You love your job, but everywhere you turn you’re confronted by systems, processes and traditional ways of doing things that just don’t work anymore.
And it’s sapping your will to live – or, at least, to enjoy your work the way you used to.
So what do you do? Well, if you’re a corporate rebel, you’ll have no apprehension about ripping up the old ways and parachuting in something that just, well, works. We should all feel entitled to provoke alternatives and find ways to make our working lives easier, if not a downright breeze.
I think we all have a little bit of that piratical, entrepreneurial spirit in us. And no matter whether you lead with Fiery Red, Sunshine Yellow, Earth Green or Cool Blue energy, you can absolutely become a corporate rebel and a hero to your team members struggling with just the same issues that you are. It’s just a matter of your approach.
If any colour energy embodies that reforming spirit, it’s Fiery Red, right? Well, I believe it’s in everyone, to some degree, but yes, it will likely show up pretty strongly in someone who leads with this energy.
The Fiery Red Rebel might suffer in silence at first, willing to ignore what’s wrong in order to get business done. But sooner or later, they are going to reach the end of their tether and something is going to give! The advantage of a Fiery Red Rebel is that they won’t put up with laborious or outdated systems for long. But the disadvantage is that they just might jump headlong into a solution, without giving due consideration to all the possibilities, or to what others in the team think might work. The tendency to hastily make a decision, and pull on the blinkers when other alternatives are suggested should not be overlooked.
Fiery Red rebels need to be aware of the importance of bringing people along with them. Help other see the need for change, get their input on what the best solution is, make sure all the key stakeholders are bought in and then dial up that Fiery Red energy to get it done.
Ahh, the Sunshine Yellow Rebel. A delightful mixture of possibilities, blue sky thinking and just a dash of crazy inventor. It’s the Sunshine Yellow ability to keep 100 balls in the air at a time, mixed with their natural optimism, that means they will be breezily unaffected by difficult processes for a while. But it’s exactly those processes that will bring those balls crashing down to earth eventually, and Sunshine Yellow energy does not like its’ enthusiasm dampened by grim reality.
A Sunshine Yellow rebel will want to talk about whatever is bringing them down – a lot. They’ll tell you about the problem, and how they think it can be fixed. But they really want everyone to be in on the solution, because they instinctively know that a happy team is a productive team. On the other hand, the Sunshine Yellow rebel is apt to let their natural enthusiasm run away with them. Not only are they tackling the problem at hand, they get carried away with their own creative ideas and can end up trying to bring about world peace. Sticking to the task at hand is difficult for those of a Sunshine Yellow nature, but being super-focused allows them to bring all of their creative flair to bear on one problem, rather than many.
You may think there’s no such thing as an Earth Green cultural rebel, but what is it they always say? It’s the quiet ones you have to watch the most.
Earth Green rebellion foments because people with this dominant colour energy will quietly keep working until their saintly patience hits a brick wall, and then watch out! Earth Green energy can be stubborn, pedantic and unwilling to favour efficiency over what’s best for all parties involved.
On the positive side, any solution they devise will have people at its heart. Often thoughtful and slow to change, they will make sure that anything implemented is right for them, right for the team, and acceptable to all parties involved. Earth Green rebels should be aware of the possibility of becoming stubbornly attached to one solution, though, and being stressed by late or unconventional changes to the plan. Try to stay open to suggestions, and the end result will deliver the greatest satisfaction to the greatest number of people.
The Cool Blue Rebel can be a major force for change, because the evidence they gather will make it a difficult issue to ignore or minimise.
For starters, they won’t just bring a problem to the table. First they’ll put together a watertight argument for why improvements need to be made; the costs, the risks, the benefits to come. They’ll get everyone on board with their unassailable logic. They will have spent time quietly researching possible solutions, doing painstaking analysis and weighing the risks and benefits of each potential fix.
Only then will they raise the issue, but cushion the blow of change with their unmatched knowledge of the range of possible improvements. And that’s fantastic – however, in the time they have spent researching, fact-checking and delivering unbiased reports, it’s possible that someone of a less meticulous nature could have come along and implemented a fast change, making the more considered opinion a moot point.
As we focus on planning for the New Year, we should all take the time to make sure we’re focusing our efforts on the things that will bring us the most success. Whilst maximising the advantages that your dominant colour energy gives you will take you far, working as a team will inevitably give you a much more rounded and suitable solution. So as we move into 2016, let’s celebrate cultural rebels and champion the change we can instigate – together.
