<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/SCkpNrkTheXUlfgK34Tv" alt="4-outcomes-generativity.webp" width="400" height="400">
<a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/what-is-generativity-eriksons-generativity-vs-stagnation" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs/ArticleID/168?What%20Is%20Generativity=%20Erikson%27s%20Generativity%20vs%20Stagnation" rel="follow">Generativity</a> is the ultimate outcome produced by leaders when they reach their most evolved psycho-social development stage, and it is what some scholars refer to as &ldquo;servant leadership&rdquo;. Leaders first embody generativity when they begin to care about more than themselves, their team, or goals by showing concern about the impact of their decisions on the rest of the world. What they then create becomes a catalyst for exponential creativity and productivity, well beyond the original idea. Today, even a platform or technology can begin to generate new creative output or behavior sans input from the originator of the system (<a href="https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/9385626/Zittrain_Generative%20Internet.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowe" rel="follow">Zittrain, 2006</a>).&nbsp;
The term generativity comes from <a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html">Erik Erikson</a>&rsquo;s theory of human development. He defined generativity as a combination of high levels of productivity, creativity, and innovation.&nbsp; According to his theory, people naturally experience conflicts at different stages of their lives and careers.&nbsp; They must grapple with the lesson each conflict presents if they are to transform themselves and proceed to the next level of growth. Although Erikson believed that these stages were correlated with age, there is evidence that generativity is achievable at any age and that it has more to do with a leader&rsquo;s balanced character strengths and integrative wholeness.&nbsp;
The most salient clue that a <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/self-leadership" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs/ArticleID/177/Self-Leadership" rel="follow">leader</a> has reached this ideal level of development (and the associated potential for contribution) is when they care about establishing and guiding the next generation in ways that serve humankind beyond the span of their own life. The existential conflict that usually arises for such a leader is between Generativity and Stagnation. Resolving this conflict can manifest as contributing broadly to the next generations, which is healthy for the individual (and society more generally).
<h2>What drives generativity in leaders?</h2>

In order to understand what makes leaders generative, one must first understand what might prevent a leader from being generative. Low self-esteem and operating from fear as opposed to operating from inner strength can impede high levels of productive output and result in underachievement. If leaders are extrinsically motivated by performance as others see it, they will struggle to tap into their own creative intelligence.&nbsp; In this case, reward and punishment systems will drive the majority of their behaviors, limiting their potential to make unique contributions.&nbsp;
Reward systems will be associated with two primary things. First, their behavior will reflect the behaviors rewarded through compensation, performance evaluation, and values communicated by the actions of authority figures. While these systems can produce results, they will rarely produce creative contributions of effort or result in broadly adapted innovations. To attain an exponential growth result, leaders must be intrinsically motivated by personal and collaborative performance mastery that comes from inside them. In this way, it enables them to draw on their most innate creativity and imagination without concern for external rewards or punishments. In this state, they are motivated by their own mastery of a new skill or strategy. When multiple leaders reach the level of intrinsic motivation, only then is exponential synergy and generativity possible.&nbsp;
So, what makes one leader intrinsically motivated and another extrinsically motivated?&nbsp; The one difference is their level of self-esteem. When one has low self-esteem, they will look to others for feedback and experience an identity that reflects the idea of the &ldquo;imposter syndrome&rdquo;. As a result, inner beliefs and thoughts will reflect inner conflict, indecision, and self-doubt as they interact with others.&nbsp; Consequently, this can spread throughout the organization and affect others who also harbor self-doubt. The general effect is an intense experience of relational triangulation that spreads ego-drama based on four specific fears, as follows:

Loss of approval, which causes them to overcompensate by blaming others.&nbsp;
Loss of attention, which causes them to overcompensate by fabricating untruths.
Loss of status, which causes them to overcompensate by diminishing others.&nbsp;
Loss of power, which causes them to overcompensate by dominating others.

Any of these overcompensating behaviors are toxic to others and disrupt the flow of work substantially (see diagram below).&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/mSEUHcr0S8WE4KYrp51H" alt="undefined" width="424" height="447" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">

What causes them is a fear-based identity that is more concerned with external feedback than trusting the inner creativity that arises from a strong sense of self. The effect is, in essence, the difference between inner conflict and inner resolve. The former begets external conflict, and the latter results in contribution. All it takes is one leader with self-doubt to derail an entire team and send them spiraling into toxic dysfunction and &rdquo;Who&rsquo;s right?&rdquo; debate (that usually goes nowhere). If members of the team are focused on self-protective or self-advancing behaviors, the outcomes are wholly reliant on leader values, behaviors, and reward systems. If the values are communicated clearly, the skills are present, and the reward systems produce desired behaviors.&nbsp; If not, the team can perform, but it will not perform exponentially or produce innovation.&nbsp;
If one hopes to effect massive change in a generative direction, it requires investing in the development of the four balanced meta-strengths that create generative wholeness in all leaders of the organization. Only then will drama disappear and foster accelerated energy into collaborative contribution.
<h2>Steps to increase self-esteem in leaders</h2>

In summary, there is a compelling argument that any organization that wishes to become exponentially generative must invest in the inner strength development of every leader at every level so that teams can operate from inner strength instead of from inner fear. Striving for generative wholeness is essential to ensure that teams spend more energy on contributions like problem-solving, strategy development, tactical execution, and healthy collaboration. One must have a framework for this aspiration (as well as one for recognizing and naming the four clues suggesting that toxic behavior is afoot) and then learn how to self-correct quickly. Tilt365 has developed both. The framework of generative leadership is based on three decades of research and provides evidence that when leaders exhibit all four meta-strengths (i.e., Humanity, Wisdom, Courage and Resilience), they are able to interact in a way that provides psychological safety for their team members. In such a culture, the leader does not allow the four toxic behaviors (blaming, fabricating, diminishing, and dominating) to arise and quickly snubs them out with effective laser coaching skills. This protects the team climate from ego-based drama and enables exponentially more effort to be funneled into four specific productive outcomes.&nbsp;
<h2>The four outcomes of generativity in teams</h2>

Leaders need to be able to quickly &ldquo;turn the ship&rdquo; (with a set of behaviors) in the right direction to produce specific outcomes in response to the context. For example, if the right strategy has not been agreed upon, members of the team will operate with disparate behaviors that will thwart the need for ONE specific set of actions desired. This indicates a need for team ALIGNMENT, which can only be accomplished with a certain mindset and set of behaviors. In this example, the team needs CLARITY in order to agree upon the direction, mission, and metrics that will be used to measure successful performance. More importantly, they must be able to shift their mindset and behaviors swiftly into one direction without interference from strong personalities that don&rsquo;t naturally resonate with these behaviors.&nbsp;
What follows are the four most common outcomes that a leader and team must be able to shift into at a moment&rsquo;s notice. The skill involved in this ability to shift a host of behaviors in multiple team members at once is referred to as <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/how-to-create-a-team-culture-of-agility" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs/ArticleID/5" rel="follow">team agility,</a> and it enables a collective process called <a href="https://www.tilt365.com//blog/post/tilt-mindsets" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs/ArticleID/29/How-much-do-you-really-know-about-happiness" rel="follow">flow</a>. The four sets of behaviors arise naturally in certain leaders who have greater strengths in them and can lead the way to a quick shift to produce specific results and outcomes, as follows:
The four <a href="https:www.tilt365.com/blog/post/tilting-for-outcomes" rel="follow">desired outcomes</a>:&nbsp;&nbsp;

Alignment- When a team needs to align swiftly, it requires the collective strengths of Trust, Perspective, Empathy, and Focus.&nbsp;
Collaboration- When a team needs to collaborate swiftly, it requires the collective strengths of Openness, Likability, Vision, and Empathy.&nbsp;
Execution- When a team needs to execute swiftly, it requires the collective strengths of Dilligence, Integrity, Focus, and Boldness.&nbsp;
Innovation- And when a team needs to innovate swiftly, it requires the collective strengths of Creativity, Confidence, Boldness, and Vision.&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/BlztxboR6Oi3xIghelEw" alt="undefined" width="378" height="481" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">

The challenge is that certain leaders are better at different collections of strengths than others and this must be considered when making the shift. The other requirement is that the person operates from a secure and intrinsically motivated inner identity&nbsp; (generative wholeness). At Tilt365, we call this the <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs/ArticleID/4/The-Unique-Amplifier-of-Peace-A-message" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs/ArticleID/4/The-Unique-Amplifier-of-Peace-A-message">unique amplifier</a> of the leader. Whole-person inner strength and balance PLUS the unique amplifier is a powerful combination that enables strong followership versus the divisiveness that is created by insecure or fear-based leaders.&nbsp;
Though this article represents a summary of the general concepts of generativity in teams, it is a concept that the world needs desperately at this time in history. Fear-based leadership is rampant in these challenging times, and extremes in behavior are often the clues that toxic leadership is afoot. The future of humanity is in the hands of those who are unwittingly led by inner fear about loss of power, status, approval, and freedom. The path to healing is best solved by character strength development which offers a stabilizing and inspiring alternative. A framework of organizing principles for human interaction that truly enables generativity and contribution that transcends focus on oneself and in favor of the purpose or mission (and even inspiring a better future for all of humankind) is the essential first step.&nbsp;
If you are a leader, this starts with you.&nbsp; Make the commitment to take this first step today and strengthen your inner identity with the Tilt framework of 12 character strengths that will make you whole. Then watch your inner creativity soar to make contributions that will help your organization prosper. The first step is self-awareness regarding your inner character strengths and development opportunities that advance inner wholeness. Balancing the meta-strengths of humanity, wisdom, courage, and resilience is what helps a leader shape a culture where top talent loves to work (and drama-seekers prefer to leave). Start by taking the True Tilt Personality Profile to discern the top four strengths that amplify your leadership potential.&nbsp;

<h3>About Tilt365.com&nbsp;</h3>
Our <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Pricing/All-Pricing" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com" rel="follow">strengths assessments</a> increase self-awareness, grow 12 specific character strengths of generative wholeness, and drive <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Assessments/Team-Assessments" data-cke-saved-href="https://tilt365.com/Portals/0/All/Research_Reports/Glossary%20Part%201.pdf?ver=FrMwkQiZeWL4KwKUdGvdRw%3d%3d" rel="follow">team agility</a>. You can start developing a <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/what-is-generativity-and-why-would-it-help-me" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Portals/0/All/Research_Reports/Glossary%20Part%201.pdf?ver=FrMwkQiZeWL4KwKUdGvdRw%3d%3d" rel="follow">generative mindset</a> today!

Generativity is the ultimate outcome produced by leaders when they reach their most evolved psycho-social development stage.

The Four Outcomes of Exponential Generativity in High-Performing Teams

Generativity is the ultimate outcome produced by leaders when they reach their most evolved psycho-social development stage, and it is what some scholars refer to as “servant leadership.”

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<h2>Insights from the Tilt365 Science Team&nbsp;</h2>
Cultivating plants can be an arduous endeavor: &nbsp;Certain amounts of sunlight can be great for one plant while being detrimental to another. &nbsp;Developing leaders is similar in the sense that the development strategies must be tailored to the unique needs of each leader. &nbsp;
A key aspect of Tilt 365&rsquo;s mission is to not only develop leaders so that they are effective in a general sense but also to behave in ways that benefit others. &nbsp;This is one aspect of what we call &ldquo;Generativity&rdquo;, and it is valuable to everyone, not just leaders.
For example, when a person or leader is generative, they are wholly engaged in their work and functioning in a state of flow. &nbsp;Also, a generative leader has the ability to efficiently &ldquo;turn the ship&rdquo; and influence others&rsquo; behaviors so that productivity remains high and team cohesion is preserved.
One obstacle to <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/what-is-generativity-eriksons-generativity-vs-stagnation" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs/ArticleID/168?What%20Is%20Generativity=%20Erikson%27s%20Generativity%20vs%20Stagnation" rel="follow">generativity</a> is unconscious personality patterns that are rooted in fear, and these surface especially when individuals fail to self-regulate and fall into counterproductive interactions that arise from ego fears. &nbsp;Generativity necessitates self-forgetting (a.k.a., transcending self-interests in favor of the purpose or mission of the team).&nbsp;
Therefore, generativity is an outcome of flow that we all have the potential to experience, but it&rsquo;s important to invest time and practice working with one another in service to the mission. Doing so repeatedly improves the chances that generativity will result from a team effort. &nbsp;
People embodying generativity are capable of identifying what triggers them to overuse or underuse a character strength in an unhealthy manner and then subsequently work towards balancing the four meta-strengths of the Tilt Framework (i.e., Humanity, Wisdom, Courage, and Resilience).
This, in turn, minimizes ego drama in a given team and accelerates the process of achieving what we call &ldquo;Developed Generativity&rdquo;. &nbsp;Well-being is improved when a state of cohesion is reached, and ego fears are absent.
In order to understand how to maximize one's benefit to others, it&rsquo;s crucial to understand the unique needs and desires of those other individuals. The suite of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Pricing/All-Pricing" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Assessments" rel="follow">Tilt365 strength assessments</a> can shed light on these matters (and a host of others). &nbsp;
Our generativity post later this week will feature many more details on the Generativity concept. 
<h2>Relevant Quotes</h2>
&ldquo;Generative Coaching supports clients in consciously choosing to step into life in new ways. Living in the state of being that is Generative Wholeness&trade;, clients consistently choose change that sustains connection to effortless vitality.&rdquo;
&mdash; <a href="https://www.invitechange.com/blog/the-generative-wholeness-way" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.invitechange.com/blog/the-generative-wholeness-way">Janet Harvey</a>
&ldquo;In terms of practical implications, our findings show that generativity is associated with many desirable work outcomes, including work motivation, affective organizational commitment, and work relationships (i.e., mentoring). Thus, practitioners may be well advised to implement human resource (HR) strategies that provide an opportunity for employees to enact their generativity motive.&rdquo;
&mdash; <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001879120301469" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001879120301469">Friederike Doerwald, Hannes Zacher, Nico W. Van Yperen, and Susanne Scheibe</a>

<h2>People Also Ask</h2>
1.)&nbsp; Who coined the term &ldquo;Generativity&rdquo;?
Erik Erikson
2.)&nbsp; How does generativity happen?
When a person is so engaged in problem-solving or creating output, they are said to &ldquo;lose themselves in the moment&rdquo;. &nbsp;What we are losing in moments like this is self-consciousness. As a result, we throw ourselves into a challenge with our whole self and forget our ego parts. &nbsp;Generativity is the result of a flow experience, and it can be thought of as exponential productivity and creativity.
3.)&nbsp; How can I become generative?
While there are numerous strategies, some of the most useful are self-reflection, knowledge and application of the Tilt Framework, and achieving balance in the twelve Tilt 365 character strengths.

Generativity is an outcome of flow that we all have the potential to experience.

What Is Generativity and Why Would it Help Me?

Generativity is an outcome of flow that we all have the potential to experience, but it’s important to invest time and practice working with one another in service to the mission.  Doing so repeatedly improves the chances that generativity will result from team effort.

<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/1lODTMJXSDqXpd74y8Jd" alt="TAP-Scale_1.png" width="406" height="406">
Measuring tools exist for a vast array of tasks, including the assessment of acceleration, particle concentration, brightness, and pH levels, but the data they provide are meaningless unless there has been some sort of analysis conducted to confirm the accuracy of readings.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Another consideration&ndash;in addition to accuracy&ndash;is consistency.&nbsp; If a scale reads the correct weight two weeks in a row and then starts producing wrong numbers, the consistency of that tool would then be in doubt.&nbsp; As an example of this, the scale should read 170 pounds one month after an initial accurate reading of 170 if the person did not lose or gain any weight.
Psychometric tools like survey assessments give us information, but without research, it is impossible to articulate with any degree of certainty what that information actually means.&nbsp; Tilt 365 has previously published a blog that details the psychometric concepts of validity and reliability, and readers who are curious about details on those constructs can <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/achieving-a-better-understanding-of-reliability-and-validity" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs/ArticleID/171/Achieving%20a%20Better%20Understanding%20of%20Reliability%20and%20Validity" rel="follow">click here</a> to read that article.&nbsp; For the purposes of this piece, it is enough to know that validity and reliability&ndash;in the context of survey assessments&ndash;mean accuracy and consistency, respectively.

<h2>Tilt 365 Model, Framework, and Assessments</h2>
All Tilt 365 assessments are anchored on the Tilt Model and Framework, which features twelve character strengths.&nbsp; In no particular order, those twelve are Likability, Openness, Inspiration, Creativity, Confidence, Boldness, Integrity, Diligence, Focus, Perspective, Trust, and Empathy.&nbsp; See Figure 1 below for a depiction of the Tilt Model.
<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/Tgnfh8x5RDQkyCSOzC9j" alt="Personas-Strengths-model-4-20.webp" width="387" height="479" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
Three assessments are currently in the Tilt 365 arsenal, one of which is the <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Assessments/Team-Assessments" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Assessments/Team-Assessments" rel="follow">Team Agility Predictor&trade;</a> (TAP).&nbsp; The TAP is a 360-degree tool that taps a potentially wide array of observers, such as team leaders and team members.&nbsp; Since the TAP was truncated earlier this year from 48 slide-bar items to 12 slide-bar items, it was important to conduct a validation study on the abbreviated TAP.&nbsp;&nbsp;
In an effort to keep this current article from an excessive length, we will explain only a subset of our TAP validity and reliability findings, beginning with content validity.&nbsp; As can be seen in the details that follow below, validity and reliability can be assessed in numerous ways.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<h2>Content Validity Efforts</h2>
Whereas four questions previously measured each of the 12 Tilt character strengths, we sought to accurately measure each of the 12 Tilt character strengths with a single item. The four-person Tilt 365 Science Team generated a lengthy collection of possible items that would address the 12 Tilt character strengths.&nbsp;
Next, the Science Team deliberated the merits and flaws of each of the items.&nbsp; When a consensus was reached regarding the best item to retain for each of the 12 character strengths, that best item was deployed in the TAP.

<h2>Convergent Validity</h2>
&ldquo;Convergent validity&rdquo; sounds imposing and complicated, but the essence of the construct is simply that responses to two assessments that both claim to cover the same concept should have a relationship and correlate.&nbsp; Someone who scores in a very high percentile on one widely accepted personality assessment would be expected to score in about as high a percentile on a different widely accepted personality assessment.
&ldquo;Covary&rdquo; and &ldquo;correlate&rdquo; mean that as responses to one assessment go in a given direction, the responses to the other, similar assessment should do approximately the same thing.&nbsp; More generally, correlation can be thought of as a relationship. For example, there is generally a correlation (relationship) between daily consumption of extra-large milkshakes and high triglycerides, and there is generally a correlation (relationship) between running five miles a day and a healthy cardiovascular system.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<h2>Factor Analysis</h2>
Factor analysis is an analytical tool that helps us understand whether or not items in a survey assessment are related.&nbsp; Picture the following four-item survey to which one must respond with either strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, or strongly agree:
<ol>
<li>I like going to parties</li>
<li>I like being around a lot of talkative people</li>
<li>I have planted lots of trees and bushes in my backyard</li>
<li>I thoroughly enjoy working in the yard.</li>
</ol>
We would expect that people who strongly agree with item 1 would also strongly agree with item 2 since they are tapping a similar conceptual domain.&nbsp; Similarly, someone who strongly agrees with item 3 would be expected (more or less) to strongly agree with item 4 because the two items are again tapping a similar conceptual domain.
Researchers employing factor analysis are using a tool that analyzes responses to survey items and gives them an idea of how similar (or how different) two or more items in the survey are to one another.&nbsp; The more people agree or disagree with one, the more we expect them to agree or disagree with a similar item.
Our intent with the TAP validation study, in terms of factor analysis, was to confirm that each of the 12 items in the assessment corresponded to one of the twelve distinct character strength domains in the Tilt Model.&nbsp; This is exactly what we found.&nbsp; Technically speaking, we found that all 12 character strength items had &ldquo;strong factor loadings&rdquo;.
Put simply, strong factor loadings means that each item had strong correspondence to the single character strength it was written to assess.&nbsp; The strong factor loadings for the remainder of the items provide additional evidence for the internal structure validity of the Tilt Model and Tilt Framework (as confirmed by previous work).&nbsp; This just means that the structure of the Tilt Model and Framework held up from an analytical standpoint.

<h2>Discriminant Validity</h2>
If we hypothetically consider one assessment that evaluates intelligence and another assessment that evaluates favorite types of meals, we would expect that high scores on the intelligence test would have no bearing on the types of responses from the assessment that evaluates favorite meals.
When someone quickly reproduces patterns while completing an intelligence test, we have no reason to believe that they would have a penchant for pizza more than pancakes or steak more than lobster.&nbsp; Discriminant validity would thus be demonstrated, in this example, if we found that responses on the intelligence test had nothing to do with favorite meals.
In the TAP validation study, we compared responses to the 12-item TAP with three constructs that should not have a relationship with the TAP items: team size, business sector, and geographic region.&nbsp;&nbsp;
There was found to be no relationship between the TAP responses and team size, which is intuitive since larger (or smaller) teams are not expected to have more balance in character strengths than teams of differing proportions.&nbsp; This also provides evidence that the responses to the TAP have no significant relationship with nor are they contaminated by the (theoretically) unrelated construct of team size.
With respect to the difference (or lack thereof) between the TAP responses and the business&nbsp;sector to which the various teams belonged and between the TAP responses and geographic region, we found no significant difference between the means for TAP responses based on either of these other domains.
Again, this makes sense because teams in one business sector are not expected, on&nbsp;average, to be more balanced in character strengths than teams in other business domains and because teams in one geographic region are not expected, on average, to be more balanced in character strengths than teams in alternate geographic regions.

<h2>Criterion-Related Validity</h2>
Criterion-related validity is all about meaningful predictions.&nbsp; We can picture someone who was tasked with creating an assessment that would provide hiring managers with an accurate notion of how well a particular applicant would perform on the job.&nbsp;&nbsp;
To determine how useful the assessment is from a criterion-related validity standpoint, it could be given to a number of job applicants, and then the job performance (after some determined period of time) for the applicants who were hired would be compared to the prediction.&nbsp; If the test predicted strong performance and the employees in question truly had strong work performance, the assessment would demonstrate evidence for criterion-related validity.
Gauging the criterion-related validity of the shortened TAP took the form of establishing the relationship between the responses to the TAP and five constructs that should, in theory, be predicted positively by the TAP items. The five constructs, specifically, that were used in this endeavor were transparency, safety, cohesion, conflict resolution, and trust. We anticipated that higher levels of these five constructs would be predicted by better responses on the TAP.
As opposed to just being correlated with responses from the TAP, these constructs were&nbsp;expected to be predicted by the TAP. The difference lies in the fact that we expect increases&nbsp;in, say, integrity (a TAP construct), to cause a certain increase in transparency (not a&nbsp;TAP construct). Similarly, an increase in empathy (TAP) should cause an increase in conflict&nbsp;resolution (non-TAP).&nbsp; All five of the constructs showed a significant, positive correlation with the TAP responses.

<h2>Reliability</h2>
Reliability is the degree to which <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ed312281" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0%2C34&amp;q=Crocker%2C+L.%2C+%26+Algina%2C+J.+%281986%29.+Introduction+to+classical+and+modern+test+theory.+Holt%2C+Rinehart+and+Winston%2C+6277+Sea+Harbor+Drive%2C+Orlando%2C+FL+32887.&amp;btnG=" rel="follow">an assessment is free of error</a>, and it is often operationalized as whether the assessment measures the same construct consistently. There are different ways to evaluate the reliability of an assessment, including test-retest, parallel forms, internal consistency, and inter-rater.&nbsp; We exclusively focus in this section on test-retest reliability.
Test-retest reliability shows the extent to which an assessment remains consistent over time.&nbsp; Simply put, this means that we compare responses to a single assessment generated by a single User with some pre-determined span of time between assessment completions.&nbsp; Ideally, teams develop and grow more cohesive and trusting over time, so ratings on a team developmental assessment like the TAP should NOT be consistent over moderate to long time periods.&nbsp;
During the TAP validation study, test-retest reliability was assessed as dependability correlation, a more appropriate form of reliability for this type of instrument.&nbsp; The dependability analyses for this current study involved comparing responses to the TAP generated very close in time to each other for each User.

<h2>Internal Consistency</h2>
Internal consistency reliability provides evidence that items on the same scale are measuring the same construct. Internal consistency reliability is important for any type of assessment with multiple items per construct.&nbsp;&nbsp;
An example of this involves three questions that all are asking about job performance.&nbsp; If they are written so that best possible performance is indicated by &ldquo;Strongly agree&rdquo;, then we would expect that a rater chooses strongly agree (or close to strongly agree) for all three questions when rating a single employee&rsquo;s stellar performance.&nbsp;
There are different methods available for evaluating an assessment&rsquo;s internal consistency&nbsp;reliability, and our internal consistency findings for each of the 12 character strengths in the TAP validation study were mostly in the moderate or satisfactory ranges.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<h2>Conclusion</h2>
Our evaluation of the <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Assessments/Team-Assessments" rel="follow">abbreviated TAP</a> provided evidence that it has sound psychometric properties in terms of several forms of each of reliability and validity.

We conducted a thorough analysis of the Team Agility Predictor™ to assess the degree of evidence for validity and reliability.

Evaluating the Team Agility Predictor, Described Simply

After significantly shortening the Team Agility Predictor™ earlier this year, we conducted a thorough analysis of it to assess the degree of evidence for validity and reliability.  This blog describes those findings and efforts in accessible language.

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<h1>Positive vs Negative Feedback</h1>
Think back to the last time you were given some feedback that made you think &ldquo;ouch&rdquo;! Or worse, maybe you received feedback that even cost you your job or resulted in the loss of an important personal relationship. Life lessons such as these are tough to handle in the moment, but if you think back, they often engender positive change in your life. A good friend of mine recently said &ldquo;things don&rsquo;t happen to you, they happen for you!&rdquo;.&nbsp;
Wait, what? It took me a few minutes to digest that. And then&hellip;
What if we could choose to shift our mindset about all things negative by remembering that adverse outcomes always have the potential to make us stronger (or better). Would this mindset moderate the coping process?&nbsp;&nbsp;
There is an old saying that &ldquo;After every storm, there is the potential for a silver lining after it rains.&rdquo; Sure enough, when I look back over my life, I can readily cite evidence that my friend (and the old analogy) are both pretty spot on.&nbsp;
For example, earlier this year, my husband and I made plans to move to our dream city and build a beautiful new home over the winter. We sold our house, packed our treasured belongings, and put them into storage while we waited for the home to be finished. On the last Friday in April, we finally closed and were waiting for the moving truck to arrive on Sunday morning when we received a shocking phone call. Apparently, the movers had worked late into the night packing the semi-truck and had rigged up some lighting that was never turned off. It sparked and caught fire, burning everything we owned during the night. When the driver awoke the next morning, there was very little left but ashes and a mess.&nbsp;
In the moment, I think we were both in shock. The next day we moved into our lovely new home with nothing more than four suitcases and a new mattress on the floor. All of our dreams for this chapter in our lives had quite literally gone up in smoke. It was a daunting time, as you can imagine. My friend's voice and her quote was the thought I clung to during one of the more difficult times in my life. It is now 120 days later as I write this post, and I can share that it changed our lives forever - in so many good ways.&nbsp;
Yes, there were losses to process emotionally. But we learned that things don&rsquo;t matter as much as we thought&ndash;it&rsquo;s the meaning we make of them that causes us to drag them around through life. We learned that we don&rsquo;t need old keepsakes to remember the people we love because they live on in our hearts and are etched in our minds forever. We could have reacted from fear and panicked. Instead, we were wise enough to respond with grace and a general trust that we would find some good outcome in all of the turmoil.&nbsp;
This story will hopefully help you remember that unpleasant feedback or anything negative that happens in your life is something you can handle. You will do what is needed because you have to. The following life lessons can help you navigate challenging times.&nbsp;
<h2>Life lessons about feedback:</h2>
<ol>
<li>Feedback is unavoidable:&nbsp; Life brings you feedback every single day, whether you realize it or not. Unless you are a hermit, you are interacting with people and natural elements in your environment every day.&nbsp; As a result, you are getting both positive and negative feedback and processing it in your mind so you know what to do in the future when similar situations occur.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Your brain will react in certain patterns:&nbsp; Your brain is always searching its database to see if you&rsquo;ve previously experienced what you&rsquo;re currently encountering. If you have, it knows what to do and you&rsquo;re wired to handle it like you always do. If not, your brilliant brain will drive you to search for answers.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Reactions will be underpinned by fear or grace: Your automatic response deserves a good examination in new circumstances. What may have worked for you in the past is ONE consideration, but you may find new ways to respond that work even better. The key is to notice whether your automatic response arises from fear or from grace. If it&rsquo;s from fear, then question your automatic response and then tweak it. If from grace, then proceed.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Tune into your feelings and honor them:&nbsp; In order to move forward, we must identify the feelings created by negative feedback and let them sink in before we move on. Only then can we truly understand what is causing them. It also carves a deeper path of compassion in our hearts, so that we truly understand the pain of others as well. Our empathy muscle grows every time we evolve after negative feedback.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Don&rsquo;t hold on too long:&nbsp; The indicator of unhealthy patterns underpinned by fear is that you hang on to them, and they keep re-appearing. It&rsquo;s ok to feel fear in the moment, but be sure you learn the lesson and move on. I could have held on to the losses of all of my life&rsquo;s belonging for years if I had wanted.&nbsp; But we chose to move on and love life.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Take responsibility for your impact or lessons: &nbsp;Negative feedback arrives at our doorstep when we are unaware of something about ourselves. We would never know how we are showing up unless someone cared enough (or was courageous enough) to tell us how we impacted them.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Be willing to experience discomfort and angst:&nbsp; We cannot grow if we are not willing to examine the consequences of our choices and look carefully at what we could have done differently. The fire was very informative feedback for me, believe it or not. I tend to be too quick to move forward and avoid examining the details. The contract we signed gave us an opportunity to declare the value of our belongings, and I missed that. I also get restless easily and am known to move every five years. I won&rsquo;t be moving anytime soon and have decided to be content.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li>
<li>Ask for honest feedback:&nbsp; We all have weak points where we need to learn and grow. The best people in our lives are those who will trade this precious gift with us. When we are low, they will help us discern the truth, not placate us with flattery or agreement that might make us feel better in the moment. Flattery or shallow agreement actually does us a disservice because we lose the lesson. Give others the gift of honest, respectful feedback, too, even when it&rsquo;s hard.&nbsp;</li>
<li>But, only ask people the right people:&nbsp; This means people you can trust to have your best interest in mind.&nbsp; Do not trust people who are known to manipulate you or make you feel bad about yourself. Keep the circle of feedback loops to a sacred few whom you admire and respect. Only then will you truly listen and learn.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<h2>The same lessons are true with positive vs negative&nbsp;feedback, but I would add three more:</h2>
<ol start="10">
<li>Keep it real: &nbsp;When giving or receiving positive feedback, be sure to keep it in perspective and ensure it&rsquo;s realistic, so you don&rsquo;t unwittingly encourage the lack of growth in yourself or others. Learn to give honest feedback in a way that helps others see how things look to you or feel for you, but don&rsquo;t be disappointed with the truth.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Deliver the message &amp; be silent:&nbsp; Saying the truth isn&rsquo;t easy, so don&rsquo;t apologize for it or expect others to do the same. Be quiet and wait. Let them sit with the observation.&nbsp;</li>
<li>No one is right or wrong:&nbsp; Feedback is almost always something that varies from person to person. The person offering feedback is telling you how you affect them, but only them. No one needs to be right or defend being right. It is a personal interaction between two very different people. So treat it as a sacred desire to get along better. Only then does any kind of feedback result in honest exchanges between people who care about each other.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
Receiving feedback can be difficult at times, and often causes people to become stressed. Knowing <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Individuals" rel="follow">how you react</a> under stress can help you better understand how to handle feedback from others. To learn more about your stress reactors, feel free to get started with our <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Pricing/All-Pricing" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/" rel="follow">strengths assessment</a> and learn "why" you do what you do.

Learn the difference between positive and negative feedback, and how to handle the worst feedback with wisdom.

Positive vs Negative Feedback: And How To Handle Bad Feedback

Life brings you feedback every single day whether you realize it or not. Think back to the last time you were given some positive vs negative feedback that made you think “ouch!"  Life lessons such as these are tough to handle in the moment, but if you think back, they often engender positive change in your life. A good friend of mine recently said “things don’t happen to you, they happen for you!”.

Positive vs Negative Feedback: How to Handle Even the Worst Feedback with Wisdom and Grace

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<div>This week Sam and I are taking a look at low morale in the workplace. What happens when low morale shows up? Could it be a symptom of something larger? How does it affect your team? What are some things you might be able to do as a team leader that can help mitigate its effects on your team? What part does awareness play, and how can using assessments help you gain a better understanding of the individuals on your team and the overall team dynamics?</div>
<div></div>
<h2>Low morale</h2>
Low morale is rapidly becoming one of the most talked about topics in post-pandemic coaching sessions. At alarming rates, employees and leaders alike are reporting feelings described as &ldquo;burned out, stuck, lost, unmotivated and misunderstood due to generation gaps&rdquo;. The virtual work environment of the pandemic is shifting to a confused hybrid culture where people are uncertain about how to connect with each other and keep work flowing at old productivity levels. Instead of growth, everyone seems to be paring down and cutting costs.&nbsp;
The result? A deceleration and pause in business as usual in a year where it seems everyone is in recovery mode. There is an increased desire for healing, and few know where to find it.&nbsp;
Just like the invisible forces of bacteria and radiation can have a devastating impact on a living system, morale is something that is more or less unseen, yet it can drastically alter our moods, relationships, and the productivity of our teams. The construct of team morale can be defined in a number of ways.
A good way of articulating it can be the overall attitude of a team or organization towards the working environment.&nbsp; For example, a team with low morale might work hard, but they might do so grudgingly.&nbsp; Or an organization with low morale might have good financial numbers but experience a high rate of turnover due to burnout.&nbsp; In each of these examples, failure might be delayed, at least temporarily, but unless conditions are ameliorated quickly, deterioration probably won&rsquo;t be forestalled indefinitely.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<h2>Low Work Morale and Team Dysfunction</h2>
<a href="https://www.tilt365.com/" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/">Dysfunctional work environments</a> and low employee morale are not uncommon, even during economically favorable times. Low morale in the workplace can often be a symptom of negative behaviors that have slipped into becoming too frequent.&nbsp; For example, if a team&rsquo;s leader has started second-guessing every nuance of every new idea proposed by their team, people are probably going to look forward to working with less gusto.&nbsp; This, ultimately, will manifest in poor productivity, especially if it is extreme enough.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Low morale may also be an indication that your team is feeling a lack of psychological safety on either a personal or team level.&nbsp; If employees are constantly worrying about losing their position, the lack of financial safety can eventually mushroom into paralysis.&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/why-tilt-examines-team-agility-and-a-summary-of-its-perks" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs/ArticleID/170/Why-Tilt-Examines-Team-Agility-And-a-Summary-of-Its-Perks" rel="follow">Psychological safety</a> is best described as the absence of interpersonal fear. When a team or team member feels supported by their team members, team leader, (and organization more generally), they tend to have a feeling of safety.&nbsp; When that safety is replaced by unconscious fears, however, productivity may begin to decline.&nbsp;
The difficult part about psychological safety is it may look different for each member of your team. Some people enjoy receiving constructive criticism, while others fervently avoid it.&nbsp; The person who welcomes extreme honesty might experience a sense of increased safety receiving the feedback, while another person is terrified by it.&nbsp;&nbsp;
One key to regaining balance and restoring optimal conditions requires an awareness of the importance of psychological safety in shaping morale, both on the part of the team leader and the individual team members themselves. It only takes one person engaging in dysfunctional behaviors and drama to trigger a wave of moral decline.&nbsp;
We all have certain behavioral patterns or traits we lean into and that we consider our strengths.&nbsp; Leaning into a strength is typically perceived as a positive thing, but sometimes when we lean too hard on those strengths (or when we enact them too frequently), it can evolve into negativity.&nbsp; If these liabilities routinely trigger fellow workers, morale can quickly plummet.&nbsp;
<h2>What Low Work Morale Looks Like</h2>
Low morale at work can pop up at any point.&nbsp; Picture a ship captain from the 1700s that used corporal punishment to keep shipmates working beyond normal human limits.&nbsp; While the crew might get the vessel to its destination by the desired time, the captain may have lost some crew to illness or injury by the time they land.&nbsp; It might even be the case that the crew mutinies due to extremely low morale, so they never get to their destination at all.
In today&rsquo;s modern corporate world, leaders almost never use corporal punishment, but driving productivity by provoking paranoia or by making vicious threats isn&rsquo;t entirely dissimilar.&nbsp; Is it straightforward to manage a team in ways that ensure high morale?&nbsp; If it were, low morale would never be an issue.
<h2>How Personality Patterns Have An Impact</h2>
It can be very helpful to use personality and strengths assessments to increase self-awareness in leaders and influential team members. This can help the leader understand the impact they may have on the team and can help everyone understand one another better when under stress. While it won&rsquo;t prevent all negative clashes, it can provide the help that prevents teams from polarizing, dividing, and fracturing into stagnation.&nbsp;
Tilt365 provides personality <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/">strength assessments</a> for four patterns of behavior most common to leaders and teams. These patterns report a set of strengths that produce four specific work outcomes, including Connection, Impact, Clarity, and Structure. A brief description of these four common patterns follows:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li><big>Connection:</big> When a person or a team is Tilting into CONNECTION, it means they are focused on connecting PEOPLE and IDEAS in order to produce the outcome of Collaboration. The top two character strengths observed are Likability and Openness. When this personality pattern is over-tilted (due to ego-fear) it shifts into a lack of structure and diligence that reduces effective execution.&nbsp; Team or leader symptoms include blaming and fabricating.&nbsp; </li>
<li><big>Impact:</big> When a person or team is Tilting into IMPACT, it means they are focused on connecting IDEAS and ACTION in order to produce the outcome of Innovation. The top two character strengths observed are Creativity and Confidence. When this personality pattern is over-tilted due to ego fears, it shifts into a sense of urgency for action that is not well thought-out and creates re-work. Team or leader symptoms include fabricating and dominating. </li>
<li><big>Clarity:</big> When a person or team is Tilting into CLARITY, it means they are focused on connecting PEOPLE and DATA in order to produce the outcome of Alignment. The top two character strengths are observed as Trust and Perspective. When this personality pattern is over-tilted due to ego fears, it shifts into paralysis analysis and resistance, often slowing progress to a standstill. Team or leader symptoms include blaming and diminishing others. </li>
<li><big>Structure:</big> When a person or team is Tilting into STRUCTURE, it means they are focused on connecting DATA and RESULTS in order to produce the outcome of Execution. The top two character strengths are observed as Integrity and Diligence. When this personality pattern is over-tilted due to ego fears, it shifts into an obsession with details and perfectionism, leading to relationship breakdown. Team or leader symptoms include dominating and diminishing others.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
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Increasing awareness of the tendencies of each of these four patterns can be super helpful to keep the team in balance and operating from strength instead of fear. Learning how each of us can operate from strength or temporarily shift into fear can help everyone learn to course-correct quickly, so the team doesn&rsquo;t fall into unconscious fear-based behaviors. Knowing one&rsquo;s True Tilt pattern is especially important for the team leader and can help them notice when the team is slipping into fear. Development actions explained in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Pricing/All-Pricing" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Assessments" rel="follow">True Tilt Personality Profile&trade;</a> assessment development plan can help tip things back into balance with awareness and quick response time.&nbsp;
Your True Tilt pattern may be similar to the people you interact with, or it might be drastically different. What motivates one person may seriously impair the morale of another. Understanding these different True Tilt patterns (and how they can trigger one another) can go a long way towards helping a team leader coach the team to regain balance and ensure high levels of morale in their team.&nbsp;
The problem many <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/identifying-signs-of-dysfunctional-organizational-culture" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs/ArticleID/166/dysfunctional-teams" rel="follow">dysfunctional team</a> leaders face, however, is a lack of self-awareness about their own ego fears and how they show up as symptoms or triggers for the team. It is easy to fall into the trap of assuming that the problem is with someone else, such as a team member who is not performing well or is withdrawn (or is maybe even lashing out). It&rsquo;s almost always a complex set of variables causing dysfunction, and most start with the leader.&nbsp;
It is often challenging for a leader to come to grips with the idea that what they as a team leader bring to the table might just be the source of the problem&ndash;whether the problem is poor morale, low productivity, or an absence of psychological safety. Their own fears can result in unintentional behaviors that cause people to feel blamed, diminished, dominated, or just plain left out.&nbsp;
Until we have a clearer understanding of our own patterns (as evidenced by our own True Tilt preferences) and how we are interacting with our team, it can be difficult to understand how, when, and why the team loses healthy measures of morale.&nbsp;
At Tilt, we use <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/">strength-based personality assessments</a> to help us gain a better understanding of how team members interact with each other and how our team is performing at a macro level, both of which are crucial if we are to maintain optimal levels of morale in our teams and organizations.&nbsp;
If you are interested in learning more about dysfunctional teams, <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/how-to-mend-dysfunctional-teams-a-definitive-guide" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs/ArticleID/166/dysfunctional-teams" rel="follow">this article</a> by Tilt365 CEO and Founder, Pam Boney, features a great deal of relevant content.&nbsp; For those who are curious about how Tilt can help their team, we recommend getting started with our <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Individuals" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Individuals">strengths assessment</a> for individuals or with our <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Assessments/Team-Assessments" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Assessments/Team-Assessments">team assessment</a> which can both be used as a launching point to commence your journey toward understanding why you do what you do and why others do what they do.

Learn how low employee morale can lead to team dysfunction, and how different personalities have an impact.

Low Employee Morale in the Workplace

Low employee morale is rapidly becoming one of the most talked about topics in post-pandemic coaching sessions. At alarming rates, employees and leaders alike are reporting feelings described as “burned out, stuck, lost, unmotivated and misunderstood due to generation gaps.” The result? A deceleration and pause in business as usual in a year where it seems everyone is in recovery mode. There is an increased desire for healing, and few know where to find it.

Low Employee Morale in the Workplace: The Impact of Personality Extremes

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<h1>Personality Growth</h1>
Who doesn&rsquo;t love taking a personality assessment and reading about the traits that are their favorites? Reading about our preferred traits and how that contributes to the way we are is fascinating, and the allure is surely understandable. In your early years, we recommend taking any credible <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Pricing/All-Pricing" rel="follow">personality assessment</a> you can find. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), <a href="https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc">DiSC</a>, and <a href="https://www.truity.com/test/enneagram-personality-test" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.truity.com/test/enneagram-personality-test">Enneagram</a> all have extensive popularity and are fun to take. By using these particular assessments, you will learn valuable information about yourself because the authors of each of these assessments observed human patterns that can be put into dichotomous pairs (known as preferences). And largely without realizing it, your personality growth was shaped during your first twenty (or so) years of life by a combination of inherited and nurtured traits. Your magnificent brain recorded certain behaviors as &ldquo;the right way to be,&rdquo;. And these traits you repeatedly enacted during those early years somehow served the reward centers in your brain.&nbsp;
<h2>A complex world requires an evolved mind</h2>
But as you move into a much larger world beyond your family and early community, these same traits may or may not serve you in the world you now find yourself in. What if knowing your preferred traits is actually limiting your beliefs about yourself in important ways and impairing your outcomes in life too? What if people are making decisions about your career based on the outcomes of your &ldquo;personality type&rdquo; and limiting your advancement without you knowing? It happened to me; it still happens every day, and you should be aware of how your own mindset may be an obstacle to your best self (and even to your full potential). The traits you inherit and bring with you are only one way of seeing things, and we live in a vastly diverse world where one set of traits will not suffice or bring you success. Most of the time, those traits polarize people and divide them. Clinging to them could even prevent you from contributing to your organization or society in a meaningful way.&nbsp;
<h2>Extremes can be useful, but don&rsquo;t camp out there</h2>
What you might not know is that having extreme personality traits can (and will) prevent you from maintaining effective relationships and advancing in your career. Indeed, the more you believe certain personality reports, the more you might tend to exaggerate and repeat those traits (or even use them as an excuse to be a certain way). Personality can create personal growth challenges when it&nbsp;becomes a false &ldquo;face&rdquo; we present to the world without really digging under the surface to find out why we unconsciously or subconsciously do what we do. Too often, that &ldquo;face&rdquo; is there to protect you from vulnerabilities you&rsquo;ve previously encountered. Extremes can be useful in protecting you or getting your needs met in the short run, but don&rsquo;t camp out there. Otherwise, you will find yourself losing more relationships than you can replace.&nbsp;
<h2>Your identity drives your choices</h2>
The point I am trying to get across is that the more you fall in love with your personality construct, the more you may have a tendency to rely upon it, reinforce it, and act upon it, even when it isn&rsquo;t getting you the results you want in life or work. Undoubtedly, as you engage with the world, your brain will look for patterns that prove you are right and reinforce your belief even more. Case in point, the more you read about being introverted, the more likely you are to think of yourself in that way--&ldquo;I am a strong introvert&rdquo;--and look for reasons to continue being that way instead of challenging yourself to express yourself in important situations when it matters. Then you might end up being ignored or overlooked in meetings or social groups and one day notice you have constructed a fairly isolated life. No one is an island, and we don&rsquo;t thrive much alone, so this belief is what is constructing your experience of life.&nbsp;
The reverse is true for the person who sees themselves as extroverted. The more they identify with being extroverted, the more they are likely to keep talking when the best thing to do is be silent. Speaking without thinking first can crush a career and send you reeling after being fired for expressing opinions that don&rsquo;t serve the entity that is paying your salary. Or speaking your mind about everything that arises and dominates conversations in a way that also drives others away often has similar outcomes. Extremes in either direction result in the same outcome. You can find yourself alone and left behind.&nbsp;
<h2>Does your personality have you, or do you have it?&nbsp;</h2>
Here&rsquo;s the reality: You are much more than your personality. Everyone has a multitude of personalities within them. Try taking a personality assessment from the perspective of work and then again from the perspective of home. Most people are very different in their personal lives than they may be while at work. That&rsquo;s just the beginning. Early in my own life, I lost a promotion because my supervisor was relying on my MBTI results and decided that I made a great individual contributor, but not a leader. Wait, what?&nbsp; You read that right. This is when I decided to study all of the MBTI types, and as I studied them, I began to realize that all of them resided in parts of my psyche. I could relate to every single one of them in certain ways. This is the reason I decided to do research on whole-person psychology based on character development and spent decades exploring an expanded version of identity that could help all of us see ourselves differently. Not as one set of traits, but as a collection of useful traits applied in the appropriate context.&nbsp; Enter the <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/what-is-generativity-eriksons-generativity-vs-stagnation" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs/ArticleID/168?What%20Is%20Generativity=%20Erikson%27s%20Generativity%20vs%20Stagnation" rel="follow">Generative Personality</a>, which is agile and shifts from one set of traits to another with ease and grace. Yes, we have a favorite set of traits that represent our top set of character strengths, but we can ALSO be all of the patterns and shift into them at will. Not one or the other, but both. This is a much more inclusive way of thinking about individual identities. By thinking of ourselves as more diverse internally, we can be more open to diverse perspectives externally too. This opens up a deeper exploration into the question - can personality types change? We believe yes, personality types can change, and we address this further <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Individuals" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Individuals">here</a>.
Our team at Tilt365 emphatically believes that the best way to behave is almost always dependent on the situation. We have evidence that the most advanced minds are more balanced and well-rounded in terms of traits and personality growth and contribute to their social groups and teams in ways that can produce more creativity and innovation. People who have more balanced identities are often more thoughtful about which traits to exhibit in a wide variety of situations. We call this a &ldquo;balanced whole self-concept,&rdquo; and what it means is that you are sometimes one trait and sometimes the opposite trait, depending on what is appropriate contextually.
You can take the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tilt365.com/Pricing/All-Pricing" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Assessments" rel="follow noopener">True Tilt Personality Profile&trade;</a> assessment here. Unlike other personality assessments, it will show you your preferred character strengths, PLUS the path to the development of all four of the primary patterns that produce&nbsp;generativity in life and work. The True Tilt Personality Assessment is a great tool for those looking to learn how&nbsp;personality development can create transformative growth.&nbsp;
We also offer <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JZHXRR2/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JZHXRR2/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0">books for personal growth</a>, which poses a thought-provoking method for building strong internal confidence and happiness by focusing inward instead of being at the effect of outside forces.&nbsp;
Your personality is only where your identity begins, but it&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/building-character-12-key-character-strengths-that-develop-generativity" rel="follow">your character</a> that will determine your destiny.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs?SearchTag=Pam+Boney" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Blogs?SearchTag=Pam+Boney"></a>

People with more balanced identities are often more thoughtful about which personality traits to exhibit in various situations.

Are You Ready to Expand Beyond a Personality Type?

People with more balanced identities are often more thoughtful about which traits to exhibit in various situations. We call this a “balanced whole self-concept” and what it means is that you are sometimes one trait and sometimes the opposite trait, depending on what is appropriate contextually.

Personality Growth: Are You Ready to Expand Beyond a Personality Type?

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It&rsquo;s become clear to me that I came into the world as a transformational leader. I&rsquo;ve always been passionate about helping people become the best version of themselves or, at a bare minimum, leaving them better than I found them. Maybe that&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;ve always provided &ldquo;coaching&rdquo; (officially but mostly unofficially) to so many people throughout my career - leaders and frontline employees alike. So, when a friend offered me the idea of becoming a certified leadership coach, I accepted a meeting to learn more. Not right away, mind you. First, I needed to do some research.&nbsp;

There were so many options out there, and once I went down the rabbit hole, I couldn&rsquo;t find one that spoke to me. I wasn&rsquo;t interested in getting certified just to satisfy a potential client's need for a credentialed coach. As far as I was concerned, a &ldquo;certification&rdquo; didn&rsquo;t validate my expertise. Plus, I wasn&rsquo;t interested in spending upwards of $10k to check a box. Until I met Tilt365 and their Laser Coaching Masterclass (and the cost is less than half of that high price tag!).

Here was my challenge and initial concern. I&rsquo;m the kind of person that tells it like it is. Straight up, no chaser. YesI will add a &ldquo;spoonful of sugar&rdquo; to help the proverbial &ldquo;medicine&rdquo; of truth go down when it&rsquo;s needed. Experience has taught me that people who ask for help aren&rsquo;t always prepared to do the hard work that goes along with receiving said help. And, subsequently, a few individuals couldn&rsquo;t swallow their &ldquo;medicine&rdquo; and quickly kicked me to the curb, leaving my hurt feelings in their wake. The lesson for me? Learning to recognize the individuals who were ready for my kind of &ldquo;medicine&rdquo; because it meant that they were committed to change. But I also had something to learn about myself&hellip;

This is how Tilt365&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Pages/Certification-Courses" rel="follow">assessment certification</a> and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Courses/Laser-Coaching-For-Leaders-Masterclass" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Enterprise/Laser-Coaching" rel="follow">Laser Coaching certification</a> courses got my attention. I immediately recognized we were peddling the same kind of &ldquo;medicine,&rdquo; and their &ldquo;spoonful of sugar&rdquo; came in the form of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Pricing/All-Pricing" rel="follow">personality assessments</a> that weren&rsquo;t really about personality so much as building the strength of one&rsquo;s character. Dr. King&rsquo;s dream is at the tip of my potential client&rsquo;s fingertips. You know, in a &ldquo;judged by the content of character&rdquo; way of leading and moving through the world. All we had to do was recognize that we had a choice from moment to moment, day to day, to choose the kind of person we wanted to be, and I could easily teach that part. I was sold! Tilt had the tools, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpatIvNxYWQ" rel="follow">Laser Coaching</a> had the methodology I&rsquo;d been looking for.
<a href="https://calendly.com/sean-tilt365/30min" rel="follow"><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/DslGOZgRqiAFUSAFnFMf" alt="Tilt-cert-more-info-cta.png" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></a>
Was my investment well-spent? It was better than that. It was time and energy well spent, too! For my twice-a-week commitment (one day to discuss learnings, one day to practice) over a three-month period, I discovered that I wasn&rsquo;t really a &ldquo;coach&rdquo; so much as a &ldquo;problem solver&rdquo; and, because it was in my blind spot, I was also a bit of an &ldquo;enabler.&rdquo; Now, this last self-reflection only appeared when I was dealing with someone resisting the process (my medicine?). You know, that leader who sees vulnerability as a weakness and believes fear-based leadership is the holy grail.&nbsp;

<h2>The end result?</h2>
I went through a personal transformation thanks to the phenomenal instructors of the program: Pam Boney, founder of Tilt, Erika Bill Peter, Tilt&rsquo;s Chief Learning Officer, and Carol Keith, MCC, CMC Master Certified Coach. But, of the three, Carol Keith is &ldquo;The TRUTH,&rdquo; or maybe I should say &ldquo;the People Whisperer&rdquo;. She&rsquo;s truly mastered the art of reading people, meeting them where they are, and asking the BEST questions to help them see, acknowledge, and participate in their growth. I couldn&rsquo;t figure out how she teaches this because you would think that&rsquo;s an innate trait that can&rsquo;t be taught, right? Then it occurred to me. She does it by helping you (as the coach) recognize and trust your own intuition! The answers are there, we just have to trust them when they appear.

The best part? Laser coaching shaved weeks off of the coaching program I offer to clients! Thus, I can see more clients in less time while still <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/blog/post/how-to-use-laser-coaching-to-drive-agility-in-your-team" rel="follow">offering transformational results</a>!

I&rsquo;ll leave you with this: if you are a coach and any part of my journey sounds familiar or resonates with you in any way&hellip;the <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Courses/Laser-Coaching-For-Leaders-Masterclass" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com/Courses/Laser-Coaching-For-Leaders-Masterclass" rel="follow">Laser Coaching Masterclass</a> is JUST what you&rsquo;ve been looking for. If it doesn&rsquo;t transform you, your coaching practice, and your clients, I will eat my proverbial hat!

Laser coaching shaved weeks off of the coaching program I offer to clients.

How Laser Coaching Upped My Coaching Game

Laser coaching shaved weeks off of the coaching program I offer to clients. Thus, I can see more clients in less time while still offering transformational results.

<h2 style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/EuvwpHAyQNm7XhpIzcg6" alt="SELF-LEADERSHIP-COMIC-D.webp" width="400" height="419"></h2>
<h2>Introduction</h2>
How can the difference between an outstanding soccer coach and a poor one be articulated?&nbsp; Is it simply an understanding of the sport or is it, rather, an ability to inspire motivation and dedication among the team (or is it all of the above)?
Most of us can recall someone from our past that motivated us to work towards a goal that was meaningful to us.&nbsp; But can we remember a time when we motivated ourselves&ndash;absent a coach/mentor/manager&ndash;towards a goal that was significant to us as individuals?
For those who answered &ldquo;Yes&rdquo; to this question, these people are remembering an instance when they embodied self-leadership and/or used self-leadership strategies.&nbsp; In the business realm, this is one crucial distinction between people who are likely to succeed in the long run and those who have the potential to fizzle out.
In this article, we will discuss self-leadership characteristics and examples along with seven tips that can be employed by anyone who seeks to become increasingly self-led or who aims to help cultivate self-leadership in the teams they lead.&nbsp;&nbsp;
<h2>What Is the Distinction Between Self-leadership and Self Management?</h2>
Tilt 365 recently published a blog containing detailed information on the concept of self-management.&nbsp; As mentioned in that article, there are multiple self-management strategies.&nbsp; A table that features those strategies (along with some self-leadership strategies) is below.&nbsp;&nbsp;
<img src="https://cdn.buttercms.com/R3aZTd3OTduyU0eJqe2R" alt="undefined" width="495" height="330" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;">
As you can see, both lists include &ldquo;Self-Observation, Self-Goal Setting, and Self-Reward&rdquo;, but more or less diverge apart from that.&nbsp; It makes sense that there is at least a little bit of overlap between the two concepts since many people might consider self-management and self-leadership to be equivalent (or at least synonymous).&nbsp;&nbsp;
One source contrasts the two:&nbsp; With self-management, a task is assigned and the individual worker <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/self-leadership-versus-self-management-peter-thomson/" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/self-leadership-versus-self-management-peter-thomson/">decides how to execute</a>.&nbsp; Likewise, workers enacting self-leadership determine how to execute, but <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/self-leadership-versus-self-management-peter-thomson/" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/self-leadership-versus-self-management-peter-thomson/">they are the ones who determine the task</a> in the first place (as opposed to the task being assigned to them).
A team member embodying positive self-talk might not manage time and stress effectively, but they would encourage themselves mentally to ameliorate this deficiency.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Similarly, envisioning success might not have a direct, quantifiable impact on performance, but individuals who are able to picture an outcome are going to tend to have a better roadmap to achieve the result.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Several of the self-leadership strategies featured in Table 1 will now be explored in depth.&nbsp;&nbsp;
<h2>1.)&nbsp; Envisioning Success</h2>
The comedian Jim Carrey famously utilized the process of envisioning success.&nbsp; Prior to becoming a mega-star, he made it his goal to be able to one day cash a self-written $10,000,000 check.
Envisioning success can help us identify the goal.&nbsp; Once we understand the goal, it&rsquo;s easier to determine what steps we need to take to arrive there.&nbsp; For someone who wants to be adept at giving presentations in the corporate world, it&rsquo;s probably clear to them that they need to rehearse presentations on their own and achieve proficiency at making compelling presentations on various software.&nbsp;
<h2>2.)&nbsp; Introspection after Mistakes</h2>
There is great value in being able to identify and then determine what remedies should be used for personal development before someone else has to point them out.&nbsp; While it may be impossible to self-adjust 100% of the time, it is important to make the effort.&nbsp;
Employees who rarely need instruction free up their supervisors from having to do so.&nbsp; A sense of responsibility is therefore crucial as we assess ourselves at work (and in life more generally).
While none of us is correct all the time, we should be cognizant of our thought patterns so that we can determine what led up to a bad decision.&nbsp; Sometimes it&rsquo;s the ability to assess the nuances of a given situation that empowers us to avoid making the same mistake twice.
An aspect of faulty logic is we tend to have assumptions (whether consciously, subconsciously, or unconsciously) about the world that impact our behavior.&nbsp; We may even discount critical information that does not square with our assumptions.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Over time&ndash;with effort and attention&ndash;we can identify the assumptions that result in mistakes.
Tip #1 (Analyze the Thinking that Contributed to Mistakes):&nbsp; When you do not succeed with an assignment, take time to figure out if certain assumptions contributed to the suboptimal outcome.
<h2>3.)&nbsp; Practice</h2>
Most in-demand skills are not concepts people can learn overnight.&nbsp; Instead, it is essential to devote time to practicing new abilities such as presentation skills or drafting technical reports.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
It is beneficial to assess what level of proficiency you have with any given topic and then be able to engage in the degree of practice and repetition that is required to reach the sought-after level of mastery.&nbsp; Understanding the necessity of continued practice is also key.
Tip #2 (Practice for Complex Topics):&nbsp; If members of your team are struggling to master a given skill, guide them towards a state where they understand it is their responsibility to repeat the skill process (i.e., practice it) until the technique comes naturally to them.
<h2>4.)&nbsp; Natural Reward Strategies (Ensuring Sustainability)</h2>
If our work is not invigorating and fulfilling to us, there is a good chance of burnout in the long run.&nbsp; Conversely, when there is an alignment between the tasks assigned to us and our personal interests and abilities, a state of thriving is likely.
When alignment doesn&rsquo;t naturally occur, we can be intentional about isolating aspects of our duties that bring joy to us, making flow a more probable outcome.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Natural reward strategies differ from self-reward (discussed in the next section) in that a change of focus is achieved as opposed to utilizing an incentive to help us get through an arduous task.&nbsp;
<h2>5.)&nbsp; Self-Reward</h2>
Everyone likes to get gifts from others, but what about gifts from ourselves in conjunction with achieving something momentous?&nbsp; When we talk about self-reward, it&rsquo;s the concept of treating ourselves to something special once a milestone has been reached.
The milestone could be in our professional life or in our personal life.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Tip #3 (Rebuild Motivation):&nbsp; From time to time, have team members determine what have been their prime motivators and encourage them to leverage them in the future.&nbsp; If you (or your team) is struggling with motivation to complete tasks, remember the power of self-reward.
<h2>6.)&nbsp; Positive Self Talk</h2>
We all enjoy receiving compliments and encouragement from others.&nbsp; Sometimes they know what compliments and encouragement we need and sometimes they don&rsquo;t.&nbsp; The person that knows best what compliments and encouragement are needed is ourself.
Engaging in self-encouragement also has value since others may not know when you need encouragement (or they may abstain from providing the encouragement for different reasons).&nbsp;&nbsp;
Additionally, being able to encourage ourselves has merit because we are that much less dependent on others&rsquo; encouragement.
A new employee who is about to give an important presentation to upper management might attempt to calm their nerves by saying things to themself like &ldquo;You will do great&rdquo; or &ldquo;Just do your absolute best.&rdquo;
There is also the tendency for us to see the negative.&nbsp; The social psychologist Roy Baumeister, in an <a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_overcome_your_brains_fixation_on_bad_things" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_overcome_your_brains_fixation_on_bad_things" rel="follow">interview with Jill Suttie</a>, explained that there is a stronger mental reaction to negative stimuli as compared to more positive stimuli.&nbsp; His coauthor, John Tierney, in the same interview with Jill Suttie, explained that, because of negativity bias, it is typical for us to dole out punishments for inaction but for us to also offer little reward to others when they go the extra mile.
Tip #4 (Positive Self Talk):&nbsp; If a team leader witnesses someone being negative to themself after failing at some task, help them reframe their mindset and encourage more helpful self-talk.
====The final two sections below on Self-Observation and Self-Goal Setting expand on content for those strategies that can be found in our self-management blog (since both are also self-leadership strategies).====
<h2>7.)&nbsp; Self-Observation</h2>
<a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/02683940210450484/full/html" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&amp;as_sdt=0%2C34&amp;q=Houghton%2C+J.+D.%2C+%26+Neck%2C+C.+P.+%282002%29.+The+revised+self%E2%80%90leadership+questionnaire%3A+Testing+a+hierarchical+factor+structure+for+self%E2%80%90leadership.+Journal+of+Managerial+psychology.&amp;btnG=" rel="follow">Self-observation</a> can be a precursor to self-awareness.
Someone who is self-aware is going to be capable of understanding their own unique proclivities and development opportunities.&nbsp; This is conducive to teamwork because they will be cognizant of when their behavior heightens team performance and, conversely, when their behavior triggers others or obstructs output.
Another aspect of self-awareness involves the capacity to identify what steps must be taken to address a problem we are facing.&nbsp; For example, if an individual knows that they are stage fright, a self-aware person will be able to determine what they need to do to diminish their phobia and improve their public speaking presence.

Tip #5 (Engage in Self-Observation):&nbsp; Someone&rsquo;s self-awareness can increase via exposure to new people and/or situations (e.g., by working with a coach).&nbsp; When coaching team members, be sure to inquire about any insights they may have about themselves.&nbsp;
<h2>8.)&nbsp; Self-Goal Setting</h2>
Inner drive is crucial.&nbsp; Imagine a genius with a perfect resume who does not have the requisite motivation to accomplish goals.&nbsp; Are they an asset or not?&nbsp; &nbsp;
It is important to notice when motivation has slipped and to then embody self-motivation to figure out what needs to happen to restore that inner drive. &nbsp; For some people, this might take the form of setting goals.&nbsp;
The four True Tilts each have their own unique inner motivations.&nbsp; For example, people with a Connection True Tilt are motivated by belonging and individuality while people with a Structure True Tilt are motivated by autonomy and significance.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Tip #6 (Establish Goals):&nbsp; Periodically allocate time for your team to establish short- and long-term goals&ndash;pertaining to work and possibly even to their personal lives&ndash;that they are going to be self-motivated to achieve.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Tip #7 (Periodic Goal Evaluation):&nbsp; In your personal development journey, take time to assess how well you are progressing toward your established goals.&nbsp;&nbsp;
<h2>How Can Tilt 365 Help with Self-Leadership?</h2>
Tilt 365 has a collection of <a href="https://www.tilt365.com/Individuals" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.tilt365.com" rel="follow">strengths assessments</a> that foster personal understanding and self-awareness.&nbsp; As we mentioned earlier, amending faulty logic is one of the self-leadership strategies, and it&rsquo;s worthwhile to utilize self-awareness in that process.
Among other things, Tilt&rsquo;s Framework features 12 character strengths, each of which has a polarity.&nbsp; In the self-leadership process, when self-awareness enables us to determine that we have some sort of gap in a given character strength or faulty logic, a good strategy is to focus on cultivating that character strength&rsquo;s polarity.
For example, if we determine we are Tilting too hard into Inspiration by spending excessive amounts of time generating new ideas or new approaches to a task, we can Tilt Intentionally into Inspiration&rsquo;s polarity of Focus.&nbsp; This enables us to put an end to idea generation and focus on execution and achievement.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
One of the many <a href="https://www.selfleadership.com/blog/15-self-leadership-quotes" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.selfleadership.com/blog/15-self-leadership-quotes">self-leadership quotes</a> is credited to Aristotle who said &ldquo;Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.&rdquo;&nbsp; In this present article, we explain how self-leadership involves an understanding of who we are and what we need to do to succeed in our endeavors.
In order to be leaders, there must be something in us worth following.&nbsp; Via self-leadership, we can create just that.&nbsp; Even if we have been in the corporate world for decades, our future is still a blank slate.&nbsp; Self-leadership skills are just one domain that can help us craft a worthy future.

In business, self-leadership is a crucial distinction between people who are likely to succeed and those who may fizzle out.

Tips for Cultivating Self-Leadership

Can we remember a time when we motivated ourselves–absent a coach/mentor/manager–towards a goal that was significant to us as individuals? In the business realm, self-leadership is one crucial distinction between people who are likely to succeed in the long run and those who have the potential to fizzle out.

The Tilted Edge

Ideas, stories, and advice for creating a culture where people love to work.

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