Megan Barrett

Strangely enough, the Language Arts teacher in my building has been working with all of her students on some self-knowledge activities, including the Gregorc Style Delineator. Since she always likes to include staff in her activities, I’ve recently taken a whole battery of personality tests and assessments, many of which I haven’t taken since I was in high school myself. It’s been fun to talk with students about who they are and where they are coming from, and it’s also been interesting to see how few of the students share similar profiles with me. I’m not sure if this phenomenon is a function of being an adult vs. being an adolescent or if it’s something about working in an alternative school, but it seems like I’m a lone Beaver surrounded by a sea of Otters and Lions and Abstract Randoms. Weird visual.

As in most personality tests, I found that my results were not all that surprising. Throughout most of my life, any personality test that I have taken has pointed me toward the linear, logic-oriented, consistent and detail-oriented personality categories. I’ve always joked that I’ve been 45 since I’ve been 16 years old. That being said, it was good with all of these tests to delve past the surface impression and to reflect on what these results mean to me as a person, but more importantly, as a leader.

In the Gregorc Style Delineator, I rang in loud and clear as a Concrete Sequential, which highlights my patience, my planning abilities, my literalist approach, my self-discipline, and my action-oriented approach to work and life. I’ve always been aware of these personality traits, but it was helpful to see them interpreted in the role of leadership. I could recognize myself in the ability to manage the organizational structures and functions of my institution as well as my own propensity to become too autocratic and resistant to change. When comparing my own personality type with that of the Abstract Random, which is the personality type of my co-leader at the school, it became clear to me that our polarized individual strengths work together to support both the growth of our school and our own leadership abilities. It also explained why so frequently drives me crazy.

My results from the Smalley Center Free Personality Test were slightly more ambiguous. Predictably, my dominant personality type was The Beaver—a focused, action-oriented problem-solver that can sometimes lose the ability to see the forest for the trees. However, in this test, I had a second personality type that came in with an almost equally strong score—The Golden Retriever. It was interesting to see these the interplay between these two very different personality types, and to recognize where my own traits could negatively impact the school. A routine-oriented perfectionist that is oriented toward nurturing others over promoting new ideas? That’s good to watch out for. At the same time, a thoughtful and relationship-oriented leader who promotes a positive environment and high expectations? That could be truly great.

As an instructional leader, it became clear to me that my approach to working with my staff is guided by a philosophy of non-directive leadership. My score was 46.9% non-directive and 40.2% collaborative. This makes sense to me in terms of my own partially Golden Retriever personality, which emphasizes harmony and sensitivity to others. However, I was struck most by these results because I found that though I may philosophically approach staff in a non-directive way, I believe that my own lack of experience as a leader and as a teacher prevents me from being truly effective in this non-directive style. I may truly believe that teacher empowerment and collaborative decision making can result in the most effective teacher/leader relationships, but if I don’t have the ability to successfully execute this type of approach, I’ll naturally default to a more directive style that is in line with my own personality comfort zones of detail, focus and control. I think this a truly helpful insight that I will bring into my work in the future.