Unlearning, Learning, Re-learning

Year 2018 – that’s when I would say I was “Hoganized” and thereafter,  I remain  Hoganized! I often categorize my professional life into the ‘pre’ and ‘post’ Hogan times. I credit Hogan for getting me back to the work-force after a self-imposed career break.

For someone who loves color, I was quite happy about all the color that I saw on my Hogan report. That all this color is as much a warning signal, as it is strengths to be leveraged, was my first realization post my Hogan feedback session. Another “a-ha” moment was the awareness Hogan created that “reputation matters”. I had never really looked at behaviors from the lens of how others may observe and experience me!

For instance, my low score on Learning Approach surprised me – but it was also a wake-up call. With my preference for hands-on learning, the only way I would learn would be if I take on work related challenges that would need me to learn. And if I didn’t consciously prioritize formal learning, I would run the risk of relying on outdated methods and knowledge.

My high Commerce score was a pleasant surprise – something that I realized had played out in my role as an HR leader and will certainly help in my current role as a Consultant. While doing good work is important, generating commercial value for my organization (and now for my client), is an equally motivating key driver for me.

As a Consultant, I will probably need to dial-up my Sociability to build new relations and nurture existing relations – perhaps more so than in my earlier roles as an HR Leader. My Interpersonal Sensitivity is a scale that has always helped me in the past, and I hope will continue to support me going forward.  I hope that clients are able to see my genuine desire to help.

Who We are is How We Lead – our personality underlies our actions and interactions. While there is no Right or Wrong or Good or Bad about personality, there may be behaviours that one may need to dial-up or dial-down in the context of the current leadership challenge. Helping leaders see the complex interaction between their personality and their context brings me the biggest satisfaction.

Creating insights and supporting leaders in their journey from, “so what?“ (understand their scores) to “ now what…“ (doing something about them) is what excites me the most. And the best part? The learning NEVER stops – every interaction adds on to my previous knowledge.

On a lighter note, the colourful Flash Report was an absolute hit with my 92+ year old grandma – she would often want to know more and I loved sharing the philosophy and principles during our many chats.