
One of the biggest barriers to workplace harmony is conflict or misunderstandings from personality differences or political views. Clashes in communication or opposing work styles can derail even excellent employees, leading to escalating tension and loss of productivity. These scenarios are widespread in the workplace, where an employee might interpret their coworker’s lack of direct communication as passive-aggressiveness, or where a team might take offense when their manager skips small talk and jumps directly to work tasks in meetings. How can staff avoid long-term issues and dysfunction in common situations like these?
While it can be difficult for employees to resolve these issues independently, there are tools to help them recognize patterns of behavior in themselves and others and move past conflicts to form genuine connections. One widely-used and respected option is the True Colors Temperament & Personality Typing program, which uses a systematic process to sort individuals into one of four distinct personality types. These personality types reveal a person’s motivations, values, communication styles, and more. Organizations that make use of the True Colors personality assessment can leverage this information to resolve interpersonal issues, build trust and understanding, and ensure that teams achieve their highest potential.
Diversity Builder leads organizations through this process, turning the results from True Colors personality assessments into actionable information. Our trainers make sure employees and managers get the most out of their personality assessments, helping them understand and appreciate one another based on their distinct approaches to work. After this training, participants will feel reenergized and ready to work effectively and positively with their fellow employees. This crucial course is offered both onsite and via webinar to offer the maximum flexibility for participants.
What is the True Colors Personality Assessment?
The True Colors Personality Assessment is a test that delves deep into an individual’s temperament and personality to uncover their motivations, actions, and communication style.
Unlike other popular personality assessments such as the Myers-Briggs or Keirsey tests, the True Colors approach is streamlined to allow for easier application in real-life settings.1 An independent evaluation of the True Colors Assessment by the Assessment Standards Institute determined that it is highly accurate in predicting and measuring personality traits, with a well-defined methodology and replicable results.2 The True Colors program is incredibly successful, having been used by industry giants such as Amazon, Google, Ford, and many others to strengthen teams and enable them to achieve the best results.3
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The detailed questionnaire asks participants to score how closely they align with groups of words as a whole. For example, would they describe themselves as organized, neat, and responsible? What about active, daring, or a risk-taker? Depending on the answers to these questions, employee test-takers will be sorted into one of four colors that describes their personality and temperament.
4 Colors in True Colors Assessment and Their Meanings
- Green: logical, analytical, efficient
- Orange: welcomes change, adventurous, with a short-term focus
- Gold: organized, respects authority, responsible
- Blue: emotionally driven, desires harmony, creative4
Many individuals taking the assessment score highly in more than one area, with a primary color for their most dominant traits and a secondary color for less-dominant but still significant traits. This assessment reflects an individual’s complexity in an easily digestible format. In this training, each color will be covered in detail, along with the priorities, values, and the typical approach of those individuals. Example profiles illustrate what types of personalities align with different colors, making it easy for participants to apply the criteria in their work lives. This will set the stage for employees to truly understand their own results and those of others, setting them on the path for healthy work relationships and productive teams.
Personality Assessment and Team Building
After employees have completed the True Colors Assessment, leadership might wonder about the best way to leverage the raw results into stronger relationships and deeper understanding among their staff. Diversity Builder’s training streamlines the process, providing practical exercises, guidelines, and tips to make the most of this information.
Find out how to develop your team in meaningful ways.
True Colors personality assessment provides a common language for easily understanding others, whether it’s members of a team, direct reports, or across an entire organization. Participants in this training learn how to use their results to improve their own performance and to connect better with others so that teams can achieve the best possible outcomes.
Individual employees will gain insight into their own style, strengths, and weaknesses with in-depth discussions and examples throughout the training. It will walk participants through what their color(s) mean, giving them greater self-awareness and appreciation for their unique results. Green individuals, for example, tend to excel at analysis and finding optimal solutions, which gives them an edge in technical and quantitative areas5. However, their logical approach can lead to conflict with those who value relationship-building or authority over efficiency. This workshop helps employees recognize how their unique combination of personal traits can be an asset in a fast-paced workplace while recognizing areas for growth.
Understanding Assessment Results
Once employees understand their results, they will learn optimal ways to communicate and connect with different personality types. Realistic examples and scenarios illustrate how employees with different personalities might come into conflict. Participants will also be given guidance on how to empathize with other personality types. For example, when working with Gold personality types, it’s useful to remember that they value order and planning ahead. Providing clear directions and communication about the status of projects will make Gold personality types feel confident and secure. Blue personality types, on the other hand, prioritize relationships and harmony over everything. If someone wants to best support a Blue individual, they will ensure that that person feels valued and look for opportunities for the entire team to connect.6 Concrete strategies will give participants the necessary tools to work successfully with a wide variety of employees and clients.
Employee Motivation
The course will also address how managers can support and motivate their direct reports using the True Colors assessment results. While managers might not understand why an employee seems disinterested, this training will cover key takeaways to engage and inspire them. If managers have an Orange employee on the team, they might have previously noted that this person thrives on challenges and change but struggles with ongoing or mundane tasks. The training will outline beneficial strategies for making the most of this employee, perhaps by giving them a flexible schedule or by offering a variety of tasks.7 Managers can even use the results to identify which employees would be best suited for different roles in high-priority projects.8 Instead of encouraging everyone to work in the same way, the training emphasizes how managers can lead highly productive teams while still making use of their staff’s diverse approaches and strengths.
After this training, participants will have deeper empathy and trust for one another and greater engagement and productivity overall.9 Employees across the organization will return with actionable insights and strategies for being better workers and team members.
References
BetterHelp Editorial Team. (2024, October 21). What the true colors personality test may say about you.
Presence Communications. (2023). True Colors Workshops.
True Colors. (2024). True Colors Temperament & Personality Typing Programs.
True Colors Intl. (2024). Team building.|
True Colors Int. (2024). TC research précis. https://www.truecolorsintl.com/Research-Precis
True Colors Intl. (2020, April 17). What are the four common personality types?
[1] True Colors. (2024). True Colors Temperament & Personality Typing Programs. https://www.truecolorsintl.com/about/
[2] True Colors Int. (2024). TC research précis.
[3] True Colors. (2024). True Colors Temperament & Personality Typing Programs.
[4] True Colors Intl. (2020, April 17). What are the four common personality types?
[5] BetterHelp Editorial Team. (2024, October 21). What the true colors personality test may say about you.
[6] True Colors Intl. (2020, April 17). What are the four common personality types?
[7] BetterHelp Editorial Team. (2024, October 21). What the true colors personality test may say about you.
[8] Presence Communications. (2023). True Colors Workshops.
[9] True Colors Intl. (2024). Team building. https://www.truecolorsintl.com/team-building/