SPEAKERS
Catherine Mattiske, Carl Richards
Carl Richards 00:04
Welcome to the Genius Zone. This podcast is all about how to unlock your Inner Genius. From tapping into your inner knowledge and creativity to learning new skills and techniques. Please welcome your host of the Genius Zone and creator of the Inner Genius Profile, Catherine Mattiske. This podcast episode is taken from a previous live event.
Welcome to today's interview with Catherine Mattiske. Catherine is a senior leader and world renowned expert in transforming organizational cultures through innovative leadership, and learning strategies. She's developed powerful techniques for unlocking teams' Inner Genius and motivating employees who reach their full potential. Today, Catherine will be sharing her story of transcending the status quo and providing us with valuable insights on how to be an effective leader. Catherine has written The Effective Leader and is the author of Unlock Inner Genius. And in her books, Catherine offers strategies and techniques to help individuals reach their highest potential, while inspiring others around them. We're very excited to have her here. We're excited to have you here as well. So please join me in welcoming Catherine Mattiske. Welcome, Catherine.
Catherine Mattiske 01:14
That is for everyone listening, I have two computers and a cell phone and I went through all three, three times. So there you go. I'm here. Hello, everyone. Welcome to this Audio Room.
Carl Richards 01:17
You've written 31 books. What inspired you to write these two specifically; The Effective Leader and Unlock Inner Genius.
Catherine Mattiske 01:36
So I wanted to write about the importance of leadership and how it can be used for both personal and professional growth. And with The Effective Leader, I sought to provide a really comprehensive guide, a how-to, to becoming an effective leader and maximizing someone's potential.
With Unlock Inner Genius, which is my latest book, I wanted to explore the power of how people can tap into their Inner Genius and become successful. And by providing both books really as not only advice, but also exercises, I hope to empower readers to unlock their own personal power and use it for positive change in their life. Because my goal is always been to inspire people to learn more about themselves, and how they can make the most of their talents. And Carl, as you know, I'm passionate about helping other people reach success. And I believe everyone has the potential to do so. And so, I've been doing this for a very long time. And I'm really honored to have been able to support others in their journey of growth and their success. And through my consulting practice, and also to a wider audience through my books.
Carl Richards 02:49
Well fantastic and Catherine, we certainly love the work that you do, what led you to develop innovative strategies for leadership?
Catherine Mattiske 02:55
Oh, sure, I saw the need in (the) business world for more effective and creative methods of leading teams. And as myself, as a senior leader, as a business owner, I personally experienced the struggles that come with driving change, because I'm all about change. You know, for me, when things are calm, I create chaos to make change. That's what I do. And so driving change within an organization from dealing with resistance or managing risk to motivating employees, inspiring innovation, getting people towards the business goals that I have and sharing that with the team.
So I began to research and really experiment with different techniques for optimizing team performance and organizational success. And I looked at leaders who I worked with, clients and said, "what are they doing really well? And how can other people learn from them? And then what are they doing that really they shouldn't be doing? Because it's pretty rubbish." And so, through that process, I was able to develop some really effective strategies that enabled senior leaders or new managers to make meaningful changes in their organization and be liked by their team, you know, and to get that unity in their organization.
Carl Richards 04:05
And you certainly, you know, see good examples, as you said of leadership, and some not so good examples, so thank you for the work that you do. I want to move on to the Inner Genius and the Genius Quotient what inspired you to create Inner Genius and GQ, Genius Quotient.
Catherine Mattiske 04:20
So throughout my journey, I realized that one of the most effective methods for driving organizational change was to unlock every member in the teams' Inner Genius. And the question that I wanted to answer, which has actually taken me a long time to answer this question is "how can we get every employee into their Genius Zone?" Now that's the place where they do their best work, and they're truly engaged. That question took me 30 years to work out.
Carl Richards 04:51
Wow.
Catherine Mattiske 04:51
So I've now worked that out. It's just taken me 30 years to actually get to that end point. And by focusing on individual strengths and people's talents and their passions, leaders of- whether they're senior, or they're new manager, can motivate their employees to break down barriers to growth. So the first question I wanted to answer was well, now that I've worked out that people do their best work in their Genius Zone, which is all around their learning, and science and communication. When I thought, "well, how do people know what their Genius Zone is?" So these are basic questions. "How do I know what my Inner Genius is? How do I know what my Genius Zone is?" So I created the Inner Genius Profile, and then a series of training programs. And I then coined the term GQ: the Genius Quotient, to help leaders identify and activate their teams Inner Genius.
So historically, we've had IQ, back in the early 1900s. And that's your classical intelligence. In the 1980s came along EQ, the emotional intelligence. So I then said, "well, is that enough?" And my answer to that, based on a whole lot of science was "no, that's not enough." So I created GQ: The Genius Quotient, and the Inner Genius Profile, and the GQ programs are designed to provide concrete tools and techniques for really leveraging each person's unique talents and passions, as well as strategies that create an environment for open communication and collaboration. And when all that happens, it fosters innovation and team growth. And all of a sudden, leaders are getting their goals met. And they're stretching those goals, and the team comes with them. Because everybody's working in that Genius Zone in that collective Genius Zone.
Carl Richards 06:45
Wow there's a lot to unpack there. So, for those people who are new to Inner Genius, how someone find out their Inner Genius and get into their Genius Zone.
Catherine Mattiske 06:53
So step one is to identify your Inner Genius Archetype. And what that is, is when you do the Inner Genius Profile, the result comes up and you get identified as one of 12 Archetypes. Now, there's actually 72 different results, which is another another level of complexity. But your Archetype identifies your unique combination of talents and strengths, and gets you into your Genius Zone. So when you know your Inner Genius Archetype, it helps you assess where you have the greatest potential of growth and development. And once you've identified your Archetype, you can use the Inner Genius tools that come with the Profiles, so there's a whole toolkit that comes with the Profile, and explore each of those components of your Genius Zone in detail.
From there, you can develop strategies for leveraging those strengths and passions to achieve success. So I don't talk about people's weaknesses. I think when you do a profile, and it says "okay, here's your strengths, and here's all your areas for development." People go "areas for development? That means I need to change." I said, "that's too hard!" So why would I create a profile that expects people to change, there is no expectation for people to change, because within each person, there is this Inner Genius and this Genius Zone. And if you can get into that Genius Zone, then all you need to do is amplify your strengths, amplify what you're already good at, and then you're away. And okay, we've all got things that we need to work on. But the focus of the Inner Genius Profile for leaders especially is if I can get all of my team into that Genius Zone, then together, they become really unstoppable.
Carl Richards 07:22
So Catherine, let me ask you this; how is the Inner Genius Profile different to say DiSC, Myers Briggs, Insights, all those other ones that we've come to know over the years?
Catherine Mattiske 08:51
Yeah, so they all have a purpose. And each of the Profiles out there on the market, you know, Myers Briggs came out in 1906 I think? Something like that. DiSC came out in the 1960s. Insights is a rewrapping of DiSC, and so on and so forth. And I wrote an article and published it on LinkedIn and it's in the GQ Academy, on all the different profiles on the market. So you can choose the one that's best for you. If we come back to the science around it, for those of you that are listening, if you know that Carl Jung Iceberg Model. He described a people's behavior in regard to the iceberg. So above the waterline of the iceberg is observable behaviors. That's what we can all see of each other. And below the waterline of the iceberg is the unconscious values, drivers, all of their beliefs, things that people can't see.
So if we look at DiSC, for example, I taught DiSC for years and years and years and- a certified trainer in DiSC, that's all about observable behavior. So all it is about is what's above the waterline. Myers Briggs is below. It's talking about what drives that behavior. And so each of the Profiles are either one or the other. And I went, "well, why can't we do both?" So I said, "alright, if we think of a person as the iceberg, then how you communicate, your natural communication language, how you learn how you process information that comes to you, is all below the surface of the waterline." No one can see that. How your brain works, how it takes in information and how it processes, nobody's gonna see that. And most people don't even know that about themselves.
So I said, "well, what about if we open that up? What about if we told people and people could work out what their preference is?" That's below the waterline. And then above the waterline is how you communicate. How you bridge communication gaps with other people, that's getting into your Genius Zone? How do you then operate in the world, really amplifying those strengths? That's your communication language with other people. And then I said, "well, hang on, I can't just be one little iceberg in the ocean by myself. How do I then deal with other Icebergs?" So, how do I bridge those communication gaps with people that are different to me? Icebergs, people that are different to me. How do I, if I'm a leader, lead a group of Icebergs who are all really different? And that's what the Inner Genius Profile does.
So, it's looking at the person as a whole, and saying, "what's going on underneath the surface, what we don't see?" How people take in information, how they naturally connect with information, how they process information. And then above the surface of the waterline how do they show up in the world, how do they communicate? And then how do we deal with each other, as we're all floating around as Icebergs, as Carl Jung put it.
Carl Richards 08:54
The Inner Genius Profile, it's a learning and communication profile. Catherine, what's the science of learning behind it?
Catherine Mattiske 12:00
So I mentioned about the cognitive psychology, which is the Carl Jung piece, I have spent a lifetime in a very geeky world of neuroscience, personality theory, organizational behavior, and most of my life has been trying unravel learning science. And that's where my level of expertise is. So Inner Genius, in the Profile, it uses a combination of really cutting edge algorithms that identify people's learning and communication preferences, and those underlying motivators that I just talked about. And that helps to create a really more productive work environment and higher rates of meaningful engagement.
Carl Richards 12:46
Catherine, how can the Inner Genius Profile help organizations improve their effectiveness?
Catherine Mattiske 12:52
So for organizations, I think one of the things that we are all trying to do is to really understand employees strengths, and allow them as teams to create an environment of learning, of growth, of collaboration, ultimately success. So the Profile helps you as a leader to identify how people prefer to learn and communicate. If you've never even thought about that it's just like, "do people have preferences?" Yes! We all have preferences, and those underlying motivators, we can use those to create teams that number one work efficiently together. You know, like, how many times do we have teams that are not working well together, or teams working with teams who are at friction? So we're looking for that frictionless communication, that's the aim here. And the Profile helps people to get rid of that friction.
It also helps teams to learn faster. So if you're going through a change in your organization, and there's a lot of things to take on, you want that rate of learning to increase. Now, if people know their preference of how they learn, they can use that preference to learn faster, they can also use it most importantly, to communicate more effectively with one another and use it in a team where people are motivated to achieve their goals. Because I know with my team, we know each other's Inner Genius Profile, we talk about it, we laugh about it, we divide projects up based on people's Genius Zone, like Carl, do not give me anything with detail in it; because I am not the person for that. Give me something that I can really think about and create a vision, create a strategy, create ideas, all of that. I'm the person for that, but don't give me details. So there's people in my team that are exactly the opposite to me, and I don't even understand how they could love the detail but they do. They love the mechanics. They love all of that, but it's just not for me. So what we do is in our team is we make sure that the right people are in their Genius Zone at the right time, so that everyone is operating in their Genius Zone for most, if not all of the time. Because as soon as you get out of your Genius Zone, and then you start to get that friction in communication, you start to get that lethargy, you start to get people going, I really don't like my job. And they're all of a sudden on LinkedIn, on the jobs boards, they're out with consultants, they're doing their resumes, and you lose them. So effectiveness comes back to, when you ask the question, Carl, about how is it improving their effectiveness? Again, it's about getting them into that Genius Zone.
Carl Richards 15:43
So what are some of the benefits then Catherine, that companies gain from implementing the Inner Genius Profile.
Catherine Mattiske 15:49
So first, as I said, it's really about what's underneath that surface level of that iceberg. And that's how people learn. So, when you can identify, and people can identify it within themselves, how they can learn faster. It means that when change happens, they respond quicker. It unlocks those communication preferences and it gets that environment where everyone's working more efficiently. And secondly, we provide not only the Profile, but tailored learning experiences, and customized training programs, which result in a way better understanding of the Profile, people's results, their Archetype, a higher engagement, and then improved results. So for example, if a sales team does the Inner Genius Profile; they sell more, because they connect to customers, and they provide better customer experiences. If a learning and development team does their Inner Genius Profile; their training programs are more effective, because they're communicating better to everybody, not just people like them, but everyone. And people on their training programs implement what they learn. Fabulous. No waste of money in learning and development anymore. If an executive team does their profile; they communicate in a way that is way more engaging, way more impactful, and they're way more influential. So that's all about those tailored learning experiences for each type of team within an organization.
I think the third thing is that it really helps companies to get a deeper insight into those strengths of their employees so that they can provide that meaningful communication, coaching becomes a lot easier, recognition becomes a lot easier. Because you know, there's a lot of talk about recognition programs. And so, some people will be attracted to some recognition to other types. And so if you know that, then you can really know which button to press on people where that recognition really connects to that individual. And everyone then is working in their Genius Zone. So it's all about learning. It's all about growth. It's all about collaboration. It's all around progressive communication and by progressive communication, I really mean frictionless communication and getting your goals. Because at the end of the day, we set these goals for an organization, we want people to achieve it. We want to unite the team to achieve those goals.
And really secretly, I say to people, "okay, that's the goal. What's your secret goal?" I ask every leader this, you know, you've written down your goals for the year, you've got the projects going, and teams going, what's your secret goal? What do you really want? And their secret goal is always like 10 times as big as their written goals. And I say to them, "how come your secret goals are your secret? Like, why is that the case? Why aren't you having them as the goals?" And they always say, "because I don't think my teams are ready for it." Well, why not? Let's make that happen. Let's get people operating in those Genius Zones, so that some of those secret goals can come to fruition.
Carl Richards 18:57
Wow, that's a great answer and I like how you mentioned that about the goals. Personally, I set stretch goals as well, but I never tell anybody what the stretch goal is. So I'm-
Catherine Mattiske 19:07
There you go!
Carl Richards 19:07
There you go! Inner Genius is a learning and communication profile. Now, you mentioned communication. Why is this pivotal to success?
Catherine Mattiske 19:14
If you look at every problem in an organization, and if I ask you or you ask yourself as the leader of that organization, you know that old fashioned "five why's", The Five Why's Technique?" Why is this happening? Why is that happening? Why is that happening? It generally comes back to communication. It is the root cause of not only success, but also challenges as well. So effective communication is the number one thing that's essential for creating a culture of learning and growth. In other words, getting to your goals.
Communication helps to ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards that common goal. Now, we all know that, right? That's textbook. But here's the deal. If you've got a team and it might be five people, it might be 50 people, it might be 500 people, 5000 people, 500,000 people, or 5 million people. And I work with organizations, you know, in all sizes up to that state. And each team, as soon as you realize that each team has team members with different Archetypes, there's a massive light bulb that goes on because different Archetypes use different languages. So talking to people in their way, not in your way, but in their Archetype Language is the key. Let me give you an analogy for this. Imagine, Carl, that we're all talking right now. And that Carl, you're in Canada, so you can't speak English, all of a sudden, you can only speak French. And Mel is in Cyprus, but she can't speak English anymore, all she can speak is Greek. And all of a sudden, I can't speak English, I can only speak Mandarin Chinese. So the three of us can talk incessantly at each other. And I might pick up Carl, when you say baguette or croissant, they're my two words that I know in French, there you go. But unless you use those two words, it's just French to me. And unless Mel, you know, starts talking about something that I know about Greek food, I'm just lost. And so for me speaking in Mandarin Chinese, Well, you know, the three of us are lost. And that's exactly the same way, when you have three people with different Archetypes. Each of the 12 Archetypes has a different natural communication language.
Now, when that's revealed in people's profiles, they always say to me, "holy moly, I do use those words, I didn't even know that I use those words." So if you're The Catalyst, you're using words like advantage or asset or belief. If you're The Valedictorian, you're not using those words, you're using words like blueprint and concrete, and define and list. And if you're The Cartographer, you're using words like actionable and plans and develop. And if you're like me, The Futurist, you're talking about vision, and dreaming up and brainstorm. Now, if you're listening to this, you go, "okay, they're just words come on." But when you uncover your Archetype, the light bulb goes off and go, "oh, so if I'm speaking a different language, I have to learn that language." So if I'm speaking Mandarin Chinese, I have to learn how to speak French to speak to you, Carl, or I have to learn to speak Greek to speak to Mel. And so when we put that into the Archetype Language, if I'm The Futurist, I have to learn to speak the language of who I'm speaking to.
Now, all of a sudden, this sounds hard. And it is. So when I did the Profile, I created the Profile, and went "done, Fabulous!" Incredibly complex algorithm, mapped it all out on this Miro Board, huge, gave it to the developers and said, "code this!" And they just looked at it and went, you got to be kidding. And I went, "and I want that profile taken in about 10 minutes." I don't want to tie people up for half an hour asking 100 questions like old fashioned profiles. And they just looked at me with these glazed eyes. And I said, "go and do it." And they did it. Right. There's an amazing algorithm behind this and the very sophisticated computer coding to get this outcome. And then you get your Archetype. And then I said, "I'm done. I'm done." Write the book. I'm done. And then my husband turned around to me, who's the Archetype of The Mason, which is all about practicalities. All about doing all about how does it work? You know, let's get down and do it. And he said, "so how do I do this?" And I said, "well, you just learned the Archetype language." He said, "how do I do that?" He said, "what about if I'm talking to a group? How do I do that?" And I went, "oh, so I'm not really done. Am I?" And he said, "No, you're not done."
So, I then had to create all the tools. How do people do this without even thinking about it? So I had to make it easy for people. How can they translate from their Archetype Language to someone else's? And how can they talk to groups? If you've got a team, maybe you're doing a leadership presentation to your whole organization? How do you speak to all 12 Archetypes at once? So I created all the tools to do that. And that's really easy. Follow the dots, colour by numbers, off we go, and you've got the solution.
Carl Richards 24:40
Wow, phenomenal and obviously a lot of work going into that. It's funny you mentioned The Valedictorian. I use the word blueprint on a very regular basis. So thank you for providing me with one of my words.
Catherine Mattiske 24:53
That's your words, not mine Carl. It's yours.
Carl Richards 24:55
It's one of them. It's one of them. Okay, the key for transforming the status quo. Could you provide us Catherine, with some insights into how you use communication to drive learning and growth.
Catherine Mattiske 25:05
Yeah, absolutely. You know, as I said before, communication is absolutely essential for creating that culture of learning and growth. And it's really the driver that facilitates understanding, collaboration, problem solving, and innovation. And to ensure effective communication within an organization, it's important to create channels for open dialogue; regular check-ins with teams, creating opportunities for feedback. And that helps ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards that common goal. It also allows teams to share ideas to ask questions, and really to provide that meaningful input.
Carl Richards 25:46
Let's talk about key communication strategies to foster team synergy, Catherine. Could you share some of the key communication methods that are essential to fostering that team synergy?
Catherine Mattiske 25:56
It's a word that I think is really bandied around. And yet, how do you really do that? As a leader, there's some key communication methods that are really essential for fostering that team synergy. So one of them is active listening. You know, and when people in your team are talking, to really be absolutely present. And I go to so many meetings where the team leader, the manager, the senior leader, the executive is on a device during a meeting, not listening at all, and sort of listening, hearing but not actively listening. And by stopping and being absolutely 100% focused on listening to people is absolutely key.
Encouraging that open dialogue; noticing who's talking, but more importantly, who's not because often those people who are silent in meetings, have the best ideas, and really fostering mutual respect for everybody. And every conversation, whether it's an email, whether it's a presentation, whether it's a one on one conversation is an opportunity to build these connections, which really are the foundation building blocks to high performing teams. It's so, how do I do that? Then the question is; how do I do that if my whole team or my whole organization has different Archetypes and different Inner Genius Profiles, and they've got all these different languages? So you're one person. And I call it Going Incognito as the communicator as the leader. So if you want to maximize the potential of your team use the Inner Genius Wheel, which I developed to plan your communication.
Now, what the Inner Genius Wheel does is it allows you to communicate with all 12 Archetypes in the one communication, not just your own. So for me in my Archetype, which is called The Futurist, I am very happy to talk all day, every day about the vision, about how we can come up with dreaming up ideas, how we can create value, and all of- so on. But I'm really only bringing into that conversation, people who are like me; who are either The Futurist themselves or close to The Futurist in their profile. What I'm not doing is really talking to people who are all about the details. They don't really care about my vision. They get the vision, they go "right, how do we do it? What are the steps, where's my Gantt Chart, where's the Project Plan?" All of that detail stuff, and that's not me. So the Inner Genius Wheel helps me and other people to plan out that communication so that you can map your communication out, whether it's an email, whether it's a meeting, whether it's a conversation, whether it's a presentation, if you're working with two or more people use the Inner Genius Wheel. And what happens is you get these really amazing results, because what's happening now is you're going Incognito and using the language of all 12 Archetypes when you're communicating with them. Therefore, you're connecting with each person, you're meeting them where they are, and you're taking them where they need to go and you're connecting on a deeper level.
You're also creating an environment of trust and cooperation, because they hear your words and they say, "wow, Catherine's just like me." And I may be or I may not be. But because I'm using that in the Genius Wheel, and I'm using the language of all 12 Archetypes, if feels like I'm talking to them, and it helps make team conversations easier. It helps them be more effective. It results in much stronger relationships and a much nicer workplace, and on the back end of it; better increase in performance. So that's all about, you know, Going Incognito. But at the end of the day, I say to all leaders, "keep your communication clear and concise." Like stop rabbiting on, you know, you may be absolutely enamored with everything that you're saying. But just make sure everyone's on the same page and ensure that nothing is getting lost in translations. So, it's all about making every team member feel respected, valued and appreciated, even if you've got 100,000 people in your organization, and you're talking to them.
So with communication teams, remember that they are probably writing in their natural language. And so within that, it's really dangerous. Because if you think about the person in your comms team that's writing on your behalf, they're writing in their Inner Genius Archetype language, and it may be different to yours. And so, the danger then, is it doesn't sound like your communication, number one. And also, you're then only communicating with people who are like your comms person. So that comms person needs to really get very skilled in tools like the Inner Genius wheel, so that they're Going Incognito and communicating with all 12 Archetypes at once. It's so essential. So, I think the first thing to do is to go on to either our website, they can- which is thegeniusquotient.com. Right now, it's free to join the GQ Academy. And so it's Academy.thegeniusquotient.com They can get more information there. So the Profile is on both of those places, the programs, all of the programs are listed there. You can also join the LinkedIn group, which is the Genius Zone. I publish to LinkedIn each week on the GQ Playbook Newsletter. So if you haven't subscribed to that, subscribe to that. And also just go to my LinkedIn profile, send me a message and I'll help you out.
So I think the first thing is join the LinkedIn group; the Genius Zone, we publish that all the time. It's a really collaborative space. It gives you access to other professionals from lots of different industries, who are more than willing to provide advice and insight, all the articles and blogs that I write or press publications about me or Inner Genius are posted in that group. It's a great place for getting resources. It's a great place for networking and career developments. I'd do that as the first thing. Look that up in LinkedIn. Or we can give you the link to that. That's the Genius Zone. Check out the GQ playbook newsletter, the two websites that I mentioned thegeniusquotient.com. And right now for a while, it's free to join GQ Academy or just send me a message on LinkedIn and say, "hey, Catherine, I'm really interested in putting this into my organization or talking to you." And just book a coffee chat with me and I'll show up on a Zoom call and let's talk.
Carl Richards 32:45
Catherine, thank you so much for all of your insights, all of your hard work. Thanks so much, everybody, for joining us today, and we'll see you next week. Thanks for listening to the Genius Zone. If you like what you heard today, leave us a comment or review. Make sure to subscribe to our channel and don't forget to follow Catherine on social media. Be sure to join us again soon in the Genius Zone.