.JPG)
Earlier this week, Tina and I hosted our first 2012 Insights Discovery Workshop. This workshop is one of my favorites to facilitate because we always have fun, participants always learn a lot during the day and selfishly, it always leaves me feeling good to have shared the best self development tool I know of with another group of people.
The workshop is framed around the Insights model for self development which is pretty simple to grasp. I t goes like this. Step one is about exploring and discovering more about yourself. Step two is about learning to recognize and appreciate others’ differences. Step three is learning how to adapt behavior to be more effective with others. And finally, step four is about taking the learning and putting it into action.
For a workshop participant, the morning is very interactive and engaging, the session is filled with learning based activities that ramp up the energy and relationship building in the room. The activities are guided toward self discovery that answers the question: Am I more blue, red, green or yellow? Each participant starts the day trying to figure out which one of four colors they are and then which one of 8 types they are to where do I fit in a 72 type wheel?! It’s quite a journey filled with questions, challenges and looking in those dreaded mirrors that help us see parts of ourselves that perhaps we don’t like, but that typically hold us back from being all that we can be. That’s where self awareness starts, its starts with the discovery of those things we don’t want to see in the mirror. Once we know what those things are, we can start doing something about them. The last activity of the day is goal setting the Insights way. By tapping into all four energies: blue, red, yellow and green, goals are designed that include not just our most preferred preferences, but our least preferred ones, too. The participants leave with a tangible plan and a sharpened focus about how to bring all their energies to the world.
There are several ways most individuals and/or organizations use Insights Discovery. They include personal growth & development, team assessment and development, leadership development, but another application struck me recently. I heard about a recent Right Management survey of 1,000 employees in North American that said, 84% intended to actively seek a new position in 2012. If a friend or family member of mine, were one of those 1,000 in the survey, I would highly recommend they complete an Insights Discovery profile. The profile results go well beyond personality preferences. The advantage of knowing not just about my preferences, but what makes me tick, my preferred work environment or how I add value to my work team provides a real advantage to select not just the right next job, but the right next employer.
We are excited to be offering this workshop 5 more times during 2012 and I look forward to the light bulbs being lit and the ah-ha moments happening again and again.