Playing the Role of Refiner

This past week I led a client management team through a learning experience that focused on team talents. Effective teams know that a balance of key roles must be present if they expect to be at their best. The five roles we introduced during the event were Creator, Advancer, Refiner, Executor, and Flexer. I won’t have time to explain each role in detail but instead will focus my journal entry on some thoughts about my personal team role of Refiner.

Refiners live in the “Land of Analysis” where we use our talents to examine solutions for flaws or revise projects in a systematic way. Keeping the focus on objective facts and theories, we use logic to make sure that ideas are sound before we give them our stamp of approval. We tend to be skeptical of new ideas and aren’t easily swayed by concern for feelings or relationships.

Because all of us are a combination of behavioral styles and talents my refiner style tends toward execution. This means I prefer more structured environments and projects where I can perform detail-oriented work and produce concrete results. This allows me to catch errors, anticipate surprises and complications, develop detailed implementation plans, and work alone for long periods of time.

When I am outside my comfort zone stress is more likely to appear. I sometimes face challenges with taking risks, improvising, making decisions based on intuition, selling a plan, or networking. Over the years I have worked hard to flex my behavior in these areas so I can be more effective as a leader. This has included collaborating with others who have strengths that compliment my areas of deficiency.

All of us would benefit from a better understanding of our own talents and the role we play on our team. I have discovered that when I can focus on my strengths, the work I do is of higher quality and the satisfaction I experience is deeper and more meaningful. You can probably relate, even if you don’t have a name for your team role or can’t quickly identify your talents. That is because most of us know what it feels like to be doing what we love.

If your team is underperforming or struggling to build strong relationships you would benefit from the Team Talents™ training that I offer. Knowing that I am a Refiner has given me clarity about the projects I should undertake and the value I can bring to specific client situations. Now it’s time to proof this blog entry before I post it. That’s what we refiners do!