As many of you already know, all of us at Insights Learning and Development have been going through a very emotional period as we amalgamate our Vancouver and Calgary offices into one organization. In both cities, there has been a sense of loss as well as feelings of excitement and anticipation.   Thankfully, we all have a very solid understanding of how our personal preferences are colouring our view of this amalgamation, and we have world-class change management tools at our disposal.

Anne Bishop, a Senior Learning Consultant in our Vancouver office recently circulated a LinkedIn post by Connie Bentley, Insights US General Manager, which referenced how emotions actually help us organize rational thinking. This viewpoint flows out of the recent Disney Pixar movie "Inside Out", and was the subject of much discussion by the consultants at Insights Learning and Development.

In the article, the author writes "First, emotions organize - rather than disrupt - rational thinking. Traditionally, in the history of Western thought, the prevailing view has been that emotions are enemies of rationality and disruptive of cooperative social relations. But the truth is that emotions guide our perceptions of the world, our memories of the past and even our moral judgments of right and wrong, most typically in ways that enable effective responses to the current situation.

Second, emotions organize - rather than disrupt - our social lives. Studies have found, for example, that emotions structure (not just color) such disparate social interactions as attachment between parents and children, sibling conflicts, flirtations between young courters and negotiations between rivals.

Other studies find that it is anger (more so than a sense of political identity) that moves social collectives to protest and remedy injustice. Research that one of us has conducted has found that expressions of embarrassment trigger others to forgive when we've acted in ways that momentarily violate social norms."

Also ".. sadness prompts people to unite in response to loss."

So, we are all embracing our emotions in this time of transition... and a few of us are going to see a movie.  The full article Anne and Connie referenced is located here:  

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/opinion/sunday/the-science-of-inside-out.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0

Russell Cullingworth is an Insights Discovery Licensed Practitioner first accredited in 2010. Russell works with a number of groups and organizations, with a focus on youth development and leadership through the Centre of Excellence for Young Adults (ceya.ca), a division of his company, EQAdvantage Learning and Development Inc. (eqadvantage.ca). Not long ago, a Rover group he worked with for four years gathered to work on business planning over an entire weekend, and after the event, Clarice and Kevin, the leaders of the PCC Rovers Scouts Group, sent Russell the following note:

"Our rover crew just completed a full weekend of business planning and I wanted to share with you a mini-breakthrough moment I experienced.  During a brainstorm session on Saturday, three yellow-dominant people in my discussion group fell into a heated conversation and I sensed that the level of negative energy was rising quickly.  Fortunately we took a break for lunch and prevented the discussion from further deterioration.

Seeing that it was a perfect learning opportunity for all of us, I invited the three people aside and helped facilitate a dialogue.  Through asking them some open-ended questions and encouraging them to use Insights to understand the situation, the three realized that they were neglecting each other's preferences. Furthermore, they were able to articulate what they would do differently next time. The outcome was very positive!

This was a breakthrough moment for me because I would not have had the tools or confidence to deal with the situation if I hadn't taken Insights and retaken it recently.  Even though I attended the workshop at least 3 times, the exercises in this recent session really hit home and took my awareness and understanding to a deeper level.

Beyond this specific incident, Kevin and I ensured that we put our Insights knowledge to work throughout the business planning weekend.  We had all participants bring their profiles for quick reference and asked them to display their blocks on the table in front of them.  Before we started the business planning, we used your activity of grouping the primary colors together to share top communication do's and don'ts. There was a noticeable improvement in the team dynamics after the activity because we were more aware of our preferences and tried to accommodate others' preferences.  

I really want you to know that the knowledge and wisdom you have imparted on us has become an integral part of our lives.  There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about what I learned and try my best to exercise it.  I speak for many when I say that you have made a huge difference on us as individuals and as an organization.  

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for helping us reach our full potential.  

With love and gratitude,

Clarice

Thank you for sharing this story Russell, and congratulations on helping to create a world where people truly understand themselves and others, and are inspired to make a positive difference in everything they do.