fulfilling my current needs to leaving the world a better place. We refer to this as our Conscious Restraint Vector, which signifies our mature ability to delay short-term gratification and grasp the long-term consequences of our decisions. The four Stages of Fulfillment we have previously shared illustrate this vector. We will share more on this in the coming weeks.
Next week, we will share the first two behaviors each of us possesses:
- Assertiveness – our predisposition to avoid or take risks
- Sociability – our predisposition to be task-oriented or socially alert