Need to Know…

• Like to win…they want to take a mountain

• Allocate resources well

• Skilled Strategist

• Competitive, tend to be “locked and loaded” most of the time 

• Task-driven

• Can be liberators - if they will increase their self-awareness

 

What we see…

• Communicate with intensity

• Can coordinate resources to get things done

• Don’t receive challenge well

• Once vision is locked, will assemble right people, right places

• Healthy Version: All voices are heard and valued

• So strategic, they miss emotional cues

• Will throw their idea first to get response

• Like to fight/hate to lose

• Can walk past you w/o noticing you

• Can make tough/unpopular decisions

• Not quitters

• Love to work

• Can appear arrogant and me-focused

• Critique too quickly

• Their world revolves around their agenda

• Will shut down if (Triggers): You waste their time or threaten the vision

• They want us to know:

•     “I need you to respect my competence”

•     “Don’t judge me for being competitive”

•     “Can I be a part of solving the complex problem? Can I help begin to solve it?”

• They will make sacrifice if they believe the goal is worth it

• Most people simply judge them and write them off

• Like to work with the same people who they have had success before because there’s no drama and it takes less work to get to know them

• Seem as they are not for others, just for themselves

• Unconsciously incompetent - have no idea how others perceive them and that them being collaborative is received as negative

• Most people don’t like them

• Try very hard to show their competence

• When frustrated, they will communicate displeasure

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Immature Pioneers…

• Will use Grenade Launcher without any hesitation

• They can be detrimental to the team and process

• They are often seen as arrogant, insensitive and not caring

• One-track mind…if you’re in the flow, life is good

• “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re in the way

• Vision trumps people / makes them appear out of touch with people

• Tend to critique too quickly and with confidence.

• Every conversation can lead to a competitive confrontation.

• Tends to “Shoot”, then ask questions.

 

Strategies…

• Willing to replace themselves if they believe enough in the vision

• Big picture is king

• Help them be considerate of others

• Be ready for a “Who says we can’t?” mindset

• They are alert to others who might challenge their competency

• They tend to be skeptical: “Do you have a proven track record?

• Encourage them to listen to all viewpoints

• Have thick skin and be ready for unexpected “explosion” of critique

• Be prepared to be dismissed if they aren’t confident in you

• Help them use their skills to be successful in something important to them

• Ask the Liberator questions

• Know them and adjust

• Help them to choose to lose

• They don’t have to win every battle to win the war, and they don’t have to say everything that comes to their mind

• Help them be responsive over resistant when being challenged (learned behavior) / otherwise people will avoid them and engage them less and less

• Teach them to receive challenge as feedback, not a personal attack

• Recognize their 2nd voice (voice combination) and how it impacts them (Pioneer-Connector, Pioneer-Guardian, etc…)

• Speak in specific terms when challenging (examples, specific incidents)

• Tell them, “I’m going to give you everything I can to help you ‘win,’ but I will have to challenge you and you cannot pull out the grenade launcher and blow me up.”

• Ask for help solving a complex problem

• They love to be intellectually engaged

• Encourage them to dream beyond where others stop

• Ask them, “How can we change the world?”

• Love big goals What we don’t see…

• Enjoy challenge of leadership

• Potential to achieve or destroy

• Consistently thinking

• Thrive on strategy

• Will spend hours thinking things through

• Have courage to make difficult decisions

• Delivering vision & personal needs

• Rational/logical thinkers

• Interprets silence as agreement

• Work is their primary identity

• Can think through every angle “We can save a lot of time if we all agree that I’m right.”

• Like self-starters who don’t need you to hold their hand

• Hard to hear all 5 voices

 

What they need to hear from us…

    “We respect you and all you know.”

    “Can you help us with this problem?”

    “How can we take this to the next level?” 

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How to Frustrate a Pioneer…

• Micro-manage them

• Limit their exposure to solving problems

• Limit resources (money, time, people)

 

Rules of Engagement...5th (last)

 

Weapons…Grenade Launcher 

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