High Challenge
Just to make sure we can entertain some thoughts about the other end of the Challenge scale (if in fact it isn't more like a circle) (or even a mobius strip... or a double helix...) (and assuming that you MidWestern BUG people didn't get all Challenged out)...
Some years ago, just after returning from Advanced Training, where a comment in passing had been made about "recommending professional help" if you came across someone with more than 7 reversals, I did a Birkman for someone who had 8, with of course a Challenge score of 99. Given this person was very senior in a major government-linked institution in London, I was just a little concerned. (Hey - I'm a 55 - I may seem high Challenge to my 36 wife, but really I am right there in the middle...)
And of course, what was fascinating was that this lady recognised all of it, and was entirely at home with every reversal AND the 99 Challenge score.
"Do you ever find that you maybe set yourself up to fail? That you keep pushing the bar higher until you can't jump it? Ever jump off bridges and then start calculating the distance to the bottom of the gorge on the way down?"
"Oh yes, that's me, all the time." I even felt she couldn't quite understand why I was being slightly apologetic about it. And why not? It may have seemed alien to me, but she had lived this pattern every day of her adult life. So once more, a lesson not to try to "dull the effect" of what the tool is saying. I might not be comfortable having those scores; but for her, this is home.
(And by the way - I really saw no signs that she needed the kind of professional help that had been suggested to me would have been indicated by the 8 reversals. But here's the interesting thing. Born in Ghana, came to UK mid childhood. Early development and later socialisation in totally different cultures; I wonder how much that played into a set of scores that were almost all reversed? And does being so aware of the reality of multiple and contradictory cultures make you more at home with that level of reversal? As I say, she absolutely acknowledged what the scores suggested in terms of internal contradictions.)
Some years ago, just after returning from Advanced Training, where a comment in passing had been made about "recommending professional help" if you came across someone with more than 7 reversals, I did a Birkman for someone who had 8, with of course a Challenge score of 99. Given this person was very senior in a major government-linked institution in London, I was just a little concerned. (Hey - I'm a 55 - I may seem high Challenge to my 36 wife, but really I am right there in the middle...)
And of course, what was fascinating was that this lady recognised all of it, and was entirely at home with every reversal AND the 99 Challenge score.
"Do you ever find that you maybe set yourself up to fail? That you keep pushing the bar higher until you can't jump it? Ever jump off bridges and then start calculating the distance to the bottom of the gorge on the way down?"
"Oh yes, that's me, all the time." I even felt she couldn't quite understand why I was being slightly apologetic about it. And why not? It may have seemed alien to me, but she had lived this pattern every day of her adult life. So once more, a lesson not to try to "dull the effect" of what the tool is saying. I might not be comfortable having those scores; but for her, this is home.
(And by the way - I really saw no signs that she needed the kind of professional help that had been suggested to me would have been indicated by the 8 reversals. But here's the interesting thing. Born in Ghana, came to UK mid childhood. Early development and later socialisation in totally different cultures; I wonder how much that played into a set of scores that were almost all reversed? And does being so aware of the reality of multiple and contradictory cultures make you more at home with that level of reversal? As I say, she absolutely acknowledged what the scores suggested in terms of internal contradictions.)
Labels: Challenge
posted by jon at
17:08
2 Comments:
I would completely agree that social upbringing in a variety of cultural settings impacts your capacity for being "different".
Though I have no science to back it up, my observations have helped me think this way. One of the guys I did my training with was born in India, lives in Canada and travels fairly extensively. His Birkman didn't have a lot of reversals, but he was/is clearly way out there in the green world... and quite content that he dominates conversations and markets everything he thinks of :) (He has become a good friend too...)
His Birkman colour (spelled for our UK/Canadian friends) is all green while is other colors (for our US readers) are almost non-existent.
I've lived in Australia, Canada, and now the US. Being a bit "different" and dealing with it is just part of the influence of multiple cultures.
I also wonder a little, if that we sub-consciously know we can "get away" with little oddities in our lives because people know we're from somewhere else...
Just a thought :)
Rod
The VanDerbeck Group
MidWest BUG
The issue I see as a 90+ Challenge is the transferrence of my scores to other people. I tend to think that everyone is as hard on themselves (and others) as I am. My psyche is black and blue from all the beatings I give myself!
Having been in the backwaters of the USA all my life, I can't blame any exotic locales or cultural shifts for my disability.
Yes, I said disability. Much of the time, I find that my high Challenge score creates doubts in my mind about my abilites. Because of my ever-elevating inner goals, I find that reaching them generates just another Correction of Errors meeting with myself. Then, having beat myself up for the "mistakes" I forge out again to prove to myself that I can. Is this normal? Or do I need to look to an instrument that has clinical uses?
I love the comments in the blog about the naming of the components. Yes, High Challenge loves a challenge. For me, it's the only way I can feel relevant and self-important. The goals and opinions of others are not relevant. Only those goals that I set and find hard to reach are rewarding to me.
It's ironic when people refer to me as high performing, because I would like argue with them (and have notes from my COE meetings to document my position!). When I see a job posting, I look for which qualifications I don't have. Since I don't have 20% of them, I don't apply...while the low Challenge applicant gets the job having been excited to have met 80% of the requirements. And it's as if I had time to interview for another position! I'm too busy with project requests that I can't turn down and have to work extra each day to complete just at the deadline. (There, that even felt good to type...the rush that I get is like a drug...I'm addicited!!!!!) ...and the bar keeps getting higher and higher in my head.
So for you folks in the lower quartiles of the Challenge score, please don't give up on us! I love the prescriptive that Birkman provides that although the High and Low Challenge don't understand each other well, we need each other. I would add "desperately."
I have worked with several teams recently where the manager was at the polar end of the Challenge score ( 1, 2 and 99!) and in each case their "right hand man" was on the opposite end of the scale. Without the instrument, they had naturally found that this other person brought perspectives to their leadership and team dynamic that was needed.
Of course, when I was recently in the market for a new spouse I totally ignored this principle and married a woman who has an even higher Challenge score than I. Now when something goes wrong we can fight with each other to see who gets to blame themselves. Physician heal thyself.
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