MARCO ISLAND, FL — These days, workforce is everything. It’s crucial to have a company culture that encourages teamwork, growth and communication. One of the ways companies across industries do that is by participating in self-awareness training, even if it’s a bit outside the box — and the baking industry is no exception.
Insights Discovery is one such self-awareness training that can help members of your workforce understand how they communicate. Today, Emily Bowers, VP of education and operations, BEMA, gave some insight into how it works and how it can help co-workers understand each other and function better. Her session was presented during the BEMA Convention: Workforce Edition, a digital program that complements the in-person event being held from Wednesday to Friday this week in Marco Island, FL.
Self-awareness training has become increasingly valuable as workers want to feel valued and understood in their positions. Programs like Insights Discovery can be used to leverage strengths, seek support in areas of weakness, take responsibility and accountability, and shift from reaction to “right action.”
The program has four building blocks that are color coordinated — fiery red, sunshine yellow, earth green and cool blue. Each team member participates in the training by answering questions about themselves to figure out their unique color wheel. Rather than each person being just one color, the more proper analogy would be that each person has a color palette with more of some colors and less of others.
“No one is just one color,” Bowers said. “And as much as this is about self-awareness and what your colors are, I’m sure it’s also easy to start thinking about other people you work with and their colors too.”
Self-awareness training has become increasingly valuable as workers want to feel valued and understood in their positions. Programs like Insights Discovery can be used to leverage strengths, seek support in areas of weakness, take responsibility and accountability, and shift from reaction to “right action.”
People who identify with fiery red are perceived as competitive, determined, strong willed and purposeful. Sunshine yellow people are perceived as sociable, enthusiastic and persuasive. People who identify with earth green are perceived as caring, encouraging and patient. And cool blue people are perceived as cautious, deliberate and formal. All of these colors have different strengths and weaknesses, working together like cogs in a machine to be successful at different tasks.
While being on a team with those who are like-minded can seem like the best option, Bowers said that opposites not only attract, but are better for getting a task done as fast as possible.
“If the person in charge of putting the team together hires people that are only like them, those are really tough teams,” Bowers said. “Think about the culture of your team as a whole and even smaller task forces and project teams. If you have a diverse group of people, that can be helpful.”
Bowers praised the program for helping companies understand how their team members work. She said people can also use the knowledge of their individual and team colors to adjust the way they communicate with others so that it’s more effective.
“Having all this knowledge only works if you are willing to use it and adapt,” Bowers said. “If you can make a 5% adjustment toward the other person’s colors and needs, you can more successfully connect. It will make a huge difference.”
Learn more about the Insights Discovery program here.