You will know if you have read any of my posts before or seen some of the inspirational quotes I post that I believe in taking ownership for your own destiny and creating a positive life for yourself. Life can be hard, sometimes bricks are thrown at us along the way, but most of the time if we take the time to think about it we live amazing lives. I am truly blessed with amazing family and friends who for me pay such a crucial part in my life. I am building a business I love to inspire others and I do lots of cool things in my spare time. I am grateful for the path I have chosen and the opportunities I have taken.
Today’s blog post is about better understanding yourself and others through the lens of colour. Firstly, I wanted to share a snapshot into how my personal development started. I was blessed at aged 18 to have the opportunity to complete an Insights Discovery Profile, this first experience saw a shy and introverted teen understand more about why she struggled speaking in tutorials, doing presentations and generally understanding why my moral fibre seemed to guide most of my decisions because of a burning desire to please other people. It was an eye opening experience that was a great one to share with some of my university peers and to see the buzz when the penny dropped and lots of aha moments occurred.
Little did I know that this initial experience would see me to later work for the company Insights for 5 years and then to establish a business which would help to inspire others to be the best they can be. I love the below quote from Steve Jobs, it rings so true for me. The dots certainly connected for me with Insights Discovery.
“You can’t connect the dots going forward, you can only connect the dots looking back. You have to have faith that the dots will connect in your future.”
I truly believe that without this initial experience I would not have been so keen to work with Insights and that my path would have been completely different. The model has amazing power in its simplicity of using four colour energies as an entry point to learning more about yourself. I am going to take you on a brief journey through the four colour energies to help you better understand yourself through your colour mix and start to spot different colour energies in your colleagues, friends, family and your partners. It’s important to note we each have an element of all four colour energies within us, you will however lead most dominantly with one of the colour energies. Comment below and let me know what you think your dominant colour energy is.
Sunshine Yellow
For people with sunshine yellow energy…general speaking they’re generally speaking. They are life’s bubbly and sociable people who love to verbalise their thought processes. Those with a lot of sunshine yellow energy get a buzz by being around and working with others. When those with a lot of sunshine yellow energy are left out of the equation or to work in isolation for long periods is when you will see sunshine yellow demotivated.
To get the best out of those with sunshine yellow energy do:
- Involve the individual in decision making
- Be open and flexible
- Be entertaining and fun in your approach
Sometimes more importantly, don’t:
- Bore the individual with too many details
- Tie me down to routine where I can use my creativity
- Leave me out of the picture
Cool Blue
In contrast to sunshine yellow, cool blue is the opposite energy and therefore those with a lot of cool blue energy like to gather their thoughts internally before communicating ideas verbally. On the introverted side of the Insights Discovery wheel those with dominant cool blue energy like to think before they speak, prepare and be organised in their thoughts. The driving force behind everything they do is to do things right so that is why those with a lot of cool blue energy prefer to give a response when they have had time to gather their thoughts rather than feel rushed and make a wrong, ill informed decision. Give individuals with cool blue energy details and lots of them.
To get the best out of those with cool blue energy do:
- Be well prepared and thorough
- Put things in writing (email follow up works great)
- Let the individual consider the details of what you are saying
Sometimes more importantly, don’t:
- Go off on a tangent
- Invade my personal space, or hug me if you don’t know me well
- Dismiss important issues of the person because they aren’t top of your agenda
Time to flip back to the extroverted side of the wheel…
Fiery Red
Fiery red is very easy to spot, those with a lot of fiery red energy are very direct and to the point, they have a need to get things done and quickly! Their high standards can feel very demanding for those around them who don’t have so much fiery red energy. Actions, results and tangible things are often what fiery red people use to measure success. When communicating with someone with fiery red energy my advice is to get to the point quickly: be brief, be bright, be gone. Emails from those who lead with fiery red energy are often brief and to the point, don’t take this personally it’s just the preferred style of someone with a lot of fiery red energy.
To get the best out of those with fiery red energy do:
- Be direct and to the point
- Focus on results and objectives
- Be brief, be bright, be gone
Sometimes more importantly, don’t:
- Hesitate or waffle
- Focus on feeling
- Try to take control of the situation
Finally back to the introverted side of the wheel, earth green energy. This is the colour energy I lead with and it is at the core of all decisions I make in my life.
Earth Green
If you lead with earth green energy you will be focused on the needs of others often ahead of your own needs because you have a deep rooted want to help and please other people. Often in trying to please others you please no one as you make yourself unhappy in the process and then resist when it’s gets to enough is enough. Those with earth green energy show up as caring, encouraging and patient individuals and make great team players and friends. Often the advice givers and sounding boards of this world because of their want to listen and help. However, on a bad day or asked to do something that you don’t agree with, earth green energy can show up in a very indecisive and stubborn way. Values are so important to those with earth green energy and their moral compass is always pointing due north.
To get the best out of those with earth green energy do:
- Be patient and supportive
- Slow down and work at my pace
- Ask my opinion and give me time to answer
Sometimes more importantly, don’t:
- Take advantage of my good nature and pile the work on
- Push me to make quick decisions
- Throw me into an unexpected situation
To summarise what I have discussed in the above blog I wanted to leave you with the Insights Discovery Good Day & Bad Day Colour Wheels.
On a GOOD DAY
On a BAD DAY
Insights Discovery is underpinned by 30 years of research and was developed in my home city of Dundee. The model has used in over 30 countries globally and with individuals, teams and organisations. Interestingly lots of sporting teams use the model and I think it is on the sports field we see team work succeed or fail most acutely within tight timeframes. Delegates include 2012 Team GB Olympic Team and a number of Premiership Football teams have found the Insights Discovery model the key to unlocking even more success through self and team understanding.
I love using the model in both individual coaching and team workshops to simplify key relationships between individuals, colleagues and in general provides a better understanding for communication with everyone in your life. Each delegate receives their own personal profile after completing a short online evaluator. Some of the programmes I have developed using Insights Discovery include:
- Introduction to Leadership: You Are A Leader
- Leading Change
- Time Management
- Leadership & Career Coaching (Bespoke to individuals)
- Communication for Success
- Strategic Growth
- Productive Insightful Customer Relationships
- Sales Starts With You
- Team Effectiveness: You Hold The Key
Not only does the Discovery model work well in organisations, but equally if you are unsure about your next steps then taking the time out to work on your own self understanding will be one of the best decisions you make.
Time to share…
- Order your colours, what is your dominant? COMMENT below.
- What is your 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th colour energy? COMMENT below.
- How do your colours compare to your nearest and dearest? COMMENT below.
To discuss more and if you would like to see a copy of my Insights Discovery Profile email me on: info@brightsideinspiration.com