Advantage Reversal
By: Amy Shepley Hilliard
The Advantage reversal has the distinction of being one of the more rare reversals and when you consider the Advantage construct and what it is actually measuring, it is not difficult to see why. If you could see the questions that load on to the Advantage component (you can’t but I can) you would see they have a strong leaning towards winning, money, tangibles and getting ahead. As a society, we are very much conditioned to say these things are not important to us; especially not more important than people and relationships. High Advantage people thrive on winning and getting ahead. And this perspective helps them to see opportunities for themselves, other people and organizations. But before I get ahead of myself, let’s start with the basics. What is an Advantage reversal and how does it play out?
The Advantage Reversal Examples: U/N/S
The Advantage construct measures how a person prefers to be incentivized. Individual’s with high scores are competitive and like to win. Those with low scores value long terms rewards and prefer to work together towards a common goal instead of in a competitive situation. In the case of an Advantage reversal, we have a person who sees and describes themselves as a competitive person who likes to get ahead. They see this characteristic as being distinct about themselves and different from the rest of the population. We know this because when we ask them to describe Most People they describe them as being more idealistic, less competitive and less concerned about winning. And we know in Birkman, how we see Most People becomes our underlying Needs; that is, what we need to be comfortable, at ease and productive.
A person with an Advantage reversal will thrive in an environment where they can be the competitive person who wheels and deals and see opportunities where others see none. However, they expect other people to be less so to the extent that other high Advantage people will likely make them feel uneasy or uncomfortable. We know this by the individual’s Need score which is derived from how the person described other people. The surprise in this case is that despite this person having a competitive, opportunistic style, he prefers to work with people who are more idealistic and less focused on winning. Interactions with other high Advantage people put him on alert and make him feel like he has to be looking out for himself or that he will be taken advantage of. Under stress he becomes a more exaggerated (negative) version of his Usual self.
This, of course, will come as a surprise to people around him. We see his competitive nature and falsely believe he will respond to an equally competitive style. Of course, our instincts lead us down the wrong path. And faulty assumption is only corrected through trial and error or by our Advantage reversal friend telling us what he needs. “This may surprise you but I am actually most effective when I work in colaboritive environments where we are all working towards the same goal. Competitive, cut-throat situations tend to put me into stress and I can find myself becoming more aggressive.Do you have a reversal on Advantage reversal? Have you had an “a-ha” moment with a client? I would love to hear about your experiences. Jump over to LinkedIn and let’s continue our conversation on reversals.