Sarah Akanbi
5 min read
For us at Reward Gateway, Insights personality profiling has been an invaluable tool that’s allowed us to recruit, train and communicate in a much more authentic and effective way. Here’s just a glimpse into the story of how Insights personality profiling changed life at Reward Gateway.
How it all started back in February 2012:
My eyes rolled (not too visibly I hope) when my new boss asked me to complete an ‘Insights’ questionnaire about my personality and "behavioral preferences." I swiftly decided to answer the personality profiling evaluator with an open mind, but I was fairly certain it wouldn’t provide me with anything useful.
Lesson quickly learned. I was wrong. Tracy Mellor; our People Director and the boss in question, was right. Damn it.
My personality profile was freakishly spot on. Some really great things to celebrate and be proud of, plus some necessary weaknesses to think about and develop on.
It’s not just me that’s bought into it; all of RG’s new starters have an Insights Discovery session where we ask them to complete the personality profiling test and read through the initial results overview. We ask them to highlight how many statements (from a total of 50) they disagree with. We count these up and calculate a % showing how strongly they agree with their profile. It’s rare that we get anything below 90%.
It’s all about the colors.
The profiles show us that everyone has all four of the Insights color energies in their personality. The individuality comes from how easily we can access each one. My color preference order is; Yellow, Blue, Red and Green.
Here’s the lowdown on the Insights color spectrum:
• People with a preference for dominant "Fiery Red" energy are extroverted and have high energy. They are action-oriented and always in motion. They will approach others in a direct, authoritative manner, radiating a desire for power and control.
• People with a preference for dominant "Sunshine Yellow" energy are strongly extroverted, radiant, and friendly. They are usually positive and concerned with good human relations. They will approach others in a persuasive, democratic manner, radiating a desire for sociability.
• People with a preference for dominant "Earth Green" energy are introverted with a strong focus on values and depth in relationships. They want others to be able to rely on them. They prefer democratic relations that value the individual and are personal in style, radiating a desire for understanding.
• People with a preference for dominant "Cool Blue" energy are introverted and have a desire to know and understand the world around them. They prefer written communication in order to maintain clarity and precision, radiating a desire for analysis.
How has it actually worked for us in terms of personality profiling for business success?
It has magically become a common language for us.
From our SVP of Sales; "Where’s your inner Blue? We need some serious attention to detail on this" or a text from me to my boss talking about how I swiftly jumped from one task to another; "Sooooo yellow I know!" We use it all the time, every day, from project planning to general chat. Really, every day, no exaggeration.
"That’s great, now think of it from a green point of view’."
It’s made us consider how we communicate externally and be more inclusive. When we reach out to clients or when we create content for a new website, there’s a real consideration for each of the four color preferences and how the other person we’re talking to would like to hear from us.
"This role is going to need a really strong red preference."
We use Insights to help shape our recruitment process, it’s not an absolute decision-maker, but it informs the questions we ask and the job descriptions we write. If we know that, for example, we want someone to have the confidence to go out on a limb and champion new ideas, we’d look for a possible red preference.
‘You’re going to need slides, handouts, a task, AND make sure you get to the point!’.
Insights has allowed us to develop and train our staff much more effectively. When we plan a training session or prepare material to share with managers or specific teams, we now always think in terms of color preference. Whether that is making sure you have a handout with all the information so those with a blue preference can go away and read up, or making sure you have a task or competition element to the activity, so those with a yellow preference are engaged throughout. It’s more inclusive and it delivers better results.
How could Insights work for you?
You’ve seen some of the ways it’s worked for us, but it can also transfer and work for your business too:
In the recruitment process.
Whether it’s writing job descriptions or candidate profiling; Insights personality profiling can really step up your recruitment process and more effectively target the kind of skills you’re looking for.
For managers.
Insights can be an invaluable tool to help managers understand their team, communicate with them and train new team members.
From a business development perspective.
Using the Insights model can help inform your outward communications too. It can help you sell, as well as communicate with your customers more effectively.
There’s so much more to it for us, so that’s just an intro. I’d wholeheartedly encourage anyone to try it out. Don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s a fluffy personality questionnaire because it’s really worked for us on a practical level.
What our employees think:
"I think the session was great. The theory and practical application of the profile were explained very well. It was interactive, interesting, and useful to help me understand how to communicate with colleagues in the company."
"The course was both enjoyable and extremely useful. The knowledge that I gained about myself and others will come in handy on a daily basis."
"I enjoyed the mixture of teaching practices using practical examples to demonstrate how different individuals are."