Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Throwback Day and my "D" personality

 Today we had an all-day staff meeting, so we decided to spice it up by making it a "throwback" day where everyone could haul out their old-school PR merchandise. There were some pretty great shirts, including a "Rebound Riot" reffing shirt, a "Thin Grin" turtleneck, and a green football jersey everyone got when the chain reached 100 locations. Since I've only worked there for 1 year, I didn't have anything of my own, but my grandma came to the rescue! She still had my Uncle Alan's uniform shirt from when he worked in the Hull restaurant during high school, which I think was the late 80's.  Everyone got a kick out of seeing the shirt. The back is pretty sweet, but the front was a little less-than-flattering. Maybe this was because it was not exactly a "maternity-friendly" cut, but still, that oatmeal color couldn't have done much for anyone!

I also took a picture with Scott, one of our VP's who was sporting the shirt he wore in High School when he first started out in the restaurant.


The first few hours of our meeting was spent with @CurtArchambault who led us in "Everything DiSC" profiling event.  We had all taken a profile quiz earlier and we learned about our profile, our strengths, weaknesses, how we are often perceived, and ways to work with other profile types. I was a "D" for Dominance which means I lean more toward "Action" over "Thoughtful" and "Competency/Facts" over "Relationships". I am results-oriented, like to keep things moving, move quickly from one accomplishment to the next, dislike being around people I view as incompetent, don't like wasting time in committees/meetings, am not afraid to challenge things I don't agree with, and will take charge in many situations. I like autonomy, independence, and control, I don't like excuses, and I'm more interested in moving forward than dwelling on the who/why/how everyone feels. I appreciate decisive action.  However, I'm only "slightly inclined" toward the "D" group so I can display characteristics of all the other groups as well. Anyone who knows me think this describes me well?

I found this exercise to be extremely interesting, especially in a group setting where you can see where all your other co-workers fall and it explains so much about what makes all of us tick! The activities also focused on how we can use this information to improve our interaction with our co-workers (and others in our lives) and the positive things each group brings to the organization.  It was a very interactive presentation and I highly recommend Curt as a presenter. If your company is wondering why everyone has such a hard time getting along or your small business is trying to figure out how to effectively put together effective teams, I would recommend investigating this more.

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