Forward thinking school
Woodberry Down Community Primary School, London
Head of Woodberry Down, Greg Wallace, was inspired by the power and potential usefulness of the Insights Discovery® model, having experienced it during the national pilot multi-agency team development programme commissioned by the National College of School Leadership.
With remarkable prescience Greg could see that unless all staff were involved a tremendous development opportunity would be lost. We worked out a creative way of enabling this. All teaching and non-teaching staff have an Insights Discovery® Personal Profile, have mapped their team culture, are heightening self-awareness and improving interactions with others through a process of individual and team development. This will benefit all, especially the children.
“The moment
I read my own profile and did the training with Ali on the NCSL
course I could see how good this could be for us at school.
I’d not really thought about personality types and preferences
in any depth and attributed all my judgements about people to
their competence, nothing else. Insights Discovery® has changed
all this.
Relationships in school
have always been good, but I think that since all staff have
had their profiles done they’ve got even better. Ali has been
inspirational and highly motivating. Training is very well-structured,
completely non-threatening, entertaining and great for team
building. We’ve done, and are doing, training in different ways:
whole staff INSET, focused meetings for groups and 1:1 meetings.
And I know that this is something that we will keep revisiting
and developing over the coming years. It’s brilliant!”
Greg
Wallace,Headteacher
Skilful Insurance Brokers & Financial Advisors
The Bateman Group, Warwick
Managing Director, Julian Bateman, was struggling to find good people. He was attracted to the Insights Discovery® model because of its accuracy and deeper insight into what makes people ‘tick’. The Bateman Group now uses Insights Discovery® Personal Profiles as an integrated part of the recruitment process, allowing a greater focus on the behavioural aspects of a role. Constructing more effective teams through using everyone’s strengths and making sure that, on paper anyway, they all ‘fit’ together in a more cohesive way has been a compelling part of the process.
Profiles are also used to underpin a process of development within
the company, and Ali has been on site to give 1:1 feedback and
coaching
to managers and staff, facilitate team discussions to achieve
a greater level of understanding between group members, and conduct
individual telephone
coaching sessions when required.
Stunning national pilot multi-agency programme
National College of School Leadership
Invited in by the original design team, Castlewood Consulting,
Ali Stewart & Co was contracted by NCSL to deliver Insights Discovery®
Personal Profiles and supporting material, along with team
coaching
and facilitation. The pilot programme was in response to the Government’s
‘Every Child Matters’ agenda and the Insights Discovery® model
became the underpinning thread throughout the programme. It gave
the multi-agency teams licence to use colours to break down barriers,
change perceptions and open dialogue where previously none had
existed. The model was instrumental in getting the teams off to
a fast start and developing team cohesion. Delegates themselves
cited the Insights Discovery® model as one of the most crucial
and helpful elements of the programme.
Alongside this NCSL’s Community Leadership Team also commissioned a team event using the Insights Discovery® model, as a means of personal development and capturing the team culture.