Frequently Asked Questions

WHO DOES INSIGHT LEADERSHIP WORK WITH?

We have been in the people and organizational development business for quite a while. Our approach works with small, mid-size, and fortune 500 leaders, teams and organizations. We have worked with healthcare organizations, architecture firms, banking, law firms, publishing groups, engineers, tech gurus, service industry pros, retail, and CPG companies to name a few.

DO YOU ONLY DO EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT OR CAN YOU WORK WITH MANAGERS?

We tailor our sessions to meet the needs of the audience. We serve leaders at all levels in organizations of various sizes. Our 201 Performance Management Product is a great tool for managers as well as the SDI 2.0 Inventory to help managers learn to leverage their strengths to become more effective people leaders.

HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT TO FOCUS ON?

Well … it depends. Many clients take advantage of our Cultural Health Assessment to help guide the creation of a strategic talent development plan. We then focus on what the data and interviews reveal to develop a targeted approach.

DO WE NEED TO PURCHASE THE SDI 2.0 FOR EVERY SESSION?

Yes and No. We can deliver great content to your team without the SDI 2.0. However, the Strength Deployment Inventory helps you and your team gain a strong common language, self-awareness and an understanding of your team that truly makes a big difference in the post-training results.

WHAT MAKES THE SDI 2.0 Assessment MORE EFFECTIVE THAN OTHERS?

We have used DiSC, Myers Briggs, Strengths Finders, Birkman, Colors, Hogan, and now the Enneagram. We keep leveraging the SDI 2.0 because we have found it to be a validated tool that truly helps leaders, teams, and organizations improve quickly. The SDI 2.0 measures how you lead when things are going well and how you lead in conflict. Then it layers on our strengths and overdone strengths in a way that the other tools don’t. The SDI helps leaders sell, lead through change, manage, drive a healthy culture, and improve relationships at work and at home. That’s why we choose to continue using it! Many leaders say, “all assessments are basically the same”. We used to say the same thing. Anytime our clients use the SDI 2.0 or they immediately see the difference.

WHAT MAKES YOUR TRAINING DIFFERENT THAN OTHERS?

Laura and I have been developing leaders for over 30 years. We bring our expertise to each session. We walk you through a process to accomplish your goals. We don’t walk you through a canned program and pretend to solve all of your problems. We typically co-facilitate to make sure we can help you navigate anything you need in the moment while providing you a fun, engaging and interactive experience.

Why SDI 2.0?

Three Reasons To Bring SDI 2.0 To Your Team

There are a four things that we often hear when working with new teams and clients.

1) We have a great people.

2) Our great people don’t know how to communicate.

3) I (managers) am nervous to bring direct feedback to the great people because of a fear of conflict.

4) Drama drains the team and damages the ability to get great work done.

All of these statements point towards why we leverage the SDI 2.0 instead of other tools.

Here’s the deal, there are plenty of tools on the market and some of them are pretty good. Here are three core reasons we use this one.

1) Stickiness | The concepts and language around when things are going well, when we are in conflict, strengths and overdone strengths are simple and easy to bring into every day work life. If a tool can’t be integrated into your work, it probably isn’t the right tool to invest in.

2) Awareness | Myers Briggs, Birkman, DiSC, Enneogram can all help us become more self-aware of our norms (some better than others), however the SDI 2.0 hits the nail on the head to help us find our voice when we are at our best and navigate conflict to get back to our best when things aren’t going our way.

3) Scalable | My wife will tell you … I don’t like to spend money, but when I do buy something I want to buy something that will last. This assessment will last and can continue to scale throughout your organization. It’s not a one and done tool for a fun training, it’s a tool that drives healthy relational results in your organization and helps each leader take the next step with their development.

Here’s the fourth personal reason. For years I worked with other tools and always felt like they were okay, but not great. This was first tool that helped me realize what I did to make a mess. The first tool that nailed my conflict sequence on the head and caused me to apologize to my wife and realize how to be a better husband. The first tool that caused to me realize why I could get the right results and tick so many people off in the process. The first tool to help me see how I could continue to get great results, but with healthy relationships. I wanted to help people, but it wasn’t always evident. Now … it’s evident more often than it was before.

We hope this helps you think through which tool to use. We loved bringing it to the Walton Arts Center Team in 2019!