In the hyper-digital era we find ourselves in, it’s almost a rite of passage to have taken a Buzzfeed quiz at some point, with some of their finest offerings being: ‘What does your favourite nugget shape reveal about your personality?’, and ‘Pick your favourite type of potato to find out whether you’re an introvert or extrovert’.
Aside from boredom, procrastination and an ever-dwindling attention span, could there be a more profound reasoning behind our desire to take these quizzes? Does it reveal a hunger to learn more about ourselves, or perhaps some sort of new-age propensity for self-analysis?
The internet, along with the arrival of social media, has given us the means to connect with more human beings than any generation before us, so it’s no wonder we’re all a little more self-aware these days, and more curious than we’ve ever been about the human condition. Add that to having, quite literally, all the information that’s ever existed just sitting within a 6-inch screen at our fingertips, it’s an exceptionally strange time to be attempting to ‘make sense’ of ourselves.
With having such an overwhelming amount of information available to us, and being excessively exposed to the inner-thoughts, feelings, opinions, lifestyle choices, routines, appearances, struggles, victories, strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes of other people, it can often leave us wondering – where do we fit into this big old world?
- Who am I?
- What do I have in common with my fellow human beings?
- In what ways am I unique?
It may all sound a little existential, but there’s a lot to be said for the value of knowing who you really are, because with this comes an understanding of what’s important to you, what motivates you, what holds you back, and what your strengths are.
That’s where Insights Discovery comes in.
Getting to grips with our colours
“That’s very blue of you!” is a phrase you can commonly hear being thrown around in the StrategiQ offices.
For years now, we’ve been using what’s called an Insights Profile when onboarding new team members.
The short description of the Insights Discovery process is that it’s an evaluation tool which gives us, as employers, a comprehensive overview of the best communication styles of each of our employees, as well as the unique strengths and values they bring to the team.
Based on the answers given in the Insights quiz, each employee’s personality will then be broken down into four different colour energies: red, blue, green and yellow.
The key characteristics of each colour can loosely be broken down like this:
There’s a mix of the four colours in each and every one of us, but the percentage of each colour can look very different from person to person.
However, this isn’t just your typical psychometric test.
Investing in our own motivation
We were lucky enough to hold a company-wide workshop recently with the Insights creator, best-selling author, motivational mastermind and Founder of Full Potential Group, Carole Gaskell, which gave us the opportunity to refresh our understanding of the Insights tool and why we use it.
In Carole’s own words:
“Many of us focus heavily on what we need to do; what is our vision for ourselves and for our team? What are our goals and objectives in our work? What we really need to be thinking about is how we do it – because our Insights show how we prefer to behave, how we communicate, how we prefer to be communicated with, how we work as a team and how we collaborate with stakeholders and clients. Perhaps, more importantly, we also need to focus on the why, because if you start with your own personal ‘why’ and what gets you out of bed in the morning, you can identify what energises and motivates you and how you can use this to achieve your goals.”
As part of the workshop, we also trialled Carole’s brand-new motivational mapping tool, Mojo, to help each of us identify our unique motivators and to measure how motivated we are both as individuals and as a workforce.
The ultimate purpose of Mojo, in simple terms, is to give employers the means to improve the experience of their employees.
By dialling into what personally motivates each individual and where/why their motivation may be lacking, managers and mentors are empowered to best support the members of their team by making tailored adjustments, setting relevant goals and fostering healthy communication around their satisfaction at work.
Mojo’s nifty dashboard brings simple, digestible visibility to a person’s core motivators, as well as their overall motivation score and risk index.
It’s a simple enough concept – having happy, supported, fulfilled employees will lead to higher levels of motivation and productivity, along with stronger staff retention and enhanced performance of the business as a whole. It truly is an ‘everybody wins’ situation when it’s done right!
The big question – the ‘why?’
People may be wondering why we’ve made such an investment into personal development at a time when many businesses are cutting back on their spending.
Firstly, we’ve always been the type to put our money where our mouth is. Training and development has been one of our leading priorities since the day StrategiQ was born, and we know that investing in our people sets them up for a more fulfilling career here and ultimately, gives them a reason to stay.
We recognise that a career is an ever-evolving journey and not a fixed destination, and we want to be able to facilitate that by providing a dynamic environment where nobody feels stagnant in their progress or their learning.
Secondly – we’re realistic, and we appreciate that motivation naturally fluctuates for each individual as they move through different seasons and challenges in their lives. Nobody is 100% motivated, 100% of the time, and that’s okay. Using a platform like Mojo gives us the toolkit we need to assess where and when help may be needed, and to offer personalised support in the form of coaching, action planning and goal tracking, because we know there’ll never be a ‘one size fits all’ in a company full of unique individuals!
StrategiQ’s Chief People Officer, Sarah Smith, explains the company’s thinking behind introducing the new Mojo tool:
“I want to know that everyone in this company is motivated towards achieving their goals, and I want to know that people are in the right roles. If we are motivated as a team, we are more likely to perform as a company and smash the company goals. I’m not afraid to say that this is about performance; it’s about having a successful and profitable company, but at the heart of it, it’s about having a motivated team who know exactly what gets them out of bed every day, and who want to be part of the success.”
The beauty of the blend
One of the key takeaways from the Insights workshop was being reminded that there’s a ‘blend’ in all of us, and that we shouldn’t pigeonhole each other based on our leading colour.
Life in our agency is fast-paced, to say the least. In the midst of all the movement and commotion, tied with high-pressure projects and tight deadlines, we’ve all been a little guilty of approaching our fellow colleagues with a somewhat one-dimensional view of their colour; especially if it relates to something we need doing.
For example, if something needs to be done quickly, we may steer away from someone with high blue energy, as they tend to be a little more cautious and contemplative in their decision-making. Similarly, we may not think to turn to someone with high red energy if we need help with a lengthy or detailed piece of work, as the reds are typically known for their short and sharp contributions!
However, it’s important to remember that we all have more to offer than just our leading colours, and we may really surprise each other when we draw upon those quieter, more understated strengths.
Our CEO, Andy Smith, shares his view:
“We have to be careful talking about absolutes with colours; I hear it a lot in the agency, and we have a habit of referring to everyone by one dominant colour. We’ve all got a blend, we’re not defined by one single colour, and that’s why we all work so well together here. We shouldn’t let a lack of awareness with the colours come between us or hold us back, but instead use our diverse skill set to come together to overcome challenges, solve problems and reach the end goal.”
StrategiQ has HOW many blues?!
People may think of marketers as confident and direct, perhaps because there’s a bit of a blurred line between marketing, advertising and sales, so it may surprise you to learn that we actually don’t have a huge amount of red in the agency. Marketing is so heavily reliant on strategy, which requires bucketloads of expertise and careful consideration behind the scenes. The best colour for careful consideration? You guessed it – blue!
Each employee is given their own individual Insights profile, but we also collate the entire company’s Insights data to form a picture of our collective ‘colour wheel’ and where each of us subsequently sit on it.
Displayed proudly in our main office, everyone’s photo is placed in the corresponding region of their dominant colour after taking their Insights test. This has been a brilliant way to strengthen our understanding of each other, as well as provide a sense of the best way to communicate with our fellow colleagues. As you can see – the blues and greens run the show around here!
We also have access to a full overview of every individual’s Insights profile via our company operating system, which is where we can view the comprehensive breakdown of each person’s blend, as well as their communication do’s and don’ts, their key strengths and weaknesses, and the unique values they bring to the team.
The essence of it all
Maybe this all seems a little unconventional, or maybe it’s something you’ve come across before without really understanding the purpose behind it. It’s not uncommon these days for employers to use some sort of psychometric test when onboarding new staff, and sadly, it’s also not uncommon for those test results to simply collect dust once the employee has settled in.
For us, the initial Insights test is just the start of the journey. It’s never been about ticking a box or parading how progressive we are; but rather, it comes from a place of genuinely wanting to support, uplift and develop our staff to reach their highest potential.
The Insights tools are used as part of an ongoing commitment to the growth of each member of the team, and the combination of Insights, motivational maps and ‘mojo’ testing allows us to, essentially, stop you from getting in your own way.
We’ve always been heavily focused on nurturing talent, developing skill sets and propelling people in their careers, and while these tools help us to identify the strengths of each individual, they also help us to identify potential obstacles and barriers that could be hindering progress.
When challenges are overcome, talent blooms. We see the talent and potential in everyone, regardless of where they are in their careers, and we want to create an environment where it can thrive.
Curious about your colour?
It’s not quite the same as being sorted into a Hogwarts house (though there’ll be a Buzzfeed quiz for that somewhere), but organising the team into colours and utilising each individual’s Insights profile has empowered us enormously, both as a business and as individuals.
So – could you be the next face added to our Insights wheel? Whether you’re a bubbly, bouncy yellow, a sharp and snappy red, a gentle, grounding green or a perfection-driven blue, you’ll have a place here, and you’ll be in good company no matter what your blend looks like.
Explore our latest vacancies to start your journey with us today.
