(Picture taken by Felix’s teacher in China.)
Have you ever wanted to understand your spouse better? They get moody or stressed and you don’t know why or how to help them? My best recommendation would be for you and your spouse to take the Birkman assessment. It’s helpful to have understanding of your spouse and you. It’s also beneficial to understand what causes negative reactions. The Birkman’s reports would help you recognize how to give your spouse the best environment for success. When you see your spouse stressing you can look to their report to see what is the solution to help them when things are not going according to plan. In a lab a person’s strengths could be exercised to the most, but in real life where variables can’t be controlled, life throws curve balls. The Birkman’s report is helpful for understanding what is internally happening with your spouse.
Our Families Action Plan
For Denny and I our reports helped us look at the positive attributes we bring to our family. It helps us distribute what needs to be accomplished and to know what burdens to share to be the most effective in our world.
3 Sections of the Birkman’s Report:
1) Life Style Grid
It tells your spouse what you need from them and others to be most effective. Below is an example of one page from this section from my report.
2) Areas of Interest
This section highlights what skills and interests you bring to the relationship.
For example I scored really low on Mechanical and Denny scored higher. Hence, it would be stressful and difficult for me, even if I would like to be helpful in putting a doorbell on our home since that is not my area of expertise.
3) Strengths and Needs
The areas they discuss:
-One-on-One Relationships (Need for Esteem)
-Social Relationships (Need for Acceptance)
-Organizing (Need for Structure)
-Authority Relationships (Need for Authority)
-Idealism and Realism (Need for Advantage)
-Reflection and Action (Need for Activity)
-Your View of Yourself (Need for Challenge)
-Dealing with Emotions (Need for Empathy)
-Dealing with Change (Need for Change)
-Independance (Need for Freedom)
-Making Decisions (Need for Thought)
This section of the Birkman’s is my favorite because it highlights your strengths, what you need from others and how you react to stress when those needs aren’t met. The page I gave an example of below would have been helpful for my husband and I knowing about each other during our first real vacation. I like to plan a lot of activities and he is on the other spectrum. We learned a lot about each other in this area on our East Asia backpacking trip.
The Birkman’s assessment is not only beneficial to use with your spouse but also in your other relationships with people inside and outside of work. To take the Birkman you would need to contact them HERE.
What other assessments would you recommend for spouses to take to get to know each other better?
10,000 Smiles
10,000 Smiles is a photography project that I am doing for the year 2013. Read more about why I am doing this project. You can vote for the picture that makes you smile by listing the number of the picture in the comment box at the end of the post.
These women are so beautiful and make me smile!
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