Key Career Trait 18: THE CRITIC

THE TALENT TO SECURE LONG TERM SUCCESS VIA PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS

Your ability to identify flaws in systems and processes is unique and provides immense benefits to your team. You see weaknesses where others overlook them and can make significant progress with targeted adjustments. You approach this analytically and pragmatically, without getting lost in irrelevant details. This potential fully unfolds, especially in areas such as quality management, process control, or project development. Your instinct for meaningful improvements helps utilize resources more efficiently and eliminate sources of errors in the long term. Your suggestions not only lead to better results but also to a clearer structure in the workflow.

In the team, you are a reliable sparring partner when it comes to analyzing weaknesses and working on concrete solutions because you subscribe to the notice that the team is "only as strong as its weakest link". Your colleagues appreciate that you contribute your expertise in a straightforward and to-the-point manner. At the same time, you work on not just pointing out problems but also providing ways to resolve them. You remain objective and keep the big picture in mind, rather than getting bogged down in trivial discussions. You create a work environment where innovation and quality go hand in hand. Through your structured approach, projects are not only implemented efficiently but also sustainably.

You introduce integrity into the equation and become a sought after leader and change agent for your honesty and transparency. Integrity is about holding the expectation for a high standard and it takes courage to challenge anything or anyone that doesn't meet the standard. Operating in integrity means using judgment, criticism and correction in an objective and impersonal manner. These are striking qualities when applied at the correct time and place and are not used to personally offend someone nor for you to internalize judgment, criticism, or correction personally.

You have the potential ability to restore vitality and to refocus the team on the vision and mission that may have been lost in an antiquated or homogenized work environment. Designed to be the critical eye who supports the organization by spotting what needs to be corrected with your instinct for safety and progression, this is the energy for realignment because you can see a pattern that needs to be fixed. Your deep desire for process improvement comes from your drive and intuition that knows once a system is upgraded, it will bring joy into the work environment. This change begins with you honing this skill and using it correctly which is on the bigger picture, projects, policies, procedures and best practices, not on yourself or other people directly.

CAREER AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:

The potential is also here to become too critical however, and too concerned about being right, in which you would have to make others wrong. Ultimately this contribution to the team is about delighting in being inspirational, not being righteous. Integrity is assessing the situation from your highest heart and not from a competitive or controlling ego. Every trait has two sides to the coin, a high vibe expression and and a low vibe expression. If unaware, integrity can present as unjust judgment in it's pursuit of perfection. You have to be mindful not to use this trait to be excessively critical and calm your compulsion to fix something especially if it isn't broken. It is important to recognize and accept that there is perfection in imperfections. I was introduced to the Japanese concept of Wabi-Sabi while working in Tokyo and walk my clients through it. I invite you to familiarize yourself with it if you have this trait activated in your Design Blueprint Chart.

There's nothing can truly reach a state of perfection in our rapidly changing work environments thanks to technology, social trends and sometimes just because our taste for things change. So even though you can easily spot when there is a glitch in the matrix and you're probably right about your observations, be mindful but there is a time and place for everything. Speaking on imperfections that you don't have a solution for or have not been invited to share your opinion about (unsolicited advice) is not corrective criticism. Incorrect timing will be perceived as the equivalent of a referee making a bad judgment call and you will be received as a negative Nancy or Nathan instead of helpful. Finesse is needed to master this energy in the workplace.

Your high standards for quality and perfection can sometimes be a challenge, especially when you get caught up in less significant details. Sometimes, you tend to question yourself or make unsolicited suggestions for improvement, which may not always be well received. To fully unleash your potential, it’s important to use your observations purposefully and at the right time. By focusing on what truly matters, you can significantly contribute to optimizing workflows and developing teams. Your precise analysis and willingness to take responsibility are essential for the further development of your company. Here are the six stages of mastering this key career trait:

STAGE 1: SUSTAINABILITY - It begins with conservative correction. Gradually modifying your judgements in a practical manner to avoid upheaval. After you've examined historical data you try to align them with present relevance.

STAGE 2: INEVITABILITY - Acceptance that some things are beyond repair and there is no potential for correction. Trying to change, upgrade or salvage things that cannot be altered may lead to tension and stress in the environment. Starting anew is the only logical way forward as to not become compulsive.

STAGE 3: IMPETUOUSNESS - Here you may find satisfaction in suddenly cleaning house, literally and/or figuratively. With an obsession for correction, instant gratification isn't always available so careers that require upheaval with process or performance improvements such as computer programming or piano teacher would align with this energy.

STAGE 4: QUE SERA SERA - There will be times when despite your best efforts to fix something it won't be possible because the lack of resources (financial, human, etc.). Its important to recognize what is in your control and what is not as the Serenity Prayer refers to so you won't suffer.

STAGE 5: REHABILITATION - Seeking and giving guidance and being in partnership with others helps solve problems through stabilizing patterns. There is strength in recognizing a problem and accepting that it is beyond your own skillset to solve it alone and introducing a third party such as a therapist, coach, advisor or advocate would be the best course of action.

STAGE 6: PERFECTION - Finally, you'll reach this stage where you are always looking ahead at the bigger picture and knowing that everything and everyone is exactly where they need to be and peaking to perfection is just a state of mind that provides the energy for new horizons to avoid stasis.

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Hi, I'm Erica Hughey, known as the Career Engineer, I help you and your team learn how to handle business like actualized human beings. I teach everyday people, emerging leaders, executives and entrepreneurs just like you how to develop your social intelligence skills to bring the career of your dreams to life and build a satisfying, purpose filled life.

Satori Synergy offers data-driven, transformative career & life coaching and team engineering to change-ready individuals and organizations who are eager to get out of the void of confusion and shift into clarity. My mission is to help you understand yourself and discover your purpose and mission by leveraging your inherent talents, passions, and skills using Human Design as a strategic self-discovery tool. I speak about purpose-driven career and character development to help audiences learn how to align with their life's work so they can make a living being themselves instead of burning out.

Are you ready to get ready for your future? The integration of Artificial Intelligence into the workplace is here. The other 2/3 of that sustainably pie is Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence. Schedule an Initial Analysis or Coaching Session, order your Career Compass Report or book me to speak (Hello@SatoriSynergy.com) at your professional or personal development event to begin your journey to put your self-awareness and social intelligence to work for your career and overall wellbeing. Learn how embrace yourself and embody the energy of being a Human Being, authentically and unapologetically.