As our lives continue with uncertainty, it is our personalities that will determine how we face our daily challenges and our resilience that will determine how we choose to react.

Watch the webinar recording our “Self-Awareness – The Key to Successful Leadership” webinar, as Lantern Training’s psychometrics expert Lucy Brewster discusses how personality influences how we manage stress, and how our emotional agility impacts our ability to bounce back from change and crisis.

Webinar Questions

How do you check the validity of your assessment tools? If I do the assessment more than once will I score the same?

An excellent question, but one that requires more than just a short answer. At the heart of the Lumina Spark system is an innovative psychometric model based on the Big Five research paradigm. In the 1980s and 1990s the Big5 emerged as the academics’ theory of choice, with Costa and McCrae’s model leading the field (1992). Costa and McCrae have set the gold standard for academic research using the Big5. Lumina Spark has been designed to integrate best practice identified in a range of Big5 and Jungian models for application in selection and development in organisations.

In particular, Lumina Spark has set out to retain the benefits established by the Jungian approach in equally valuing both ends of each polarity, without resorting to typing. Lumina Spark has been developed based on Big5 empirical research, yet provides a helpful Jungian lens with which to make sense of your personality. In 2009 the Lumina Spark model was embedded in the revolutionary Lumina Learning cloud-based platform, making innovative digital solutions accessible to clients throughout the world.

Validity is rigorously checked and after years of research into the many psychometric tools available, I personally believe that Lumina is the most effective and powerful tool now offered worldwide. If you completed the assessment more than once, in theory your underlying preferences would stay constant. However as we measure everyday and overextended behaviours (under stress), these results would very likely change over time.

If you are interested in learning more about the validity of the research, please do get in touch with me at [email protected] and I’d be happy to share more with you.

Do you rank data from your assessments within the African continent? What are some of the common themes you see?

Currently this is work in progress. We started working with African organisations in 2016 and data is being gathered over time. I’d like to be able to share more information on this with you at a later date, using both Lumina and MBTI findings, so please do share your email address with me (at [email protected]) and we can discuss further.

Kindly elaborate the key leadership qualities that are the main focus when considering someone for appointment into the C-suite

 Within the Lumina suite we measure leadership competencies through the Lumina Leader tool which measures 16 different competencies, displayed through everyday behaviour and when under pressure or stress.

The diagram below shows the leadership competencies that we measure and I would be happy to discuss further how we can identify and develop these with leaders in your organisation.

Please note that we also offer a selection/recruitment tool which can be used to match qualities that you are seeking with candidate preferences.

How to handle issue when you trust fellow work mates and they let you down and tend to portray you as the bad person. Should one be strict and harsh and not allow them to be close? At the same time you want them to work with you closely to achieve goals. How does one handle/manage this.

I believe there is always a balance to be maintained when managing people and it is important to ask yourself “am I communicating and working with them in the right way?” Now, more than ever, it is important to spend time understanding your team and for you to understand more about the way you are managing them. Encourage meaningful conversations and ask for feedback on how you are managing them. Listen to what they are saying and really try to act on what they say. We all have blind spots and as leaders, aiming to develop higher levels of self-awareness, we need to be receptive to criticism and constructive advice.

Is there a recommended leadership style to manage during this period?

Leadership style is very personal to individuals and there is no one definitive preferred style. Authentic and genuine leadership is however essential and style needs to continually adapt to meet the needs of the individual team member and the situation. Read up about the Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory and think about your own communication and leadership style. Consider the Lumina Leader 16 leadership competencies and if you would like to learn more about how to develop these essential skills, please do get in touch with me and we can discuss further. [email protected]

What is the best approach to developing self-awareness?

There are many assessment tools in the market, but few really focus on the longer-term development journey of the individual. My recommendation would be to complete a Lumina Spark psychometric assessment, which can be completed easily on-line, and spend time with a qualified coach to help you interpret the findings and set personal and professional development goals. We would be happy to help you. [email protected].