Times have changed and so have I. A recent reassessment of myself via personality profile informed me of such. It was just a very simple personality test, one meant to be simple and easy to administer, but useful enough to apply in a workplace environment. The test is called Kingdomality and the results of the test will map your personality to a particular role in a self-sufficient medieval village.
I had taken this test back in about 2010 and I’m somewhat surprised I don’t have any past posts that discuss Kingdomality or my results. I know I have discussed it in another blog, but apparently, not here. So then, why not now?
In my earlier results, I was classified as a “discoverer”. This was the person in the village that would leave and go in search of great things and bring them back to the village for everyone’s use. And that’s pretty much what I did in my work life. I would find new technologies and techniques and present them to everyone, then I’d be off again. It sounds like every team would want one of these people, but you also have to understand that discoverers are hard to pin down and may have trouble focusing on current tasks because they would much rather be exploring. And that’s pretty much what I did.
In my most recent test, my result was a “dreamer-minstrel”. I think their role is to encourage and cheer everyone up, like a wandering minstrel. I never really thought of myself as encouraging at work. I’ve been pretty cynical for quite a while and have a slightly bleak outlook on the company’s future.
In the time between tests, the world changed. For one, I grew very weary of the rate of change in the software development world. Because of that, there was nothing I felt like discovering any more. If I did discover something, would it still be around in six months? Secondly, at my job, things are pretty stable. There isn’t a pressing need to get with the latest technology. That need was there when I first got hired, but we’re pretty good now.
Over the weekend, it finally dawned on me why my results changed. It’s my relationship. When I first took the test, I was single (well, almost divorced) and was plowing all my effort into my career. This time around, I’ve been in an excellent relationship for many years. And one of my primary functions in that relationship is cheerleader. The GF had made a deprecating remark on something and I immediately reframed the issue for her in a positive light. I should have noticed that behavior earlier because I do it somewhat frequently.
I’m not going to say I’m always good at it (“God damn it! Things are not that bad!”) nor will I say I do it for everyone (“Excuse me miss, I overheard your comment and I wanted to say that I think your hair looks great.”). There are very few people in my inner circle, which has the benefit of not exhausting me from being supportive.
Trying to extend that into the workplace means that I try to understand the positive reasons for the crazy business decisions we have been making as of late. And even if I don’t understand or agree with them, I need to try and promote them as good for all of us. Is it lying? No, it’s just focusing on the positive. That wall of water approaching? Well, it’s been pretty hot lately and it will cool us off.
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