Personality Dimensions® Re-Aligned My Life

Every Personality Dimensions® Facilitator Has A Story

We all have a past and a present that points to a preferred future. That story becomes the lens by which Personality Dimensions®, and other assessments are focused. The primary focus when I use Personality Dimensions®, both personally, as a career consultant or in my Leadership & Team training is ‘Alignment’.

I’ve been a Personality Dimensions® facilitator from its launch in 2003 and used another similar tool prior to that. Before being trained as a career counsellor, I went through the process of being counselled as a key part of my career transition. This temperament or behavioural study became the tipping point, the fulcrum of my life before and after my transition. 

Here’s my story in a nutshell

I’m a Preacher’s Kid, and before I was eight years of age, my mother suddenly passed away. This caused me to cling to dad, my surviving parent. I, too, chose to be in the ministry. Being so young, I both watched and listened to my father closely, so I could be like him, a very loved pastor. I desired the same outcome. The problem was that we were very different people. What he taught me was his way of doing things…on my part, learned behaviour. It wasn’t bad or wrong, just different from who I really was. Unfortunately, he taught me how to live as a workaholic because that was how he dealt with the loss of his beloved wife. Yes, I was successful in ministry but there always seemed to be a level of discomfort. After 25 years, I hit a wall and really wasn’t certain what to do with my future. The transition process was slow, ten years slow. It wasn’t one I ever thought I’d go through, but I cautiously decided to check out another world. This brought me face-to-face with temperament, type, and interest studies.

When You Are Successful

Though I did things the way my father did, in retrospect, my most successful ventures in ministry were the ones that I did out of who I really was.  This happens when the real you, subconsciously, kicks in. This became evident during my counselling process when we discussed past successes. Getting a grasp of the Patterns of Human Behaviours, which Personality Dimensions® does, was a great awakening for me…a series of Ah-ha moments which introduced a process I call ‘Life or Personal Realignment’. As important as ‘understanding who you are is’, equally important is ‘understanding who you are not’. If you’re living too much of life in the latter, Personality Dimensions® is my tool of choice for ‘Life Alignment’. This happens when you bring what you do in line with who you are, your hardwiring. Not once did I have to comply with the Personality Dimensions® result. I saw the pattern it presented and ‘there I was’. I released the dominance of well learned behaviours (which I still use), and fully embraced the real Murray that was quietly working in behind them.

One Thing That Always Amazes Me

When I was in my mid to late teens two things happened. Someone introduced me to the book, Transformed Temperaments by Tim LaHaye. It fascinated me. I always wanted to know what made people tick so I could impact their lives. In Grade 10, I had to write an essay on a topic of my choice. I wrote it on, How to Find a Career. Thirty years later, I became an ‘Assessment based Career Development Practitioner’. When I realized this, it blew me away. Do I regret those 25 years in ministry? Not in the least. Those years provided me with all the illustrations that make the concept of Personality Dimensions® a reality. What really stands out is the consistency of how I have lived life. Whether the teen years, the ministry or the years since transition, the attitude and way that I do things, while tweaking on the fly, has remained constant.

Personality Dimensions® Plays Out This Way In Me

Within me is a deep NEED to make a difference…an Impact. I call it my helium balloon that does what is natural…Goes Up! There is my Introverted Resourceful Orange. That has never changed. Pointing back to this is the way I COMMUNICATE, by sharing with others what I know, not only with academics, but with the wealth of what I have learned in life experience. That is my Extroverted Inquiring Green. That is what people see, but not what really drives me. What my dad taught me well was the Organized Gold factor of how to work well within organizations, the ENVIRONMENT in which I work. And finally, he taught me how to treat people with respect, dignity, and compassion, because PEOPLE ARE IMPORTANT…Yep, my Authentic Blue. There is ‘My Plaid’. Whatever I do, that is the way my pattern of human behaviour has always played out, and there is no reason to think that will change.

Have you taken a deep dive into your pattern? It is MORE than worth the effort. (Reach out if you out need help)

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Murray is a husband to Heather for 46 years with 2 adult children, a Papa to 4 Boys, Personality Dimensions^® Level 2 Trainer, Career Consultant, Leadership & Team Developer since 2001, and loves life. He is the creator of CareerFitForYou.com online video training, and owner of LifeConcepts.ca and LifeConceptMinistries.com.

Personality Dimensions® Statistics

It’s that time of year again… when the PD Stats Robot (patent still pending) pops out of its work cube and sees its shadow, it’s time to see this past year’s Personality Dimensions® statistics.

Many of you undoubtably will recognize the PD Stats Robot (patent still pending), the hardest working, semi-autonomous employee we have ever had! After many years of residing in the suburbs of Toronto, the PD Stats Robot (patent still pending) packed up their cube and headed east. But good news, they are still churning out statistics with us, while working part-time as a lighthouse keeper. I had no idea how many transferable skills there are between the two jobs until we sat down to go over this year’s report.

Once again, the staff at CLSR Inc. would like to thank all the Certified Trainers who took the time to send in their workshop statistics over the past year.  Collecting workshop statistics allows us to do further research on the reliability and validity of Personality Dimensions®.  If you look at the Primary Colour Breakdowns over the past 17 years, you will notice very little change with them over time; In fact, there was a less than 1% variance with two of the Dimensions over the past several years. That’s some pretty good reliability scores!  Full statistics for the Canadian market, including this year’s, are published every year in July and are posted at: http://www.personalitydimensions.com/published-statistics 

Remember, every time you conduct an Introductory or Application Session, even if you had your clients take the assessment online, that you keep track of your participants’ Primary Colour Preference, and Introversion/Extraversion preference.  You can find a form on the USB included with your Building Blocks/Manual to do this.  Statistics can then be faxed to 905-760-0113, or emailed to stats@clsr.ca.  You can also submit your statistics through the web at: http://www.personalitydimensions.com/submit-your-statistics.

The PD Stats Robot is an amazing piece of computing technology, and a surprisingly good dog groomer, but can only work with the information that it receives. Please remember to submit your statistics, even if you are administering Personality Dimensions® Online.  Remember that the assessment component isn’t the final word on an individual’s primary colour, especially if scores are close; clarification also comes from the Brightening Group exercises in a workshop.

Until next year, on behalf of the PD Stats Robot (patent still pending), stay dimensional, and keep those numbers coming.

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.

Personality Dimensions® – PD on PD

I have been thinking a lot about professional development lately… I can’t help it, I’m up to my eyeballs in it being enrolled in two courses, and going to the Perspectives Conference on June 11th -12th.  As professionals, consultants, and trainers we are often so focused on the professional development needs of our clients, and overlook what we can be doing for ourselves, and our coworkers, using the skills and materials that we already have at hand.  How many of you have set some time aside to do a Personality Dimensions® Awareness or Application session with your colleagues?  Not only does it help build a better understanding of ourselves, but help understand the motivations and behaviours of clients too.  Also, don’t forget that attendance in a Personality Dimensions Workshop counts towards CEUs for a number of organizations, including CCDP (Certified Career Development Practitioner) re-certification across Canada.

With staff constantly reporting higher caseloads, and the pressures of home increasing, consider facilitating a Personality Dimensions® Work-Life Balance workshop with your colleagues, where they will:

• Identify how each of the four colours perceives
• Identify unique ways others prioritize roles and responsibilities
• Learn strategies and techniques to ensure a level of balance that is personally “just right”
• Recognize different ways people act and react when they are struggling to find balance in their lives.

Not only will this help the attitudes and productivity in the workplace, but this knowledge can be taken home and shared with partners, family, and others who are important.

Of course part of achieving a solid work/life balance includes having a cohesive work team. To help this along, consider a Personality Dimensions® Team Building workshop.  Your colleagues will:

• Identify their personal styles and preferred methods of communication
• Recognize and appreciate the diverse styles of colleagues
• Learn strategies for adjusting communication to be heard by others
• Minimize destructive conflict while maximizing understanding and open communication
• Recognize behaviours that indicate that a team member is stressed or struggling
• Gain a deeper understanding of the individual contributions to the team and how collaborations can make the team’s results greater than the sum of individual contributions

Work teams that have a better understanding of each other just makes for a more pleasant workplace.  Understanding why people act the way they do, makes us less likely to take things personally, and see things from a different perspective.  Not only does this help us in the workplace, but in all areas of life as well.

Let us know in the comments below if you have run a Personality Dimensions® workshop for your colleagues.  How did it work out?  Were there any great “ah ha” moments?  What kinds of professional development are you and your staff engaging in?

Brad Whitehorn, BA is the Sales & Marketing Coordinator at Career/LifeSkills Resources 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® – We’re More than Personality!

Personality Dimensions® was officially launched 14 years ago, after many years of research and development; but did you know what else helped influence its development over the years?  Personality Dimensions®  is published by CLSR (Career/LifeSkills Resources Inc) – a company now located in Aurora, Ontario Canada.  We’ve been in Career Development for a long time; our company’s Founder and Director, Denise Hughes has been in the industry since 1974.

While Personality Dimensions® is a great tool to use for Career Development, Career Management, Professional Development; however we recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to resources.  That is why we publish and distribute a variety of different resources for different needs.  If you are looking for Assessments, Videos, Curricula, or Workbooks, we’ve got you covered!

• Looking for a career interests assessment for non-verbal clients?  We have that.
• Need a quantitative abilities/skills measure for an MVA client?  We have that too.
• Getting youth ready for their first jobs?  Yes!
• Conducting a workshop for adult job-seekers?  We can save you time.
• Helping clients prepare for interviews? We have current videos for that.

 

Molly Hughes, Office Dog, and Head of Human Resources.

Have a look at www.clsr.ca to see the variety of resources we carry.  Got any questions? Give us a call at 1-877-680-0200.  While you’re at it, check out our blog on Career Development Resources http://clsresrources.wordpress.com.  If you find yourself in the area, drop by to see what we’ve got, and spend some time with the office dog, Molly.