My journey with Hogan began in 2015 when I was heading India HR for an MNC Pharma, and I chanced upon a mail where Hogan Assessments was mentioned. It was sheer curiosity and a desire to know myself, that drove me to reach out to my global team and seek more information on taking the assessment. Before I knew it, one thing led to another and very soon my entire senior management had their Hogan reports with them. It’s now been nine glorious years, first as a client of Hogan and then as a consultant working with the Hogan tool.
So what?
When I was provided a debrief on my report, I knew it spoke about me and I found it difficult to accept that this is how others see me – my reputation. Being relatively low on Adjustment, several questions popped in my mind, I started looking at my career so far, wondering how I could have handled it differently which could have then led to a little higher Ambition, maybe a little higher Adjustment. Over time though, one of the biggest shifts I have been able to make has been in Adjustment – in approaching things with a calm demeanour, building resilience and bringing in a growth mindset.
I could relate to my low Sociability because it explained the draining of energy after spending long hours in the company of many people. I was probably managing my Sociability at work, because the 360 degree report said I was great at connecting with people. However, I knew I needed some time to myself to recover from a larger group setting. I understood the concept of dialling up to help create impact through my role, and it revealed my coping mechanism which worked well for me, especially in my role as a facilitator. After all, like Dr. Robert Hogan says, “The you that you know is hardly worth anything.” It is reputation on the basis of which important workplace decisions linked to your personality are made.
Today, as a Facilitator for Hogan Certification Workshops, I quote this example and in fact, the participants can feel the many shades of Sociability during the sessions. And that’s also when the dark side shows up – some Bold, Colourful, Mischievous – which may be visible in the examples that I share, or when I move about the room, and move my hands (like a dancer), or the jokes that I crack, all along enjoying some of the spotlight. I believe that the dark side is not really that dark, they are strengths after all. It does take intentional effort, a little practice, and several mistakes and tripping along the way, to notice when the strengths derail. The dark side is indeed most coachable and one can self-coach through mindful effort.
My life as an HR Head in Corporate was driven by my motivation for Security, Hedonism and some amount of Tradition. I enjoyed that phase of my life and learned so much along the way. And after that, my movement into Consulting has been one where I paid attention to my highest motivators, Aesthetics & Hedonism. I decided to challenge Security & Tradition a bit, and it’s been a fun ride. I can’t say that I don’t care about them anymore, after all ‘personality is likely to stay constant’ in our lives, but I believe that the bigger drivers have summoned me. In my work, I have seized many more opportunities to create content, design frameworks, experiment with my facilitation style and allow a sense of flow. My personal life includes a lot more of my passion related to art, music, writing, books. I even went on to publish my first book. The awareness of my motivators has been a sense-making exercise for me on Why I do what I do. While working with clients, our conversations help shine the light on their motivators. I believe it helps pave the way to bring about intentional shifts in the bright side and the dark side.
Now what?
The journey with Hogan has been instrumental in helping me understand myself, challenge myself and accept all those aspects that make me Me. I believe it’s brought forth my authenticity. Whether it’s our family, clients or even people we see on screen or characters in books, personalities are present all around us. At the end of the day, what I hold true in the Hogan journey, is that there is no good Hogan report or bad Hogan report. Every personality is unique and with a little bit of self-awareness, we can go a long way in bringing in a lot of effectiveness and impact into our work and in our relationships at work.
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