Background
Perrault Consulting Group has been actively using Facet5 with its clients since its inception during the 1990s. Founder Mike Perrault says, “Having worked in the field since 1977, I have used a lot of different assessment tools. Facet5 is something different; it’s the most provocative tool I’ve worked with. The language of the model is simple and clear and therefore gets people talking about themselves, their strengths, and their challenges. Further, and for me most importantly, the TeamScape report gets work teams talking to one another in a way I’d never seen before.”
Facet5 remains the Group’s preferred personality-profiling tool for effective organisational development.
Facet5 has a proven track record of generating better communication and self-awareness among work team members, and the team therefore suggests using it with all new clients, accrediting many new users each year.
Awareness of Facet5 is not yet as widespread or ingrained as for some products out there, but it works, and the partners let the product speak for itself.
Tools & Approach
Perrault Consulting Group has a standard approach that is applied with most clients, unless their individual circumstances are particularly unusual. Experience tells them what works, and they know that when the solutions come from the participants, those solutions are much more likely to be successful in the longer term. Facet5 enables people to find their own solutions, to see the patterns, the trends and the implications of behaviours for themselves and, crucially, to discuss them in a neutral, intuitive and jargon-free way, making it very empowering. At the core of Facet5 are human characteristics, not made-up terms, so it is a much more natural way to look at human behaviour.
The process is: Firstly, to work with a group to explain Facet5, the concepts behind it and the five factors themselves, as a team. This saves individuals’ time, and means everyone has heard the same version of the background for consistency.
Next, each person involved will answer the questionnaire, and have an individual feedback session to go through their profiles in detail.
After that there is another team session to look at how the team members’ profiles fit together, using TeamScape, and discuss the implications and potential improvements for the team as a whole. At this meeting an assignment is set for a follow-up meeting at a later date: each person must prepare a list of the strengths they bring to the team, the challenges others are likely to face when working with them, and ways in which the team can help them to be more productive and effective.
As team members speak about these strengths and challenges, they are captured on-screen so people can verify the accuracy; ensuring each person is entirely happy with the wording and meaning of their comments ensures greater commitment to the end result. The output is a document that is shared among the participants, all in their own words, about how to be a more effective team. There is a lot of discussion around this to make sure everyone understands how that translates to real world working, and that everyone is on the same page.
Results
Uniformly, clients report that they are pleased with the results when Facet5 is used. Everyone adopts the language of Facet5 very easily and naturally, as it is intuitive, and not full of jargon and meaningless terminology. Only once has a delegate disagreed with the profile family to which they were assigned, which was backed up by the team, so it was overridden in the system – which is another great advantage of Facet5. The vast majority though end up with a profile that genuinely represents their preferences and behaviours. By discussing this as a team and putting together the document in their own words, each person will be more committed to following it and respecting one another’s individual characteristics.
Everyone adopts the language of Facet5 very easily and naturally.
One recent client was so pleased with the effect on his team, he shared that success with peers in other companies and immediately requests came through to use Facet5 elsewhere. Positive word of mouth has huge selling power, and Facet5 is an impressive instrument, so it really does sell itself well. It continues to be the Group’s favourite organisational personality-profiling tool, and its clients nearly always feel the same way.
Facet5 has a proven track record of generating better communication and self-awareness among work team members.
Top Tips
- Let people shape their findings. By putting the insights in their own words and drawing up a plan together, there is a stronger dedication and sense of united purpose.
- Share best practice. Recently, Mike spoke at a local university for students of organisational development. Several have already signed up to be accredited in Facet5. Awareness of the product means more businesses will want to use it.
- Keep it positive. No-one likes to be told their bad sides, so letting people tell others how to get the best out of them keeps it constructive.
- Suggest other uses. Facet5 has many applications and packages which apply to all sorts of organisational situations, so be proactive in suggesting other uses to your clients.
Continue the conversation
Keen to discuss how we can support you in realising the potential of your teams? Drop us a note – let’s chat!