From the XP-I to People Patterns

Where is the Executive Pastor Indicator?

The Executive Pastor Indicator (XP-I) is a terrific tool and was taken by over 2,600 church leaders! Executive Pastors, Senior Pastors, Board Members, Pastoral staff members and other church leaders took the XP-I. People gained valuable insights about themselves and their jobs through the XP-I. Now, the data from the XP-I has launched a new Indicator, People Patterns.

The XP-I measured leaders in their five roles in the church. People Patterns measures people's giftedness and propensity of five functions. Anyone inside or outside the church can use People Patterns. Thus, you can now use People Patterns instead of the XP-I.

Based on the XP-I, a spiritual inventory of over 2,600 church leaders, People Patterns gives insight into how we think and relate to others. Sunlight and Shadow form our People Pattern. A new Indicator has been developed, along with a new website, 5macro.com. The book on People Patternswill be published in spring 2011.

Introduction to People Patterns

Sunlight and Shadow

Rembrandt, Self Portrait in 1618
Light and Shadow bring depth to this painting.

We all have Sunlight and Shadow in our lives. Artists and great authors have painted pictures with oils and words to show the light and dark in human relationships. Rembrandt van Rijn, the great Dutch artist, often painted using a strong light source, creating deep shadows on his subject. As a young man in 1628, Rembrandt painted a self-portrait. The unseen light source comes over his shoulder and falls upon his right cheek. Three quarters of his face is in deep shadow, with half of his mouth and moustache showing. Hiding in the mystery of shadow, both of his eyes are barely visible.

Some of the uniqueness that is you is easy to see. Another part of you is much harder to understand. If we make light and shadow into a metaphor, we can better understand what is easy and challenging to see about ourselves. Consider that as sunlight falls on you others can easily see who you are. In deep shadows, it is far harder to see others. In the same way, we reflect our personality to others in the sunlight. In the sunlight we show our strengths for all to see. The parts of us that are much harder to see are in shadows. Our Shadow contains our weaknesses and limitations, things that are awkward or harder for us to do. In the bright sunlight we see our strengths and in the shadows we see our limitations. Sunlight and Shadow form the People Pattern.

Sunlight and Shadow Form our People Pattern

Eugène Delacroix, Head of a Woman.
As in art, the combination of
Sunlight and Shadow is our People Pattern.

Strong shadows are created on blue-sky days.  When the sun shines bright in the prairie states, it is called a blue-sky day.  In the summer, the sun burns long and hot, sending out a searing light.  This creates deep shadows in the canyons and under Live Oak trees.  Using the metaphor, people have strong Sunlight in their life in the form of gifts and abilities.  People have Shadows in the form of their limitations and struggles.  In this Shadow lies a valued part of our personality.  The Shadow is as much of who we are as the gifts seen in the Sunlight.  Often, people keep the Shadow to themselves because it is less developed.  It is less developed than the strengths that appear in the Sunlight.  Using our Shadow is more awkward than using our Sunlight.  Our Shadow is harder for us to understand. Our Shadow is more the awkward and less developed part of our being.  All people have these dual aspects, the public world of Sunlight and the private world of Shadow.

The combination of the Sunlight and Shadow of our being is our People Pattern.  Our personality, our being, contains both strengths and limitations.  We respond to others with this People Pattern and we think about ourselves through this same Pattern. In most instances we respond to others with our Sunlight, using our strong gifts and abilities to interact.  In some occasions, we respond with our Shadow, responding poorly out of our limited abilities.

John Singer Sargent, Man Reading.
Only the elbow and book are in the sunlight.
The man is in the shadow, enjoying the afternoon.

The Sunlight is apparent to all who are around us.  People compliment us and notice what we do well. From interaction with others and self-reflection, it is relatively easy to know our strengths.  As a matter of fact, we often take our strengths, our Sunlight, for granted.  We live with our Sunlight at all times and often consider that others should be able to do what we easily do.  In the physical world, other people can see our shadow.  So people have a sense of our limitations, our Shadows.  Since our Shadows are cloaked in darkness, others may not see our limitations well.  Others may not be able to understand all that is in our Shadow, but they know that it is there.  Many times we muse on our limitations.  We see our Shadow and know that it represents the things that we do less well.  Although we may try to hide or cover up our Shadow, it is always there. In our beings, there will always be Sunlight and Shadow, a People Pattern.

Great Art & Literature
Illustrate the People Patterns

Mary Cassatt, At the Opera.
We observe others and are observed
in our Life Interaction.

Our strengths are visible in the Sunlight and in the Shadows lie our limitations.  Grace Paleg says: The presence of the dark gives the light its quality. Our eyes naturally appreciate the areas of light, but we can only do this by acknowledging the darks. She helps us understand that the shadow is what gives meaning to the sunlight.  We understand our strengths because there are other areas where we have limitations.  Winston Churchill comments about the hero and his shiny medal.  That medal casts a shadow, meaning that heroes are courageous in the Sunlight but also they have areas of limitations, Shadows. 

People Patterns can be challenging to discern.   In the physical world we use a mirror to perceive how our faces appear in the sunlight.  On our own, we really don’t know what we look like!  Social interaction and self-reflection will help some people understand their strengths and limitations.  To more easily understand our People Patterns, a mirror has been developed with the online Indicator.

We all have a People Pattern, Sunlight and Shadow in our relationships.  For example, the People Patterns relate to a woman who supervises three people just as they do for a stay-at-home mom with three kids.  An overworked man who responds to his co-workers or children with his Shadow will soon learn the power of his limitations—people will be hurt, relationships broken and energy wasted.  A college student needs to know why he irritates others, just as why some things come easily to him.  The woman in business must know her Sunlight, what she does well—just as she needs to know her Shadow, her areas of limitations.

Read more at 5macro.com