Embedded Files
Using Insights Discovery to help the UK&I Asset Management Finance leadership team understand their individual preferences, strengthen communication and work more effectively together.
At a glance
At a glance
7 Senior Leaders
Insights Discovery
Half-day intervention
Key focus areas
The challenge
The challenge
Following the wider Asset Management Finance team development work, RES wanted to work more deeply with its leadership team.
The leadership group needed a stronger understanding of how individual preferences influenced communication, decision-making and leadership behaviour.
There was also a need to help leaders recognise that the same communication approach would not work equally well for everyone, particularly within a team where preferences were quite unevenly distributed.
Insights Discovery was used to create a shared language for understanding these differences and to help the team explore how personality preferences influenced leadership and management practice.
What we did
What we did
Understand individual preferences
Understand individual preferences
Each participant completed an Insights Discovery profile, helping them understand their strengths, possible blind spots and preferred ways of communicating and working.
Explore the team dynamic
Explore the team dynamic
The leadership team explored their collective colour-energy profile, conscious and less conscious preferences, and their positions on the team wheel.
Apply the learning to leadership
Apply the learning to leadership
The group then explored how their preferences influenced leadership behaviour, meetings, communication and relationships with colleagues.
What the team profile revealed
What the team profile revealed
A clear team preference emerged, of the seven leaders taking part:
57% led with Cool Blue 🔵
29% led with Earth Green 🟢
14% led with Fiery Red 🔴
0% led with Sunshine Yellow 🟡
The team wheel also showed gaps in some preferences, with no participants positioned as Helpers, Inspirers or Motivators.
This gave the team an opportunity to explore which behaviours came naturally and which might require more conscious effort.
The key leadership insight
The key leadership insight
One of the most useful insights came from the difference between the team leader and several members of the wider leadership group.
The leader demonstrated a stronger Fiery Red preference, while several direct reports had stronger Cool Blue preferences.
This helped the group explore an important leadership question:
"Are we communicating in the way that suits us, or in the way that helps the other person perform at their best?"
The team discussed how some colleagues may prefer more time to reflect, analyse complex information and formulate their response before contributing.
This created practical discussion around:
Allowing more thinking time on complex topics
Adapting communication to different preferences
Recognising when email was not the most effective method
Consciously dialling different colour energies up or down
Avoiding assumptions about why someone may be slower to contribute
From profile to practice
From profile to practice
The team moved beyond simply reading their profiles.
Leaders shared how their colour energies showed up in practice and explored sections of their profiles including:
Barriers to effective communication
Enablers of communication
Strengths and possible weaknesses
Value to the team
The aim was to help colleagues understand not only themselves, but also how others experienced them as leaders.
Embedding the learning
Embedding the learning
This is important because it gives the case study some real continuation.
Continuing the conversation
The leadership team agreed to build Insights into their regular senior leadership meetings.
Time was set aside to continue exploring different sections of their profiles, allowing team members to share preferences, discuss communication challenges and deepen their understanding of one another over time.
That helped turn Insights Discovery from a one-off workshop into a shared language the team could continue using.
The impact
The impact
The session helped the leadership team develop a stronger understanding of their individual preferences and the dynamics within the group.
Leaders gained greater awareness of:
How their own communication style could affect others
The importance of adapting leadership behaviour
Where the team had strong natural preferences
Where different colour energies might need to be consciously dialled up
How colleagues preferred to receive information and contribute
The value of giving people more thinking time when required
The team left with a clearer understanding of how to communicate more effectively and how to make better use of individual strengths within the leadership group.
Looking to strengthen your leadership team?
Looking to strengthen your leadership team?
Insights Discovery can help leadership teams build greater self-awareness, understand differences in communication and create a practical shared language for working together more effectively.
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