[This article is part of a series: Managing A Tech Team – How to Succeed When Everyone Is Overextended]

Psychometric assessments are one of the cornerstone pieces when teaching coaching as a leadership style to high tech teams.  These personality tests provide a unique portrait and describe various aspects of a personality so that leaders can help their teams improve working relationships and productivity.

The “Down To Earth” quality is one of 24 core qualities of behaviour identified by the Lumina Spark assessment. So what does it mean if your assessment indicates you are ‘down to earth’?

Team members, we all know and love who embody the quality of being down to earth, have a firm grip on reality and know how to make projects manageable. People who are good at this are valuable on a tech team because they’re the ones who can dissect projects into smaller pieces and focus on the details. 

This ability to focus on the details makes them very good at getting things done and doing things well. Those wonderful colleagues of ours who are down-to-earth can assess things in the light of their experience and prefer to use approaches that have worked for them in the past. 

They can be very level headed and careful when accepting change initiatives and are likely to have a reputation for being more traditional in their methods.

Your Everyday Persona

Like all human qualities, when a person is coming from their underlying or everyday persona, the particular aspect will show up as a positive quality. In the case of the down to earth aspect, these people tend to be practical, evidence-based and cautious.

However, when a person is overextended, the quality will reveal its shadow side.  In the case of the down to earth aspect, overextension shows its ugly head as resistance to change. 

Overextended

People who are well-loved for being down to earth can appear narrow-minded and can dismiss the creative side of things. This can mean that they ignore opportunities to improve and innovate because they are clinging to what has worked before. 

They can be quick to focus on the details of what works now without considering alternatives. Being caught in the details can make them look like perfectionists in their quest for accuracy and we know that perfectionism leads to wasted time, energy and resources. 

Not only that, but they will also avoid things that they are less comfortable with and may well even miss the bigger picture altogether!

How Do They Mesh with the Team?

As a leader, it’s important to keep your eyes and ears open to be able to spot these signs and then intervene. If you are overextended, be honest with yourself and take a good hard look at how your energy is affecting, and maybe even debilitating your workforce. 

If you spot it in a direct report it’s important to talk to this person and figure out together what is causing the overextension and what can be done to resolve it. When people are overextended their ability to deliver results and contribute to the success of the organizational culture and goals will naturally be extremely limited.

How can Psychometric assessments help High Tech teams?

As virtual teams, project groups and remote reporting increase, people need to build relationships better and faster. Assessments such as the Lumina Spark Assessment create a powerful understanding of the personalities within a team, and the organizational culture within which a team sits, as a catalyst to enable greater team effectiveness.

Raising your emotional intelligence by improving your self-awareness and your awareness of the people around you can be both fun and extremely effective in creating an organizational culture that drives performance.

Do you think you or one of your team members has the “Down To Earth” aspect?  How does it affect your working relationship? Let me know in the comments below!

Interested in Learning More?  This article is part of a series on managing personality aspects in a tech team when everyone is overextended.  You can read more here:

SERIES – Managing A Tech Team – How To Succeed When Everyone Is Overextended

Is Your Team Overextended – How To Recognize The Signs
Managing A Tech Team – Your “Down To Earth” Team Member
Managing A Tech Team – Your “People Focused” Team Member
Managing A Tech Team – Your “Outcome Focused” Team Member