Know Thyself: The Short Course - Page 2

KIFF Question # 2 looks at the kind of rewards or satisfactions that motivate us most:

• "Am I more fundamentally task-oriented or more fundamentally relationship-oriented?"

Not surprisingly, "Idea-people" and "Thing-people" tend to gravitate toward activity that involves achieving results and completing tasks. For them a team is a bunch of people with complementary skills working together to "get it done."

Relationship-oriented people, on the other hand, find richest rewards in human interaction and affiliation. Intimacy, emotional connection, human values and self-actualization are of highest priority. For them, a team is an affinity group, a cohort that derives satisfaction simply from the pleasures of being together and enjoying shared values. If KIFF #2 sounds like we're distinguishing between those who care most about the means, and those who concentrate most on the ends...you're right.

KIFF Question #3 looks at how we prefer to structure our day-to-day existence:

• "Am I more stability-oriented or am I more novelty-oriented?"

Many of us have a strong basic drive for stability, security and certainty. We prefer the known to the unknown. We plan, rather than make it up as we go along. We like tradition. We seek to recognize risk and diminish the impact of change on our lives. Others are wired utterly differently: their hot-button is new experiences, new knowledge, new perspectives. Even though they know that all change creates some uncertainty and some stress, they embrace and initiate change. Put a novelty-seeker in a stability-oriented job or lifestyle, and they get bored. Put a stability-seeker in a constantly-changing environment, and they get anxious. Either way, such discomfort can wreck a life or a career, so this is a very fundamental question.

There's an important follow-up question to KIFF #3, which asks: "Do I like to anything the same way twice?" Some people are naturally inclined to invent things, conceptualize, envision, create and solve some kind of puzzle. Once they've done that, they've done that. Ask them to do it over again, and they get bored and impatient. Put another way, these folks are naturally project-oriented rather than maintenance-oriented. They like work that has a beginning, a middle and an end...and then another new beginning. They gravitate naturally toward consulting, project management and other non-recurring tasks. Maintenance-oriented people are happiest when they are responsible for supporting and maintaining existing organizations, functions and operations: "Hey, I didn't invent the system, I just run it."

KIFF #4 focuses on your personal incentive structure:

• "In terms of what motivates me, am I more of an 'I' person...or more of a 'we' person?"

Another way of framing this question might be to ask, "Am I naturally more of an 'individual contributor' who likes to do things myself, or more an 'interactor' who likes to lead, manage, collaborate or work alongside other people?" Being an "I" person doesn't mean you're selfish or offensively self-centered. It just does mean that you derive the greatest satisfaction from personal achievement and mastery, rather than from shared rewards or being part of an entity larger than yourself. These people can work well and find happiness in many kinds of organizations, but their whispered mantra will always be, "This is a good place for me to do my thing."

"We" people also like to have their individual value and achievement recognized, but they express themselves most happily within the context of greater, overarching values, such as shared achievement, cultural/aesthetic expression or human services. Altruism is defined as "unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others."

KIFF question #5, our final one, might just as well be the first because its answer permeates all that you desire and all that you do:

• "What is your fundamental driving force? What's most important to you?"

Here assessment experts and self-assessment tools often detect four basic motivational types. For a group we might call the "Humanists," the primary drive is for self-awareness, personal growth and the sense of one's own individuality and uniqueness. Another group we might label "Strategists" may say that "self-awareness is nice, but even more important is a sense of mastery and personal achievement. I am what I do." These are the world's "design-build" personalities: people who feel insight is an essential first step, but what really matters is getting the power to the road.

A very sizable proportion of the population, let's call them the "Pragmatists," might answer quite differently: "I most want a 'sense of place,' one anchored by power, influence, stability and control. I seek roles and settings that provide me with formal power, respect or prestige." The final group, the "Adventurers," couldn't be more different. They have low status and conformity needs, but a powerful drive for "excitement and adventure: "I don't want to play it safe, I want to play it often and play it big. Play is good. Just do it."

Given free choice, most people naturally self-select into roles, relationships and careers that reflect and reinforce their KIFF characteristics. You should try to do so, too, although the whole free choice thing is easier said than done. It is not your obligation, of course, to fit neatly into any stereotypic box; we all are rich amalgams of strengths, soft spots, aptitudes and motivations. But you have to start somewhere. If you listen carefully to the fundamental sounds of your personal temperament, you'll hear a powerful backbeat and, hopefully, a clear and attractive melody line. In other words, the basics for a truly rich personal career and life symphony.