A breath of fresh air

A beautiful day at Perth Racecourse with all of Scottish Water's Asset Strategy team. I snuck out whilst the lunch queue stretched long to capture the crisp late-winter, early-afternoon air from the top tier of the grandstand.

We were working through some team- and self- awareness material called "Insights". I had been profiled some time back as an "Observer", leading with the colour blue. That is Insights language for an analytical, thinking, introvert type. Unsurprisingly, it was the predominant colour of the four possibilities amongst the 60 or so of us gathered. You'd expect that from a strategy team. Or at least I would.

I work in a team of three, and the other two don't profile quite the same.

Insights tells me that I am the polar opposite of one of them. She profiles as leading with yellow- the vibrant, exuberant, excitable, extrovert type. That combination could cause trouble if you didn't know it (though in both of our cases, it'd probably be hard to miss). It'd be easy to rub each other up the wrong way. It'd be easy to fail to communicate on even the most straightforward of issues. That's why we do Insights. It makes the team work. It means I can expect that of her, and learn to feed off of it.

The other team member (I hesisate to say third, because that is actually me- by a matter of weeks) profiles as leading with green. That means the introverted but people-focussed supporter: Diligent, hard working, trustworthy. You'd probably guess if you worked with her. From what I hear of her life out of work, you'd also probably guess that green ruled. Without Insights, we'd probably get along fine in a team. But with it, there is the opportunity to play to our strengths. That's why we do it. It makes the team work better.

It's great that we get to explore this kind of thing with colleagues. Credit to the management for seeing that it happens. I'm not a "touchy-feely" type, but this is one area of soft-skills that is clearly valuable, and does make work a more fun place to be. And this kind of soft science is something that connects with everyone. I remember a quote from a book I am (still) reading, about how encountering this kind of science can make you feel. I'll leave you with those words of Daniel Coyle:

"Like any decent epiphany, the recognition of the importance of [insert key discovery of your choice] jolts old perceptions. After [insert event that showed you the key discovery] I felt as if I had donned X-ray glasses that showed me a new way of seeing the world."