Birkman: Building Trust and Understanding in High-Performing Teams
What is Birkman, isn’t it just another personality test?
Nope! Dr. Birkman developed the instrument to measure human characteristics he saw that were influencing behaviors, motivations, and perceptions. Delving into these deeply rooted perceptions is a core differentiator of The Birkman Method, as the instrument can tap into how someone is likely to behave and also why they behave that way.
Not only do the Birkman results provide us information on our ideal work environment, but they also hold up a mirror so we can better recognize our stress responses.
Stress Behaviors are like a warning light that pops on in your car’s dashboard. It doesn’t necessarily indicate catastrophic failure, but it’s a warning sign. It means that somewhere you have a need that isn’t being met, and because of that unmet need, you are not showing up as your highest performing, best self.
Ok... How do I use it?
Great question! The Birkman Method helps you build stronger relationships by better understanding yourself and those around you. When you know what your Stress Behaviors are, you can communicate them to your partner or coworkers.
If you lead a team, you can use the Birkman Method to be a better manager. You can learn how your team members prefer to receive feedback, how they work best, and how their work might suffer under stressful situations. The Birkman sheds light on what situations each individual may find stressful. You may enjoy fast deadlines with little instruction, but your team member might thrive if given more notice and a bit more guidance. Neither of these is better or worse than the other, and both ways of working can be a strength, if they are placed in a role that leverages their individual strengths.
So what’s the process?
It all starts with an email- once we’ve received your inquiry, you’ll meet with Amber, our resident Certified Birkman Consultant. She’ll get the details about your team, including contact information and send them an introductory email as well as the assessment. You and your team members will then be responsible for completing each individual assessment.
After the assessments are complete, we will reach back out to schedule 1 - 1.5 hour meetings with each team member to discuss their results. After everyone has been met with, we also provide an option to facilitate a presentation and group discussion where your team will learn to work more cohesively as a unit. During this exercise, we will look at each component of the Birkman Assessment, and identify the similarities and differences of your team members in each category. This allows your team to have a greater understanding of each other, and improves team cohesion and connection.
Why should I invest in this?
As numerous studies have shown, one of the key drivers of employee engagement and performance, and ultimately of a company’s success is trust.
According to the Harvard Business Review, the most proven methods of building trust in your team are:
“Emphasize what you have in common — it helps employees believe that their goals are aligned with yours”.
This aligns with the Birkman Method because Birkman allows each individual to identify where they have similarities with others on the team. For example: Employee A and Employee B haven’t always gotten along, they tend to disagree often, and have very different work styles. By looking at their Birkman results side-by-side, they would likely find at least a couple of areas where they have behaviors and motivations in common. Finding this common ground is the best way to start to build up a positive working relationship where there has historically been turmoil.
“Share whatever information you can — when people feel trusted, they’ll trust you back”.
By sharing your own Birkman results with others on your team, it automatically starts to build trust, because it shows a willingness to be vulnerable, and it shows the team that you trust them with this information about you. Especially for leaders, and especially for those who tend to be more introverted, allowing others this glimpse into your behaviors and motivations can bridge a gap and build a deeper connection.
“Admit mistakes and accept responsibility”.
While Birkman doesn’t address specific mistakes that are made on a team, it does require each individual to spend time on self-examination. Each team member will need to think carefully about their typical behavior, what motivates them, what kind of environment allows them to perform at their absolute best, and how their behaviors might change if their needs are not met. During this process of introspection, the individual acknowledges that they don’t always show up as their best self, and works on strategies to prevent those stress reactions from happening in the future.
If you would like to schedule a call with Amber to discuss how Birkman could help you or your team, please contact us via our contact page, by clicking on this link: https://www.fullspectrumhr.net/contact.
