The Grip/Birkman Blueprint Coaches
 |
|
|
The Grip/Birkman Blueprint Coaches |
|||
|
|
|
|
GBB Coaching Tip #1
One is obvious while the other is not. One we train actively in our GBB Coaches Training. The other quietly slips by and is usually not even acknowledged, much less addressed.
Coach the Circle/Square. The initial side of the coin reveals one of the most valuable pieces of the Birkman Method, the circle/square from the Life Style Grid. Here the Birkman Method does successfully what I have found in no other assessment tool. It reveals that stress responses in our behavior are directly tied to our underlying needs, portrayed on the Life Style Grid as the “circle/square.” The ultimate reason that the circle and square are together is because there is a direct cause/effect relationship between the two. If I seek to meet the underlying needs present in who I am, I can minimize, if not remove, specific stress behavior in eleven different parts of who I am.
The Stress Pages report is one focused tool that deals with this in-depth, but we also see relationship between specific stress and related need in any Birkman report where the circle and square are shown or where the need and the stress response categories are shown (Strengths and Needs Graph report, Needs Graph report, etc.). We have a number of tools to coach someone to understand.
Coach the Gift & Team Style Liabilities. Seldom noticed by most of us is the other side of the coin. Each of us has another complete category where stress-like behavior is revealed. On the spiritual gifts side, though, we call them gift liabilities. You actually have two sources from which to look at yourself and others. The first is the “Gift Liabilities” category in the “Equipping Gifts” and “Supporting Gifts” sections in the Your Leadership Grip workbook or pdf download. This gives you separate lists of the distinctive liabilities that may come with each of your confirmed spiritual gifts.
We also have a second access point to your spiritual gifts as they moosh (i.e. meld) together. The “Potential Liabilities” column on the Team Style Evaluation page actually gives you a list of liabilities you may portray because of your spiritual gift combination. This column of information is not showing personality stress responses as with Birkman. Rather, it clarifies what happens when you try to exercise your spiritual gifts in your own strength OR when you are struggling in your daily Christian life and have pulled back from the Lord. What is amazing in this is that each one of us will find that we have different liabilities due to our gifts than what is found in the Birkman Stress Pages report.
Evaluate yourself. To practice, look at your own stress responses in the various Birkman reports referenced earlier. Note several that strike you in particular. Then do the same with the Gift and Team Style liabilities. As you compare and contrast, you will find stress and liability points that are distinctively different from what you may have expected given each category.
Review another’s results. Now you have a new area in which to coach a person! Review his/her stress behaviors and do the same with his/her Gift and Team Style liabilities. Be prepared to ask questions about each to bring out sober understanding. Then consider with them, by way of application, how to move away from the stress and/or liability behaviors. By working from both categories and not just the stress behaviors, you coach the whole person and not just the natural, behavioral issues that need addressing.
We now have opportunity to coach the whole person, natural and supernatural, in regards to stress points and liabilities. We are addressing not only underlying needs, but also providing checkpoints on spiritual health and ongoing spiritual maturity. Happy coaching!
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
Here’s
the new idea to consider from today forward: think in tandem about both
Birkman stress responses AND spiritual gift
liabilities. We are not only coaching individuals to stay out
of stress responses by addressing underlying needs. We also can coach
them to be watchful and address liability behavior that is tied to their
spiritual gifting, often unrelated to their baseline
personality. My oh my, we are giving them a “twofer” – two for the
price of one!