Career Development Plan
Ada Yu
BirkmanforLDRS432.pptxThe Birkman Method
Behavioral and Occupational Assessment
for Leadership & Team Development
Why TWU uses Birkman for the BA LEAD
Birkman provides insights that help leaders:
Leverage their natural leadership style
Know how to stay recharged and recognize when they are getting stressed
Remain effective in high pressure moments
Lead others in ways that will meet their needs
Career Exploration Report
Self-assessment is the first step in the career planning process…
This report is designed to give you a deeper understanding of yourself and the career options that are your best fit.
Your report can help confirm career choices you are making, show you alternative career choices and build your personal awareness of the strengths, motivators and working environments that will help you succeed.
Basic Concepts
What Birkman Measures
USUAL BEHAVIOR
How you usually behave (when your needs are met); your strengths, which compose your best, most productive style.
This is how other people see you.
NEEDS
How you need and expect to be treated by other people and your environment.
Often unseen by others.
STRESS BEHAVIOR
Your frustrated behaviour; your reactive,unproductive style.
How you act when your needs go unmet.
INTERESTS
What you like to do, the results you want.
The kinds of activities that give you the most satisfaction.
What Birkman (Really) Measures
Birkman is a linguistic assessment that seeks to measure the “mindsets” or “perceptions” that drive a person’s Behaviours & Motivations
Usual Behaviour
Stress Behaviour
Interests
Needs
(Hidden)
(Observable)
The Underlying Insight
– Roger W. Birkman, Ph.D
“The reality of life is that your perceptions – right or wrong – influence everything else you do; when you get a proper perspective of your perceptions, you may be surprised how many other things fall into place.”
Birkman Colors
With Birkman, color becomes shorthand for understanding fundamental differences between personality types.
Birkman Map
Birkman Map
Extravert
Introvert
Task
People
Symbol location is mapped on two axes
Birkman Map
Based on opposites
Thinker
Doer
Communicator
Analyzer
Birkman Map
Intensely Green
Moderately Green
A Blend of all colors
Symbol location is expressed as an intensity of color
Usual Behavior
YELLOW USUAL BEHAVIOR
Focused
Collaborative
Consistent
Independent
RED USUAL BEHAVIOR
Practical
Active
Decisive
Candid
GREEN USUAL BEHAVIOR
Flexible
Sociable
Responsive
Competitive
BLUE USUAL BEHAVIOR
Reflective
Tactful
Expressive
Suggestive
The Diamond represents your Usual Behavior
Needs
YELLOW NEEDS
Protection from interruptions
Detailed directions
Consistency
RED NEEDS
Direct authority
Outlet for energy
Clear-cut situations
GREEN NEEDS
Recognition
Group interaction
Flexibility and varied activities
BLUE NEEDS
Opportunities to express feelings
Time for reflection
Respect
The Circle represents your Needs
Stress Behavior
YELLOW STRESS BEHAVIOR
Rigid and overly insistent on rules
Reluctant to confront others
Resistant to change
RED STRESS BEHAVIOR
Become impatient
Dismiss others’ feelings
Be busy for the sake of it
GREEN STRESS BEHAVIOR
Fail to follow the plan
Easily distracted
Distrust others
BLUE STRESS BEHAVIOR
Find it hard to take action
Discouraged
Indecisive
The Square represents your Stress Behavior
YELLOW INTERESTS
Developing procedures
Working with numbers
Scheduling activities
Analyzing details
Interests
RED INTERESTS
Building/Implementing
Solving problems
Seeing finished products
Working with your hands
GREEN INTERESTS
Promoting
Motivating
Selling and persuading
Working with people
BLUE INTERESTS
Visual appeal of designs
Involvement of music
Using words or stories to communicate
The Asterisk represents your Interests
Going Deeper
Birkman Interests
Birkman Interests
Interests are motivators (what drives and energizes you)
Activities you like (not skills or aptitudes, only interests)
High scores (75+) show a strong interest
Low scores (-25) show areas you may tend to avoid
Mid-range scores (40-60) are moderate interests
90 and above – activity is more than an interest; it’s something you need to have (a life mandate) to be fulfilled
Birkman Interests
Red Interests
Outdoor: Work in an outdoor environment (i.e. playing outdoor sports, farming, gardening)
Technical: Hands-on work with technology and machinery (i.e. programming, assembling, using gadgets)
Scientific: Research, analysis, intellectual curiosity (i.e. investigating, exploring, experimenting)
Green Interests
Persuasive: Persuading, motivating, selling (i.e. debating, influencing, promoting)
Social Services: Helping, advocating for people (i.e. teaching, counseling, volunteering)
Blue Interests
Artistic: Creation, appreciation for arts, aesthetics (i.e. painting, appreciating art, designing)
Literary: Appreciation for language (i.e. writing, reading, editing)
Musical: Playing, singing or listening to music (i.e. attending concerts, collecting/appreciating music)
Yellow Interests
Administrative: Systems, order and reliability (i.e. systems tracking, record keeping, categorizing)
Numerical: Working with numbers and data (i.e. accounting, investing, analyzing)
Preferred Work Styles
Management Styles (Development Samples)
Knowledge Specialist (psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, professors, therapists, lawyers, counsellors, researchers)
Directive Management (operations managers, engineering managers, project managers, construction managers, etc.)
Delegative Management (property managers, hotel and restaurant mangers, bank mangers, accounting managers)
Specialist Style
High scores indicate strong alignment with professional functions.
Tend to manage by relying on specialized knowledge.
Likely to utilize both directive and delegate approaches to effecting progress, but more subtlety and collegially than their more traditional colleagues.
Directive Style
High scores indicate strong alignment with production or operations functions
Tend to direct the efforts of others, using “hand-on” approaches to effect progress with others.
Red managers typically exercise closer (tighter) control through direct oversight of activities, frequently showing or telling others what to
Delegative Style
High scores indicate strong alignment with either (or both) sales or administrative functions.
Tend to delegate tasks, using “hands-off” techniques and mechanisms to effect progress through others.
Green managers typically delegate through “chain of command,” while Yellow managers typically rely on systems and procedures.
Corporate Styles
Work Motivation (willing worker scale):
Low = work needs to be meaningful (entrepreneurial)
High = happy to work as a means to an end
Self Development (educational attainment scale):
Low = willing to formally learn as a means to an end
High = loves formal learning for the sake of learning
Corporate Adaptability (work ambition scale):
Low = works because they have to
High = works because they get to
Social Styles
Social Adaptability (work attitude scale):
• Low = cares more about work life balance
• High = cares more about work for work’s sake
Social Responsibility (work behaviour scale):
• Low = diverges from traditional work values
• High = conforms to traditional work values
Work Preferences
Scores, ranging from 1-10, are a series of inverse pairs. Each pair will always add up to 11. So, you cannot be high or low on both scores in a pair.
Pairs address three work preference questions:
• Public Contact/Detail: How you prefer to work?
• Global/Linear: Where you prefer to work?
• Conceptual/Concrete: What you prefer to produce?
How you work?
Public Contact: High scores indicate a preference for work which is highly interactive (talking people).
Detail: High scores indicate a preference for work which is task oriented (task people).
Where you work?
Global: High scores indicate a preference for work which is based in the physical office setting.
Linear: High scores indicate a preference for work which is not physically confining or restrictive.
What you produce?
Conceptual: High scores indicate a preference for work that that is in service to others (working in the system; the process aspects of work).
Concrete: High scores indicate a preference for work that produces tangible output/results (working on the system; the project aspects of work).
Job Families/Job Titles
Job Families/Job Titles
Job Families are groups of occupations based upon similar work functions performed
Most similar in personality to those who have found satisfaction in their work
Not based on ability or skill
Job Families/Job Titles
Job Titles measure satisfaction with work tasks associated with a job title
Listed in descending order, from highest match to lowest match
O*net (website)
Research a Job Title of your choice:
What is the job outlook?
What are 2-3 skills that are required for this job?
Have you ever considered this job for yourself?
Conclusion
