Consulting 7's

                An interesting thing happened at work today. Ok, let me back things up a bit…

                About three weeks ago a memorandum came down from the Director which stated everyone included in the email had to attend a meeting scheduled for today, 14 January, 2013. No one was exempt and the meeting was to discuss the future direction of the museum. The collective groans from myself and my fellow coworkers was loud enough to cause people to believe an air raid siren was going off in the downtown Portsmouth area. Once we all had our fill of grumbling to each other we quickly forgot about the meeting, simply due to the fact we had work to do and our concentration was needed to perform said work.

                Now, fast forward to this morning, all of us, from my pay grade on up arrived to work relatively on time for the meeting. I know somewhere on some ones email, memo or sticky note there was a message which said we would be meeting with a consultant… But I don’t really remember those words exactly. There were twenty of us in that room, not including the consultant and the Director. And like all groups of people we quickly separated into groups of people we like to sit with and started chatting.

                I made no attempts to hide the fact I was not thrilled with being in this room with all these people, especially since it seemed to be a social situation which I was force into and not one in which I wanted to attend.  But I tried to make the best of things. I laughed at jokes and made a few myself and when we were all told to stand up and mingle… I abstained. That is until I was approached by two people who chided me into standing up and speak with them. Which is about the time the Consultant decided to stop the patter of conversation and team us all up with the people we were talking with, he then initiated a test of knowledge about our Museums. My team tied for first place with another team. I was not surprised.

                After the contest we all ended up back in our seats with the people we had originally started out with and papers were handed out. A test… a D.I.S.C. test; one in which I believe some or most of you are familiar with. I will not say whether or not I’ve taken one of these before but I will say I find them mostly mundane and trivial. Why? Simple, you can only judge what a person answers at the time of the test. If a person is having a bad day or a good day or even a mediocre day, those factors seem to influence the outcome of the scores.

                That being said, I was not really surprised by the outcome of my fellow co-workers. Why? Hmm, tough to answer succinctly, but I will say that I am a person who watches people, not just over short periods of time but over years. I study their behavior and I have always been able to adjust to how they are acting with either the appropriate response or, just for my amusement, poke them with a verbal and mental cattle prod.

                The results… ok, we had several “Directors”, actually borderline directors, a couple “Social” folks, more than our fare share of “Thinkers” and a few “Action” people. Where did yours truly land? Well, I can say for a fact, I landed nowhere on the chart. Yes, I took the test and I was scored on the test and yes I even drew the graph they wanted me to draw. When the Consultant saw my chart he raised an eyebrow, nodded at me and walked on. I was the only one he did not make a comment to or try to match me up with another person with similar traits.

                When he reviewed everyone’s results for us all to hear, he never once mentioned my results or my name.  It seemed everyone fell into one of the four categories on his chart. And no one even looked at me when he was calling out names and traits. Matters of fact, most people were quite happy with their scores and swore by the results. I sat in the back row and shook my head. I wanted to be anywhere but where I was. You get me? You feeling me? I abhor these sorts of tests. I know who and what I am, I also know what is important to me and I will always strive to do the right thing. I do not need justification from my peers as to why I am on this mud ball or even why I do what I do. I discovered a long time ago what I need to do to maintain my sanity. I strive for it. Sometimes I’m successful and sometimes I am not.

                So, when the consultant finished everyone’s results he looked at me and asked if he could reveal my results over the din of conversation of the room. I nodded against my will and immediately regretted the decision. For you see, my dear reader I scored seven’s across the board. Meaning that I was perfectly balanced, I have a unique ability of being able to conform to any and all situations in my life. I am centered. I don’t lose focus in what needs to be done and I always put the greater good before that of myself regardless of the situation. I am a chameleon.

                This fact is not new to me. I could give you endless examples of my abilities to do this but I won’t. Why? Because if you’ve been a “dear reader” of mine over the past three years you know of some of these examples, but to you pleabs, newbies or even johnnie-come-lately you may find this as a revelation. Trust me, I can fit into just about any situation you can throw at me. It is something I have spent a lifetime of trying to perfect and even as I write this I know I will never be  a true master. I’m ok with that fact. Why? Because as a master you get comfortable and are subject to being challenged by younger chameleons and I don’t want to be challenged… ever.

                Now, after the test, the announcement and the shocked stares from my co-workers, I immediately got up and left the room. I don’t like being stared at like a lab rat. It’s not fun and I can only imagine that if you were put behind a glass case to be gawked at by any and all that chose to walk past you, that you would also feel the same way.

                Later in the end of the meeting I was accused by no less than four co-workers and at least one supervisor that I rigged the test. I was told I had taken the test before and I knew the answers. I somehow had gotten the answers and made the adjustments to the test accordingly.  I neither confirmed nor denied any and all accusations. I just smiled and said “The results speak for themselves.”

                I will not confess to you here and now what went through my mind during the test nor will I say I’m surprised by the results. I will say I tried my best to not question the questions or where the eventual outcome may lead. But, and this is a big but, I hate being in any category with anyone else. From the middle of the road, 

Have a great week.

7-7-7-7

PS. Do you know who your working with?