Thursday, April 26, 2007

Libran Logic

Why do people who know it's rubbish still check their horoscope. I get mine emailed to me free each month from Astrology zone, hoping to catch an inkling of an impending property sale and financial freedom. I have a daily horoscope appear on my personalised Google home page . . . I don't believe it for a minute but still there it sits and very occasionally something rings true so I keep it there just in case, hedging my bets, covering my options.

To me, they're silly and random rants and unlike BabySis and Hah-Nah, I've never seen a Clairvoyant (some things just shouldn't be tampered with) but when something aligns, there's always that feeling of wonder as a horoscope designed for millions of people born in an 8 week period rings true and 'speaks' to me.

I feel similarly about Psychological Profiling in the workplace. Designed to match the right person for the right job, no square pegs in round holes and as a guide on how to approach and deal with colleagues so that you don't 'push their buttons'. (Doesn't seem to work in my position - I am definitely now a square peg in a round hole - a big picture girl forced into aa highly detailed role - thank God for spell check, calculators and Administration Assistants who can fill in forms).

Oops, I'm wondering again . . .

Over my 30 odd years in the workforce I've had significant career changes from Creative Writer to Practice Manager, Marketing Manager and now job sharing Marketing with the servile Executive Assistant role so I've been profiled more often than not. I've been DISC profiled, Financial DNA Profiled and Myers Briggs'd . . . all of which told me exactly what I already knew. So is it such profiling valuable or just more crystal ball gazing? Consider the characteristics below - these are outcomes of some psychometric profiling and the ones in brackets are those 'predicted' by my horoscope . . . Is it little more than staring into a crystal ball . . .


Strengths
Initiating, wants to set the agenda (Organised and scheduled)
Loyal and consistent
Sees practical realities (Objective in all things)
Favours logic over emotion (Evaluates both sides of every situation)
Good at meeting and communicating with people (can successfully win over others and project great charm and diplomacy)
Realistic and practical (no nonsense with good taste, neat and tidy)
Responds candidly (Can be brutally honest)

Weaknesses
Often discounts ideas and feedback from others (Annoying and quarrelsome)
Can be curt and abrupt (Can be stubborn, don't like taking orders)
May overlook important details (Has an eye for the overall aesthetic without consideration of cost)

Here's the latest in identifying your characteristics for the workplace. Do the Quest Test, it's a little shorter than the full monty. Remember, your score is how you would behave when under pressure or stress not necessarily all the time. Let me know how you go. I'm a combination of 4, 8 and 9. Pretty true really but it still coincides with my horoscope!

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