Core Qualities
Uit: ‘Bezieling en kwaliteit in organisaties’
uitgegeven bij Servire
(Taken from: ‘Inspiration and quality in organisations’
published by Servire)
©1997 Kern Konsult, Bussum
Daniel D.Ofman, B Sc
Telephone 035-6935445
1.
Core qualities
Core qualities are characteristics that belong to the nature (the core) of a person; they pervade a person
entirely and shed a certain light on all of their characteristics that are less eye-catching. The core
quality ‘colours’ a person; it is the specific strength that immediately arises when we think of them.
Examples of core qualities are decisiveness, tenderness, carefulness, susceptibility, orderliness,
empathy, and so on. A core quality can be recognized by someone’s special skill, about which they
themselves say: ‘anybody can actually do that’. Not everybody can however, and what’s more, if you
were to take away the core qualities behind it, you would not even recognise that other person any
longer. This is caused by the fact that one characteristic pervades all the other, less pronounced
qualities.
A core quality is therefore always potentially present. One cannot just turn a core quality on and off as
one pleases; one can, however, hold it back. For instance, sometimes you discover that an employee
who gives a boring impression at work in the bank is an amateur theatre actor in their spare time.
2
Core quality and the pitfall
Just as there cannot be light without darkness, every Core Quality has its positive side and its
drawback. The drawback is often called distortion. The distortion is not the opposite of the core
quality (as active is the opposite of passive and strong is the opposite of weak). The distortion is what a
core quality becomes when it runs on too far. This way, the core quality ‘helpfulness’ may turn into
‘meddlesomeness’. Someone’s strength then becomes their weakness.
Core quality
Pitfall
too much of a
good thing
helpfulness
+
meddlesomeness
-
When this happens, this is popularly called ‘too much of a good thing’, which exactly expresses what
is meant. Somebody who is too careful runs the risk of becoming fussy. Likewise, adaptability may
turn into and be experienced as capriciousness. A flexible person will therefore frequently get this
reproach hurled at them.
Core quality
Pitfall
too much of a
good thing
adaptibility
ss
+
capriciousness
-
The distortion of somebody’s core quality is also their ‘pitfall’. The pitfall is that which the relevant
person gets labelled. This way, it is held against the person having the quality decisiveness, that they
should not be so tiresome. Whether this is with or without good reason, the pitfall simply belongs to the
core quality. They are inextricably bound up with one another.
Just as from the core quality the distortion can be found, one can also go back from the distortion to the
core quality. Usually this is more difficult, particularly if it is bothering someone a lot. In that case, it is
simply difficult to imagine that there may be a positive core quality behind this distortion. For instance,
of which quality is recklessness too much? That could for instance be courage, but usually there are
other possibilities as well.
If someone does not know their core quality/ies, then one way of discovering this is by asking
themselves which reproaches are frequently made to them, in the sense of: ‘don’t be so…’. Next, they
ask themselves what positive quality this is too much of, and that leads them to their core quality.
3
Core quality and challenge
Together with the accompanying pitfall, the person also receives their 'challenge'. The challenge is the
positive opposite quality of the pitfall. The positive opposite quality of tiresomeness is, for instance,
something like patience or restraint. In other words, to the pitfall ‘tiresomeness’ belongs the challenge
‘patience’.
As becomes clear in the figure, the core quality and the challenge are each other’s complementary
qualities.
Core quality
Pitfall
too much of a good thing
Decisiveness
Tiresomeness
+
positive opposite
+
Patience
Challenge
What matters is finding the balance between decisiveness and patience. If this balance inclines too
much towards decisiveness, then there is a chance that this decisiveness turns into tiresomeness. In
other words: to prevent ending up in one's pitfall, it is advisable to develop the challenge. Balancing
means thinking in terms of ‘and-and’, not ‘either-or’. The trick is to be both decisive and patient at the
same time. So it is not about becoming less decisive in order to avoid becoming tiresome, but it is
matter of patient decisiveness. Someone who is patiently decisive no longer runs the risk to become
tiresome; which is a logical result of the fact that both qualities are two sides of one coin (whole).
Often the difficulty is that the person involved is not capable of understanding that these two qualities
can go together, i.e. for them it is a matter of either decisiveness or patience. In their opinion both
qualities are opposites rather than complements.
4
The core quality and the allergy
As said before, often the potential conflicts to be expected with their environment can also be derived
from someone's core quality. These conflicts often have to do with their challenge. That is, the problem
is that the average person appears to be allergic to an excess of their challenge, especially if they see
this personified in another person.
This is why a decisive person tends to flip their lid when they are confronted with passivity in another
person. They are allergic to passivity because passivity is too much of their challenge (= patience).
They do not know how to handle that. The more one is confronted with one’s own allergy in another
person, the bigger the chance that one ends up in one's own pitfall. In such a case, the person with the
core quality 'decisiveness' runs the risk of continuing to insist even more, while they blame the other
person for being passive, and so on.
Core quality
Pitfall
too much of a good thing
Decisiveness
negative
opposite
Tiresomeness
+
positive opposite
-
+
Passivity
Allergy
Patience
too much of a good thing
Challenge
In other words: if one encounters one’s allergy in another person, then the pitfall lies in wait. So, what
makes someone most vulnerable is not their pitfall, but their allergy, since it is above all the allergy that
drives someone into their pitfall.
By formulating the allergy, the core quadrant is rounded off. What happens if two ‘congeners’ meet
each other? It is imaginable that these two decisive types do not so easily get along with one another.
There is huge risk that this results in a battle between two tyrants in which the strongest one wins. The
difference between the confrontation between congeners and opposites is mainly that for a decisive
person it is hard to handle a congener, but they actually do respect the other person. This being in
contrast to their opposites. When a ‘decisive’ person meets a ‘passive’ person, then they will rather
quickly label that person and subsequently hold them in contempt. Contempt is characteristic of
situations in which one is confronted with their allergy. Holding someone in contempt therefore makes
you vulnerable, since before you know it, you will slide into your pitfall and therefore lose your
effectiveness.
The core quadrant is not only an aid for discovering the core quality and challenge in yourself and in
others. The core quadrant also shows that it may be that a leader can learn the most from the people
that he dislikes (is allergic to) most, or in other words: What one is allergic to in others is probably
too much of something good, which the person him/herself actually needs most. So, a manager
can learn the most (about themselves) from those people who are the hardest for them to handle.
5
Core quadrant rounded off
A core quadrant can be built up from all four corners, and can be checked for its correctness in several
ways. For many people, the access via the core quality is the most difficult one. Among other things,
this is because in our culture it is unusual to say something positive about ourselves. For quite a lot of
us, it is easier to criticize both others and ourselves. This is why the second access, via the pitfall, is
easier.
Most people are able to minutely indicate what has at times been held against them, or how others
sometimes (in) appropriately label them. This way, the relevant person only has to ask himself what
their companion in life frequently calls out to them, and the pitfall comes to the surface. From this
access the core quadrant can be completed.
From the third access, via the challenge, the quadrant can also be further built up as. Which quality do
you think you could properly use to become a more balanced and more complete human being? And
for many people, this access is also difficult to find.
Finally, the access via the allergy is the fourth and easiest possibility to work out a core quadrant. Most
people do not have any problem in indicating what they cannot stand (in others).
Core quality
Pitfall
too much of a good thing
Helpfulness
Meddlesomeness
+
negative
opposite
positive opposite
-
+
Indifference
Allergy
Leave
too much of a good thing
Challenge
A double check for correctness is possible in the last ‘corner’ of the quadrant to be completed, since
that quality or distortion has to correspond from three directions. This way, ‘indifference’ has to be
both too much ‘leaving’ and the (negative) opposite of ‘helpfulness’, as well as the other extremity of
‘meddlesomeness’.
6
The double quadrant
Core quadrants are extremely suitable for a little self-examination. Apart from that, they are also very
fitting for managers that want to prepare performance interviews with their employees.
Suppose that a manager is immensely irritated by someone they consider passive. Exactly because they
are so allergic to that, they decide first to examine what this says about himself.
Starting from their allergy, they make a core quadrant of themself (see below).
If they recognize themself clearly in it, and come to the conclusion that it tells more about themself
than about the other person, then that awakening may lead to them irritating themself less about the
person in question. They have used the occurrence to get to know themself better.
Me
Decisiveness
Tiresomeness
+
-
-
+
Passivity
+
-
-
+
Patience
However, they may also come to the conclusion that indeed it says something about them, but that at
the same time, they want to address that to the other person as well. In that case, they create a second
core quadrant in which, for a moment, they assume that what they want to address is the pitfall of that
person.
Me
Modesty
+
-
-
+
Passivity
+
-
-
+
Obtrusiveness
Initiative
The other person
The quadrant above may of course be the inverted quadrant of themself. Then, their challenge would be
the core quality of the other person. It does not necessarily have to be like that because from one single
quality, various quadrants can be made. Nevertheless, these will usually be differences in nuance, that
are however just as important.
Me
Decisiveness
Modesty
+
-
-
+
Passivity
+
-
-
+
Obtrusiveness
Tiresomeness
Patience
Initiative
The other person
In the double quadrant (see above), it becomes clear that when the manager loses touch with themself,
they run a fair risk of becoming ‘impatient’ and tiresome during the conversation. The other person
will probably interpret this as obtrusiveness (= his allergy), which activates his pitfall, and increases the
possibility that the conversation will lead nowhere. Here as well, it becomes clear that the way to (help)
change another person starts with yourself.
The best way for this manager to help their employee is by uniting decisiveness and patience inside
themself.
7
Core qualities in cases of stress
In a core quadrant it also becomes visible how a person tends to react under stress or pressure. At first,
the pressure or tension will lead them to bring out 'too much of a good thing', or in other words, slide
into their pitfall. If the pressure becomes stronger, then, in extreme cases, they will tend to (suddenly)
turn to their allergy and indulge in it. This is one of the moments in which their environment no longer
recognizes a person. The behaviour that they show is so unusual that incomprehension arises. When
this kind of phenomenon occurs, it is the moment for a time-out, otherwise there is a crisis on the
horizon.
Recommended literature:
1
Inspiration and quality in organisations; Daniel D.Ofman, Servire,
ISBN 90-9005456-1.
Translation of figure:
Kernkwadrant =
Valkuil =
Uitdaging =
Allergie =
Core quadrant
Pitfall
Challenge
Allergy
negatief tegenovergestelde =
positief tegenovergestelde =
negative opposite
positive opposite