HELPING LEADERS HARNESS DIVERSITY Using the MBTI to improve leadership Justin M. Deonarine I/O Psychologist 1
ORGANIZATIONAL DIVERSITY • A 2019 study claims that Canadian workplaces are the most welcoming in the world. (US follows as a close 2nd.) • Higher female and ethnic representation at senior levels. • More Canadian employees reported that their employers are actively pursuing workplace diversity. • Organizations pursue workplace diversity by: • Leadership establishes strategic aims for the organization (e.g. identify, remove and prevent barriers restricting diversity). • Advisory groups within the organization promote inclusivity (e.g. create events to boost the involvement of diverse groups in the organization, or connect with communities outside of the organization). 2
THE BENEFITS OF DIVERSITY Why does diversity matter? • Organizations with diverse boards generated returns on equity that were 53% higher, on average, than less diverse boards. • They also generated 14% higher earnings, on average. • Organizations with women on the board displayed better average growth. Why? • Diverse groups perform better than homogenous groups when making decisions. • Groups that are similar make decisions quicker and feel more confident in their decision. This confidence can be misleading. • Diverse groups take longer to make a decision, but consider more perspectives. 3
Leadership at my organization: Management at my organization: Demonstrates Does not the importance demonstrate of diversity Does not the importance Encourages encourage 46% of diversity diversity diversity 16% 60% 11% Neutral 29% Neutral 38% THE CHALLENGE OF DIVERSITY (Survey of over 300 organizations, Source: Psychometrics Canada’s People Trends Report 2020) The majority of leaders recognize these benefits and encourage diversity in their organizations. However: • Nearly a third of leaders are neutral in their encouragement of diversity, so the is room to help organizations harness this benefit. • While 60% of leaders encourage diversity, the actions of only 46% of management appear to back this up. This creates a gap between what is preached and what is practiced. • There is also a handful of organizations that do not encourage diversity or demonstrate the importance. Their challenges may appear in the form of over- confidence, poor decision making, and lower overall effectiveness. Language to sell the importance of diversity within leadership teams: • Better strategic decisions • Higher earnings • Greater organizational growth 4
HARNESSING DIVERSITY • Diversity d oesn’t have to be just things like gender, age and ethnicity. • Diversity can come in the form of individual differences in personality. There is no “free lunch”: There will be challenges to implementing diversity using personality. • It starts at the leadership level. Leaders will have to understand two different areas to do this successfully: Themselves and their teams. How can you help leaders harness the benefits of diversity? Help them understand: • How you make decisions (T/F)? What guides your team’s decisions? • How do you organize information (J/P)? How does your team organize information? 5
Task-focused TJ TP Planful Flexible FJ FP People-focused LEADERSHIP STYLES • T/F = Task vs. people focused • J/P = Organized or flexible 6
Task-focused Managers Innovators Planful Flexible Consensus Coaches Builders People-focused LEADERSHIP STYLES When we consider these different pairs, they have different strengths and challenges. • They will always have a starting point, which is described by the name I’ve given them. • This isn’t what they are limited to, this is just the natural starting point for them. 7
Managers Innovators Consensus Coaches Builders LEADERSHIP STYLES + Organize and structure work, resources, and people to achieve goals. + Make decisions quickly and take quick action to implement them. + Take clear positions – people know where you stand. - May decide too quickly and move to action before others are ready. - May not see the impacts of decisions on others. 8
Managers Innovators Consensus Coaches Builders LEADERSHIP STYLES + Seek out, analyze, and organize vast amounts of information. + Use a hands-off leadership approach, empowering others to act. + Flexible and tolerant of a diversity of workstyles and ideas. - May not give others enough direction. - May put off decisions for too long. 9
Managers Innovators Consensus Coaches Builders LEADERSHIP STYLES + Strive for consensus and harmony. + Motivated by a vision that is based on values and the group’s mission. + Solicit information and ideas from others, and include them in decision-making. - May focus on relationships to the detriment of task completion. - May put off tough decisions and avoid confronting difficult people. 10
Managers Innovators Consensus Coaches Builders LEADERSHIP STYLES + Coach, encourage, involve and energize others. + Seek out and gather lots of information. + Stay flexible and respond quickly to changing environments. - May change direction so quickly that they appear inconsistent. - May resist structure and not appreciate others’ need for systems and processes. 11
TEAM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY ACTIVITY Team Distribution Analysis – Identify what working styles are present in the team, for the leader (and the team) to be mindful of: • Over-represented groups will likely be accounted for. • Under-represented groups may need to be considered. 12
FP 6% FJ 12% TP TJ 23% 59% TEAM DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY Distribution of a team of consultants. Some strengths of this team • There is representation of all styles. Though it’s not balanced, all roles are fulfilled in some way. • The team excels in implementing action plans. They (collectively) gather enough information to proceed and move forward quickly, but in an organized manner. Challenges that this team may face • Is consensus being built? Are there a lack of coaching opportunities? • What happens when the plans don’t work? Is the team being flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances? • Is enough information being gathered before the plans are implemented? They think they are, but would they benefit from gathering just a little more information before moving forward? • What happens when new information arises? Is it considered or does the team try to stick to the original plan? • Is this team moving forward before everyone is comfortable? 13
Managers Managers Innovators Consensus Builders Innovators Coaches Consensus Builders Coaches LEADERS AND THEIR TEAMS Challenge of diversity: Distribution of leaders and employees • Leaders: TJ = ~50%, TP = ~25%, FJ and FP = ~12.5% • Source: International research sample from The Myers-Briggs Company of 65,000 leaders • Employees: ~25% in each group. • Source: MBTI Form M normative sample Each leader will have to adapt to a variety of styles that does not match their own. • They may not understand their employee’s behaviours/choices, and their employees may not understand theirs. • They need to be able to understand and lead accordingly. Given that we understand this, how can we help individual leaders get the best from those on their team? • Provide them with strategies to lead those with different styles. • We can’t always be there to guide them, so we have to give them to tools to stand on their own. 14
Managers Innovators Consensus Coaches Builders GETTING THE BEST OF EACH STYLE • They will define the scope of a task by an external measure (e.g. time or money). • Allow them the time to scope out the challenge in front of them. It will help them orient themselves. • TJs will ask questions such as “What If?” and “Then what?”. • Don’t take this as a challenge to your competence, they are just trying to organize their approach to achieve the desired end result. 15
Managers Innovators Consensus Coaches Builders GETTING THE BEST OF EACH STYLE • They will consider all of the critical data and ensuring that all of the bases are covered. They’re not flip - flopping on their stance, they’re gathering insights. • Allow them the time to think their way through the problem. • You may hear something similar to “We don’t have to keep doing things this way just because it’s been done this way forever.” • Allow them to challenge the rules and processes those that don’t work, but encourage them to stay within the guidelines that are important to the organization. 16
Managers Innovators Consensus Coaches Builders GETTING THE BEST OF EACH STYLE • They will look to build relationships with others that they work with. • They will try to get to know others personally to build these relationships, so keep in mind that they aren’t just being nosy. • They are open to sharing about themselves also, and much like the FPs, are open to helping others in times of need. • When they feel that they have built the foundation for the working relationship, they will be most comfortable expressing differences in opinion. • Allow them to build these relationships, as this is when they will be most comfortable expressing opinions or views that can provide a different perspective. 17
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