In our research, we were surprised to discover how few Diminishers understood the restrictive impact they were having on others.
Most had moved into management having been praised for their personal, and often intellectual, merit, and had assumed their role
as boss was to have the best ideas. Others, had once had the mind of a Multiplier, but had been working among Diminishers for
so long, they had gone native. Accidental or not, their impact on your team is the same - they might be getting only 1/2 of the
true brainpower of their team.
Find out if you might be accidentally diminishing your team.
You look for ways to bring additional functions and resources into your organization because they’ll do better under your leadership and because it gives you a more senior management role. You are reluctant to let resources transfer out of your organization because it is hard to back-fill and train new people.
You tend to focus your leadership efforts to the people listed on your org chart. You are most comfortable managing the people who report directly to you because these people are more likely to take direction from you. You’d rather not lead a cross-functional team because you can’t count on these people to get the job done.
You’ve got the gift of gab – You’re passionate and articulate and can consume a lot of space in a meeting.
You feel like people are at their best when they are on edge, a bit agitated in fact. You believe pressure creates performance and the more pressure you put on someone the more likely they are to work hard, concentrate, and perform at their best.
You are a big thinker and lay out a compelling vision of the future that you evangelize to those around you.
Your mind races with ideas and is a fountain of innovation. You come up with ideas for new strategies or products and are continually spouting new ideas for your team to toss around and play with.
You know that people feel included when they can offer their opinion and have their voice heard. So, you make a point of asking people for their ideas, but you typically have already made up your mind or invite this inclusion when the stakes are small. On the decisions that matter most, you tend to make the decisions yourself or with a small inner circle of trusted advisors.
You react quickly when problems or opportunities surface by making rapid decisions that keep the organization moving ahead.
When you see people failing, you jump in to rescue them or the project in order to help them avert failure and get on the path of success.
As the leader, you set the pace and the standard for delivering high-quality work. You make a point of working hard and delivering top notch results, so others can learn from your example.
