The Fear of Being Put in a Box: Why Leaders Resist Personality Profiles
I’ve been talking a lot about the importance of knowing yourself—your preferences, your go-to patterns of behaviour, your personality style. And how that awareness, both of yourself and of those around you, can make all the difference in how well you work together.
I’ve seen firsthand how this piece of the puzzle shifts dynamics—and results—in a team.
But I haven’t addressed the elephant 🐘in the room.
And just the other day, a client brought it up. I’m grateful he did, because if he was thinking it, maybe you are too.
I felt like I was being put in a box, he said about a work personality profile he had done years ago.
That fear of being put in a box, of being reduced to a type or a label, is real.
The aim is never to have a personality profile stand in for the real you—the shifting, evolving, always-growing you.
Using Personality Insights as a Tool, Not a Limitation
These tools we use to talk about how we work and communicate aren’t about boxing yourself or your team in. They’re about giving yourself a clearer starting point and giving your team a shared language for talking about this stuff. A way to
- notice your habits
- question your defaults
- and choose your next move with more intention.
Reflect, Question, Adjust: A Simple Framework for Growth
So here’s something for you to try:
Take a few minutes today to reflect on a recent challenge. How did you respond? Was it instinctive or intentional? And…would you handle it the same way next time?
If your answer to that last one is no, that might be your clue to take self-awareness a little deeper.
All good things,
Juliet Robinson
Leadership and Change Specialist
Here are more ways I can help you:
Start by bingeing on our short / sharp / solution-filled YouTube videos here
Our most downloaded resource, it-never-gets-old, the one and only Listening Guide, is the perfect companion to your self-awareness quest.
