Life Style Inventory Analysis

Running head: LIFE STYLES INVENTORY

Life Styles Inventory: Oppositional and Power
MGMT -570

Personal Thinking Styles
My Primary Life Style Inventory score is Dominator at the 97th percentile. Following closely behind is Pragmatist and Self-Empowered being equally high at 95. Fortunately, these two scores are a part of the Constructive Scope. Upon review of these three traits I recognize there are trends in the data which lead to my style of leadership and workplace relationships. There are some aspects which I agree with, some which are in conflict with my personality, but choose to be objective and open-minded to the insights that they give in regards to improvement in communication, performance, and professional development.
According to the Human Synergistic Circumplex, my three most dominant styles consist of constructive styles, both Pragmatist and Self-Empowered. Another important factor to note is my highest score would be Dominant, which is Task Oriented. The two Primary thinking styles are both those which have strong tendencies which to alienate and intimidate individuals. After looking at the detail of the results, I do notice useful bits of information to draw away from the percentiles of the scores, which are evidences of the degree to which those are most relevant to my thinking.
Pragmatist-
According to the description of Pragmatist on the Circumplex “ Individuals who seek power are motivated by a need to gain prestige, status and influence: they achieve false, temporary feelings of self-worth by striving to be "in charge" at all times (LSI, 2014).” I think this statement is relevant in a couple of ways; my personality and my values. In regards to my personality, I have never been attention seeking, especially from a professional standpoint. The jobs that I have chosen have been in customer service, which requires a certain amount of ability to exert influence. However, the definitions are on scales, which sometimes are deceptive and not completely reflective of the truth. From the position of my values, I recognize the importance of positioning oneself to be in control of their lives, one way I have been taught to do that is through excellence. This means good grades, opportunities to advance, and even powerful relationships are things to be appreciated.
Professionally, the need to feel in control is an accurate diagnosis. Although it stems from feeling equipped to be in charge, both by leadership and by management.

Self-Empowered-
I scored high on this particular style because it is inherent to who I am. In my work I eek a lot of opportunity to learn and grow as a professional. I have found that many times I am looked at and called upon to train and develop other employees because of this trait. It is especially important in understanding the way I treat other people is determined by this. I believe people are lazy and unmotivated when they do not take the initiative to learn their jobs, roles, and technical skills. I believe leadership in any area of life comes from being the example.
Accommodator-
From the results and definition of Passive/ Defensive styles, I agree with the LSI in relation to that style being indicative of individuals who are task-oriented as a means of security, but also skeptical and somewhat critical of others.
Noticing how negative these descriptions are, I do recognize only a couple of the descriptions as accurate, some based on contextual events and situations. For some individuals, a lack of ethical and responsible personal or professional relationships may make them less trusting and more dependent of their own efforts; that is one particular train of thought I can relate to. However, I am rarely influenced by the opinions of others, depending on their personal and professional character. One example is, a manager reprimanding an employee for the quality of their work, but the manager themselves do not know how to complete the same work assigned. Furthermore, that manager may not provide any training to improve that performance, thus creating less trust from that direct report to their
supervisor.

Impact on Effectiveness According to the LSI Circumplex, Self-Empowered individuals need to recognize their demeanor may have a negative effect on their coworkers and effectiveness.
Unless these types have strong Humanistic-Encouraging (1 o 'clock position) or Affiliative (2 o 'clock position) scores, they can be almost constant critics, relentlessly questioning and shooting down staff ideas (LSI, 2014). With this in mind, I recognize the multitude of opportunities I have to lessen and reduce this phenomena by engaging my staff in more proactive and inclusive ways. My ranking on the LSI reflects my current position on the management that I have received in recent employment, which is not accurate of my personal views on management. I do believe employees should have strong leadership and expectations, but I also believe employees need to be much more proficient in their technical and customer service skills. Managers who are dominant in being Self-Empowered need to ensure there is sufficient collaboration between the Accommodation style to meet organizational goals. I am committed to using the great merits of prestige to encourage my employees to strive for perfection; even though it may be seen as a way to measure worth. I do believe professional and technical work needs to be process-oriented, limiting the errors and improving productivity and opportunity for all to
succeed. Planning can be impacted by Pragmatism and Self-Empowered styles if they are causing insecurity within the work team. The Organizing function is adversely impacted if people do not feel their contributions and diverse skills are welcomed and incorporated, which reduces the likelihood of collaboration.
Conclusion and Reflection While my responses may reflect Self-Empowered and Pragmatist as my greatest personal thinking styles, my commitment to excellence is complimented when I meet others willing to work hard and commit to quality work. While my lowest score was being an Accommodator, I do not believe in making mistakes, being corrected, nor wasting time and having to cover the same twice. One style I intend to change and improve scores on will be Accommodator. It is important to use my high score as a Relationship Builder to figure out the best way to correct my beliefs about how people work. Reasonable accommodations always can and should be made, but I also see this used frequently in the workplace as a way to cover up mistakes. In an ever changing and globally positioned economy, knowing our own thought and behavioral styles will allow us to better work with others. My plan to change the accommodation style is to learn how to make adjustments when dealing with difficult people at work. On a daily basis I will seek to figure out inn any given situation ‘how to find the common ground’, in an effort to become more people oriented to balance against my strong task orientation.

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