4 Ways Leadership Development Experts Use Emergenetics to Build Future-Ready Training Programs

In our webinar, Recalibrating Leadership in the Age of AI-Human Collaboration, our Chief Learning Officer, Marie Unger, posed a question:

How are you using Emergenetics to strengthen your leadership development programs and prepare leaders for the future?

Our global panel of talent development specialists — Simone Robinson, Director, First Ascent Group; Cody Pfeiffer, Talent Development, Olsson; Annie Browning, Co-owner, Emergenetics International; K Krish, Director, MARG Business Transformation; and Raymond Thomas, Co-founder, Enible — responded, revealing how Emergenetics sets the foundations for future-ready leaders.

4 Leadership Applications of Emergenetics

1. To Build a Common Language Across an Organization

One theme that emerged centered around the power of using Emergenetics as a shared vernacular.

Simone Robinson, Director at First Ascent Group, captured its impact in saying, “Emergenetics provides a common, really positive language so that challenging issues could actually be discussed.” As leaders face greater volatility, grapple with uncertainty and manage employees with differing views and perspectives, having a framework that can take the scratchiness out of discussions is invaluable, especially when less than half of managers report proactively engaging in difficult conversations.

Cody Pfeiffer, whose organization has embedded Emergenetics for nearly 20 years, sees this play out every day. “It just facilitates this common language about how we think and how we behave. It gives us that shortcut to start talking about ourselves and our tendencies in a way that might otherwise feel a little uncomfortable.”

At Olsson, the language of Emergenetics is literally visible. Employees display their Profiles at their desks and on their intranet, creating an always-on culture of mutual understanding and an instant reminder to help people communicate in a way that connects with those they are leading.

2. To Center Every Program around Self-Awareness

All five panelists affirmed the importance of anchoring leadership development in self-awareness before anything else.

Simone described how First Ascent Group places Emergenetics at the start of their programs to help participants “appreciate their unique Thinking and Behavioral preferences.” That foundation, she noted, helps reduce the intent-impact gaps that so often arise when organizations navigate change.

Annie Browning, Co-owner of Emergenetics International, reinforced this idea, “It’s one thing to take an assessment. It’s another thing to have the Emergenetics experience that creates a shared culture and embraces that level of understanding for individuals and teams.”

For Raymond Thomas, Co-founder, Enible, this belief is foundational. Every new team member at his company receives an Emergenetics Profile upon joining. “We value the information so importantly,” Raymond explained, “that we want to see how that individual would work together eventually as a team.” In a landscape where true self-understanding is rare, organizations that prioritize personal awareness from the start will develop stronger leaders and gain a measurable competitive advantage.

3. To Expand Leaders’ Range Through Flexing

As Marie Unger, Emergenetics International CLO, put it: “It’s one thing to know yourself—but what are you going to do about it?”

Flexing is the intentional practice of stepping into less-preferred Thinking and Behavioral styles, allowing people to meet their employees where they’re at and motivate them in ways that resonate with the individual or team – not necessarily the leader.

In Raymond’s experience, flexing is closely tied to humility. “If I don’t cater to your preference, I may be sidetracking what’s really important to them, or what they can bring to the equation.” For many like Raymond, flexing is a powerful signal of respect and a performance driver.

Cody sees this come to life at Olsson as he shared, “Many of our employees are applying all their focus and all their talent on the work that’s right in front of them. [After our trainings, they] walk away with elevated self-awareness…the part I love the most is just the commitment to trying to flex for the benefit of their teammates and their clients.”

Research from McKinsey & Company reinforces the importance of adaptability, stating that leaders today must be “versatile” and able to expand their range to different situations. Flexing, in this sense, is not just a soft skill; it is a core leadership competency that inspires effective collaboration and better outcomes.

4. To Leverage Cognitive Diversity to Tackle Complex Challenges

Embracing differences in thought is a strategic asset that can reduce risk by up to 30%.

K Krish, Director, MARG Business Transformation, emphasized how Emergenetics can unlock the transformative potential of cognitive diversity: “[It is] a great experience for leadership teams as they embark on a change, because you want this team to be rock solid, very comfortable with themselves, very comfortable with how they parse the world around them, and then become the pivot around which the organization makes [its] shift.”

As Krish alluded to, embracing differing perspectives allows teams to navigate uncertainty with greater confidence and agility.

Simone reinforced this idea, highlighting how Emergenetics enables companies “to leverage the power of cognitive diversity so we can approach challenges from multiple lenses.” By intentionally inviting different thinking and behavioral styles into a conversation, leaders can tackle complex problems more creatively and strategically than homogenous teams typically can.

When executives and managers are aware of their own preferences and those of their colleagues, they unlock a cascade of advantages, including better decision-making, innovative collaboration and a team environment where every person feels valued.

The Bigger Picture

The most effective leadership development programs help participants understand who they are, how they relate to others and how to communicate through a shared language. Just as importantly, they equip leaders with the awareness and agility to flex their approach when it matters most.

As we navigate the complexities of the future of work, what will truly set exceptional managers and executives apart is their capacity to build people skills and use them to inspire, motivate and transform performance, and those are the very outcomes Emergenetics is built to support.

Discover how Emergenetics can strengthen your leadership development programs. Contact our team using the form below!

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