Personality Dimensions – Remembering Kate Jones

It is a sad day for the CLSR family today; it is with great sorrow that we announce the passing of Kate Jones.  Kate was an amazing person that touched the lives of many individuals, and was many things to many people; trainer, author, editor, coach; but most important, she was our friend.

Kate together with her husband Wayne have been continuous supporters of us over the years. Their contributions have been valuable in making Personality Dimensions what it is today.  Kate was always up for a new project and tackling new challenges.

There was no such thing as a quick phone call or visit with Kate, but for good reason. Her upbeat personality and positivity was no short of amazing, and you would just want to keep talking. Conversations that started out as business would turn into conversations about family adventures, until she would eventually say “we should probably get back to business.”  While we’ve never had the pleasure of meeting Kate and Wayne’s children and grandchildren, we feel like we already know them. Kate was also their greatest cheerleader and so proud of their accomplishments.

In honour of Kate, go out today and do something positive; be someone’s cheerleader and don’t be afraid to take on a new challenge.

Kate’s family is planning a celebration of life in the near future.

Personality Dimensions® – More isn’t always better

While I have had the chance to meet with lots of great people at conferences, workshops, and networking events, my role at CLSR is very much behind the scenes. If you call our office, and I pick up the phone, it’s usually because the customer service team is busy with other clients; we really try our hardest to not let calls go to voicemail.  In today’s world of AI and automation, it’s kind of nice to connect with an actual human from time to time. Since I don’t often have the opportunity talk to clients and find out what’s going on in their individual worlds, I need to talk to our customer service team to know what’s up.  Really they’re great people and they’ve got interesting things to share as long as they’ve had their morning coffee.

One of the questions that keeps coming up has to do with the number of Personality Dimensions® Cards that should be used in an introductory workshop. In addition to the Picture Cards there are Life Values, In Communications, At Work, In Conflict, Relationships, and In Communications Cards. All of these cards were developed to be used in specific contexts, and for the most part shouldn’t all be used at the same time.  There are some guidelines about this in the manual, but as a general rule of thumb, more isn’t always better. From my personal experience I like to recommend the Picture, Life Values, and In Communications cards if you’re leading an introductory workshop; the one in Building Blocks.  If you’re working with one of the Toolkits, or any other kind of applications then you can add in the appropriate cards.

Personality Dimensions® Online through CLSRassessments.com has really taken off over the past few years with more and more trainers making the switch all the time. If you’ve ever tried it, you’ll know why; it frees up a bunch of time when you have face-to-face time with your clients, and it lets you know their personality preferences before you start your training. It’s very tempting to click the checkboxes beside each of the cards when you’re sending your clients the invitation to take the assessment; why not, it doesn’t cost any extra. But in reality you might be doing your clients a disservice and missing out on an opportunity for yourself in the future.

Selecting all of the Personality Dimensions® Cards means your clients will have to spend more time focusing on the assessment, and we all know what is happening to attention spans these days. It doesn’t make the assessment any more or less valid. In fact Personality Dimensions® was validated using the Life Values in combination with two other cards.  When your clients get to see their results and see blanks on their score sheet, someone will inevitably ask why. That’s your chance as an entrepreneur to sell them on an application session, and let them know that they will get a chance to experience those, when you come back. Isn’t it great to turn a question into an opportunity?

When you come across things you’re not sure about with Personality Dimensions® reach out to us, we’re always happy to have a chat.

 

Brad Whitehorn – BA, CCDP is the Sales & Marketing Coordinator at CLSR Inc.  He was thrown in to the career development field headfirst after completing a Communications degree in 2005, and hasn’t looked back!  Since then, Brad has worked on the development, implementation and certification for various career and personality assessments (including Personality Dimensions®), making sure that Career Development Practitioners get the right tools to best serve their clients

Personality Dimensions® Meet the Authors

When I look back on my career I am often reminded how fortunate I’ve been to know so many great people. And it always amazes me how often the same people have shown up at various points throughout my working life (which, let’s face it, has been rather long so I guess the odds are in favour of this happening, but I still find it surprising). One such person is a colleague who, if I recall correctly, I connected with through a now-defunct professional association in the late ‘80’s or early ‘90’s. It’s my pleasure to introduce you to Lynn Dennis, co-author of PD for Youth Foundations Facilitators Guide.

Lynn Dennis was introduced to temperament theory in 1992 when she started working at the Etobicoke Career Centre with Carol Tumber. This knowledge and self-awareness has benefitted all aspects of her personal and working life.

Lynn continues to use Personality Dimensions® with career counselling clients, colleagues, friends and family.

In training, Lynn never shares her dominant colour. Rather, she wants everyone to think that she is “their colour” and therefore understands the integral parts of their temperament. It is always important that the workshops are delivered honouring all four temperaments … and that the workshops are well organized, delivered in a timely fashion, with lots of practical handouts.

Degrees:  B.P.H.E (University of Toronto), B.Ed. (University of Western Ontario), Ontario Teaching Certificate with Guidance and Physical Education Specialist, OCT (Ontario Colleges of Teacher), Certificate in Guiding Circles, Personality Dimensions Level III Master Trainer, and is qualified to administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

 

Yours, from the back office …

Denise Hughes is the Director and owner of CLSR Inc. and general editor of Personality Dimensions® materials and products. She just noticed the calendar and realized it is just past the 44th anniversary of her introduction to career and type and temperament materials. Those experiences and the expertise she gained through her years with the Guidance Centre, University of Toronto, and now with CLSR, continue to shape the direction that both CLSR and Personality Dimensions® take.