IMPACTFUL RESULTS START WITH EFFECTIVE PEOPLE.

One of the most rewarding aspects of growing our company has been the process of assembling a truly special and talented group of people that live and breathe our mission each day.

While each person individually contributes their technical expertise and functional specialization, our effectiveness in delivering solutions to our clients depends on our ability to communicate, coordinate, and execute effectively as a team. On the rare occasion we’re not out in the field or on-site with a client, we look to improve ourselves and gain an edge by developing the leadership traits and dynamics of our team.

This past week before a brief holiday break we gathered at our Minneapolis headquarters to participate in the Insights Discovery workshop, led by Margaret Smith of UXL Consulting. In just a few short hours with Margaret we came away with new ideas and a collective focus on how we can communicate more effectively and improve our performance.

In the professional world it is a ubiquitous, though often overlooked truth, that much of our success comes from how well we work with other people. Whether as individuals or teams, an overwhelming determinant of performance or fulfillment of potential comes from how effectively we communicate and interact. Taking this premise one step further, recent research by the Harvard Business Review has indicated just how costly people problems are to a business’ bottom line when teams aren’t working effectively.

LOST PRODUCTIVITY DUE TO PEOPLE PROBLEMS

We decided the Insights Discovery workshop was a proactive tool we could use to start gaining a better understanding of our individual behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses as they pertain to our team in the professional environment. The accessibility of the color model and the science-based assessment made the learning process very straightforward, relevant, and personalized to each participant. 

Our Top 5 takeaways from the workshop:

1. Discovering the difference between our perceived persona and our unconscious persona
2. Hearing how our strengths and talents are perceived and appreciated by other team members
3. Understanding context of how to find the right fit to best utilize our strengths and construct teams
4. Learning how our behaviors and body language are perceived and how to best approach other personality types
5. Gaining empathy for the behaviors and needs of other team members