Are you a detail person? Bless your heart.
Had career aptitude tests been available to me when I was younger, there were specific categories in which I could have learned I am utterly unsuited:
Banking
Accounting
Legal
Chemistry
Get my drift?
As a devotee of personal growth training, I've done a lot of ongoing personal development through Vistage International and various soft-skill sessions during my 20-year career as a business coach. I've taken Myers Briggs, DISC, the Praendex Index, and variations. Each time, I wonder if I've finally 'matured' and upped my ability to manage details.
However, there is a consistent result, even though the labels come in different forms. In Myers Briggs, I'm an ENFP. In DISC, I'm a high 'I,' followed by a high 'D' with a lower than average 'S' and nonexistent 'C.’
Translation: I don't do numbers or repetitive tasks. I'm a people person. There are downsides to this. And benefits.
I've tried reframing the description. One approach to personal improvement says we should stress the behavior we want to have, not reinforce the negative.
By saying, 'I don't do numbers,' I am stating: I do not do numbers. The personal growth coach might encourage me to reframe this self-analysis by saying, 'I love a math challenge.'
But that's just bullshit.
When it comes time to figure out a tip, I hand the check to someone to tell me what to add. I love the new apps when a server hands you a device for your credit card and a box you can check to automatically add a 10%, 20%, or 30% tip.
Before embarking on a partnership gig recently, I suggested we take the DISC to know if there would be areas where we needed to understand our different approaches to things. Any time two humans interact, there are bound to be other ways of processing challenges, and we wanted to avoid doing anything that would take a toll on a longstanding friendship.
Another friend administered the DISC test and chuckled when he saw the results. We're the same, except for slight variations. The consultation was helpful because those subtle differences did show up in our interaction, and we could recognize them, laugh in recognition, and work it through.
I highly recommend this prophylactic interpersonal problem-solving in any relationship, business or personal.
I’m not proud nor ashamed of these results, but they have remained relatively constant.
Being a catalyst for introducing these tools to business leaders was rewarding. I'll never forget one of my favorite members (he's a Potluck subscriber, so he'll understand why I put that in here - hey, Mike). He took the DISC for the first time and realized all his key executive hires were high 'C's, like him. He was attracted to people with similar personalities. After hearing the speaker explain why an effective organization needs all of the personality styles to operate, he made a concerted effort to bring in a 'D' and an 'I' in his next round of executive hiring and also appreciated the 'S's in his organization for doing the necessary, repetitive work. These changes paid off.
So, knowing all of this, I find myself embroiled in details. Tiny, itty, bitty data points must all be synchronized perfectly, which causes real stress.
The knife in my back has my fingerprints all over it. I do this to myself. Hey, let’s gather in the Amanas. Let’s put on a writers’ retreat for a few hundred folks. Hey, let’s put together a writers’ collaborative. Let’s do this and that, flip a condo, drive across the country, and move the next week.
Tomorrow, 33 members and some Iowa Writers' Collaborative partners are gathering in the Hotel Millwright in the Amanas to share best practices and meet with someone (virtually) from Substack to answer questions about the platform.
We’ll have Amana family-style dinners and attend Mary Swander's play, Squatters on Red Earth.
Lots and lots of details are involved in this meeting, so I was putting out fires all day today. For example: didn't I read the contract that said we couldn't use the meeting room after 3:30?
No!
Q: Didn't you get my RSVP that I can come?
Me: If I did, I needed to write it down in a different place.
Q: Didn't you get my email that my husband can't come?
Me. I don't think so.
Q: I have you down as starting the cash bar at 5:30 p.m., not 5 p.m.
Me: Oops.
Q: Did you mean the start time is now 1:30, not 1 p.m.?
Me. No, it's in the agenda I sent, but some need help opening it because it was created in Apple Pages, not Word.
Q. We still don’t have a signed contract for you. Is this still on? (48 hours before the event).
Me. You bet it is.
See? I am not cut out for this.
I know it will all work out. With our group, there's no downside possible. Stay tuned. I'll take pictures.
When planning, I can see the big picture and look around corners. The details don’t make it in my line of sight.
And these last-minute glitches make me feel dumb and guilty. To my IWC colleagues, mea culpa. See you soon.
Next time, there will be a committee to plan the event. It will consist of a 'D,' a 'C,' and me, the 'I.'
And the first person to complain about a thing will lead it.
Note to those who have volunteered to help with the Okoboji Writers' Retreat: you'll have your work cut out for you, and my undying gratitude.
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Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Oh Julie, can I identify with this. I’ve always had a head full of ideas, but the execution and follow through can involve so many details I find tedious. When working as a docent at the historic Hotel Pattee in Perry prior to and after its grand re-opening in 1997, I got to know some of the team who were working on the various roles in that grand project. One individual came in, organized, identified and delegated most of the necessary tasks required, from dignitary invitations to seating arrangements, etc. The day after the opening he was gone. He told me that was his function, it’s what he did best, and the next person in line took charge of implementing operations, then a manager would be hired to sustain it, and on it went. Called himself “an opener.” Some years later, as one of a 12 member communications team, our manager took us through the Clifton StrengthFinder program - to help her identify her team’s strengths as individuals and as a unit. Worked so well - we all were assigned work according to what we were best at, and it turned out she had a fairly balanced group. The program has evolved now, but at the time, one of the strengths prevalent on our team was Woo! We learned a lot about ourselves and about each other, and most importantly, who to partner with to support us in an area we weren’t as skilled at.
What?! You are not a details person? I truly never would have known that until reading this piece from you.
Funny, though, I have taken several of these personally inventories in the past but never remember the outcomes or what they mean. I recall I was a “green” in one of them I did years ago. But I don’t recall, was that a good thing?
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Thanks for you delightful article today.