How Lumina Spark Supports Diversity

Self-awareness

Self-awareness is the first step towards diversity. Susan Kopfer, author of “Profit From Diversity; Getting Along With Others”, says that a key trait of diversity leaders is that they work hard at self-awareness.

Awareness of one’s preference for communication and work-style-whether from personality or learned through social or corporate culture - paves the way for recognition and acceptance that other people may have different preferences. Only when we have recognised that our way of thinking, speaking and working is just one of many possible ways, can we begin to appreciate that other styles are valid too.

Lumina’s assessment tools and training programmes build self-awareness. The Lumina Spark Portrait gives individuals a highly detailed insight into their personality preferences, strengths and weaknesses leading to deep self-knowledge. Both accurate and easy to understand LuminaSpark paints a nuanced picture of an individual’s communication style, their role in a team and their danger zones when under pressure. Self-knowledge is Lumina’s First Principle and all Lumina programmes have self-development at their core.

Developing Communication Skills

Working with people who are different from you can be difficult. It can lead to misunderstandings, mistakes and conflict. In dealing with these challenges the ability to communicate effectively is only skill that matters.

Jennifer Gilhool, diversity expert and author of “Sharyl Sandberg, Chine & Me”, believes that working in a diverse team is “all about communication. Learning to listen and speak in a way that allows for common understanding.”

Peter Bregman, best-selling author and CEO of Bregman Partners agrees. In fact he believes that communication training is the most effective type of diversity training that corporations can invest in.

Lumina Spark supports communication training using a practical method for building rapport. Step one - listen to your conversation partner and pay attention to their choice of words, tone of voice and body language. (Perhaps they use animated gestures and exaggerated words to describe a grand vision.) Step two - use your knowledge of personalities to speed read your partner’s preferences. (Animated gestures and exaggerated words indicate a preference for Big Picture Thinking and Extraversion.) Step three - adapt how you deliver your message to meet your partner’s communication needs. (Start by focussing on the big picture and avoiding talking at length about detailed facts and figures.)

Whilst simple and straightforward, Lumina’s method instills the ability to be mindful of other people’s needs in addition to managing your own approach.

Valuing Diversity

Valuing diversity is more than just respecting differences; it is about under- standing the strength that each diverse individual brings to a team. It is human nature that each of us tends to value our own way to working above that of others. We can all too easily dismiss the preference of others with offhand crit- icisms such as “Why does she have to be so slow?”, “He is always talking when he should be working” or “She never speaks her mind.” Yet this careless atti- tude caused by lack of awareness is damaging to diversity and prevents individ- uals from effectively utilising their full range of strengths.

The Lumina Spark model focusses on the strengths found in all aspects of per- sonality. There is no such thing as a bad personality - each unique combination of qualities brings a clear set of strengths to the team. Extraverts are good at interacting with people and expressing themselves while Introverts are good at listening and observing what’s going on. Big picture Thinkers can come up with new and radical ideas, Down To Earth team members will fill out the details so that it can be practically implemented.

A realistic view of diversity also takes into account that there are weaknesses and danger zones inherent in all personalities too. Extraverts often dislike working on their own and can become bossy and controlling. Introverts can de- tach themselves from the group and become serious and withdrawn.

Recognising weaknesses and working together to support each other becomes the foundation for building strong teamwork. Lumina enables groups to rise productivity by celebrating their strengths and tempering their weaknesses.

A Language For Discussing Differences

Lumina provides a safe and productive language for discussing differences.

The Lumina Colours, Aspects and qualities provide a common vocabulary that team members can use without becoming personal or judgmental. Having a framework for naming the behaviour or communication style that is causing difficulty opens the way for a constructive conversation leading to a win-win solution. “He really irritates me. I can’t stand working with him.” becomes “I find it difficult to deal with his Inspiration Driven style.”, leading to a conversation around “I have a preference for being more Discipline Driven while you tend to be more Inspiration Driven. How can we adapt our styles to work better together?”

The four Lumina Colours are easy to remember and quickly enter a team’s vocabulary. “Have you met our new client? I love her Yellow energy.” or “I’m going to tone my style down a little for this meeting because I think this client has a Green preference.” The Eight Aspects and 24 Qualities all use simple words to ensure that they are to understand and natural to use in everyday conversation. After taking part in a Lumina workshop, individuals will find that they naturally use terms like Outcome Focussed and Cautious in general conversation. By providing a language for discussing differences, Lumina sets the foundation for a diverse environment that is respectful and inclusive.

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We are seeking facilitators, coaches, consultants and HR/L&D professionals in Baltic Region who work in the areas of talent and leadership development, team building, diversity & inclusion, innovation, and sales effectiveness training.

Contact me for a one-to-one consultation to find out how qualifying as a Lumina Practitioner could benefit you and your clients. Email me at [email protected], or mob.t. +37129716131.