Training and education is the cornerstone of every successful and growing company. Employees feel more engaged and empowered when they feel their employer cares about their knowledge and experience, and invests in them to increase their skills. I put this to the test when I founded Minnesota’s largest technology training company, Benchmark Computer Learning. In 1997 & 1998, Benchmark even made it to the list of Minnesota’s fastest fifty growing private companies. This happened with a firm commitment to continuous training and development of my staff.
Technical knowledge was important for developing the company, but self-awareness and personal knowledge is far more important for employee development, and long-term success. After all, employees are the ones who apply technical knowledge and drive that company forward. As the owner of Benchmark, I constantly sought out different personality profile systems, which were all difficult to apply in daily life back at the office. After several years of deploying different systems, I attended an Insights seminar in 1999. After just ninety minutes, I knew Insights Discovery was different. I gained more clarity in that one session than I had with all the hours spent on researching a dozen other programs. As an owner, I knew this program would make a difference in our business, so I took the Insights Discovery program back to my employees, and eventually even trained them myself.
Insights Discovery focuses on four different energies, fiery red, sunshine yellow, cool blue, and earth green. Each color possesses a different energy, or set of personality traits. They each have strengths, weaknesses, and different tendencies. Employees become self aware in a safe and fun environment, while learning why their coworkers do things differently and how better to communicate and work with them. For example, introverts learn that extroverts are doing their best work when they’re loud, not necessarily goofing around. At the same time, extroverts learn that introverts are doing their best work when they’re quiet, not just daydreaming. Breaking down these familiar communication barriers help employees better understand themselves while adjusting easier to the styles of others. And the power of transformation occurs when every employee is using this new language every day!
As a keynote speaker who has now trained over 1000 CEOs, I love breaking down the Insights Discovery program in a fun and easy to understand way. Because of the meaningful content, employees are eager to take their knowledge back to the office and apply what they’ve learned. For my money, Insights Discovery is the best way to transform any organization into high performers, in a sustainable and measurable way. In fact, even after selling Benchmark in 2003, the company still uses Insights Discovery every day. To learn more, follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to get exciting updates about how improving communication will affect your company.