As human beings, we are all very much alike, we want to be loved, respected, heard and understood. We all share similar emotions; joy, love, anxiety, sadness, anger, shame and fear. We sleep, eat and use our cell phones to connect with the world. Yet, we have different thinking and behavioral preferences. When a leader’s emotional intelligence is under developed, he/she has a tendency to reward people who conform to preferred behavior and punish or negatively judge different thinking and behaving patterns. As a result, the leader builds a tribe of similar thinking and behaving preferences, losing the opportunity to benefit from people’s unique talents. Can such a uniform group keep up with the changing world? Not likely at all!

What if there is a tool to reveal people’s differences in how they process information, make decisions and respond to the people around them? With this tool, we can improve productivity by building diversified teams with a wide range of talents. We can also retain the talent by assigning tasks to  each team member based on their individual strengths.

Last year, after I heard Microsoft was using Emergenetics as a tool for team building, I decided to take the assessment in order to understand it. I took both English and Chinese version of the assessment and agreed that it provided a simple way to describe and understand people.

Developed through years of psychometric research, the Emergenetics Profile describes people with three behavior attributes (Expressiveness, Assertiveness, and Flexibility) and four thinking attributes (Analytical, Structural, Social, Conceptual). With these insights, not only can a leader create a “whole team” to get work done, but also, he/she can tap into the potential of each team member to create extraordinary teamwork.

When an organization educates people about different thinking and behaving preferences (i.e. their personal strengths and success factors), people start to understand how their preferences impact their own energy and that of others. They become more self-aware and self-confident. If one’s duties are not aligned with his preferences, adjustments can be made to their responsibilities, and he will become a more productive team member.  Through this process, an organizational culture will evolve to be more inclusive and will truly honor diversity and uniqueness.

I appreciate the global impact Emergenetcis has made to leaders, teams and businesses. I took the training and was certified to be an associate of Emergenetics. Contact me if you are interested in using the tool to build your team and business. Below is a sample profile.

emergenetics