This issue we roadtest profiling methodology: The Leader Being Strength Indicator (LBSI)
What it is
Explained in the simplest way, the Leader Being Strength Indicator (LBSI) is a profiling methodology to help clients understand themselves, people around them and their team dynamics. However, such a simple description underplays how distinctive and innovative LBSI is.
So, what is it really? It’s a method of assessing and revealing people’s natural talents and growth opportunities, by connecting people to their full embodied intelligence – in head, heart and gut. This capability is inside all of us, waiting to be accessed and released, if only we knew how. LBSI provides a powerful, embodied experience, is focused on wholeness, not on labelling people or putting them in boxes, and creates visibility of the systems of which we are a part.
LBSI was developed by PresenceAtWork, a Dutch company specialised in people transformation. Since 2010, PresenceAtWork has offered a clear, tested roadmap, supporting (corporate) organisations, teams and individuals on their transformation journey. Through an embodied approach to leadership and understanding systemic principles, leaders are empowered to collaborate and innovate together more effectively. Its approach and leading-edge models enable human innovation and profound culture change to happen.
PresenceAtWork guides organisations in implementing Collective Leadership, originating in an inspiring metaphor from nature: what if people could operate like a flock of geese? LBSI is an important pillar to be(come) efficient, systemic and adaptable like geese. It provides the foundation for people to step into their potential, feel rooted and comfortable in their skin, connected to their whole body intelligence and leverage their talents with others.
How it works
On the one hand, LBSI is an assessment like any other. Participants will receive a report listing their strengths, pitfalls, and so on. On the other hand, it’s very different: by testing the individual’s focus of attention, posture and glance, they can discover more than through any questionnaire, interview or role play.
LBSI tests nine body ‘power centres’, representing different areas of strength in three ‘intelligence centres’ (see illustration):
LBSI tests body power centres within intelligence centres
- Three in the Head ‘measuring cognitive power and analytical skills’
- Three in the Heart ‘representing our emotional intelligence and sensing centre’
- Three in the Gut ‘where it is about instinct and grounding’
The tester and candidate stand facing each other, with one foot in front of the other, to be well-grounded and balanced. Candidates are asked to concentrate all their attention on one body centre at a time, while taking on a certain posture and focusing their eyes in a particular way.
Using an Aikido martial arts approach, LBSI tests how well candidates are able to ground themselves. Once the candidate is ready, the tester starts to push, gradually increasing pressure, until either the candidate gives way or the tester can push no harder. For the candidate, this isn’t about physical strength or pushing back; it’s about being centred and grounded (see images).
LBSI uses an Aikido martial arts approach to test clients’ grounding
The postures in which the individual can absorb the tester’s force without (much) effort, remaining solid and balanced, represent their strongest points – and greatest areas of talent. When focusing on their strengths, candidates literally step into their power and start to shine. It feels fantastic and that confidence boost really shows. The positions in which they quickly give way are their lesser talents, and they will be able to literally feel their energy flowing away there. The individual’s four most dominant power centres define their personal profile of talents and preferred leadership styles. Learning more about these dimensions enables people to apply them consciously to grow themselves and achieve greater impact. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, innovations have been made to deliver the assessment physically with social distancing and even through an online embodied experience.
The client’s experience
Denise Drost-Ridder, manager of innovation at bol.com, the largest online retailer in the Netherlands, has been working with LBSI in her management team in customer service for about three years. She believes that LBSI has given team members more sensitivity to emotions and different needs of colleagues. Recognising the underlying LBSI dynamic(s) in situations allows them to find more empathy and tenderness for each other. Whenever tensions arise, they don’t take things as personally as they used to before. She says, “[Now it’s more a case of] ‘Yes, you are reacting to me, but it’s just one specific part of you reacting to me’. On top of that, LBSI gave us tools to address differences through a neutral language, free of ego and blame.”
Her colleague, Carlijn Timmermans, manager of operations, agrees: “With LBSI you can better anticipate people’s needs. Someone with a strong ‘Thinker’ in their profile will want to understand everything and probably has additional questions. If someone has a strong ‘Integrator’, they are more sensitive to people dynamics and fearful of change. Then you know you might have to sit down again to explain more or reassure them.”
As the team rolled out LBSI in the department, members saw how the vulnerability shown towards each other created deep connections and a strong bond among their people. They say that LBSI brings in an aspect of leadership that is often ignored in corporates.
As Drost-Ridder says: “With LBSI we include the emotional side of leadership in our work, expanding our leaders’ range. It helps us embrace feelings and make them part of our discussions on business content. We come more easily to the essence of the issue at hand, instead of rationalising everything away.”
UPSIDE
- Uses information gained from the whole body and supports people to grow into their wholeness, integrating head, heart and gut intelligence
- Supports people to ‘read the system’ – the human dynamics in the whole team – and to lead using that knowledge
- Helps teams deal with ever-changing circumstances and business needs, by leveraging people’s talents
- Unlike traditional assessments, LBSI tests where you are strong – and where not – directly through your body, and the body does not lie
- Eliminate bias and provides a more rapid and cost-effective view than most traditional assessments
DOWNSIDE
- Not everyone is ready for this shift and people might be sceptical about the method at first. For the past 60 years, adult learning has focused on our cognitive mind but that’s not the whole equation: our mind is embodied – it’s not just brain activity