Let Your True Colors Shine Through
Three years ago, I was introduced to a personality workshop originating from a company called “True Colors® International.” I confess, my initial reaction was to heave an inner sigh at having Cyndi Lauper’s song, “True Colors,” immediately stuck in my head. I was also skeptical. I have taken a number of personality tests and enjoyed them all, but found them difficult to apply to my everyday life…walking away with a list of personality type initials or percentages of categories I fall under in my career path was interesting, but not particularly memorable or applicable. I am happy to say True Colors proved to be a unique experience, so much so that I not only apply the principles I learned on a daily basis, I chose to become a certified facilitator and am now passionate about passing my knowledge onto others. Why is True Colors different? In a nutshell, it goes beyond an assessment – after you learn your own personality color spectrum, you are guided through a variety of fun team-building exercises that give you the tools to implement better communication and interaction in your workplace, and at home. It is also easy to understand; your personality is categorized by blue, green, gold and orange. What is the actual value? True Colors is utilized in many ways, but I categorize workplace application into two groups: organizational culture and leadership guidance. For example, when I previously worked at a high performing nonprofit, I conducted a monthly True Colors workshop at new employee orientation. This practice establishes communication and workplace culture expectations from an employee’s first week on the job, and ingrains the lingo into daily conversation. For example, your company’s “blues” may not get along with your “oranges,” but they will understand why they tend to have disagreements, and how to approach colleagues who think and operate differently at work. I have also taught workshops to groups comprised of executives, managers and supervisors. These leadership workshops include insight on how your employees may view your leadership style, and what tactics to employ to better manage employees based on their personality. I love True Colors because it embraces diversity – each personality color adds value to the workplace, and we all have shades of each color within us. The workshop identifies intrinsic values, motivations, sources of self-esteem, causes of stress, communication and listening styles, social skills, learning styles and much more. This method also has a more than twenty-year history of success with companies such as Ford, Kraft and JC Penney. Have I piqued your interest? Please feel free to contact me at Fallston Group at 410-420-2001, andrea.lynn@fallstongroup.com or request a True Colors workshop event date here.
Target, Best Buy Provide “Lesson Learned” for Corporate World
By Rob Weinhold — As a result of the January Supreme Court decision which allows corporations to contribute unlimited funds for political activities, both Target and Best Buy each contributed $100,000 to a business group in Minnesota called MN Forward. MN Forward is an organization who advances political agendas in the spirit of private sector job creation and economic opportunity. The issue is that MN Forward used the funds from Target and Best Buy to help support the gubernatorial campaign of state Representative Tom Emmer, who supports lower corporate taxes. That wasn’t the problem; the issue, apparently unbeknownst to Target and Best Buy executives, was that Tom Emmer also supports the very controversial banning of same-sex marriages. Regardless of which side of the political aisle you sit on, corporations must fully vet each interest it supports and fully understand the risk while entering the political arena. As a result of this “alignment,” Target has now been the subject of immense stakeholder skepticism, protests, product boycotts and public apologies. Yes, this is a crisis that impacts brand and has now made national news – www.washingtonpost.com – August 18th. This blogger is neutral in his opinions about the political issues, but not middle of the road when it comes to the realization about the lack of strategic planning and foresight by both companies. Regardless of which side of the political aisle you sit on (perhaps it’s directly in the aisle), corporations must fully vet each interest it supports and fully understand the risk while entering the political arena. Most times, the support garnered with one group will alienate another group. And, the alienated group could well be very important stakeholders which could have enough clout to mobilize and impact the bottom line. CRO – Chief Reputation Officer This is yet another reason that I support the concept of a corporate CRO – Chief Reputation Officer. This executive should be fully engaged at every level within the organization and be the expert who accurately researches and predicts every internal and external decision’s impact on brand integrity. Organizations who do not continue to critically define, promote and defend their brand will never achieve ultimate growth and profitability goals.
