"You Have Derailed…"

I recently made a trip to NYC to earn my Hogan Personality Assessment certification. The Hogan instruments are highly regarded and utilized by many world-class organizations in hiring and for leadership development. 

The course was outstanding. We learned about evaluating and leveraging strengths, as well as identifying and moderating our so-called “derailers.”

Derailers are personal traits are that can be stumbling blocks for us in our professional lives. When I first heard the word “derail” in my class, I couldn’t help but think of the movie Tommy Boy. The scene when Chris Farley lights the potential customer’s desk on fire is derailment at its finest, and David Spade tells him so. 

But I digress. Interestingly, our derailers are the dark side of our strengths. In times of stress or complacency, the traits that serve us best are prone to flipping upside down and getting in the way of our professional effectiveness. 

With this explanation in mind, I found it logical to move out of the fixed mindset of evaluating strengths and weaknesses. I became less defensive about my derailers, and more curious about them. 

For example, a strength of mine is attention to detail. I consider every angle before I argue with someone and I hate typos. The dark side of this trait is my “diligence” derailer, or need for everything to be in its place in times of transition or stress. Full disclosure...I’m in the 100th percentile. This just might explain my compulsion to thoroughly scour and organize the house when returning after a few days of travel. Which, by the way, can be quite annoying to those who live with me. 

Which of your traits is usually of tremendous benefit to you, but can sometimes get in your way?

To learn more about using the Hogan Assessments in developing yourself or coaching your team, please reach out to me. I’d love to have the opportunity to help.