If you lead a team, work on a team, or are trying to build a better one, you’ve probably noticed this: People do not all think, communicate, or make decisions the same way. And that can either create friction… or it can become one of your team’s greatest strengths.
The problem is, many leaders say they want diverse teams, but then unintentionally hire, promote, or reward people who operate exactly like they do.
Same communication style.
Same decision-making style.
Same way of solving problems.
Same way of showing up at work.
And over time, that can create blind spots, groupthink, and missed opportunities.
My special guest today is Scott Wood and he’s simplifying how to better understand your team.
Scott is the author of Jungle Motives, a book and framework that uses animal personality types to help people better understand themselves and the people around them.
We tackle and simplify all aspects of it, including:
- The core idea behind Jungle Motives, and how animal personality types can help us better understand the people we work with. Four primary types include:
- Bear - balanced, event planners, intellectual, inventors
- Monkey - spontaneous and make everything fun
- Horse - Herd animal, focused on building community and connections
- Jungle cat - Alpha personality, natural leader, top-of-the-food-chain, and at times, focused on control
- Why he believes many organizations are using talent assessments the wrong way.
- Where leaders go wrong when they use personality data to decide who “fits” a role.
- How to separate personality from capability, especially when someone has the potential to be great but needs stronger skills, training, or support.
- Why teams get weaker when leaders surround themselves with people who think, communicate, and operate just like them. Better to have diversity in:
- Personality
- Character
- Perspective
- And what to do after your team takes an assessment so the insights actually improve communication, trust, culture, and performance.
The goal is not to put people in boxes. It’s to better understand how to lead them well. That’s how diverse teams build stronger culture, better ideas, and healthier growth.
Q: Are you wanting to better understand your team? If yes, this one is for you.
It’s time to #DoTheThing!
----
<What’s catching my eye this week>
- 3 hours of (free) focus music for deep concentration - Quiet Quest - Study Music
- Mary’s book is out now! Buy Squash the Sunday Scaries: A Modern Playbook to Rebuild Trust, Transform Culture, and Reignite Your Workforce on Amazon now or your favorite bookstore!
- Hire Mary Baird, PHR to help you run a 30-day Employee Experience Accelerator to listen better to your workforce, rebuild trust in your senior leadership and improve culture at work - The Simplifiers
- 50 powerful questions to help you reflect - The Institute of You
----
My challenge for you this week:
How are you going to take what you’ve learned in today’s episode and take action to listen like a (real) leader? What’s one thing you’ll do differently? Share it with me, privately or publicly. Snap a photo of you doing the thing, and send me a DM over on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thesimplifiers) for added accountability and support!
Links, books and apps mentioned:
Resource: Find Scott Wood on LinkedIn - click here
Book: Jungle Motives: Building Healthy Relationships Through Personality - Scott Wood, Susan Wood
Resource: Take the free Jungle Motives Personality Assessment - IFI Training
Resource: Send a direct message to Scott on LinkedIn (mentioning this episode) and he’ll send you the Sub-Animals Report - Scott Wood
Book: Confronting Evil: Assessing the Worst of the Worst - Bill O’Reilly, Josh Hammer
Podcast: How to use executive assessments to hire smarter, featuring Brandon Jordan - The Simplifiers Podcast
Podcast: How to squash the Sunday Scaries (guided visualization) - The Simplifiers Podcast
Mary’s New Book is Out NOW on Amazon!
My new book, Squash the Sunday Scaries: A Modern Playbook to Rebuild Trust, Transform Culture, and Reignite Your Workforce, is out now — and you can buy it today on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or your favorite independent bookstore. It’s written for HR leaders, people managers, and anyone ready to make work better in a practical, human way. If you’ve been looking for simple tools to improve employee experience, rebuild trust, and create better results for your people and your business, this book is for you. Learn more, visit: https://squashthesundayscaries.com
About Scott H. Wood:
Scott H. Wood - He is the Vice President of Training Solutions for IFI Training. Scott has been working in the corporate training arena for over 36 years who’s delivered over 1,800 workshops in over 250 companies and government organizations and has engaged audiences with keynote speeches that move people to act.
Scott is also the author of the Jungle Motives™ personality assessment and has helped develop dozens of exercise-based workshops in Leadership, Communication, and Business Development.
Where Scott hangs out online:
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/scott-ifi
Website: https://junglemotives.com
Website: https://ifitraining.com
Scott’s vote for the perfect guest on The Simplifiers Podcast:
Dr. Michael Savoie - He is a Clinical Professor in Operations Management at UNT. He is also President and CEO of HyperGrowth Solutions, Inc., a company specializing in the integration of business and technology for competitive advantage.
Dr. Savoie has teaching and business experience in Executive Management, Strategic Planning, Operations Management, Cybersecurity/Risk Management, Information Systems & Data Analytics, Engineering, Quality, and Training. He is an internationally recognized public speaker, serves as a consultant to numerous companies, and is a technology adviser to federal, state, and local governments.
Prior to joining UNT, Dr. Savoie was a Visiting Research Professor at SMU and served as the Dean of the College of Technology & Computing at Utah Valley University.
