6 Learnings from a newbie practitioner

(5 minute read)

Intended audience: Psychometric Practitioners. New and not so.

When I first thought about writing this article, I figured the audience would be newbie practitioners like myself . And then when I thought about it some more, I like to think it might be relevant to experienced practitioners too. Sometimes when we have done a thing for a while, it might help to recognise some of the methods we might forget or take for granted. Whichever camp you sit in, I hope this article holds some value for you.

A little bit about me.

I'm a Chemistry graduate and have worked in Change Management for over 20 years in large corporates - mostly financial services. I went the way of independent working in September 2019. If you are curious about psychometric profiling but are put off because you don't think you have the related credentials than read on.

I have an interest, but no formal experience within occupational psychology. And whilst I have trained many people within corporate as part of my role, I have never worked in an L&D (Learning & Development) department. 

Route to qualifying 

I qualified as a Lumina Spark practitioner on 28th October 2020. I decided to take the qualification because a client had enquired about doing "some sort of personality profiling". If I've learned anything since going solo, it is to say yes more often than you say no, and also there will be time to worry about figuring out how to do something later on.

Later on in this case, only meant 4 weeks. I got onto a virtual training course on 7th October with Lumina and set about the task of learning with a zeal I haven't seen in myself since I threw myself into learning Spanish 10 years ago. I literally became the human equivalent of a sponge. I absorbed whatever I could read, podcasts, and more. I attended lectures, cold called other experts to grab 15 minutes of their time for advice. And generally thought about little else.

It served me pretty well. Having a new toy as powerful as Lumina Spark is exciting. I am also acutely aware that a little knowledge can be dangerous. Embracing the fear (something I have become increasingly used to), I started to book in my first portrait reviews.

As the time of writing this in December 2020, I will have completed 20, enough I think to allow me to write a few lessons I have learned as a newbie practitioner. Here goes..

Lesson 1 - Prepare, prepare, prepare. But there is such a thing as preparing too much.

My colleagues used to joke when I was in corporate that I used to over-prepare. My preparation for a workshop would be meticulous. I'd photograph the room, work out how I wanted the exercises to go. Have flipcharts ready with blu-tak on the back ready to pin up, have marker pens tested to see if they had ink. I left pretty much nothing to chance.

The reason I do this, of course is because I'm a bag of nerves. Preparation is the prop I use to keep me steady. And I find it essential when I am tackling anything new.

It was the same with preparing for my initial reviews. I stopped short of stalking my clients on LinkedIn. But I decided that I would write a 5 page word document to have by my side to guide me through it. The set up, letting them know about confidentiality, what the review would entail. It turned out to be overkill.

Lesson 2 - Let the client lead the conversation

My first two profile reviews, had me going through their profile page by page and my conversations lacked a certain depth. It was too scripted. Questions were too superficial. I'd ask them whether they agreed with the word cloud. They would say yes. I would then move to the next page. And go through the Inner Spark section. I was getting fairly bored. And I'm sure they weren't getting much out of it either. I really didn't want it to sound rehearsed, and it wasn't the reason I went into the course in the first place.

Time to quickly shift gears. 

Lesson 3- Speak to other practitioners

I was introduced to Lumina by a scholar and a gentleman who has quite a following due to his intelligent and often times humorous take on personality: Nikita Mikhailov. He kindly offered to help me. In an instant he had turned to the detailed view of the 3 personas. And started to draw connections and reveal insights about a client I could barely keep up with. I was amazed at the depth that could be extracted through doing this properly. And that was a moment of truth for me, and I didn't look back.

Lesson 4 - Don't ignore the 3 personas

Start with the 3 personas (Underlying, Everyday and Overextended). That page is a gift. Through thinking of how a client dials up or down a particular quality such as 'Accommodating', and amp up its psychological equivalent 'Tough', allowed me to get far better insights.

I started to look at extreme 95% and above scores and started to ask why. I invited reflection on those, and by the 8th conversation started to probe their own view of self. It was becoming less robotic, and way more enjoyable.

Lesson 5 - Leave your assumptions at the door

I was still making assumptions about the person before they arrived on the call. And I'm learning to let go of those pre-conceived ideas. People come as they are. And I'm often surprised. I had a report show up with 90%+ percentiles on 'tough' 'competitive 'AND 'takes charge', and they were one of the friendliest, most easy going clients I've had. You just don't know who is going to turn up, so leave your ill informed assumptions and suspicions at the door. The portrait is simply a mirror to the questions they answered. 

Lesson 6 - Lumina support is fantastic. 

It’s a global learning company with a local feel. The response I got from the London office is always warm, honest, flexible and personal. I have received support a number of times. Don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and speak to a real person. 

Bonus Lesson - Explore Lumina Spark Coach (NEW)

One of the complaints coming from organisations is "What do I do once my team member has received their report? Does it just sit in the drawer?"

Enter Lumina Spark Coach - one of the newest members of the Lumina family. I used it for the first time with a live client. The filtered view of amplifications, hidden treasures and over extended behaviours works really well. The transition from insight into action is easy enough. I found the format quick to navigate and allows for some powerful coaching conversations to flow naturally. The goal setting section does need an export to PDF function, so clients can download their goals into something portable and shareable. I hope to integrate Lumina coach into my practice as a standard. I’m that convinced of its utility. 

In Summary

In summary, my advice to anyone thinking about going through the training is get some real world practice in as quickly as you can. Even if it's friends and relatives, those early reviews will be beneficial in scoping out how you have a conversation. I hope this article has been of use to new and experienced practitioners. And if you're thinking about choosing a psychometric profiling too, then Lumina ought to be in your shortlist (I have used others) but the depth, accuracy and usefulness of Lumina Spark is phenomenal. I'm glad I made the jump. My thanks to my trainers and the wonderful support staff for their fantastic help over the last few months.

About Anish

A self confessed Change obsessive and founder of Jigsaw Change Consulting. A London based consultancy providing an improvement lens on to workplace culture.